🤔 The Meet-Cute: How to Botch it When You Meet a Really Cute Guy

💔 Conner, Part 1

I was elated when it finally happened, but it ended without warning, sending a crack through my heart that could only bleed out through my tears.

Walking through the crowded Student Center, I dodged teenagers, tables, and chairs as I headed toward the Arts Hall, located through the set of doors on the opposite side. I walked solo, my black messenger bag, the front flap styled with a collection of buttons from Hot Topic, was slung over my left shoulder; my black, curly hair, laced with highlights, bobbed up and down with each step I took.

I didn’t pay much attention to the people around me, deep in thought, either with stressors about school, thoughts from my previous class, or conversations I had that day. I wasn’t one of those girls who would get stopped in the hall to be talked to unless it was by someone I already knew.

Until that day.

“Hey, what’d you think of the show?”

I stopped and looked up at a tall guy with a smile in his eyes, his curly red hair messy, but cute, cut to a medium length atop his head. He was also clutching the strap of his messenger bag that ran across his torso and a T-shirt representing some band. Somehow, his khaki cargo shorts made him look taller, and white socks peeked out over the ankles of his Converse sneakers. His green eyes bore right into mine with sweet intensity, yet I returned the stare with confusion. I turned my head and looked over my left shoulder.

“Are you talking to me?” I asked him. I didn’t understand why I was stopped by this tall, cute guy that I’d never seen before on a path to my class that I had walked hundreds of times without interruption.

“Yes,” he said exasperatedly, along with a chuckle. “Who else would I be talking to?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Do you know me?”

“I saw you at the Music Pit on Friday,” he said.

“Oh!” I exhaled, my brown eyes brightening with a little comprehension. “Sorry, I must not have seen you.”

“You were standing right in front of me!” He sounded vexed. “The entire time my band was playing!”

“Oh.” I bit my lip, stalling as I thought back to Friday night.