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Things were not turning out the way she had imagined.
It had been a year now since she had come to the U.S, and still she had not settled in. She never anticipated, through the months of excited planning and preparation, that adapting to a new country and making friends would be so very difficult. The fact of the matter, was this; Crescent Darnel was not so good at making friends.
Oh, she had tried. She'd gone to all the mixers, the freshman parties, and joined a Society. It's just when it actually came to talking to people, interacting with them, she always fell a little short. That's not to say she didn't know people, she often spoke with a nice girl Tori in class and they'd worked together on assignments, but she never saw her outside of class. Even her Swedish roommate from her freshman year had never been around enough for Cress to hang out with, and although Eliza had also been nice, she had her own close nit of friends from Sweden that Cress didn't really feel welcome amongst.
She sighed, feeling rather pathetic and annoyed at herself, and hoisted her back further across her shoulder and pushed through the door and into her new apartment. She stifled yet another sigh as she surveyed her new 'home'. Well, she'd certainly got what she paid for. Apartments rarely come so cheap this close to campus, and now she knew why. Determined not to be brought down any further, she dropped her bag on the sofa bed and went to retrieve the rest of her bags from the taxi, determined to make the best of the situation. It might not be home yet, but it was nothing a shit load of fairy lights and 6 computer screens couldn't fix.
That night, after she'd unpacked nearly everything from its boxes, she trotted down the four flights of stairs – the elevator ironically broken – and out into Cambridge. Outside the sky was starting to darken, the sun just above the horizon, casting a red glow upon the side walk and the road. In this light the few leaves that had begun to turn red were lit up. Autumn was here. She stuffed her hands into her big woollen coat and strolled along the street, humming the tune to her favourite Opera song.
She headed deeper into the student area to where all the restaurants and independent coffee shops are. After her 15 hour flight and all the unpacking, she was now famished and her extraordinarily small kitchen was in no state to be making food tonight. In the main student area, she headed straight to her usual haunt, a small Italian restaurant on the street corner. It was very small, but popular with the local hipsters. Luckily, with College not starting yet for another couple of days, it was a lot less crowded that usual. The door bell sounded as she entered.
"Ah, Bella!" Cried the guy behind the small bar.
"My dear Cress! How are you?"
Smiling she skipped other to the bar.
"Fausto, I'm well thank you."
He showed her to her usual spot in the corner.
"Now my dear, would you like a menu or will you stick to the usual?"
"The usual please."
"No problem my dear, no problem!" he turned away from her and yelled towards the kitchen door, "Hey Antonio, Our girl Crescent Moon Has returned! One of the usual please!"
A disembodied voice replied from the kitchen.
"Fantastico!"
Cress giggled to herself as Fausto set about getting her a glass of water.
She had stumbled across Fausto's at the beginning of her freshman year, she had been strolling past when she'd glanced in and found its soft candle lit atmosphere. She had thought it was lovely, like something out of a romance movie. She often imagined herself, dressed up with a date sat across her, staring at her like the guys in the movies do, like she was the only girl in the world. In reality she had only ever visited Fausto's alone. This never bothered her too much though as Fausto and Antonio really were lovely and welcoming and had gotten to know her during her frequent visits.
Cress didn't have to wait too long before Fausto returned with a steaming bowl of cannelloni, her stomach growled at the sight of it. Fausto laughed.
"Buon appettito!" he chimed, placing the dish before her.
"Grazie." She replied.
She had only taken a few bites when he walked in, after spending the entire summer back home in England she'd almost forgotten he had existed. She almost inhaled her mouthful of cheesy cannelloni. The summer had not changed him, Carswell Throne was still as gorgeous as ever. Painfully so. And yet he would never notice her.
They after all inhabited two different worlds. He was the charming, entitled Politics student who had it all. The looks, the grades, the money and the girls. Whereas she was the nerd, the girl no one noticed, she wasn't rich either. In fact the only reason she was able to go to Harvard was because she managed to get a full scholarship, Cress had somewhat of an affinity with programming and technology.
So, despite all of her wildest fantasies, she and Carswell had never met.
She watched as he waltzed in, Fausto noticed him and yelled out happily and ushered him to sit down. He was more tanned than before, and he wore navy slacks, boat shoes and a grey sweater. A navy cap perched on his head, written across the front in white italics was 'Captain'. She took in every inch of him, his easy going demeanour to the lazy smile that spread across his face. He always seemed so at ease, at home in any situation.
She was so deep into her fantasies, something about her and Carswell sailing off into the sunset on a yacht, that she hadn't even noticed Carswell and Fausto pause from their animated conversation to look over to her. She sat up straighter, surprised.
"Bella?"
She blinked at Fausto's words, had he been speaking to her?
Confused she pointed at herself eyes wide.
"Me?" she squeaked.
"Si! Bella, Si!" He beckoned her over arm swinging wildly.
She stood warily to join them, trying hard no to trip as she rounded a chair.
"Bella, this is Signore Thorne. He is also a student at Harvard!"
"Hello" Cress attempted, somewhat weekly.
"A pleasure, Carswell Thorne at your service." He said with flourish, sapphire blues eyes twinkling as if he knew the exact affect he had on her.
Stars, he was even more attractive close up. As they both stood in momentary silence she realised she had failed to introduce herself.
"Oh! I, erm, I'm Cress Darnel." She paused unsure of herself. "Nice to meet you?"
His smile broadened and Cress couldn't help feeling like he was internally laughing at her, not as though mocking her, but she was bumbling and even she knew it. Stars, she hoped this exchange would be over quickly so she could retreat back into her quiet corner and wither in shame. Unsteady on her feet, she took a step back, only to back into the next table and knock the candle holder onto the floor. Cursing she quickly bent down to retrieve it. As she lent down, her hair got stuck on the side of the chair, yanking most of it out of its bun. She stood up quickly her long hair now spilling all over.
"Aces, is that all hair?!"
Fausto and Carswell were looking at her oddly. Fausto with embarrassment for her. And Carswell in disbelief. Cress yelped, inwardly cursing herself. She wanted to just run away and pretend she'd never spoken to him. She could see on Fausto's face that he knew he'd already made a mistake introducing them. Well, how was he supposed to know that Cress was a hopeless wreck, with a hopeless crush?
Somewhere in the back of her mind she had convinced herself that if the ever did meet, he would instantly see something none else had and fall for all her charm that was hidden away so deeply that not even she knew she had it. She had forgotten that she was a scraggly haired nerd with zero social skills.
No longer knowing how to respond, she just turned headed back to her table and picked up her bag. She retrieved the money from her purse and handed the exact change to Fausto as she quickly made her exit.
"Yeah, erm, it was nice meeting you." She called over her shoulder as she stepped out into the cool autumn evening air.