A Warm Welcome

You follow Mike as he bounds down the stairwell and burst through the exit doors. It was as if he was bowling ball that had been set in its direction not to be stopped until he crashed into the crowd of pins at the unofficial campus welcome party.

The flyer had been vague about location and time, but Mike assured you that he has a sixth sense for this type of thing. Unsure about even joining him, you went along anyway feeling a familiarity with the role of follower. It was a really warm night and the campus was buzzing both from the packs of students wandering and the cicadas.

At the edge of the campus green, you arrive at the main street of this college town. There's a strip of bars and quick food spots lining the well lit streets. It's hard to imagine that this street stays this tame and this clean once the semester begins.

For maybe the first time since arriving, you let your eyes wander and take in the people around you. This is your new community.

You absent mindedly follow Mike into a small taco place.

Noticing, you remark "The party's here?"

"What? No, I'm hungry." Mike says shaking his head.

Feeling embarrassed, you lag back as Mike finds the order line. Awkwardly standing near the door, you look around again. Some of the girls at a back table seem to be having a good time as they gab with intermittent bouts of laughter. You start to wonder what dating will be like here. You don't have high hopes, but it feels nice to imagine meeting some women and having some classic college experiences.

As you daydream, you don't even notice as a girl walks up beside you.

"Uh... excuse me?" A whisper enters your right ear.

You turn to see a short young woman looking up at you blankly.

Without thinking, you smile and say "Hi, my name is Carter, nice to meet you." You extend a hand to shake her hand.

She squints and gives the slightest grin that quickly disappears.

"Thanks, Carter, here you go."

She fills your outstretched hand with a tray of used napkins and food wrappers.

Completely confused, you look up, and she points at the trash can that you're standing directly in front of.

Immediately, you blush out of significant embarrassment. She seems to be ready to walk away when she notices the look on your face. She starts laughing.

"I'm sorry, you look so cute right now. I'm sorry. You just, it was just a really good opportunity."

Unsure how to react, you start laughing too.

"It's fine, fine" you assure her.

You turn and dump her trash into the bin, placing the tray back on top.

"Well, thank you Carter. Sorry again to mess with you, and I guess sorry for laughing so much, you just seemed so lost. I mean this is my first day here too, but at least I'm aware of my surroundings."

"I'll get the hang of things, I'm sure" you say through a smile. "So you're a freshman too?"

"Yup, I'm a bio major, what are you studying?" she asks, suddenly starting a conversation.

"Honestly, I'm not sure yet, my schedule is mostly general classes right now, so I guess I'll decide later."

"That's an interesting approach, but that's cool. Where are you from?"

You wave your hand off in a random direction "Uh, not too far away, a small town about 50 miles, do you know Livingston?"

She smiles and shakes her head, "No, but I'm sure you won't recognize my small town either. Here's to small towns."

She raises her hand and you instinctively give each other a high five.

Just then, Mike comes by with a carryout bag. "Made a new friend?"

Before you can answer, Mike walks past "Is she coming or not, let's go."

You look back at her "My roommate."

She nods and you gauge her reaction. She hesitates but then says, "No, no I've got to get going, I promised my roommate that I'd go to an orientation event."

You nod.

"But we should hang out."

"Okay, yeah"

Mike interrupts, "c'mon, bro."

You feel yourself walk away.

"Just find me on Facebook" she says as you move away.

"Oh, okay, yes, but what's your name?"

"Erin Volpe"