Moonlight

Moonlight: Part 1

Today was the day. The day you had been waiting for for years. The day where a new path in your life was about to begin. Your high school graduation.

In a couple of month's time you were college bound to Lenape State University, about an hour and a half away from your hometown, to study forensic science. Your family is so proud you and had worked so hard for you to help you become the first person in the family to attend college. And indeed, you excelled at school; got straight A's, took AP classes, made the honor roll every marking period and was part of National Honors Society. You played sports and volunteered after school. You even got some of the highest SAT scores in your graduating class. So it came as no surprise to your family when you were offered a full scholarship to LSU.

Overall, it seemed as though you are a bright, straight laced young lady with a promising future, but deep down inside, you are restless. Scared. Even lonely.

Because you know that in two weeks, Ignazio will be going back home to Italy.

It was kinda funny the way you two met. You were on a campus tour around LSU with your parents one Saturday morning last fall. They decided to get a cup of coffee in the dining hall, so you went on your own to the school store. You walked around for a little bit before looking over some Italian language textbooks. Then, out of the corner of your eye, you saw someone walk up next to you. You looked up and froze; the cutest boy you probably had ever seen stood right in front of you. He was tall, muscular and had wavy brown hair and tan skin. He had three or four textbooks in his arms and a shy smile on his face.

You still remember your first conversation with him even to this day.

"Oh hey, you're learning Italian?" he asked.

You looked back at the textbook you were reading and nodded silently. Your cheeks felt hot, and your throat swelled up.

"That's cool," he said. "I'm actually from Italy."

You looked up but didn't make eye contact with him. "Oh," you finally managed to reply. "What part of Italy?"

"Sicily," he ran his fingers through his hair. Your cheeks became even hotter.

"So... you're a student here?" you asked him.

"Yeah. I'm here to learn English," he answered.

"Really?" you replied, surprised. "I mean, your English is pretty good already."

His smile got bigger and he looked down, embarrassed. "Well, to improve to English, you know?"

"Oh... yeah," you shuffled your feet awkwardly.

He looked up and made eye contact with you. You gulped, flustered; he had gorgeous, deep set brown eyes with long, black lashes.

"What about you?" he asked. "Are you a student too?"

You paused for a minute. "Well, no, not yet. I just got accepted here with a full scholarship. I'm here with my family for a campus tour. I start next year in the fall."

His eyes widened. "Wait, you're still in high school?"

"Yeah. I turn 18 next month," you replied.

He broke eye contact and looked back down again, blushing. "I'm sorry. You looked a lot older, so..."

"Hey, don't worry about it," you laughed, despite yourself. He looked up and smiled.

"I'm Ignazio, by the way," he tucked his textbooks under his left arm as he extended his right hand for a handshake. "What's your name?"

"(y/n)," you shook his hand.