It was new for the whole family to go to a college orientation, obviously, I’m the eldest. Mama said it was best for us to stay overnight so we could get a feel for dorm life and so we didn’t have to make a six hour drive early in the morning. They had a game night, by they I mean the RAs that decided to volunteer over the summer also. Never did I imagine I’d spend the next three hours after settling in, with the nerdy girl who wore track pants and glasses. She stood a foot taller than me and had a deep voice I’d found intriguing from the beginning. Of course, nothing could happen; I wasn’t single or polyamorous. The queer nerds had to stick together, so it ended up being three of us. There was Leo, who was probably the most outgoing of us and a psychology nerd. Chrysanthemum of course, is a history and math nerd. Last is me, an art nerd. We hit it off all together while walking down to the lake and quickly learned that I was the only one who liked spiders. It was like that of the movies, the sun setting over the lake surrounded by people you love. Or perhaps they were just the people soon to be my classmates. We couldn’t be separated, so I brought some cards out to play a game, one I hadn’t heard of before. We played two rounds the three of us until Chrysanthemum needed her space, retreating to a worn chair. The three of us reminisced about applying for college and why we chose our school. It was all the simple things to get to know people. She was quiet and annoyingly hard to read. Chrysanthemum chuckled at the appropriate times while Leo and I went on a tangent about romance books. She seemed a little left out but we were both too excited to fully notice. We retreated to our respective rooms, of which I had my own, well after midnight. All too early into the morning, I woke up having to use the washroom and on my walk there I saw her. I loved seeing her in her sweet little pajama pants. They were normal pajama pants but they just seemed to look better on her and I wish I had said hi then. When I looked back to double take, she had already disappeared. We didn’t speak a word to each other until intro week. She wore the same damned sneakers and hoodie and those awful awful track pants. Chrysanthemum sat down cross- legged in our little circle on the grass. It was a great place to reconnect, although too warm for my taste. The summer was finally coming to a close but the sun didn’t feel like it was following. Everyone was all too excited to meet new people with the happy-go- lucky views on starting college; freshmen with no idea what they want to do moving forward. I liked seeing her hair blow in the wind, I don’t know why but that bit caught my eye. She also knew just the right time to look back at me and smile. Now, I’ve liked her for months, admitting to myself that I did on Halloween. Finally, in early December I told her just how I felt and it’s gone quite well. I’ll have a valentine this year and I just can’t wait.

Valentine’s Day was great, I had worked for hours on a valentine and she’s not very well-versed yet in relationship etiquette so I don’t blame her. I do wish only a little that she had gotten flowers, as I’ve never gotten flowers from a partner despite the desire for them.