The Love Track

3. In Person

I had yet to find a roommate. It was probably time to get that taken care of. I was arriving to campus on the second week of August for football. I figured it would make sense to find someone else on the football to be roommates with. That way we would be on the same schedule and keep each other accountable with things like early morning lifts.

"Hey, if anyone doesn't have a roommate yet, I'm still looking for one." I texted into the group chat. Right away somebody responded with "I'm down". It was one of the players who hadn't been very vocal in the group chat, Tyler. He then texted me individually and said he had been struggling with finding a roommate. I went through his profile some more trying to see if there was anything to be aware of. He looked like he liked to party, but nothing that crazy. I figured why not. I texted him back and we went onto the Elm housing portal. Once there we entered each other's student ID's as our preference for a roommate. I was glad to finally have that taken care of. 

...

What a mistake I had made. It was the end of August and I was dreading my roommate decision. Every time I entered the room, it looked like a tornado had gone by. Tyler was one of the sloppiest people I had ever met. 

The start to college was exhausting. We had a day to ourselves to complete the move in process and meet each other, but after that, it was practice in the morning. Practice wasn't all that different from high school, it was just longer. And by longer I mean the whole day. You had your lift in the morning. Then different practices throughout the day. Then different film sessions throughout the day. And then you woke up the next morning and did it all again. To make matters worst, all the first year football players were in the same dorm. I was seeing the same people at every single part of my day. I woke up with them, ate with them, and ended my night with them, and shared a room with one. I get this is all part of building a brotherhood but it was just way too much. The next sports team to arrive on campus early was the men and women soccer teams. Both teams also happened to live in the same dorm. And when the women soccer players in, all the football players went nuts. They were dying for female interaction. I mean some people started standing on tables. It was one of the craziest things I had ever seen. But I wasn't really interested in talking to anyone on the soccer team. They were on different practice schedules too, so the only time we really saw them was at night, but I was ready for bed at that time. My life was just football, football, and some more football. I needed some change of scenery. 

Thankfully today is the standard move in date for all the Elm students. And since the football team was the first team on campus, we've been tasked with helping all the other students move in. We're carrying bags, heavy objects, and simply pointing people in the right direction. I was excited because we didn't have practice and because I got to see some new faces. The only annoying thing was that we had to wear masks. The football team was able to avoid this during our move in. But since this was the move in day for everyone from all over the country and internationally, Elm decided to institute a short term mask mandate. 

It was so hot no matter if you were inside or outside. But with the dorm I was assigned to, I had to go outside to cool off. The dorm felt miserable, and the more floors you went up, the hotter it got. The job was a mix of fun and boring. Some people were up for conversation, some weren't. It was interesting to see all the dynamics. Some people were moving in all by their selves. Others had their whole family and then some to help them move in. Most of my conversation was with parents asking questions about the college. The worst was parents and students who were having trouble getting key card access into their rooms. Those individuals would come at us and take their frustration to us. But I understood, the football team had the same issues when moving in. It took the key card, which was on most peoples phones, forever to register with the dorm room. 

When we were done helping someone move in, we would go back outside the dorm and wait for another car to pull up. I bet some of these people were a little freaked out, the football players would just swarm to their cars ready to help. Sometimes people didn't want any help and were all flustered by all the people around the car. 

A new car approached while I waited outside. A girl got out all by herself. I went over to offer my services and she accepted the help. We worked together efficiently and made quick work getting all of her belongings to her room. As we made our rounds, she made conversation with me about the football season which was nice. She seemed genuinely interested. We then talked about how we are both entering our first year and what we are thinking about majoring in. It was all good conversation. But then, as we were walking her last few things in, she turned and asked me "So you guys play on Saturday's? I'll have to come to a game and watch."

My teammate overheard her and went "Oh yeah Trevor! There you go!" He followed with a pat on my back. 

The girl went a little quiet after this. I felt bad, the girl definitely didn't like being the center of attention. And while she was nice, my intentions weren't where my teammate thought they were. I was just happy to be having an actual conversation with someone. I finished helping the girl with everything and then I told her best of luck this year. 

I went back outside and waited for another car to arrive. 

"Hey Trevor! Come help us with this car." Another one of my teammates yelled at me. 

I went over to the car and grabbed a couple bags. I followed my teammate into the room. I dropped the bags in the room and as I exited into the hall, there she was. Not the girl I was helping earlier. It was Claire Hawkins. I thought I was going to collapse. I had just helped move Claire's bags into her room. She obviously had a mask on but I knew it was her. I wanted to see her full pretty face for the first time in person. But if anything, the mask only brought me more to her eyes. But just like that the moment was over, I walked past her, too scared to say anything, and she walked by into her room. Based on how my teammate acted previously and the amount of her family that was there, I was too embarrassed to approach her. I went back out to where her car was parked and my teammates had grabbed her remaining items. I blew it again. It just wasn't the right time. But at that moment, I really wished I was just running track. I wish I would see her sooner than later. Yeah, I knew where she lived now, but I felt like it would be much easier to approach her with already being on the track team and being on her schedule. With the way football was taking up my day, I didn't think I'd have the time to really chase her. But football wasn't forever, and I just had to get through November if I really wanted to talk to Claire. I'm sure I would see her around campus though. I would be able to start some small talk if need be, after all, I was on the track team, just not yet. 

As I went to bed the night after helping others move in, all I thought about was how I wished Claire had been assigned to my dorm. Or I wished that I was assigned to Claire's dorm. But even though these feelings were good, I still didn't understand why this girl had such a hold on me. I had yet to have a conversation with her. Was I just attracted to her body? While I was attracted to her, I didn't want that to be the sole reason I pursued her. I just wanted to have a conversation with her. I felt like I had to get to know her. I kept looking at her Instagram and running back my memory to confirm if it was actually her. The hair looked the same, the eyes looked the same. I really hoped she was single. But if she was, my window was running out due to me being too scared to make a move. I turned my phone off and went to bed. And when I did, I thought about Claire Hawkins. Like I would for so many nights following this one.