a first and a last time

ch 1

I was a college senior finishing my business degree and was ready to leave this place forever. College was fun, but I had recently been going through some shit with a girl that I had to see every day since we picked our classes together. She was cheating on me with our grade assistant. When I forgot my notebook in class, I discovered that I stumbled upon them. That relationship was a mistake; embarrassed by that betrayal, I threw myself into schoolwork. Oh, I also drank a lot.

One day in December, my service fraternity threw toys for tots' Christmas party. You could come in if you have a donation. It was a very fancy party; usually, I was very involved, but I passed up the coordinator job. This year, as I walked into the house, it looked like a picture out of a fantasy book. There were no words to describe it. Trees were made of different materials and different sizes everywhere. I saw fake snow crawling up the walls while Ice crawled down. Two birds were overhead, frozen in flight with a ribbon in their grasp still floating behind them. The lights above looked like stars. Someone built a gazebo in the back and placed a telescope for people to look at the sky. I stared long enough for my friends to pull me into the crowd.

Our job at the party was to mingle, organize, and thank people for their contributions. I shook many hands that night and was involved in conversations that I wouldn't be able to remember tomorrow. I was holding back my desire to find a quiet corner and hide the whole time.

"I love the work you do here, Mr. Towns," some woman would say

"Happy to support the cause," a man would remark.

"what perfect weather, wouldn't you agree, Mr. Towns" All the talk was the same, but I managed to explain some of our work, so it wasn't a complete loss. As the party calmed down and people went home, a woman and her husband walked up to talk to me.

"Ahh, Mr. Towns, I must know who did the exquisite decorations for this event." I didn't know and looked around for assistance. Leo, one of my fraternity brothers who brought me out tonight, came to my rescue.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. Is there something I can help you with," He said, freeing me from answering.

"Yes, I was asking who did the decorations for the event. I must tell them how beautiful it looks," the woman explained.

"That would be the girl in the dining room cleaning up, Katie Miller." Leo pointed to this average blonde girl in a red dress; I wouldn't have noticed her if she hadn't pointed it out. Leo gave me a raised eyebrow, then glanced at the woman as she bounced into the dining room. Thinking about it, I did notice her earlier during the party. She took a break from talking to sit on the window sill reading. I was tempted at the time to tell her to get up since I had to socialize and be miserable. I also wanted her to feel it, but I decided that was not my problem.

"you are staring. Didn't anyone tell you it is rude to stare?" Katie had managed to get herself behind me, scaring the crap out of me.

"Sorry, um, nice decorations," I motioned around the room.

"Do you want to see my favorite part?" she said, not waiting for an answer. She just grabbed my hand and dragged me outside to the gazebo. The lights were unplugged, and the telescope had been put away. We were walking around in the dark. "Lay down in the center."

"How am I supposed to know where the center is? It is dark out here." I laid down somewhere; I assumed it was the center, and she followed.

"lookup," I listened and saw what she was saying. Through the glass panels in the roof, the night sky had streaks of color and hues that changed depending on your angle. I was so distracted I almost missed her speaking again. "now, just look out the center panel," she whispered. In the center was a magnified image not as strong as a telescope where things get incredible detail, but everything was larger. The silence was not usually something that I was comfortable with. Still, we watched the sky with her until Leo found me to go home.

"I'm Sawn Towns," I said, shaking her hand.

"Katie Miller. It was nice to meet you." Then I left; I didn't get her number or arrange another time to see her; I just left. I decided that night I wanted to stop mopping around because of my ex, so there was a plus to going out.

*********************************************************************

Hi, I am super struggling to give a name to this story. Nothing I come up with feels right. I could use assistance. I know only one ch is up, so it would be hard to name it based on one meh chapter. Still, I will give it a placeholder name until it has something better. I hope people find this story okay, and I'm thrilled if you choose to read it.

so mote it be