A Little Something Different

September (Maribel - Lea's roommate)

Maribel- Lea’s roommate

“I’m going to get us fake I.D.’s,” I say to Lea as we walk to class on the first day of school.

“What? That’s illegal!” she says.

Even though we’ve only been roommates for four days, I’m not surprised by her reaction. I think there must be something about the first few days of college that really make people bond together, because I feel like I’ve known Lea my entire life.

And I can already say unequivocally that she is a great roommate. She’s neat, polite, and quiet without being boring.

“Don’t think of it as illegal,” I say. “Think of it as helping out local business owners.”

“You have a skewed perspective of the world, Maribel.”

“Drinking is fun!” I say, throwing up my hands. I’ve only actually been drunk twice in my entire life, once at my sister’s wedding and then prom weekend. But still, I know it’s fun.

“I don’t even really drink!” she says, also throwing up her hands. She’s laughing now though.

“Do you want to?” I ask.

“Maybe.”

“I mean…” I trail off. We’re walking onto an enormous quad where about half of the academic buildings are located and I want to take a moment to appreciate the fact that I am actually starting college.

“We’re really here,” I say looking around.

 “We are,” she agrees, smiling. “We should embrace the moment.”

“What class are you on your way to?” she asks after a sufficient amount of “embracing the moment” has happened.

“Development of Europe part two.” I make sure that my voice is an unenthusiastic as humanly possible.

“I assume that there will be a lot of spoilers if you ever decide to take part one.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. What are you on your way to?”

“Creative writing.”

“How did you get into an awesome upper level course like creative writing?” I ask as we approach the steps to the English building.

She turns to walk backwards for a second and swings right into a very cute guy.

“Oh my gosh,” Lea squeaks as she kneels down to help him with this belongings. “I’m so sorry.”

“S’okay,” he says. He’s cute, but super awkward as he tries like four different ways to pick up the books he dropped.

“You’re sure?” Lea asks.

He nods but doesn’t look at her.

“I just don’t want to be late for class on the first day,” she says, glancing at me, and then back at him.

He settles on the ground and scoops things into his backpack.

He finally looks at her and sort of smiles. “I’m fine.”

“Okay, as long as you’re okay.” Lea says. “See you later, Mar.”

I nod and walk towards my own classroom. I think I just got to watch my first collegiate meet cute. I’m sort of assuming meet cutes happen a lot here.