101 date

Prologue

It was a beginning of a second year at university. I didn't know anyone because of the Pandemic, as last year has been all online. I felt a bit nervous. However, I met a girl named Sara, and we sat together at the lecture. She was the first person I talked to, and it felt nice knowing I was not that lonely anymore. My main plan was to make as many girl friends as possible because I always struggled with it and wanted to fix it. I wanted to become socially active to make connections and to have girl friends to spend some time with. I never intended to talk to guys. It was something I wasn't interested in at all. However, sometimes life doesn't go as you planned. And it happened to me. On the second week of going to uni, a tutor told us that we had to attend volunteering and write a reflection about our experience. None of the students were happy about it, although I didn't think anything bad. I thought, If it's necessary, I don't mind. Our course was split into a few groups to do volunteering. Later that day, I noticed that I had a problem with my timetable. It didn't show which day I needed to attend a volunteering activity. I told the tutor about it, and she said I can come on Wednesday or Friday. It doesn't really matter. At first, I thought I'd go to volunteer on Wednesday. However, I changed my mind as I thought of Sara (She mentioned she's on a Friday group). My focus was to make friends. That's why I decided to go to volunteer together with Sara on Friday. On a volunteering day, we went to Platt Fields Park. Basically, it was a big garden, and we were supposed to do some farm work, such as weeding etc. It was an easy job for me as I already knew how this work has to be done. I grew up in a house with a garden, surrounded by nature. While I was weeding, a guy started a conversation with me. He was an Italian with a nice smile. He seemed a good guy, and I enjoyed talking to him. I'm always polite and friendly to people. However, while talking to him, I thought it's bad because it's hard to make a guy just your friend. I didn't want any romantic relationships.
Nevertheless, he suggested taking a bus and going back to uni together. It was a great idea as I didn't know how to get back and I didn't want to walk to uni as I was tired and I had a seminar in half an hour, so I couldn't be late.
I am that type of person who sees no one around, even if someone notices me, even a friend; it's rare that I notice them back. Usually, I live in my thoughts in my own small world.
At that moment, I couldn't even think that someone noticed me and felt an instant attraction. But it happened, and it wasn't an Italian guy...