I took a sip of the coffee, all that was left. It promised that my next latte would be divine, and the coffee cake melted in my mouth.
"By the expression on your face, I should have gotten some of that."
I choked.
"Are you okay?"
I nodded frantically, trying not to spit crumbs everywhere as I got my traitorous body under control. After a minute I managed, though I was sure my blush was visible, even over my naturally dusky colored skin. "I'm sorry." Why did the guy from the coffee shop have to follow me out here? I was so embarrassed, I never wanted to see him again.
"It was my fault, as I said. Here." He held out a new paper cup. "Peace offering."
"Thank you," I replied hesitantly. Then I frowned. His shirt was clean? I know I had soaked the white polo in coffee. Now it was just a white polo, no stains, no dampness where he might have washed it off.
He noticed my attention, however didn't say anything about his shirt.
"May I join you?"
"Uh, sure." I pushed the mystery away for later. Maybe I wasn't remembering properly?
"I'm Alex."
"Sofia. Nice to meet you." I tried not to let my hesitation show in my voice. "Thanks for the replacement coffee."
"Of course. Their drinks are fantastic. It would be a shame if you didn't actually get to taste one. Are you new here? I haven't seen you before."
Great, a local even. Sunnyglade wasn't a large town, even with the college. Lots of ranchers and ski enthusiasts, along with the people who worked at the college. It was also a tourist town. Why didn't he ask if I was a tourist?
"Yes. You live here?"
He nodded, turning his attention from me to the mountain view I had recently admired. "I've lived here for a few years. Are you here for college?"
"How did you know?"
"You're not really dressed like a tourist, and it's a little off season. We'll get snow soon, but it's too early for the ski bums, and it's a little late for the hiking and vacationing crowd."
"It is? Wait, did you say it would snow soon? It's mid-August."
"Welcome to life at altitude." He grinned. "It's not that bad. Then you can ski and snowshoe. Freshman?"
"Yes. You?"
He nodded.
Great, he went to Sunnyglade College, too. I'd never be able to live the coffee incident down.
"I, uh, need to get over to the college, speaking of. I have a few appointments before classes start next week." I stood.
"Mind if I walk you over? I am headed that way."
Really? Damn it. "Uh, sure."
He stood and fell in next to me. We sipped our coffees in silence, and I tried not to be too obvious about studying the guy next to me. He was tall, fair skinned, and his blond curls were rather adorable. He didn't seem to be especially muscular. If there was any extra weight on him at all, I didn't know where he was hiding it. Maybe he was a distance runner? His eyes grabbed me when I accidently made contact, and I quickly looked away. My initial impression of sapphire blue was correct, but I swear I saw a green shine to them this time when the sunlight lit up his face. Strange.
Still, he seemed content to walk in silence, and we covered the short distance to the college admin building quickly.
"This is my stop," I said when we arrived. The quarried limestone building was a couple of stories high, and stretched back from the road for a fair distance. I had been inside a few times now, and it was nicely appointed and modern on the inside.
"I hope we run into each other again soon." He laughed. "Um, pardon the unintentional joke. Perhaps not quite so literally."
I smiled. "Yeah, that'd be great."
He gave a quick wave and continued on down the sidewalk, and I tore my eyes away before he turned and caught me staring. He was certainly athletic. It was almost enough to distract me from the mystery of his clean shirt. Almost.
∞ ∞ ∞
I attached the fob to my keychain, looked at the map the counselor had given me, and contemplated the small microcosm that would dominate my life for the next four years. Though I hadn't declared a major yet, there was at least a year's worth of core classes everyone had to take. I had some time to decide.
The map conveniently showed landmarks too and named the mountain peaks. I hadn't really realized the mountains would have individual names. Interesting.
A breeze tickled my short bob haircut, and I absently pushed some loose strands behind my ear as I headed for the freshman girls' dorm. There was enough housing for everyone to live on campus, although only freshman were required to. I wondered if my roommate would be here yet. Today was the first day the dorms were open for moving in, and I wanted to check out my room and go through my class schedule.
Most of the buildings on campus were the same quarried limestone as the administration building. Here and there I spotted brick, and I had heard that the library had a granite façade. St. Giles Library was high on my list of places to visit today.
I turned off the main road and followed a sidewalk between two buildings. Even in a small campus in what should be a safe town in the mountains, I saw emergency stations at all the major corners. It wasn't busy yet, but still, many young people hurried about. Some wore orange safety vests with the words 'safe walk' across the back. Even here we had to worry. It made me a little sad, yet also glad that the campus took student safety seriously.
The dorm I would live in for the next year wasn't far from the admin building, though nothing really was on this smaller campus. I went up to the front door and pulled. Locked. I'd heard stories about buildings that said they had a locked entrance but really didn't,
