Our Story: Are You Seeing Anyone? (Part 5)

Part One: Background
Part Two: How We Met
Part Three: The Roommate Conversation
Part Four: The Movie Night

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It was March 11th, a Wednesday. I had been twenty years old for two days and I was wearing a new green sweater my mom had purchased for my birthday. I remember what my hair looked like too, because bobby pins kept trying to worm their way out of my head, and because I got a compliment on it from my friend Becky.

I had a presentation in my speech class that morning. We were supposed to give a "eulogy" for someone we knew and loved - someone who wasn't necessarily dead yet. It felt weird - strange, to speak about someone as if they were gone when they weren't. I talked about my dad, describing what he did, who he was and why I loved and respected him. I'm sure I have the speech somewhere, but I'm also quite certain that it was written last minute and is therefore not a great tribute. Sorry, Dad!

We had chapel on Wednesdays, in between the 7:45-10:35 morning classes and the 12:15-3:00 afternoon ones. I had classes all day on Wednesdays and they were my two least favorites that semester (not entirely true - I didn't like my Thursday morning class either) so Wednesdays were a long and tiring day.

It was a worship chapel that morning, and we spent the entire chapel time singing praises. I wouldn't remember that if it weren't for remembering all the people in front of me with their hands raised high in the air. Carson was one of them, standing in front of the stage. I can't pretend that I remember what he was wearing, but if I were to guess, he had on that bright blue North Face jacket that he loves and still wears.

After chapel, I ate lunch (and if I'm going to guess on that, I'm going to say that we were running late that morning so I grabbed a jar of peanut butter and a spoon. I have terrible eating habits.) and then went to class, where I sat in between Molly and Erica as usual. Carson sat at the table in front of ours, as usual, and we watched movie clips, as usual.

On break, I left my roommates and went to check my student box in the computer lab. I checked my email while I was there, then decided to go to the library to find Erica and Molly.
I hadn't noticed, but Carson had been waiting outside the door for me. I also didn't notice at first that he looked nervous.

"Hey, Lindsay", he tried to sound casual.

"Yes?" said I, unsuspecting.

"Could we talk for a second? I wanted to ask you something". We stepped out of the way of foot traffic, standing next to the library drop-box across from the computer lab.

"I was just wondering. Are you, um, uh... seeing anyone?"

I was a little thrown off. "Nooo", I said.

"Oh good. You know the formal coming up in a few weeks?"

"Yes"

"Would you like to, uh, you know, go with me?"

"Sure", I said uneasily. One can say nothing but yes in such a situation.

He began to talk details, like tickets, the dance afterward, attire. I don't remember exactly what he said, but after awkwardly talking about it, he said he had to go downstairs (he was checking to see when tickets would be available, but he didn't tell me that till later).

I continued on my way toward the library, located my roommates, and shared the story with them.

They shared a glance before saying, "We KNEW it! He was talking to some people about the formal after you left the classroom and we just KNEW that he was going to ask you!"

Molly and Erica, if you happen to be reading, I still don't believe you. Glory hogs.

After class, I somehow lost track of the roommates and when I came out of the library, looking for them, I ran into Carson. He was happy to make small talk until they found me, so he started talking about my dad. "He's a mechanic, right?" he asked. I was confused until I realized that he had a roommate who was in my speech class and had heard that my dad works at a car dealership. I then wondered what else his roommates had shared with him from speech class - no doubt that was how he'd found out several things about me.

My roommates and I spent the rest of the day in our apartment talking about that strange event. How I didn't really like Carson, how they KNEW he liked me, how I thought he was just trying to be nice, how awkward the formal would be, how odd that he'd asked me two months in advance...