Talking for 2

Amanda twirled the bottom of her shirt nervously, worrying her cracked lips between her teeth. She looked around the giant classroom and debated where to sit. She’d never been in a classroom so big, college really was way more intimidating.

She found a seat in the middle rows, off to the left, almost in the corner. She could see the professor but she wasn’t too close or too far. Perfect. 

Her uneven nails snagged against her ripped jeans, causing her to pick at them, taking what little polish was left off. She knew she probably looked a little intimidating, with her black ripped jeans, dark gray t-shirt, short dark brown hair messy and looking like she just rolled out of bed, and her resting face she knew scared off most people. Mostly her resting face.

It was okay though, if it meant people wouldn’t talk to her. She breathed out with a smile, thinking back to this morning.

“You’re going to make so many new friends!” Her mother had said, trying to brush a piece of hair out of her face.

She had pushed back, “Hopefully not.” She ruffled her hair and pushed up her glasses, “I’m okay, I have enough friends.”

“You don’t have any friends. Make some, please?”

Amanda snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a dull thud close to her. She scowled when she looked to her right and someone had sat only a few seats from her. There was a whole auditorium, why sit next to her? 

When the girl looked over, bright smile plastered across her tan face, Amanda looked to her phone, weirded out. 

“Hey!”

Amanda looked back up, lips set down into almost a pout, “Hello?”

“I’m Madeline, but you can call me Maddie! What’s your name?”

“Amanda.” She hoped her voice, on the edge of harsh, and the way she looked back at her phone was enough to deter the girl. Clearly, Amanda wasn’t interested. 

“It’s nice to meet you Mandy, are you new?” Clearly, Madeline was interested. Did she just give her a nickname?

“Yup.”

“Not a talker, huh? That’s okay, I can talk enough for the both of us! What brings you to Intro to Literature?” 

“I have to be here.”

“Really? Me too, I should’ve taken this class a while ago when I could’ve, but I’m not a huge fan of this whole thing so I avoided it.”

“Cool,” Amanda mumbled, wishing the class would just start so the girl would stop talking. Why hasn’t the class started? 

“Welcome, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in between! I’m your profess-”

Amanda had tuned out already, choosing to instead focus on how Madeline basically locked on to the professor, wide eyes almost glimmering with excitement. Didn’t she say she didn’t really like literature?

Madeline was cute, she decided. With her lilac colored hair cut to her shoulders and wavy. With the way her eyeliner was matching her dark purple sweater. Her converse were purple too. Maybe she liked purple. Amanda hated purple. Madeline had short, almond shaped nails done perfectly, a plain set of french tips, but with a few 3D flowers on them. 

Amanda liked people watching, it was a good way to pass the time, and eyeing the girl next to her seemed like an even better way. 

She noticed how the sweater dipped off her shoulder, and exposed a bit of what was clearly a dinosaur tattoo. She had no clue what dinosaur, but it was definitely a dinosaur. 

Maybe she’d be interesting to talk to.

Class passed quickly, Amanda choosing to change her target to that of an older looking man, maybe in his late 20s early 30s, who had taken around 4 pages of notes.

“So, how old are you?” Madeline asked, seemingly unbothered how Amanda was clearly packing her stuff. 

“I’m 17.”

“I’m 19, do you have a late birthday? Or are you a genius or something?”

Amanda managed a small smile, “Late birthday, November. You?” 

“My birthday’s in June! How are you settling into campus? I love it here, there's so much to do! I can give you a tour if you'd like!”

“Oh, I actually commute. I didn’t feel like spending 20 thousand dollars to share a room. Not my thing.”

“Fair enough, freshman dorms are the worst. Where you off to next?”

When had they started walking? Amanda didn’t know, but she also realized just how little space there was with the crowded walkway, and she started to panic a bit.

“I um, I’m going to a ceramics class,” She slowed, looking for somewhere to escape to. She didn’t mind when Madeline followed her to an empty bench a few feet away.

“Ooh, an art major?”

“No, I was told it wouldn’t be a good idea to be an art major and commute. Stuff about not knowing when a studio would be free.”

Madeline only nodded, and watched closely as Amanda clutched the bench, slightly rocking back and forth. She let Amanda focus on her deep breaths before she said anything.

“I kind of wish I could commute, I wanna stay with my family, you know?”

Amanda no longer felt that heavy weight on her chest, and took one last deep breath before she gave a small smile, “Yeah, it’s nice. I saw most of the people from my school have their teary goodbyes as they went out of state, or even the country. I’m grateful I didn’t have to do that.”

“Right? I'm still in state thankfully, but I just didn’t live close enough. I’m only a 2 hour drive though, so I think I’m gonna go home for the weekends.”

Amanda nodded. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, until Amanda looked at her phone and noticed she should get going. Oddly enough, she didn’t really want to. She usually didn’t like loud, outgoing people, or people in general if she was being honest, but Madeline had an aura to her. Comforting, warm. 

“We should probably get going, you know, wouldn’t want to be late.”

“Where are you going?”

“Ceramics. Fun, right? I’m excited now that I know I have a friend in that class!”

“Yeah. Fun.”

Friend. Her mom was going to be so happy.