Two Shall Be One

     After weeks of this seemingly hopeless ploy to get this scholarly lad in the high top sneakers to notice me, my quest paid off.     My roommate somehow managed to discover his name.  I think she got pretty sick of me talking about this nameless person and wanted to put an end to my misery as well as her own.  Living in close quarters will do that to you.  I found out later that she used her pre-med intellect to dig up his name from the freshman directory we had all been given so that we could “get to know” our fellow classmates.  I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of that but this was one fellow I definitely wanted to get to know.  Maybe that’s why I wasn’t pre-med.  Their minds were always on over-drive..

     As luck would have it our university was sponsoring a “Fix Your Roommate Up With  A Date” dance the following weekend.  Well, after much begging and pleading with my roommate (I think there was laundry involved also) she agreed to see if she could fix me up with this Herculean creature I so admired.  She got in touch with his roommate who agreed to help fix Brice – the mystery man, up with me.  Although I wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of being fixed up after my earlier experience in high school for Brice I was open to the idea.  After all, this time I definitely had the upper hand because I had seen him and knew he was gorgeous.  He would definitely put good old Greg Brady to shame.  Let’s face it, I was desperate to meet this guy and probably would have gone to any length short of calling him up myself as that was not how a respectable Catholic girl acted.  I’m not sure a respectable Catholic girl would resort to stalking in the library but that’s beside the point.  By this point in my life I was pretty much getting sick of hearing what respectable Catholic girls would and would not do.  Everyone who has attended Catholic grade school and high school knows that that information is pounded into you every step of the way.  It ranks right up there in importance with saying the Our Father and The Pledge of Alegience  every day before school begins. 

     What could possibly go wrong, I reasoned.  Unlike Tim in high school , Brice was great looking and a hard working student like me (when I wasn’t staring at total strangers in the library).  I also knew he was unattached, to any female that is.  He did seem to be very fond of that Calculus book  he always had his nose buried in. I secretly wondered if we ever did get together if that book would be my competition.  Could I ever compete with the intellectual stimulation?  A girl has to wonder.

     Well, when the big date came my knees were knocking and my heart pounding.  What could I possibly wear to meet my future husband?  Everything I pulled out of my college wardrobe seemed to lack the spark befitting this moment in history.  Why is it I wonder that while we women ponder over these things for days (the perfect outfit, the perfect perfume, shoes, etc.) guys always show up looking like they just threw something on at the last minute that just happens to look great?  This was the case with Brice.  He looked great in brown cords with just enough wear as to not look like he bought new ones for the occasions.  Nothing spectacular, yet fitting for the casual yet sophisticated look of my dream guy.

     The date seemed to go fine considering we were both somewhat quiet and seemingly inexperienced in the dating department.  I actually got the impression that Brice had dated less than I which seemed like a remarkable feat for a male.  I had assumed most of them were fast talking girl chasers like my older brother who seemed to change girlfriends as often as I changed socks.  At some point Brice explained that he too had attended a small, private high school with all boys and thus the opportunity to date did not present itself much.  A man after my own heart.- Clearly a novice at the art of dating and not afraid to admit it.