The sun was shining brightly, but the air was fresh, making the drive feel relaxed and easy.
"You have a pretty car, by the way," Chloe said, glancing around the interior appreciatively.
"Yes, she's beautiful," I replied as I caressed the steering wheel. "I'm a bit obsessed with cars. I'm probably going to get a few more soon."
"Your folks must be making decent wages to hook you up with a ride like this," she said.
"Oh no, I bought it myself."
"Really? I thought you got it for your 18th birthday."
She must have seen me on the day I bought it.
"I see how you could think that, but no, I've been doing a bit of investing here and there," I explained with a smile.
Chloe raised her eyebrows, clearly intrigued but didn't press further. She tucked a strand of her brown hair behind her ear, looking a bit shy.
I decided to put on some music, flipping through the stations until I found some early 2000s R&B. The beats of "So Fly" by 213 and "Take It All" by Fabolous played over the car speakers.
It was almost a three-hour ride to Gainesville, and somewhere along the way, I spotted a sign for Red Wing restaurant.
"Are you hungry?" I asked Chloe.
"Ummm... not necessarily," Chloe replied, sounding hesitant. I could tell she probably didn't want to spend money unnecessarily, but I was starving.
I pulled up to the restaurant. "It's on me."
She looked at the menu and wanted to order the cheapest thing. I had to convince her that it wasn't a problem.
After we ate, we continued on to Gainesville, talking about movies and our reasons for choosing the faculties we did.
The rest of the trip flew by
We finally reached the city street just off campus. There was a bit of a car queue at the campus gatehouse since it was meeting day.
An overweight campus security officer stood at the gate. I quickly filled out a form to get my on-campus parking sticker while Chloe waited in the car.
With the sticker now placed on the front windshield, I drove further in. The campus was big. There were several builldings with green spaces and streets in between them.
Students strolled on the pavements and lounged on the grass. The weather was nice.
I managed to find a parking spot and barely squeezed between two cars, doing a backward park. Chloe looked visibly stressed but sighed with relief once I successfully parked.
After we got out of the car, I turned to Chloe, who was smoothing out her skirt and adjusting her bag. "After the meeting, I plan to check out my spot at the dormitory," I said, catching her gaze. "I hope it won't be a problem for you to wait. You could even check it out yourself; yours is probably going to be similar."
"Sure," she replied, giving a small smile.
"Call me when your meeting ends, then."
"Okay," she said, starting to walk away.
"I think that's your building," I pointed behind my car towards a nearby facility.
She gave me an amused look. "How do you even know that?" she asked in surprise.
"I looked at the sign," I replied casually.
"Oh..."
We said our goodbyes, and I walked out of the parking lot.
A minute later, I arrived at a large, five-story glass building where most of my lectures would take place.
As I walked through the main door, I saw a few small groups of students quietly talking in the hallway. Other students were sitting around by themselves.
I walked up to a vending machine to buy myself some canned coffee. It only accepted coins, but luckily, I had enough. I fed the coins into the slot and pressed the button for canned coffee.
As I waited for it to drop, I heard footsteps approaching from behind.
"Hey! Could you buy me coffee too?" a voice asked.
I turned around to see a woman wearing a violet baseball cap with her glossy hair dyed purple, tied back and thrown over her shoulder. She had gentle facial features, pale skin and almond-shaped deep brown eyes. She looked to be Korean, but maybe she had some western heritage as well.
"Sorry, do I know you?" I replied, genuinely puzzled. I had never seen this woman in either of my two lives.
"No, this is the first time we've met," she replied with a warm smile, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "But this is the only vending machine on campus that sells canned coffee."
"I know that," I said as I retrieved a can from the machine.
"Well then, buy me coffee," she teased, leaning casually against the vending machine.
"Why would I? Just buy it yourself."
"Are you a Finance student?" she asked.
"Yeah, first year Economics," I confirmed, wondering where this conversation was heading.
"First year?" she raised an eyebrow, a smile playing on her lips. "I knew I hadn't seen a handsome guy like you around here. I'm Luna Park, majoring in journalism."
"Thanks for the compliment, but I see what you're trying to do here, and I'm not buying you coffee..."
She looked at me for a moment and then sighed, "Alright... what's your name, by the way?"
"Jack Somnus"
"Well, welcome to the institution where you'll waste your next few years away."
I took a sip of my coffee before answering. "The benefits you can gain by studying here are greater than you think."
"I've been here for two years already, and trust me, you'll quickly change your mind."
"I'm talking about how we need to use this short time we have at the university to create connections and opportunities for ourselves."
Luna burst into laughter, as she looked at me incredulously. "Jeez, you just sounded like an old man," she teased, "Alright, Jack. Let me buy my coffee now."
"Sure, go ahead." I said as I moved aside and then I glanced at my watch. "Well, it's been interesting, but I need to go."
"Yeah, bye-bye. Have fun at the party or whatever they make for the new students."
Well, from what I remembered, there would be no parties today.
I walked through a hallway to the auditorium, where the initial assembly for both Economics majors and minors was about to happen.
There was a small group of people entering the auditorium in front of me.
The front stage was raised slightly above the floor, and the auditorium's walls were coated in a blue material that absorbed sound.
It was a large auditorium that could fit over 200 people, but I was still a bit early, so at the moment there were only two dozen or so students sitting at the back. I recognized their faces but I couldn't recall their names. We hadn't been in any groups together.
I walked up the stairs to an empty seat somewhere in the middle, and sat down just two seats from the stairs.
As I patiently waited, I kept staring at the door on the left side of the stage.
A few minutes later, the people I had wanted to meet for a long time began to enter through the door, and a wide smile crept onto my face, refusing to go away.
Alex Gagnon was the first person to show up. He was a nerdy-looking, short guy from Canada. His brown hair was slicked-back and he wore glasses.
Right... at the time, he was struggling with pimples and was quite skinny, making him look even smaller.
Shortly after he became my buddy, I regretted it happening. Digging a hole and hiding myself in it might be more entertaining than staying around him.
Next was Mia Allara, a tall girl with pale skin and long black hair down to her waist.
She was one of the most serious women I had ever met.
She was the kind of woman who would never show too much skin, so she wasn't popular with the guys. But she was very smart and I liked that about her.
A few other guys that I knew went by, but I was waiting for one particular person.
And there he was!
In a black buttoned shirt tucked into his pants and a white baseball cap on his head.
He walked into the auditorium with his eyes closed and a white staff gripped in his right hand.
Tapping gently at the floor, he made his way up the stairs one step at a time, watching out not to stumble and fall.
Yes, Sam Johnson was blind.