The Boy I Met At 18

David Harrington wasn't supposed to be on campus that afternoon.
The board meeting had ended early, leaving him with twenty minutes to spare before his next appointment. He took the stone pathway out of habit, offering absent nods to students who greeted the university's youngest trustee.
Then he saw her.

She stood beneath one of the old elms in Harvard Yard, golden autumn light filtering through the leaves as she laughed at something the young man had said.

Sarah.

David slowed.
Of course.
Another performance.

After seven years of dramatic gestures, tears, and carefully timed appearances, he recognized an attention-grabbing act when he saw one.

Only this one was... different.
She wasn't looking for him.
She hadn't even noticed him.

The young man looks one of the university football team's captains. If David remembered correctly, he stole the notebook from her hands and held it above his head with an infuriating grin.

"Give it back!"
"You'll have to earn it."
She laughed, swatting at his shoulder as she jumped to reach it.

The sound carried across the courtyard, which is light, carefree and real.

David frowned.

Sarah hated drawing attention to herself.
She certainly didn't flirt.

Yet there she was, chasing after another man in the middle of his university.
His jaw tightened.

Whatever game she was playing...
She'd gone too far this time.