I tapped my pen against my desk and played the latest Green Day song in my head. It was annoyingly on repeat ever since it had played on the radio. I stared down from my high-leveled seat towards my college professor. I wasn't alone in my boredom. The various other student listened to iPods, texted, and talked. No one seemed to give a crap.
I momentarily forgot why I had chosen to attend NYU as opposed to Columbia and Yale. I believe it was because I was so sure that a school like NYU would more likely be occupied with 'regular' students. I wanted to be around people, not socialites and nerds on scholarships.
"Miss Dandridge," the professor said mid-way through his speech. A young blonde girl perked up her near-asleep head. She tossed her head back and let out a yawn. "Seeing as you were paying such good attention, why don't you list some of the members of the Tudor dynasty?"
"I… uh…" she mumbled. I couldn't seen her face because I sat so far behind her, but it was obvious that she was clueless. She paused a moment before confidently saying, "King Henry VII, Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I."
The class stood quiet. It certainly wasn't the toughest question to answer by far; however this was a student who I had never heard spoken in class before. I had heard her giggle and gossip amongst friends and a guy who I presumed to be her boyfriend, but that was it. Many other students stared and probably thought like I did.
After a moment, I picked up my head and dropped my pencil on the ground. In the silence, it sounded light a jet flying over us. The whole class turned around to see the source of the sound, including Dandridge. She stared at me with a cocked-up eyebrow before turning around like nothing had happened.
I awkwardly grinned and picked up my pencil before the whole class forgot the event. Not just the pencil, but Dandridge's little display of Tudor knowledge too.
Ten minutes later, we were dismissed from class. Everyone grabbed their things and left, but I moved a little slower than the rest of them. They were all eager to get the weekend started, but I had no hurry. I strolled down the steps and noticed a large European History book sitting on the floor near the aisle. I picked it up and opened the front cover. 'LACEY DANDRIDGE' was imprinted on it neatly. I flipped through a couple of pages. Unlike mine, her book was clear from any notes, highlights, or even dog-ears. It was near perfect aside from the few scratches on the cover.
I held it under my arm, next to the other books, and walked out of class. I stood on my toes and looked over the crowd of students. She was nowhere to be found. After a while, I learned that Lacey would most likely be spending her afternoon at a coffee shop at the corner of Broadway and 42nd.
After a short period of contemplating, I decided to make my way to the coffee shop and return it to her. It wasn't as if I had better things to do.
Arriving at the shop, I suddenly found myself feeling like a moron before I even saw her. She sat in a back corner, sipping a tall coffee, and listening to her iPod. She flipped through a magazine and appeared to be mouthing the lyrics to whatever song she was listening to. Her head bobbed to the beat.
I walked up to the cashier and ordered a basic coffee. As she ranged up my order, she noticed me looking back at Lacey.
"Lacey Dandridge?" she said, not looking up from the cash register.
I looked back at her. "Yeah, so what?"
She chuckled. "She is so out of your league. That'll be dollar eighty-seven."
I rolled my eyes and handed her a five out of my wallet. Didn't she think I already knew? I was just trying to give her back her textbook. Being a good citizen, and all that shit.
"Or not."
I glared back at the cashier. "What do you mean?"
"That's a six-hundred dollar wallet. Money like that can give you up to five extra points on the attractive scale."
I looked at my wallet for a moment. I never knew how much it cost. My mother had given it to me for a high school graduation present, and I never thought twice.
"Three thirteen's your change. Have a nice day." She gave me my coffee and change along with a 'good luck, you'll need it' smile.
"Thanks…" I dragged. Her smile was right. I was going to take all the luck that I needed. I sat at a table right next to Lacey, but was too big of a pussy to just right off the bat tell her that I had her book. As time progressed, it seemed to be more and more difficult. What was I supposed to say? Hey, I found your book after class and was to big of a prick to just drop it off here. So, I instead decided to sit here and stare at you like a total asshole. Have a nice day.
Instead, I decided to not notice who she was. Something would happen so that she would make a small scene, I would pull an 'oh, you're Lacey Dandridge?' and it would be over.
"Yes, this is Lacey Dandridge."
Fuck. That actually worked? I looked over at her and saw her talking on her cell phone.
"Yes? Twelve tomorrow? Yeah, that'll be fine. M'kay. Thanks."
This was my last chance to say something without being a complete moron. "Hey, are you Lacey Dandridge?"
She nodded hesitantly. "Yeah. Can I help you?"
"I found you're book, and someone told me you might be here. Here you go," I said, handing her the heavy textbook.
Lacey smiled, stood up, and took the book with both hands. When I got up, I realized how short she was. Maybe five-two at most. She hauled her purse over her shoulder and picked up another of her text books. "Thank you. I am so damn forgetful sometimes."
"It didn't look like that in class. It must take a good bit of memory to memorize all that about the Tudors."
She laughed and looked away. "Ah, you remember that. I was just lucky, I guess. My name's Lacey, as you know."
"Right," I said smiling back. She stared at me for a moment before it finally clicked. "Oh! I'm Chris."
She laughed again. I had to admit, it was kind of cute. "Nice to meet you, Chris. I gotta go." She was still out of my league.
"No, of course. I guess I'll see you around sometime."
Lacey nodded and headed for the door. "Yeah."
I picked up my own books before I heard: "Actually…" I perked my head back at her. I couldn't even believe she was going to give me another sentence. "There's a party at my place tonight. If you'd like to come hang out, you're welcome to do so."
I nodded a little too eagerly. "Yeah, great."
"Corner of fifth and twelfth. Nine o'clock."
"I'll be there." She had already left.
