Resist Me Not

15

FIVE YEARS AGO

I woke up early on the first day of school, wanting to get to class before anyone else. I wanted to stake a claim on the best seat. Though, I'm sure no one would fight me to be at the front of my trigonometry class. I was in college now. More specifically, I was in N.Y.U. and I figured others would probably be as competitive as I was at wanting to succeed.

When I walked in, I didn't see anyone else there at first. Then I noticed a guy in the back row of the class sleeping with his head buried in his arms that were resting on his desk. I didn't intend to wake him, but when I went to pull out my chair, it screeched across the floor, startling him to attention.

"Hi." I smiled and couldn't help but notice a pair of beautiful eyes, even if they were slightly shielded by shaggy hair falling in his face.

"Hi." His sleepy voice rasped back.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you." I sat down in my seat and turned slightly towards his direction.

"It's fine. I wasn't asleep. I was just resting my head. I'm saving my sleep for when class itself has started." He chuckled.

I giggled awkwardly. Then more kids started making their way into the room, filling up the spaces between him and me. All through class, I couldn't help but find an excuse to look back at him. Thankfully he answered a good handful of the teacher's questions, so it would have been rude had I not looked when he spoke.

*****

After my first month in school, the guy in class had only talked to me in passing. He'd say hi to me, but that was about it. I wanted to talk to him more but didn't know what to say, so I usually just ended up not saying anything.

Then I finally saw him outside of class. Walter Mattson and his three suite-mates announced they were having people over and insisted that my roommate, Amanda, and I join. We didn't really know many people when we got there. At first, there was just a handful of us, but by the time midnight rolled around, it turned into a whole dorm party. Amanda and I were hanging out in the halls drinking Seagram's wine coolers and chatting with a few guys when I saw him walk out of Walter's room.

"Hey! Ryan, right?" I said a little louder then I intended.

"Hey, Victoria." He flashed me a cute dimpled smile that made his eyes stand out more.

"It's Vicky," I corrected.

"Oh, sorry. Professor Yang always calls you Victoria, so I just figured that's what your name was."

"Oh, no, it is Victoria." I placed a hand lightly on his arm. "But Victoria sounds like a grandmother's name. Which it should, since that's who I got my name from. But, anyway, people just call me Vicky."

Why was I rambling so awkwardly? I wasn't like that with any of the other guys at the party. Why was he making me so nervous?

"Well, Vicky, not Victoria. How would you and your friend." He gestured to Amanda, who was eyeing us while still talking to the other guys beside us. "Like to join Walter and me in his room? He's got some good green, and asked me to find some friends to come along."

"Wanna go, Amanda?" I turned to her and asked, giving her a signal with my eyes that "No" wasn't an option.

*****

"So you have two older brothers? That's cool!" I asked, feeling the buzz in my brain from the alcohol and the last shotgun Walter gave me.