The Cost of Love

Chapter 2: Beautiful Stranger

As I drove to school there were so many thoughts racing in my head. My first thought was that I had to make friends as soon as I possibly could. As a guy growing up in such a rural area there really weren't many opportunities to meet new people. Many of the friends I had either went to an out of state college to dorm and such or they didn't even bother going to college. One of my friends Claire is going to the same college as me and so I hope that we have a few classes together. We weren't close friends so I didn't have the opportunity to contact her and compare schedules but seeing a familiar face would definitely put my mind at ease. 

As I walked into my 10AM Shakespearean Literature class I noticed just how early I arrived. I took my phone out and saw it was only 9:30. It was a really tiny classroom and there were only 2 other people in the class; one was a guy who was carelessly blasting hip hop music on his iPod without realizing it was so quiet in the room that I could hear every beat, every pause, and every explicit lyric and the other girl was buried into a book. My interest had peaked seeing her book...until I saw the front cover. It was one of those teenage girl books that consisted of nothing more than PG-13 rated sex scenes and horrible excuses for dialogue. The only thought I could muster up was "Aren't we in college?” I rolled my eyes and sat down and waited. 

As 10:00 approached more students began to trickle in. At 10 on the dot our professor had walked in. She was a fairly tall dark haired woman in her mid-20s. If I had to guess I'd say she was an adjunct professor. She had blonde hair that was up in a bun and she wore a lovely matching pair of dress slacks and a blazer with a silk purple blouse on. As a gay man I could certainly admire the definitive beauty and sex appeal of a woman. 

"Good morning class" she spoke with a soft, yet firm voice "My name is Ms. Nyles". As she started taking first day attendance she read off our names "Dylan Jones?" to which I responded "Here!" 

As she read off more and more names she eventually called out "Claire Robinson?" As soon as I heard that name my eyes opened wide and I turned around to hear her say "Here!" 

It was Claire! She chuckled and whispered to me "I was waiting for you to turn around and see me!" she chuckled lightly. I smiled at her and was so relieved to have her with me in my first class. 

Then she came to the final name on her list "Reese Walker?" she said, practically mechanically at this point. There was no response. She recited the name again and there was still no response. She looked up irritated and said "Really? A student would really skip out on the first day off cla-" 

Without her final word being able to be uttered to completion the door swung open and this figure that seemed straight out of a Sons of Anarchy episode came strolling in. He had jet black hair practically covering his eyes. It's weird his hair seemed like a perfect fusion of messy and styled at the same time. He had a black leather jacket on with a hood attached. He had tight black jeans on practically showing off his toned skinny legs. I looked at him adamantly just analyzing his every move. He looked like perfection in my eyes. Of course he didn't seem like my type but that's beyond the point. 

I looked to my professor as she sniped at him "Mr. Walker I presume?" 

He snarked back a simple "Yeah". 

"Well Mr. Walker, I hope that your work ethic isn't as bad as your punctuality; otherwise I don't see you going very far in this class". Her cold stern words seemed to practically bounce off him as he took a seat in the back row. 

The class went rather quickly as it was only a simple introductory class. When class ended I got up and spoke to Claire. I couldn't help but want to draw my eyes to that Reese kid, but as soon as class ended he must have took off because there was no trace of him in sight. Besides Claire, his name was the only name I remembered from attendance I guess due to his attention-bringing entrance. 

"So Claire, how excited are you to be officially in college! It's our first year! It ought to be a good one!" 

She smiled and said "Definitely! Make sure to sit next to me next class! When's your next class?" she asked. 

"I actually have an hour and a half break for lunch and then have another English class at 1:00. I think it's another Intro to Writing class". 

She shoved me gently and said "Get out! You too?! With Professor Eckert?!" 

"Yes!" I was so happy we could experience our first day together. 

"Well let's head to lunch and maybe we can walk around campus! It's a beautiful autumn day and I'm sure we can also look out for some boys!" she smirked as she nudged my shoulder. "It's probably the best thing to do! I'm sure it'll get your mind off of Robbie!" 

Hearing his name was like having a band-aid ripped off suddenly. We had only broken up 3 weeks prior and I found myself thinking of him less and less as the days went on and yet still the pain was lingering. It was a nice relationship until things took an unexpected turn. There are times when I do miss him, but in the end I am still content with the decision I had made.

“Yeah sure!” I said with an eager smile. I shook my head in agreement as we walked off together to go find a spot for lunch.