Chapter 40: Another Beautiful Nerd

Lissa had gotten through her first day of school just fine, and eagerly awaited her second. She had a light schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which meant she would be finished with classes by 2:00 in the afternoon. Tuesday morning, she walked from her apartment to the campus, which was only three blocks away.

Her first class was World History, in the humanities building. Though it didn't sound particularly thrilling, she figured since she had to take it to fulfill her General Ed requirements, she might as well learn something. She entered the building, found her way to the large lecture hall, and sat down in a seat near the front as other students began to fill in around her.

A couple of minutes later, a rather good-looking boy slid into the seat a couple of seats down from her. He had straight, light brown hair and brown eyes. Lissa and the boy glanced at each other momentarily and smiled, then she turned and stared forward. To her side, the boy began to rummage through his pockets.

"Excuse me," he said, and she turned to look at him. "You wouldn't happen to have an extra pencil or pen, would you?" he asked.

"Sure," Lissa smiled, unzipping a flap on her notebook and retrieving a pencil to hand to him.

"Thanks," he said. "Can you believe a nerd like me actually forgot to bring a pencil to class?" he laughed.

What is it with all of these self-proclaimed nerds? she wondered. They all turn out to be absolutely gorgeous.

"I'm Matt Sorenson by the way," he greeted.

"Melissa Primdale," she replied, "but I go by Lissa."

"I like the name Melissa," he said. "My parents have a dog by that name." Then he laughed in embarrassment. "Er ... that ... didn't exactly ... come out right," he mumbled. "I didn't mean to compare you to a dog."

Lissa had to laugh at that. He was at least off to a good start. Ever since she had met Allison, she had had a certain dislike for people who were too perfect. There was something charming about people who occasionally made mistakes, because it made them seem more human. She could never be comfortable around a person without flaws.

"It's all right," Lissa told him. "I like dogs."

Matt, however, punched himself in the head. "Stupid!" he mumbled.

"What are you doing?" asked Lissa.

"Nothing, just a little negative reinforcement. I was hoping to keep from making a fool out of myself for at least fifteen minutes (a new record for me by the way), and here I've blown it thirty seconds after meeting you."

Lissa laughed. He was funny, and actually quite charming in a self-deprecating sort of way. It made her feel very much at ease.

"You didn't blow anything," she told him. "And if you think you've made a fool out of yourself, well, I'm willing to give you a second chance. Let's forget the whole thing and start over."

"Great!" he smiled. "Hi. I'm Matt Sorenson."

"Melissa Primdale, but I go by Lissa," she giggled.

"Nice to meet you. So are you actually interested in history, or are you just getting this class out of the way?"

"Just getting it out of the way," she replied.

"Yeah, me too. So where are you from?"

"California," she replied.

"Hey, I'm from Michigan! We're practically neighbors!"

Lissa laughed. "How do you figure that?" she asked.

"From the perspective of someone in China," he replied smugly.

"Ah, good point."

"Besides, I was never very good at geography. For instance, I never could remember, is Madrid in Tibet or Egypt?"

"Neither, it's in Argentina," she laughed. One thing about Matt, he was definitely funny. She felt perfectly at ease with him, unlike most of the boys she had known back in high school.

She would have liked to continue the conversation, but the instructor walked into the class just then and began to talk about the class and what to expect for the semester. She was a woman, probably in her forties, with a somewhat stern look but a friendly tone of voice. She passed out the class syllabus and a worksheet to help them study for the next time.

As the instructor began to give the lecture, Lissa leaned back in her chair and listened. History had never been her favorite subject, but this didn't seem too bad. The lecturer seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the subject, which helped to keep the attention of the students. She spoke in a cheerful, friendly tone of voice, cracking jokes once in a while.

Lissa occasionally glanced at Matt during the class. He really was a good-looking guy, and had a certain charm about him. She wondered whether he would sit next to her again the next time. Part of the reason she had wanted to go to school so far away from home was to make a clean break with her previous life, a life where she had rejected the advances of all the boys in high school. Perhaps she had been a little conceited, thinking they weren't good enough for her. But that was a product of fear; inside she had always felt like a little girl scared of what could happen to her.

Coming to school was a chance to change that. For one thing, the men were more mature here. For another, such an enormous change in her environment was certain to have its effect on her, and she was more than happy to accept those effects. She wanted to start dating, perhaps even to start having sex.

She wondered if Matt would ask her out. If he did, she would say yes, she decided. He seemed nice enough, probably harmless. It would be a good experience for her to start getting involved in the social scene with someone like him.

Occasionally he glanced over at her too, she realized with a thrill. Maybe he was thinking the same thing she was. Maybe he was trying to decide whether he wanted to ask her out. Or maybe she was just reading too much into it. It could be that he just noticed her stealing glances, and wondered what that meant.

When the instructor began to wind down her lecture, most of the students started putting away their books and notes. Lissa closed up her notebook and stuffed it into her backpack. She packed light; all of her classes today were of the type that didn't require her to bring the textbook to class, so she had only a notebook and a couple of pencils.

Matt yawned and stretched. "I can see I'm going to have to get a good night's sleep before coming to this class," he said. "I don't know about you, but lectures like this always make me drowsy."

"Actually, I thought it was interesting," she replied.

"Well, I'm glad at least one of us got something out of it. I'm afraid I was dozing off through the whole lecture. I'm going to have to find someone to study with who can help me catch up on what I missed."

Lissa glanced at him, considering the implications of what he had said.

"That's a hint," he said with a hopeful grin.

"What?" asked Lissa.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to study together."

Lissa considered his request. Was it really a simple little request, or was there more behind it? Lissa was admittedly rather inexperienced in relationships; she hadn't had a boyfriend since junior high, and Jeff didn't count because he didn't play those silly games, and besides, he was her brother.

"You'd really like to study with me?" she asked.

"Well actually, I'd really like to ask you out, but I'm too shy, so maybe if I got to know you a little better in a less scary environment it would help to build up my confidence."

Lissa laughed. So he did have an ulterior motive. Still, now that he came right out and admitted it, she felt a lot better about the whole thing. "Okay, let's study together. Then when you work up the nerve you can ask me out and I'll say yes."

"Great! How does this afternoon sound? For studying, I mean. My last class gets over at 3:00."

"My last class is at 2:00, but I'll probably be in the library until 3."

"Okay, I'll meet you outside the library at 3 then. Is there any particular place you'd like to go to study?"

"I really don't know my way around the campus yet."

"Well, we could go to my apartment, if you can stand to put up with my roommates. And if you trust that my intentions are honorable."

"I don't know. Would you consider tricking someone out of their pencil honorable?"

"Oh yeah. Sorry," he grinned, holding out the pencil he had borrowed from her.

"Keep it. If you don't show up at 3, I'll know that that was all you were after," she laughed.

"Fair enough."

The two of them left the room and headed in different directions. Lissa had English class in a couple of minutes, so she made her way across campus to the building where the classroom was located.

She continued to think about Matt through the rest of her classes that day. He was really the first guy she had opened up to, other than her father and brother of course, since her bad experience five years ago. It was a little frightening, but she knew she had to get over it. He seemed nice enough. Besides, they were just studying together. Their relationship might never go beyond casual friendship. Even that would be good for her, though; she had had few enough male friends after all. She almost didn't know how to act around them.

Matt's self-deprecating charm helped with that, though. It was his imperfection, more than anything else, that attracted her to him. He wasn't afraid of screwing up or even making a fool out of himself, which aided her self-confidence because she wasn't too worried about making mistakes as well. After all, if he could, why couldn't she?

Not having time to return home for lunch, she went to the cafeteria to eat. As it turned out, she found Monique sitting alone at a table and joined her for lunch. The two of them talked, but Lissa decided not to mention Matt. There wasn't really that much to tell, after all. If things went well, he would meet her roommates soon enough, and if they didn't, there was no need to say anything.

She had one more class at 1:00, so she excused herself and made her way there. It was another lecture, but no handsome nerd sat next to her this time. She simply listened to the instructor until the end of class. She then headed to the library to study for an hour.

She had explored the building yesterday after her classes to get a feel for it. Being a studious girl, she figured she would spend plenty of time here over the next four years. It had a relaxed, peaceful atmosphere, just right for studying. There was a large room with cubicles as a dedicated study hall, but she preferred to just find a chair tucked away in the corner somewhere in the midst of the shelves.

She read for an hour, then headed outside. Promptly at 3, Matt arrived. "Hi Lissa," he greeted. "Are you ready to go study?"

"Yes, but I left my history book at my apartment. Do you have yours?"

Matt winced. "Unfortunately, I loaned it to a friend because he didn't have time to buy it yet."

"Well, why don't we go study at my apartment then?" Lissa suggested. "My roommates are pretty easy to get along with."

"That's fine," he agreed, so the two of them headed in the direction of Lissa's place. Matt was nice and cheerful as they walked, despite all of his self-deprecating comments. It was an odd juxtaposition of negative self-talk and a sunny disposition. Lissa could tell he wasn't the type of person to take himself too seriously.

They discussed their backgrounds. Matt had come from a middle-class family living in a suburb of Detroit. He had one older sister who was married and living in Wisconsin, but no other siblings. He was in the pre-law program and planned to go into corporate law later because, as he claimed, he was essentially lazy and figured he could make good money just sitting at a desk approving or disapproving company practices, and writing the occasional letter to people who were ripping off his company. He seemed so happy with his fantasy that Lissa didn't have the heart to tell him that it would probably be a lot more work than that.