“What was his name?”
I watch as she furrows her brow.
“I can’t remember. But he was sooo handsome.”
“She’s still drunk,” Kaitlyn announces.
“Maybe a little,” Julianna admits.
“Come on,” Kaitlyn says, helping Julianna up from her seat. “Let’s get you upstairs.
I stand and put Julianna’s other arm around my neck and we help her slowly get up the stairs to her bedroom. We somehow manage to get her under the covers and watch as she snuggles into her pillows and smiles.
“I think I love him,” she sighs before she drifts off.
Kaitlyn and I exit the room and shut her door.
“Ten bucks says she doesn’t even remember him by the time she wakes up.”
I nod and we head downstairs.
“I met someone,” I comment as we get back to the kitchen.
Kaitlyn stops pouring cream into her coffee and turns around to look at me.
“Really? Who?”
“His name is Daniel and he helped me bring some packages in when I first got here.”
“And why haven’t I heard about this guy before now?”
I shrug my shoulders and take a sip of my coffee.
“I think he was just being nice, but Julianna’s drunken raving about the guy she was with being so handsome reminded me of this guy. He was …”
“You’re blushing!” Kaitlyn smiles back at me.
“He was really, really hot,” I admit.
“And?”
I sigh.
“And nothing. He’s a grad student and saw an undergraduate struggling to get some boxes in. I’m sure he’s got a girlfriend.”
“Maybe not.”
“He is working as an assistant to one of my professors, so maybe I’ll get to see him again. If I do, I’ll point him out to you just so you can see him.”
“That good-looking huh?”
“Better,” I admit. “And he was nice. And smart. And kind and funny and …”
“Wow! You really do like him! How long was he here?”
“Only about fifteen minutes. I’m sure it was one-sided though. He didn’t even ask for my number.”
“Maybe he was just playing it cool.”
“Or maybe he’s got a serious girlfriend and was just being a nice guy helping me out. I mean really. A guy that looks like that and has great personality is always taken. It’s only the jerks who are single.”
“We just got to school, there are plenty of fish in the sea, my friend. Plenty of handsome fish in the sea. Don’t be so cynical.”
“I’m trying not to be,” I smile. “I just got burned by too many guys in high school and then there was that one guy last year who was engaged while I was dating him!”
“He was a creep. All guys are not like that.”
“I know. I’m not giving up. At least not yet.”
“Good. When’s your first class?”
“Monday at nine in the Business Building.”
“Is it Economics?”
“How’d you know?”
“Because I think Julianna and I have the same class that morning.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Is it professor Burke?”
“Yes!”
“That’s the one!”
“Ooooo,” I half whisper. “That’s the professor Daniel is assisting.”
“So I guess we’ll find out if Mr. Perfect is really all that,” Kaitlyn smirked.
“You’ll see,” I sigh. “You’ll see.”
I know it’s silly, but I haven’t seen Daniel since that day he helped me move some of my boxes. Believe me, I looked! I figured today I would probably run into him either going to or coming from Professor Burke’s class. I just wanted to get an advanced look at him again to see if he’s as handsome as I remember him being.
“What are you wearing to class tomorrow?” Kaitlyn teased as I was heading upstairs to go to bed.
“I don’t know,” I yawned, feigning ignorance at her question.
“Yes, you do,” she smirked, settling herself down to finish reading the chapter she was engrossed in.
“Fine,” I stopped and sat down on the stairs. “I’m thinking of wearing my white shorts with that blue linen camp shirt.”
“Oooooh good choice,” Kaitlyn says, closing her book and sitting up. “That shirt makes your eyes look even bluer.”
“What are we talking about?” Julianna comes in from the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn.
“Sarah’s ‘perfect man.’”
I frown and roll my eyes.
“I never said he was perfect.”
“Yes, you did,” they both say in unison.
“Fine. Maybe I did. But really, no one is perfect. He’s just the first man and not boy I’ve met here at school that I’m interested in.”
“And you think we’ll see him tomorrow?”
“He works with Dr. Burke and that’s who all three of us have for class in the morning.”
I notice Julianna has an odd look on her face.
“Is something wrong?” I ask.
“No,” she quickly assures me, popping a kernel in her mouth and chewing. “I feel like there’s something I know about Dr. Burke, but I can’t recall what it is.”
“You’ll probably figure it out when we get to class tomorrow.”
“I hope so,” she smiles. “I hate not remembering something that I’m supposed to know.”
I head upstairs and thankfully fall right to sleep. The next morning I wake up and take my shower, blow dry my hair and make sure my makeup is perfect. If I do see Daniel again, I want to make sure he remembers me like this and not the hot mess I was that day he helped me bring the boxes in.
I head downstairs to find Kaitlyn and Julianna waiting for me.
“Come on,” Kaitlyn smiles. “Julianna and I can’t wait to see what this guy looks like!”
I was nervous walking into the building, let alone the classroom, but just as I’d half-hoped and half-dreaded, there he was in the front of the classroom. He noticed me right away and our gazes locked.
For those first few seconds, it was almost like it was just the two of us. My stomach was in knots, my knees grew weak and all I could see was him.
Somehow, I manage drag my gaze away and find a seat, but the flush in my cheeks heated my face. I was embarrassed by my reaction, but would occasionally sneak a peak at him and when I did, I would see him staring at me. My stomach flipped each time and my cheeks grew hotter.
I wondered if maybe, just maybe, he was hoping to see me again too. He was the professor’s teaching assistant, he must have seen the class roster and seen my name. It’s not like the class size was one of those classrooms that held several hundred students. There were probably only about fifty of us in there.
In truth, I could barely concentrate and wondered if I would have to change classes. I couldn’t afford to lose my scholarship and I don’t think I’d be able to focus on what Dr. Burke was teaching with Daniel in class each day.
When Dr. Burke introduced him to the class, I found out his last name.
Rothschild. Daniel Rothschild. I wondered momentarily if he was related to “those” Rothschilds. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was.
All I could think about during that first class was how his eyes were even greener than I remembered. Not like a dirty green, but just a deep, pure green almost like moss. I wondered for a moment if they might be colored contacts because I’d never seen eyes that color. He even had dimples when he smiled and as I looked around the lecture hall, I realized I was not the only one in that class to be mesmerized by our new teaching assistant.
The two girls sitting directly behind me whispered about exactly what they’d like to do to him after class. One was certain he was staring at her. The other wondered aloud if he had a girlfriend to which her friend replied, “How could he not? He’s gorgeous! Oh, to be that girlfriend – I’d never let him get out of bed.”