Right Place, Wrong Time

1. This Could Be a Meet Cute

A breeze cut through the warm September air as Joey headed into his first class of his freshman year at college, and he swept a hand through his hair to push it back. Entering the room, he smiled at the unfamiliar faces and took an empty seat, wondering who among these people might become lifetime friends. Face up on the desk, his phone lit up with the reminder he'd set himself for this class, just in case. As he swiped it away, he noticed he also had a text. Good luck for the new school year, from his high school girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend, he supposed. They'd broken up recently, on good terms, but he still found himself adjusting. He slid his phone into his pocket, trying not to let it get him down. This year was a clean slate, and he was ready to make the most of it.

With the room almost full, the professor stood from the desk and introduced themself. Latecomers continued to filter in every few minutes, sometimes causing a ruckus as they stepped over bags and muttered apologies on their way to a seat. So it was ironic that the girl who quietly sidled in was the one who drew his attention.

She was short, barely visible over the heads of the seated students. Her cropped blonde hair was damp and she huddled into her oversized sweatshirt like she was trying to make herself invisible. But Joey couldn't take his eyes off her.

And she was headed right for the empty seat next to him.

Lunging for his bag, he slid it closer to him to ensure it was out of her way, and smiled at her as she slumped into the seat. Her lips twitched into a vague smile in return, but she looked frazzled as she pulled out her notepad and pen.

"Hi," he whispered. "I'm Joey."

"Lauren," she whispered back, not taking her eyes off the board as she scribbled down notes before the professor moved on.

Realising he was a distraction to her as well as himself, Joey picked up his own pen. But his eyes drifted involuntarily to her throughout the rest of the class, until the professor dismissed them and he lost her in the crowd heading out. Strange as it was that he felt a tug of loss when he'd barely spoken to her, something about her made him feel at home in this unfamiliar place.

With a couple of hours to kill until his next class, Joey decided to head to the library to check if they held any of his textbooks before he forked over hundreds of dollars for them. On the first day of classes, it wasn't too busy. So he had to believe it was a sign when he spotted a blonde girl sitting alone at a table, fingers pressed to her temple as she read the pages in front of her.

Silently, he backtracked up the aisle he'd come down, ducking into the café to buy two coffees. Armed with the sustenance she seemed in need of, he approached her again and lightly touched her shoulder. Her head swivelled up to face him, a weary look on her face, and her eyes pinched with something almost but not quite recognition. Smiling as warmly as he could, he held out one of the cups of coffee.

"Sorry to bother you," he said, "but you looked like you were having a rough morning. I thought you could use this."

"It has been a bit of a rough morning," she smiled drily. "This is really nice of you, you didn't have to."

She took the cup he offered her and wrapped her hands around it. Taking this as an invitation, he sat opposite her.

"Lauren, isn't it?" he asked, as if he hadn't committed her name to memory.

She nodded. He could see her struggling for his name so he put her out of her misery. "I'm Joey," he said gently, smiling.

She returned the smile apologetically. "I'm sorry, I was pretty out of it this morning. I slept through my alarm and then my roommate had used up all the hot water by the time I got in the shower."