The child in me was giddy. I could not believe his body was next to mine somewhere other than my dreams. I started creating scenarios inside my imagination of what the future might hold. I was suddenly snapped out of my own thoughts when the professor called out, "Caitlin James."
I nearly choked on his words. My peers immediately started oohing and ahhing. I quickly shot my hand up and said, "I'm here! But it is Caitlin Elliott." I was as red as a scorching sunset on a hot summer night. Lucky for me, when I glanced in his direction, he didn't seem to mind that the professor just practically announced us as husband and wife.
I probably shouldn't get ahead of myself though. We still had a three hour class ahead of us to speak to each other. PSA: we probably only said about 30 words to each other. I could not remember how to flirt or even speak to the opposite sex. I had been in a relationship for two and a half years and suddenly I was single and failing to mingle. All I could think was that I had to get my shit together if I wanted to make this man mine.
Fast forward two or three weeks and we were sitting in class working on an assignment. My usual ride home was finishing up but said that he wouldn't be done for another thirty minutes. I knew that sounded suspicious but I wasn't going to rush him just so I wouldn't have to shuffle the five minutes back to my dorm. I dramatically decided to wait for the shuttle by the door and knew that my handsome friend would have to walk by and see me (#sneaky). How could a such a polite person walk by poor little me who is about to trek through the snow? He couldn't, obviously, so the plan was a success.
He walked out of class and saw me waiting for the shuttle and asked if I needed a ride. I jumped at the chance and hopped into his car. At this point he definitely wasn't a stranger and he wasn't luring me with candy so I figured it would be fine. He knew I was on the gymnastics team and asked me about the upcoming meet. To my surprise, he already knew it was at Brown on Sunday and internally, I was squealing.
He pulled up to my dorm and I was gathering my belongings. He looked me right in the eye and said, "See you Sunday." My jaw laid on the sidewalk as he sped away leaving me in a cloud of angst and yearning for more.