The day came. Mom and dad dropped off my stuff at school, hugged me goodbye, and I was officially on my own. I met my roommate and we walked to the first night’s freshman gathering.

And who was I to see on my way over? Stacy. Not planned. I hadn’t reached out to her yet. But there she was, standing by a bench with her new roommate, about to walk into the building. I got her attention and she immediately remembered me.

Everyone else went in, but we stayed out and talked. For a half hour. On the bench. I don’t even know what about. Nothing. School stuff. I dunno. Flirting. Mindless.

We figured we should head in and join the group. It was in a gymnasium with rafters and it was packed. We spotted a place to sit, but there was only room for one of us on one set of seats and room for one of us on the next one down. She sat in front of me.

The speaker was long and boring and you could see it on everyone’s faces. Cell phones were out and you could see some students whispering. Stacy turned around and rolled her eyes at me, showing me how bored she was. When she turned back around to face the speaker, for some reason I confidently raised my hands up and put them on her shoulders in front of me. She immediately reached up and took my hands in hers and rested them on her shoulders. She slid back to be closer to me, and I pressed my thighs on both sides of her and wrapped one arm softly around her neck, and she grabbed onto my arm with both hands. I’m 18 and I’m at freshman orientation and I’m cuddling up with a girl that I had only talked to for 30 minutes prior. Nothing like this has happened before.