The mood is tense and words are hard to come by. Everyone’s hunched over a stack of books in their respective carrels in the Mugar Memorial Library. Either fueled purely by Starbucks and Panda Express or operating on a maximum of 5 fitful hours of sleep, they are blanched and pale, stressed and unhappy. Yes, it’s finals week. GPAs are either made or broken these next coming weeks. No one’s got time to be messing around with other mundane and banal stuff like finding love or boyfriends.
That’s where you’re wrong. I am, of course. Me, the perennially single girl with a penchant for funny stories and choosing the wrong guys, was doing this. Instead of cramming for my two finals (one of which is cumulative, URGH!) and writing final essays, I was pining for this guy I had met through the BU Facebook group before orientation. Let’s call him Ryan (not his real name, duh).
We had started talking on the group because we have the same major. Right from the get-go, he was talkative and funny. He’d read the same books as I’d had (which was pretty impressive, because I have a pretty obscure taste in novels). He was funny in a quirky way, polite, and carried the conversation well. And then, out of nowhere, he stopped talking to me. He left me on read. The nerve of him!
Maybe he just forgot, I told myself worriedly. Weeks passed by, and then a month. I had forgotten about him. Fast forward to orientation, and I spot this guy, dressed eclectically in classic tourist garb. Knee-length khakis and a bright blue button-down shirt imprinted with floral patterns. I glance at him and sort of gasp in recognition before ducking out of his line of view.
Do I say hi? Do I pretend I’ve forgotten how to speak English and speak German instead? I was undergoing a full-blown mental breakdown. Luckily for me, he didn’t spot me, or at least, if he did, he made no sign that he knew who I was. I was quite upset, but as they say, time heals all wounds. And truly it did. Once again, Ryan, the eclectic dresser from Facebook, was consigned to the deepest recesses of my memory.
Until, one fine day, I was traipsing through the precocious world of online dating, swiping away on profiles and I find the very same boy. Could it be, I wonder? I gulped and swiped right. Hey, if you don’t take chances, then is life even worth living?
To my intense surprise and delight, he swiped right too! We matched! I could have cried with joy. Were things finally taking a turn for the better in my parched dry Sahara desert of a love life? Did my tired eyes spot an oasis of a relationship just ahead? So I, of course, ask him out for dinner.
I’m a total complete wreck an hour before. I’m sweating and I have to shave my legs and underarms. Just in case, you know. Dinner rolls around, and he’s chatty and funny and witty and he makes me laugh. I have a chicken taco and a pizza slice. He has some food that I’m not paying attention to at all.
I really like him, and we go for a walk after dinner. It’s cold but worth it. He comes up to my room, but my roommate is there. We talk for a while and he leaves. I decide I honestly, genuinely do like him. We keep chatting online and oh my GOSH, I’m catching feelings.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so head-over-heels genuinely and not superficially. We like the same music, (Velvet Underground, anybody?). He’s very polite and asks how I feel all the time and what I want to do. He makes me laugh (which is surprisingly hard to do) and he doesn’t really care what anyone else thinks.
Background: I’ve been hurt pretty badly by some crushes, mostly unrequited and the ones that have been reciprocated ended in less than satisfactory circumstances. He also had a bad breakup but was totally honest about it.
Could this be the crush that blossoms into a relationship and a healthy one at that? I don’t quite know yet. It depends entirely on his ability to appreciate my absolute love for ABBA. I have a good feeling about this one though. Fingers crossed! We’ll see in the next episode of Misadventures of A Romantically Challenged Freshman In College.
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