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together…
    And as I imagined this, I felt myself smiling, my fantasy becoming so detailed that I could actually feel his warm hand, his long fingers, wrapping around my wrist. I could hear him saying my name again and again, the concern in his voice growing each time he repeated it…
    Wait…what?
    "Ashley? Ashley ?"
    Oh no . I looked over at him. His face was filled with concern. I cringed.
    "Sorry." I smiled sheepishly. "I’m just…" I closed my eyes and rubbed my face, which was on fire, in my hands. "…You know, taking it all in. E-everything’s a little o-overwhelming," I stuttered. I hoped that being overwhelmed was a good excuse for acting like a lunatic.
    He smiled. "Don’t worry, Ash. I’ll help you." And as he stood, he put his hand under my elbow to help me up.
    Thank goodness next class is in the lab.
    ****
    It was beautiful out, and as we walked down the steps of the front of the building, Colin turned to me and asked, "Another class?"
    "Nope, that’s it for today."
    I was done for the day before eleven o’clock…you gotta love college.
    "Me too," Colin replied, "want to walk over to the cafeteria with me to grab lunch?"
    I was thrilled and desperately wanted to say yes, but of course, I couldn’t speak. I could barely speak around Colin when he asked me a question in a large group, let alone when he was asking me a question like this and it was just the two of us. And I know this happens all the time, friends eating lunch together. I’ve eaten almost every meal since I got here with Colin; he was always at my table. But this was the first time it would be just the two of us.
    Hmm, I wondered if I could consider this a date. If this were a movie, it would so be considered a date.
    "What do you say?"
    I looked up at him, nodded, and smiled. No words required.
    Colin spent our walk to the dining hall pointing out the spots on campus he considered his own personal landmarks. I spent the walk trying to figure out how I was going to carry on a two-way conversation with him over lunch. I didn’t know how not to be flustered and awkward around him. If I was going to continue spending time with him, an exciting and inevitable prospect now that we had class together, I was going to have to overcome my awkwardness when he was near.
    Lunch seemed as good a time as any to start.
    "And that’s where I had my first-ever college class last year," he pointed to a red, brick building. "It was raining the first day of classes, and I tripped at that corner and dropped my books in a puddle." He started laughing. "They all got completely soaked." He looked at me, still laughing, and said, "So did I."
    I laughed with him. "That sounds like something I would do."
    We reached the dining hall then, and Colin opened the door for me. We walked up to the cashier, swiped our IDs and went in.
    "So, what’ll it be?" he asked as we walked around the different food stations.
    Having no idea what to get, I followed Colin as he grabbed a slice of pizza and fries. To be honest, I wasn’t hungry at all, even though I hadn’t eaten breakfast. By that time of day, I’d usually be starving, but being around Colin — especially alone — made me nervous. I wasn’t completely sure why, because he also had a way of putting me at ease. It was a very strange mixture of feelings.
    Beyond the nervous, flip-floppy stomach, the scattered thoughts, and the inability to speak, there was always a sense of…right…when he was near, a feeling of comfort. Maybe it was because Colin was the first person here who spoke to me, who helped me. Maybe it was because he chose me last night in the dormitory lounge to make the mandatory exercise bearable. Maybe it was the way he smiled at me or kept up the conversation when he saw that I couldn’t.
    I didn’t know why, but Colin made me feel wanted.
    He wanted to help me with my bag. He wanted to ask me a million questions. He wanted to run into me this morning. He wanted to have lunch with me