I woke up, feeling refreshed. Smiling, I threw open the curtains. It was Saturday morning, and I couldn't remember feeling so calm before. I jumped onto Candace, who was still sleeping.

"Yo, wake up!"

"Noooo," she groaned.

"Come on. It's 8 AM. Let's go get a coffee. Please?"

"Finneee."

We both got dressed. I pulled on a simple black tank top and one of my shorter denim shorts. I finished with a cute cropped sweater and some sneakers.

Candace and I walked to the campus cafe. We both got mochas, and then sat down in a sunny corner. About an hour into our chatter, I saw the new guy come in.

"Hey, Candace," I whispered.

"Yeah?"

"He's here. And lower your voice."

"Sorry," she whispered back.

"I'm going to go get us some more treats," I said, returning to normal volume.

"Sure!" Candace's eyes sparkled.

I casually walked over and fell in line behind him. I fiddled with my wallet, and pretended to accidentally drop a few coins right by his feet.

"Fish sticks!" I mumbled. I bent down and started chasing after the change. Carson, being the total gentleman that I knew he was, started to help me gather my coins. When we had chased down the last few, I stood up and made sure to sexily flip my hair.

"Thank you so much for helping pick up those coins," I said, giving him a small, shy smile.

"No problem," he replied. Already his eyes were taking me in. "Chasing after coins can be a hard thing to do."

"No kidding!" I answered, giggling. "And it's so embarrassing when you drop them and then that huge clattering sound happens."

He chuckled. He had perfect, straight white teeth. "And when everyone turns to stare at you?"

"Totally awkward!" We both laughed, and there was a beat if silence.

"Are you new here?" I asked. "I don't recall seeing you around."

"Yeah, I am actually. I just moved here after my freshman year, and I'm going to stay until I finish my masters."

"Cool! So you're a sophomore."

"Yup," he paused. "Man I totally forgot something important." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Carson."

I extended my own hand and shook his. "I'm Anastasia."

"Nice meeting you, Anastasia."

"Nice to meet you too, Carson."

We smiled at each other, and then placed out orders.

"Since you're new here, want to meet my friend?"

Carson smiled. "That would be nice."

We grabbed out orders, and I led him to the table where Candace was still sitting.

"Candace! This is Carson, and Carson, this is Candace. She's my best friend."

"Nice meeting you, Candace," he said with a polite nod.

Candace smiled warmly. "Back to you."

We all made some small talk for a little while. We shared our backgrounds, majors, and little tad bits here and there.

Finally, Candace asked, "I wanna go back to the dorms. Do you all want to hang out there or something?"

"Sure!" My pulse increased slightly. Much to my disappointment, Carson shook his head.

"Sorry, I can't. I was planning on studying a bit, and checking out the programs here. But I'll swing by your guys' dorm in the evening," he replied. "You guys are roommates, right?"

"Mhm," I answered.

"Cool. Just give me your number, and you can text me the room later."

I was more than happy to do that. Candace and I exchanged numbers with Carson, and we went our separate ways. As soon as he disappeared from view, Candace and I squealed and hugged.

"We better set the mood in the dorm for tonight," Candace advised. "I'm assuming you'll want some privacy with him, so I'll arrange something with some other friends."

Smiling, we rushed back to clean up the dorm.