[OCTOBER 5, 1990 – Friday, 12:15 pm]
Derek
When I entered the crowded room, I looked around urgently. Could he have finished eating already and gone on to his next class? I bypassed the line at the main food bar and headed around to the largest of the open dining areas. Where was that red hair I’d spotted so easily across the Quad? I turned a corner and there he was. He was smiling, chatting with his friends, eating, all as if he hadn’t uprooted my entire world with a look.
I made my way across the dining area on knees suddenly gone watery. I stopped at the redhead’s elbow just as he turned around to face me. His eyes were brilliant, clear blue, and fixed on me standing there.
I stared back at him. Words… I need words, I thought desperately, but my mind was a blank.
I had to say something. “Hey, um, my name’s Derek.” A pause, awkward and strange. “I saw you on the Quad a bit ago.” I offered the golden leaf. “I think you dropped this.”
The redhead looked at the golden leaf. He reached for it, his eyes going wide, and said, “I thought it was a butterfly when it landed on my glasses.” He took it in his long slender hand, twirled it this way and that.
“I thought they looked like butterflies, too,” I replied. “The way they were fluttering up in the tree. All golden and beautiful. Like a documentary on Monarchs I saw once.”
Apparently, I’d found my words and now couldn’t stop talking. “Anyway, it was so beautiful, I thought you might like to have it. To keep. Or whatever.”
The redhead smiled again. “Yeah, I do, thanks,” he said slowly. “Hey, I’m Peter…” his voice trailed off as he studied my face.
“I’m Derek,” I said again. I couldn’t look away from those blue eyes.
He pulled a pen and two slips of paper from his backpack. “Can I get your number?”
I wrote my info on the bit of paper and handed it to Peter. He took the pen and wrote on the other slip, then handed it to me. We smiled at each other. I couldn’t look away but couldn’t think what to say next.
I guess I used up my words, I thought madly.
A sudden outbreak of throat-clearing broke the spell. The other members of Peter’s lunch group were getting ready to go.
“Yo, Peter, move it,” said a short, full-figured brunette. She picked up her tray and pulled on Peter’s arm.
“Yeah, man, we don’t want to be late for Professor Andrew’s exciting Econ 3 lecture,” a blonde guy added.
Peter turned away from me as he got up from his chair. He grabbed his bag from the floor, straightened up, turned back, and his clear blue eyes met mine again. “I’ll give you a call later, OK? So we can talk.” He pushed his glasses up on his nose and tilted his head to one side. “If that’s OK?”
Once again, I couldn’t look away. Wow, this guy was tall. And handsome. Tall and handsome. “OK, that’s great…I’d like that,” I stammered, nodding like an idiot. Where’d my confidence gone?
Peter nodded, too. “OK so, we’ll talk later? That’s good with you?”
The short brunette, impatient to get going, interjected, “Yes, yes, it’s good; you’ll both talk later.” She pulled again at Peter’s arm. “Come on, let’s go.”
With a short laugh, Peter turned to go. He followed his friends, but just as he got to the door, he glanced back at me. I was still standing rooted to the spot by the table. He gave a wave and another bright smile and left.
The sound of the door slamming broke me from my trance, and I shook myself. I glanced at my watch, had only a few minutes passed? I still had time to eat lunch before my next class if I hurried. Still shaking my head, I moved quickly to the food line.
The View from Mt. Hope 