Given Time

♡7♡

When I walk into my first premajor psychology class, I find the room isn't half filled, which means I practically get the pick of the seats. I descend the steps and head down to the first row so I can get a perfect view of the teacher, where I spot only one other person sitting on the row. He looks well prepared as he already has his textbooks laid out on the desk, reading one of them. Seeing as he shows a keen interest in learning, I go sit next to him.

I drop my backpack and coffee on the desk, which causes the guy to stop reading and look at me. He immediately offers a friendly smile, which puts me at ease, and I return his gesture before pulling my textbooks out of my backpack.

"I'm glad to see someone else has come prepared beside me," I tell him, eyeing up his books.

His blond locks fall onto his face as he bends his head to meet mine. "Me too. I don't think a lot of people have come prepared. If you look around, loads of them only have a pen and scrap of paper."

I take my time to glance around the class, and I'm surprised to discover that he's right. I gasp. "That's shocking. I guess not everyone is taking this as seriously as they should be."

"Definitely," he says seriously, and I immediately like him. It's clear that we have the same mind frame when it comes to the importance of education.

"I'm Leah Preston."

"Ben Ames," he says, flashing a dimpled smile back.

We make small talk while we wait for the rest of the seats to fill up and the more I get to know him, the more I like him. I learn that he has a boyfriend named Toby and that he's studying biochemistry at the University of Michigan. When he tells me about him, I can't help but think back to what Zara said about long-distance relationships being hard. This makes me sympathize with Ben, knowing how much he must be missing Toby.

As the class fills, the professor writes his name on the whiteboard, then turns to the class. "Welcome to your first ever class. I am your teacher, Professor Williams. For this semester, I will attempt to make you understand what makes us human and why we think the way we do. The mind is a complex but truly fascinating thing!" he says in wonder.

The class goes silent as they take in what the professor is saying, and I can see Ben in the peripheral of my vision, jotting down notes. I like that he's already taking this seriously. Following his lead, I take my notepad out of my backpack and start making notes too.

After I exit my second class of the day, I realize it's time for lunch. I pull out my phone to call Zara and ask her where she wants to meet up, but I see she's already beaten me to it with a text.

Zara: I hope your classes are going as well as mine :) Meet me at CaféStrada. I've heard they have the best sandwiches.

Me: Okay, be there in ten.

I turn left on the path to look at one of the campus maps I spotted earlier to find it and I'm happily surprised when I see Ben standing by it. So far he's the only new friend I've made today and it'd be nice to get to know him some more. I adjust my bag on my shoulder and head over to him.

"Hi," I wave as he lifts his head and sees me.

"Oh, hey," he says enthusiastically. "You on you're lunch break too?"

"Yeah. Do you have any plans for it?"

"No, I was just going to wander around and see what they have."

"Do you want to join me and my roommate? She's really nice."

Ben's face lights up, and I get a flash of his dimpled cheek again. "That'd be cool."