Why was she awake at 7:00 am sharp? Why had that been the absolute worst 4 hours of sleep in her entire life? Why was it only 4 hours long?
Padmé groaned, pulling the duvet as far as she could to cover her head, curling into herself. She had exactly two hours left to pull her shit together. Less, by the time she actually accepted the reality that she was awake.
You're an idiot. You could've chosen any time, and you picked 9am for your date. With Anakin. A date with Anakin? A. Date. With. Anakin.
"Get it together, Padmé," she scolded.
Part of her was in disbelief that those were actual words that had formed in her mind. The other part was still asleep and pretty convinced this was all a dream. One she would wake up from soon enough, finding herself refreshed, ready to get back to studying, and having nothing to do with that tall, gorgeous piece of…
Fuck. She was so screwed.
She threw the blanket back again, rolling onto her side and blinking a few times until the blurriness cleared from her vision. It was… oddly quiet. Not even the faintest trace of Dormé's usual not-quite-snoring noises from across the room were heard. Padmé sat up, looking around. There were no lights left on. No hum of the noisy bathroom fan that maintenance refused to have replaced. No… wrinkles in her sheets.
Her roommate was one for nights of… passion… but she never stayed out all night that Padmé could recall. As she reached around for her phone, wherever it had gone after her last 'toss of shame' as she was going to forever remember them, the rustling of keys grabbed her attention while the lock on the door clicked. Dormé crept quietly into the room, not bothering to glance up and notice Padmé sitting upright in the middle of her bed.
"How's the weather out there this morning?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend. Still dressed in everything from the night before, Dormé was usually on top of not looking like there was a single hair out of place. She gave no such concern this morning with half of her hair in its neat and tidy braid, the other half wild, and any remains of her makeup smudged or gone from her face.
Dormé jumped, turning to press her back against the door, holding the center of her chest. "What the fuck, Padmé? Just scared the shit out of me."
Padmé grinned, cocking her head to the left. "Night went well? Did you leave a note this time?"
"This is not a walk of shame…" Dormé motioned up and down her body before stepping into the bathroom. "And I gave him my real number. That's better than a note."
"Of course it isn't! What did you say we were calling them now?"
"Stride of pride!"
Stride of pride. She shook her head, laughing as she covered her face. The insulting phrase 'walk of shame' could die in a hole, but it still killed her every single time she heard Dormé say a stride of pride.
"That's right. Well, you're striding very pridefully this morning," she said with a grin as Dormé stood in the hall wiping her face with a towelette. "And your real number? It must've been good."
"And you're still in the pajamas I left you in, meaning you didn't listen to me at all. Y'know, those books in the library are still there even if you're not at the door when the place opens."
She rolled her eyes and flipped her middle finger up. "Very funny. That's not why I'm up, actually."
Dormé returned the gesture, turning back towards the bathroom. "Please don't say it's because you were worried about me. You're such a mom friend!"
"Someone has to be when the rest of you are just out there forgetting to check in!"
"Whatever, Padmé," she managed, as she brushed her teeth. "What's the reason, then? You swore off jogging so you wouldn't run into Palo already. Change your mind?"
"God, no. I have a breakfast date…" she mumbled, half under her breath, equal parts hoping and not hoping to be heard.
The running water cut off immediately. "Did you just say a date? Like a real one, or a study date or some other nerd thing?"
Was she that bad? She really hoped not. Anakin didn't seem to think so… Or did he? She did work in the writing center. And only saw him in academic settings. Never bumping into him at a party, even the ones her sorority threw, just seeing him occasionally from afar. Not that he'd have any reason to look at…
Ugh. If her plan wasn't to freeze up and fall out of her chair when they sat down with coffee, she needed to get out of her damn head. And do it yesterday.
"The faith you have in me is endless!"
"I just—" Dormé stepped out for the last time in her bathrobe, promptly falling face-first into her bed as soon as her knees hit the edge. "—am surprised. With who?"
"Anakin…"
Padmé had never seen a person move as fast as Dormé did, pushing herself up on her arms with eyes a mile wide. Her jaw slackened, mouth falling open.
"I'm sorry, with Anakin? Like the Anakin?"
Padmé hid her face in her hands, her knees immediately coming up to her chest. To be struck by lightning now would be an act of mercy. "How many Anakins do you know, exactly?"
"You have a date with Anakin Skywalker? What in the fuck happened in here while I was gone last night? When? Where? How?" She sprung to her feet, climbing onto Padmé's bed instead, crossing her legs beneath her and tapping both hands on her knees. "Tell me everything!"
Padmé had 15 minutes, and an 8 minute walk. A roommate that was thoroughly caught up on the entire brief saga that this date had become. And an incessant need to pace like a caged animal with nowhere to go.
"Do I leave now? Is that too early? Are you sure I don't need to dress… I don't know… Better?" Padmé turned to glance in the mirror, propped up in the corner of their dorm room.
Her roommate's advice came in the form of grunts and groans, thumbs up and down, from a slit in the covers just wide enough for her to see. The most enthusiastic comment from Dormé came when Padmé suggested she could just wear sweats, purely as a joke, of course.
But it sent Dormé into a tizzy, ripping through her closet and tossing everything from t-shirt dresses, to her running shorts, to the one formal gown she brought with her from home for any actual events she needed to attend, into her open arms. Her bed now looked like her closet threw up on it, along with the chair and part of the floor. Just for them to settle on an olive green, twist front top, reluctantly showing off her midriff, and a pair of ripped jeans that Dormé insisted she borrow despite her protest.
"Since when can you go wrong with crop tops and high-waisted jeans?" She grumbled under her blankets.
"How should I know? You're the fashion-expert around here. I just listen and try to take notes."
"Shut up, Padmé. You're gorgeous. He's a boy. He'll drool."
There was her sign that sleep exhaustion had officially rotted her friend's brain. Resident playboy, athletic, team captain Skywalker had zero reason to be doing any such thing. Over her, especially. Women, and probably a few men, drooled over him, not the other way around.
"Well, wish me luck. Just in case." She threw an extra blanket over Dormé, slipping sandals on her feet, and tucking her cellphone in her back pocket. Dormé groaned out something Padmé was taking as support before rolling over onto her stomach. Chances were she wouldn't have moved a muscle or remembered that conversation when she got back, anyway.
Her hand trembled as she reached for her phone again. Why the hell was she this nervous?
If you didn't want to go, you could've said no and still been sleeping.
Maybe she'd switch her major to medicine, or psychology, so she could figure out if there was an actual way to turn off one's own brain. He told her he'd be waiting for her. He reached out. He asked. He was also shockingly bad at flirting. Not that she was in any place to pass judgments, but that may be his one flaw so far that she could hang on to, dimming his otherwise godlike energy.
"Or you could just stop thinking about him as anything other than a college student. Did you ever think of that, brainiac?" she said to herself, walking past the resident assistant at the end of her hallway.
The guy at the desk looked at her quizzically, before she whipped out her phone and made a half-assed gesture she hoped made her appear less weird than him catching her having an out loud argument with herself. He shrugged before leaning back in his chair and putting his earbuds back in. Before she pushed her way through the door, she gave him her best tightlipped smile. Good thing she didn't actually know that guy.
Ten minutes left to pull your shit together now, she thought, rushing toward the quad. They were the shortest ten minutes of her life.
She walked around the backside of the library, watching as other students poured into the automatic doors, thinking about how that was where she probably should go instead of getting coffee. Just behind a thick, concrete pillar near the front of the building, she stopped to take a deep breath, collecting the last of her thoughts and casting all the negative ones aside. It hadn't even been that long ago that she was with Palo. And, like it or not, both he and Anakin were the same on some basic level. If this all went horribly wrong, she'd chalk it up to scientific research and kick that stupid app to the curb, never to be seen again.
With her breath settled, and the sweat wiped from her palms, she stepped out into the open breeze and looked around. No one. Where… Padmé pulled out her phone, double-checking the time, triple-checking her message, making sure he hadn't proceeded to block her since their plan originated.
No. He definitely said he'd be waiting. And she was definitely right on time. Except he wasn't there.
"This is just great," she murmured. She sighed, leaning her back on the pillar once again to get a small rock out of her sandal, brainstorming what to do now.
Going home immediately and forgetting the entire experience was still an option. Going to Starbucks anyway was, too. And so was ducking into the library where she rightfully belonged. So why, oh, why, did she wander further into the sunlit space in front of her to find this man instead? She held her hand up, shielding her eyes from the sun. Whatever she thought of some of his social behavior, he wouldn't actually stand her up. Would he? Had he?
"Padmé!" a voice rang out, echoing under the concrete overhang behind her. She spun on her heels and almost fell right on her ass, noticing Anakin barreling her way.
Every thought left her head, along with every other doubt, worry, or concern. All of them replaced by her inability to focus on anything other than his long, easy strides, how damn handsome he looked with his dark blond hair pulled into a bun at the back of his head, and how fucking tall he was as he slowed his approach.
"H-hi," she said, shaking the nerves from her voice. She hoped.
"Wow. You are beautiful," he said, unabashedly looking her up and down.
"Thank you." Her face had to be hot enough to fry an egg on now… "I didn't see you out front…"
"Fuck. Sorry, I swear I was sitting here for like an hour, in case you came early. But I—"
An hour? Now her waiting around to be casually late, or just on time, seemed… An hour?! Never mind that. She glanced up at his face and… Was that a light pink on his cheeks? Was he blushing too?
"Well, before this, I took my morning run, chugged like a liter of water. Then I rushed over here. So, I had to go and use—"
Oh, god. Now that her brain and ears had caught up with the rest of the world, she waved her hand to stop him.
"No, it's totally fine! I just got here. Don't explain…" Please, she wanted to beg. Please don't explain any further.
"I am so bad at this," he muttered quietly. He ducked his head to the side, not without her catching a glimpse of a bright, toothy smile while the flush on his face deepened. Anakin finally looked back at her and she let go of her bottom lip that she was chewing on during the awkward silence. "I'm so sorry. Let's start over."
Probably a good idea for the both of them.
Padmé smiled, extending her hand. "Sounds good. I'm Padmé."
He took it, smirking back at her. "Anakin."
"Hey, you wanna go get a coffee or something?"
At this, he gave a short laugh before nodding his head. "Yeah, think I would. Happen to know this great place, too."
"Really?" she asked. "And where's that?"
"Guess you'll have to follow me and find out," he said, tugging on her hand before they were on the move again.
She didn't know which she noticed first. The lack of a visceral reaction to have her hand settled in his for this long, or his lack of letting it go. Perhaps most notable of all, though, was how it felt absurdly comfortable, despite all of her trepidations. It was so bold of him, too. Unexpected. Impulsive. Assuming. And… attractive.
"Guess I will," she said, her mouth moving before her thoughts completely processed.
This was it. She was officially strolling through the center of the quad, hand-in-hand, with this man. This was either the start to the best, or worst, decision of her life. Unfortunately for her poor overthinking brain, only time would tell.