Riley and I walk towards the student center where the Starbucks was where we first met 24 hours ago. I can’t help but feel so loved by a complete stranger. How can someone I just met make me feel so happy, so alive than all those friends I’ve had in the past? We walk in silence towards our destination.
We walk past hundreds of beautiful girls, but I could feel his eyes digging into my back. I turn to him and break the silence. We’re 20 feet in front of the entrance and I let out, “Hey, Riley, why me?”
“Why you what,” he says so confused. “Our school is flooded with beautiful, attractive girls, and you’re standing here talking to me,” I say honestly.
“Hey, I get to like whatever and whoever I want, okay,” he says sounding a little hurt.
“I’m sorry, I just can’t—“ he stops me before I could say anything more and he just hugs me. I feel my body begin to loosen up itself and I feel my mouth forming a smile. I let him hold me because I don’t know what else I’d be doing. Just being in his embrace made me forget about the world for a minute.