Talk to that boy!

Alice had never hit on a boy before. She had never even had the slightest inkling that a guy might be interested in her. She thought that it must take a certain amount of sheer arrogance to pull it off. Nonetheless, her body was screaming at her. She needed to get to know this incredible, curvaceous man, the same way she needed to breath air.

As he packed his things away, her mind whirled. He would begin walking away soon. He would escape from her grasp and she would have missed the opportunity to pretend she was just making a friendly introduction. The longer she waited, the more strange it would be to introduce herself. Human relationships were an intricate game, full of unspoken rules and centuries of—

“Hi,” the boy said. He smiled at Alice, a pure smile that made her heart skip a beat. His eyes darted away. She was speechless. So he spoke again.

“My name is George,” He offered, “I noticed your shirt, I thought you must be… pretty confident.”

Alice looked down at her clothes, perplexed. She was wearing a hoodie she had gotten as merch from the film adaptation of “Oh Shit, Is It Morally Objectionable to Get Sucked Off by My Super Cute Dad While Playing a VR MMORPG?”

The hoodie itself featured an outline of the main character, with a… noticeable protrusion below her waist. She only ever wore it around the house, but in her nervousness she must have mistaken it for one of her normal ones.

She felt deep shame, and immediately took it off and stuffed it into her bag. She covered her face with her hands.

“Oh my god… That’s so embarrassing… I didn’t realize…”

“Oh, I see,” George said with a laugh, “I thought you were just really bold.”

“Then, does that mean you’re… familiar?” She asked.

“Well… you could say that.” He looked at his feet and put his hands in his pockets.

Realizing that she might actually be ‘in,’ Alice knew she had to find a way to close the deal. She also knew she didn’t have much time before her next class.

“Oh shit,” she said, “My name is Alice. Sorry.”

He smiled again. “Nice to meet you,” he said.

“You too!” She looked at the clock, “Say, where are you headed after this?” She asked.

“Turner building, 3012.” He said, looking at his phone’s lock screen.

Score. Alice almost pumped her fist in the air and jumped for joy.

“Oh my gosh, me too!” She said, and they began to walk together. Seeing him in motion was something else entirely, and she tried her best not to walk behind him. They chatted about anime, and soon enough they arrived at their English Composition class. They sat beside each other and continued to chat.

Alice was over the moon. This was the most she had ever talked to a man her age in her whole life. Still, she knew she had to finish the job. He had saved her by initiating the conversation, but she couldn’t rely on getting lucky twice. She had to get his phone number. If she couldn’t, they would be relegated to being merely ‘class friends.’ Just as before, the longer she waited, the more awkward it would be. The best strategy would be to get into a situation where having each other’s contact info was vital.

“Hey, I totally forgot to take notes… could you help me out?”

“Oh sure! Let me just text it to you!”

Something to that effect.

While Alice was scheming, class had begun, and she was just doodling pictures in her notebook while daydreaming.

After class, George struck up a conversation again.

“You must be really smart. I haven’t seen you take any notes in either of those classes.”

“Oh… yeah… you know,” she mumbled, gesturing vaguely at the air.

Once again she found her mind racing as he packed his bag. Surely she could think of a way to secure contact info. Of course she had never done so before in her life, but she had considered the idea many times, and helped protagonists do it in dozens of games. She considered all the possible angles of approach. If she were to subtly imply that—

“Well if you have any questions, you could ask me,” he said, “I take pretty good notes.”

There it was, practically an invitation. He was wide open.

“I-in… in that case…” she stuttered, “Maybe I should have your…” she pulled out her phone.

He nodded, and typed his number in her contacts. There it was. George Mayer. Alice felt more accomplished than she had in the entire past year. As she basked in her mastery of the social graces, George realized everyone had left the room but them.

“Hey, we should get going. What do you have next?”

“Nothing for a while.” She said.

“Me neither. Wanna go get lunch then?”

Alice nodded, scarcely believing the words.

The two of them headed off to get something to eat. Alice stole glances at her contacts list a few times. Right there above “Mom,” the only other contact she had. The future was looking brighter already.