Shane felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket as he pulled a strap of his backpack over one shoulder and began to file out of the small classroom. He reached for it quickly, checking the caller ID before flipping it open to answer. "Hey, man."

"Dude, whose idea was this?" Nate whined, not bothering with any form of greeting. "I've only been to one class and I already hate college."

"It was yours, remember? You said it would be 'good for us as people and musicians,' right? 'Good for our public image'?" Shane reminded his friend. "Translation: you wanted to be where Caitlyn was."

"Is that such a crime?" Nate asked rhetorically. "What about you? How was your first class?"

Shane couldn't help but smile a little as he thought back on the class he had just exited, and one particular element of it that hadn't left his mind during the conversation with his friend. "Oh, it was alright."

"Translation: there's a girl," Nate mocked his friend.

"What? Why would you say that?" Shane laughed, feigning innocence.

"Gray…"

He made his way down the stairwell to the ground floor of the old building, trying to ignore the whispers and stares from every girl he passed. He couldn't help but wonder how he could be expected to learn anything when he felt like he was the zoo's newest attraction the entire time. When he finally made his way through the sea of people and out into the parking lot, he returned his attention to his friend on the phone.

"Fine, there was a girl…" Shane admitted. "I sat next to her. She was gorgeous, man. And she had this whole…mysterious thing going on. I don't know what it was."

"You do seem to have a thing for those mysterious girls," Nate laughed. "Did you talk to her?"

"No, not yet," Shane replied.

Suddenly surrounded by sunlight, Shane absentmindedly dug through his backpack in search of his sunglasses. His attention was on the parking lot, though – he scanned the long rows of cars for a glimpses of the pretty blonde girl in the white sundress from his class.

"Are you going to…"

"I see her," Shane interrupted his friend, immediately picking up his pace. "I'm gonna go talk to her. I'll call you back."

He flipped his phone shut without waiting for a response and shoved it back into the pocket of his jeans. He walked towards her quickly; she was the only girl in class who hadn't stared at him the entire time. In fact, she had barely looked at him at all.

He took a few more quick steps and caught up with her. He touched her shoulder gently to get her attention. "Hey."

The girl stopped walking and turned to look at him, a look of slight confusion on her delicate face. "Hi."

"Do you remember me? I'm in your history class," he told her.

She seemed to examine him for a moment and then smiled. "I'll take your word for it."

Her answer surprised him. Did she really not remember that he had been there, or was she just trying to mess with him? He really couldn't tell.

"I'm Shane," he said, holding her hand out to her.

She shook it politely. "Yeah, I know."

They looked at each other in silence for a few seconds, and then she turned and continued her original path through the parking lot. Shane stood still for a moment to think. He wasn't use to being blown off, especially by women. He wasn't sure what to make of it. But, always the persistent type, he hurried to catch up with her again.

"So, I'll pick you up at eight?"

"For what?" she asked, glancing at him only briefly.

"Dinner," he clarified.

The girl stopped and looked at him with a look of amusement painted across her face. She really was one of the most beautiful women Shane had ever seen. Her long blonde hair fell around her shoulders, highlights and lowlights contrasting throughout. Her skin looked as smooth as porcelain, and her lips were a delicate shade of red. She wore only mascara, which drew his attention to her stunning blue eyes. "No, thanks."

"What?" he asked, caught off-guard. He wasn't sure whether it was that he had been lost in a daze staring at her or that she had actually turned him down that threw him off the most. "Do you have a boyfriend or something?"

"No," she replied simply.

"Then what is it?"

She shrugged her small shoulders, bare except for the spaghetti straps of her flowing sundress. "I'm not interested."

"Okay…can I ask why?" he asked, continuing to follow her.

"Do you even know my name?"

"I would if you told me," Shane said sweetly, his most charming smile on his face.

The girl pulled her keys out of her purse and stopped next to a silver Grand Am. She unlocked the door and opened it, tossing her bag into the passenger's seat.

She glanced up at him one more time before settling into the driver's seat. "I'll see you in class, Shane."

"Wait…" he started, but she closed the door before he could finish. He wasn't really sure what he would have said, anyways – he just knew he wasn't ready to say goodbye.

Shane watched her drive away, in a bit of shock. He couldn't remember ever being turned down before. And no girl had ever shown a complete lack of interest in him like that. He replayed the conversation in his mind, trying to pinpoint where he had made a mistake, but he couldn't find one. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and pressed a speed dial button before he began to search for his own car in the large, crowded parking lot.

"When are you taking her out?" Nate asked when he picked up the phone. "I'm surprised it took that long. Not your best work, my friend."

"She said no," Shane told him, still unable to believe it himself.

"What?" Nate sounded just as amazed. "What did she say?"

"She said, 'I'm not interested'," Shane quoted her. "She wouldn't even tell me her name."

"Wow," Nate replied. "So what are you going to do now?"

Shane found his large black SUV and unlocked it. He settled into the driver's seat and sighed. "I don't know. I mean…she really didn't seem interested."

"Is she playing hard to get, do you think?"

"I don't think so. I can usually tell," Shane told him.

"Maybe she has a boyfriend," Nate offered.

"I asked. She said she didn't."

"Weird…" Nate admitted. "I don't know, dude. You were right, though, she is definitely mysterious."

Shane groaned, shoving his keys into the ignition. "I know. That just makes me want to go out with her even more."

"Are you still meeting us for lunch? Maybe Caitlyn will have some ideas. She's a girl. She knows…girl stuff, ya know."

"Yeah, good idea," Shane agreed. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Alright, man. I'll see you," Nate said.

Shane hung up his cell phone and tossed it onto the passenger's seat next to him. As he drove to the restaurant, he thought about the girl. She hadn't even given him the time of day. If she was really trying to get him to forget about her, it hadn't worked – it just made him more determined to win her over.

"So tell me about this girl," Caitlyn said as Shane sat down with his friends at their table in a small café just off campus.

He sighed. "She's gorgeous. I sat next to her in class but she didn't even look at me, and then she said she didn't even realize that I was in her class. I asked her to dinner and she said she wasn't interested. She wouldn't even tell me her name."

"Maybe she's a lesbian," Jason suggested.

Shane shot his friend a look and rolled his eyes. "I guess that's possible…but that doesn't leave me much of a chance, so let's assume she isn't, okay?"

"Did she look interested?" Caitlyn asked. "Even if she said she wasn't? Maybe she's playing hard to get."

"No, she really didn't. I don't know, Cait. What do you think?" Shane shrugged and glanced out the window.

It was a warm, sunny day, and lots of students were milling around, walking to class or shopping. He thought he could get used to this town, after the initial excitement that Connect Three had come to the university had died down and they were left alone. The people began to blur together as he continued watching them bustling about outside the café, but one particular blonde stood out from the crowd.

"Oh my God, that's her!" he said excitedly.

His friends turned to look out the window. "Which one?"

"The blonde girl. In the white dress."

Caitlyn and Nate both scanned the crowd and then looked at him with amusement. "You mean Lillie?"

Shane was silent for a moment, just staring back at them. "You know her?"

Caitlyn laughed. "She's my roommate. I actually invited her for lunch today, but she has another class."

"Well, talk me up to her!" Shane said eagerly. "Tell me what I need to do!"

Caitlyn rolled her eyes and laughed again. She knew Shane well enough to know that there was no sense in trying to talk him out of something he wanted. "Okay, okay. I'll help you out."

A/N: I haven't really come up with a concrete storyline for this yet, but if there is enough interest I'll try to continue it. So review if you want more, please! Suggestions are welcome!