"Alright, the campus staff said they'd save our stuff from the geese and we can just pick it up tomorrow morning," David confirmed as he put his phone away, "You do go to Eden right?"
"Yup, my first year!" Lucia cheered, "You must think I'm pretty smart, huh?"
"What I think is you're the reason oddly specific warning signs exist."
"Rude. Probably true though."
David shyly informed Lucia that he was heading into the city and she was welcome to join him if she was heading there as well. She agreed and they continued their walk along the riverbank while chatting and exchanging stories. It was difficult for the socially inept David to keep up with Lucia's chaotic energy, but she relented and refused to let him sit out the conversations. Oddly enough, her constant teasing and jabs at him made David feel more comfortable around her.
Before they knew it, the sun had set and they found themselves in the heart of the city. Lights and signs illuminated the busy streets and their inhabitants. People getting off from work, energetic youths looking for fun, families on a night out; the city had come alive, almost as if it were breathing and pulsating.
Lucia kept close to David so they wouldn't get separated in the sea of people. Admittedly, David wasn't entirely enthusiastic about Lucia invading his personal space, though he decided to ignore it. It was a cold night, and with his hoodie sacrificed to the goose king, he had nothing else to keep him warm.
David wondered if Lucia felt cold as well, wearing only a baggy shirt with a weird cat on the front, tucked into her cuffed denim shorts. Then again, he contemplated, could she even feel cold? He certainly wouldn't put it past her to just forget to feel the chill of the night — she did seem that scatterbrained after all. That aside, she radiated an unexplainable warmth. Just being near Lucia as she bounced across the sidewalks of the city was enough to make David apathetic to the numbing of the wind. Perhaps it had simply been too long since he last hung out with someone that he just forgot the feeling of it altogether.
The thought had become too miserable so he brushed it off with a shake of his head. David realized that he spaced out and missed most of what Lucia was currently saying. For some reason, she was giving a rather passionate rant about 'why hamsters make terrible pets'. Truth be told, David only understood about half of what she was saying most of the time, but he enjoyed listening to her speak.
"So yeah, if they don't end up eating each other, they'll just die in a couple of years," said Lucia as she approached the crosswalk. She stared at the pedestrian signal and waited for it to turn green, "Enough about hamsters, tell me about you. Got any plans? In life, I mean."
David whistled. "That's... a heavy question. Shouldn't you ask something simple first? Like… what's my major, or my favorite color, or–"
"That's boring!" she groaned, "I'm trying to spice things up a little! Spill. Now."
David put his hands in his pockets and sighed. "Well… I don't really have any plans for my life. To be honest, I'm not even sure it's possible — to plan ahead that is."
"Why not?"
"It's just– I don't know what life will throw at me in a few years. I don't believe anything happens for a reason. The world kinda just does what it wants and nothing we do really matters to it."
"... Sheesh!" Lucia teased, "Way to ruin the mood!"
"Hey, you asked," David retorted.
The signal light turned green and the pair continued walking. It was quiet for a while and David wondered if he had said anything wrong. At this point, they had already passed the busy part of the city and the empty sidewalk only amplified the pain of the silence. He looked over at Lucia and was surprised to see that she appeared to be deep in thought. Her face was cutely scrunched up, and she was very visibly thinking hard about something.
David decided he couldn't take the silence any longer. "Think any harder and your head will start to steam," he joked.
"Oh, sorry," she blushed, "Wouldn't that be cool though? Anyways, I was just thinking that… maybe I agree with you, in a way. Well… not so much the gloomy parts, but I think we can agree on one thing!"
"And what's that?"
"That this world is crazy!"
"Crazy?" David chuckled, "Well that's an understatement."
Lucia jumped in front of David. "Maybe you're right, you know, maybe nothing happens for a reason — I don't really understand it much either," she said as she paced around, "Maybe everything is pointless, and random, and chaotic — I'll just… I'll live a life where none of that matters!"
"None of it matters? How can none of that matter?"
"Well if nothing matters in the first place… then none of THAT matters as well! My plan is to live the most fun life I possibly can. If life is one big cosmic joke, then I choose to be the best one!"
Once again, David was left speechless by the unpredictable Lucia. He couldn't quite comprehend her line of thinking — it differed much too greatly from his. It was unfathomable to him that one could just ignore the absurdity of life to the point where 'it did not matter'. David could not agree with her on that aspect, her message, however, was as clear as her passion for it: it's ok to live a little.
He watched Lucia as she paced around, rambling on about how she planned to live her life. The street light illuminated her as if she were on stage, delivering a great monologue to capture the hearts of the audience. David listened intently to the passionate, albeit borderline incomprehensible speech, and decided that the point got across to him. David decided that he was going to let himself live a little.
Lucia was breathing heavily after having given the passionate 'speech'. "So yeah," she panted, "lots and lots of fun stuff. You'll see."
David grinned. "I guess I will"
The pair continued their walk, enjoying their time together. David realized that the two had been walking aimlessly for quite a while now. He looked around and recognized the surrounding area and realized that they were heading in the direction of his apartment complex. David decided he should offer to take Lucia to where she needed to be, then go home for the day.
"My apartment complex is just a little down from here," he informed Lucia, "I can take you to where you need to go first if you want?"
"Oh, haha," she giggled nervously, "I'm headed there too!"
"No way. You got a place there too, or something? What apartment number are you going to?"
"Um… something like that," she nodded as she avoided eye contact, "What number is yours?"
"I'm in 201. If you need anything…" he looked down and kicked a rock, "don't be afraid to ask, ok?"
Lucia blushed. "Oh… I'm going to 201 too! What a coincidence, haha!"
"..."
"..."
"I– I'm not sure I understand?" David said shakily, "Maybe you got the number confused? Are you sure you got the right complex? Maybe you–"
"David, please let me sleep with you."