Dan Dreiberg was on his way home from running errands when he saw her. He recognized the young woman, knowing her from school, where he had been a TA in one of her classes. Her name was Laurie, if he recalled correctly, and she had been a biology student.

He was a graduate student with a focus in ornithology, just working on finishing up his degree, and had done a lot of assistant teaching during his time in school. There had been a lot of students, but she had stood out to him back then for a lot of reasons, her magnetic personality and beauty among the foremost of them. He would have been lying if he said he hadn't been attracted to her, but it hadn't seemed appropriate to pursue something like that, and he hadn't known how to ask her to keep in touch once the class was over.

Seeing her on the streets now, he remembered just how much he had enjoyed talking to her back then, even when it just pertained to classwork, and he waved to her, calling out, "Laurie!"

She looked over at him, a small, generic smile on her face as she tried to place him. But then her smile turned more genuine and she waved back him, walking over to him. "Hey, it's you! It's been a while," she said.

"Sure has," he replied. "So, uh, how are things for you? Have you graduated yet?" She nodded and he said, "What were you studying again?"

"Majored in biology," she said, but he already knew that. Still, it felt more polite to ask. "And a minor in gender studies, but that didn't really relate to what I wanted to do. Now I'm just waiting to get into a vet school."

"So you want to be a vet?"

"Yeah, I've always loved animals," she said with a smile. "Ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted to work with them. But," she sighed, "sometimes that's easier said than done, and now I'm stuck waiting to finish up school."

"I'm sure it'll all work itself out eventually. But, uh, anything else interesting going on in the meantime?" he asked awkwardly.

"Not much, really. I'm not working anywhere right now or anything. My boyfriend makes pretty good money and we live together, so there hasn't been any need for it," she said.

He tried not to let his disappointment show when he heard her mention her boyfriend, and told himself that approaching her had been about more than trying to get a date, it had been about reconnecting with someone he wouldn't mind being friends with. "Now, I have a hard time believing there's nothing interesting going on," he said with a light chuckle.

"Well, you better believe it," she replied, also laughing. "I lost touch with a lot of my friends after graduation, so I don't really get out much unless it's on my own." Though she had laughed, he saw a sadness in her eyes, and he felt bad for her. She was clearly lonely, and in need of a friend, and he wanted to try to help her out.

"Say, you know, it'd be really nice to get to catch up," said Dan. "I mean, if you'd like to talk for a little while."

She looked hesitant for a moment, and he was sure that she was going to say no, but the she broke into a smile and said, "Why not? Not sure if I'm really interesting company, but I'll try not to bore you too much."

"I seriously doubt you could," he replied, "but I can't promise the same. Have you eaten?"

~X~

The two settled in at a small restaurant and fell into easy conversation. Laurie told him a little more about her relationship than he would have expected, from how they had begun all the way up to how things were between them at present, which wasn't very good. Perhaps that had a hand in her loneliness, and perhaps her loneliness had something to do with why she was telling Dan all of this right off the bat.

In another one of her classes, there had been a guest lecturer, a physicist named Jon, and she had been infatuated with him nearly instantly, from how she told it. She wasn't particularly interested in the subject and had just taken the class for credit requirements, but she said she hung on to every word her said. He was smart and she thought he was very handsome, and she would attempt to make conversation with him before and after every class.

Somehow, and she was not even sure how herself, she had managed to get a date with him, and they had been together ever since. Things had gotten serious enough between them for them to move in together, but she had always felt like something was off, like he was not as emotionally involved as she was and was merely going through the motions of a romance. More and more often lately, she wondered if there was anything between them at all.

She confessed all of this to Dan much too easily, and he realized he was right about her needing a friend. It was plain that she had had no one to talk to as her relationship had started to fail, and he felt selfish for ever being disappointed that she already had a boyfriend. If it was a friend that she needed, he would do what he could to be that for her.

He didn't have very many friends himself, but that was mostly by choice. Studying kept him busy, and he didn't mind having alone time. His closest friend was a man named Walter, an odd, quiet man who worked multiple jobs to make ends meet. Dan had recognized him working so many places that he had stopped to talk to him, and the two had hit it off, despite the other man being so reserved.

There was an amateur comedian that Dan liked to go see at a club, and he had brought Walter along many times. Walter liked the man's sense of humor anymore and sometimes seemed to enjoy going more than Dan did. It soon became a weekly tradition for them, but Walter had to do something at work that week, and would not be able to go.

"Say, Laurie, what are you doing Thursday night?" asked Dan. She looked up at him, surprised, and he realized how that might have sounded. "I mean...a friend of mine usually goes with me to this thing, and he can't make it this week, so I was wondering if you'd like to get out for a little bit."

"I...guess that could be fun," she said, considering it. She seemed to realize that he did not have ulterior motives- or even realized that he did, and was just doing a very good job of burying them. "What time?"

So he gave her the address and they agreed to meet up that Thursday, and he found himself very excited for the evening. He knew that it wasn't a date, and that she was not looking for anything more than friendship from him, but that was okay. She was a smart and funny woman, and she was sad and lonely, and he wanted to make her feel better if he could. Being friends with Laurie would be more than enough.