A Chance Encounter?

The following story may or may not be true.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Katrina. She was attending college in a small town and therefore spent most of her time on a small campus. In between her classes she would go to the library and study, people watch, or just read a book and relax.

Every day the same boy would come into the library and he would sit near Katrina. Of course she noticed him. He was tall with brown hair and brown eyes and wasn't bad looking in the slightest. Oh how Katrina wished she could get the courage to talk to him. It was pathetic, but she went throughout almost the entire semester without saying more than "Oh, I'm sorry" when he almost hit her with his bike.

Through means that we don't need to explain, Katrina's friend Katie found out that his name was Landon. Katie was determined to get Katrina to talk to him. The end of the semester was getting closer and neither one of them wanted Katrina to miss her chance.

Every day as Katrina sat in the library she would think of ways to talk him. She imagined herself casually dropping her pencil, or pretending her pen ran out of ink. She imagined that she wouldn't even have to talk to him first, that he would rush into the library and say, "Excuse me, miss, but I have been dying to meet you. And I must know, will you fill the empty seat on my bicycle for two?"

But Katrina knew that it wouldn't happen that way. Nothing ever happened that way. She knew that if she ever wanted to talk to this boy, she would have to make the first move. She started seeing Landon everywhere. Katie and Katrina would see him at Wal-Mart or at a function or just on campus. But no matter how hard she tried, Katrina could not get herself to talk to him. In fact, she almost had herself convinced that she would rather just admire him from afar.

But Katie had other plans. One day at Friday Forum Katie and Katrina ended up sitting right next to Landon, only an isle way was separating them. Katrina, of course, didn't talk to him while the lesson was being given, but she had decided that that was going to be the day. She was going to talk to him.

As Friday Forum came to a close and the chairs were being stacked, Katrina began to doubt herself. Maybe talking to him wouldn't be a good idea. What if he rejected her in front of all these people? What if he wasn't as nice as he seemed? What if he saw her coming and ran the other way? Her mind was filled with doubts and she began to rethink her decision to talk to him. Although Katie was disappointed with Katrina, they left without talking to him.

The two girls walked back across campus towards their apartments. Katie talked on the phone while Katrina thought to herself. She decided that she could still be happy; a boy wasn't going to determine whether or not she had a smile on her face. She skipped, danced and sang to herself, waiting for Katie to get off the phone. She wasn't really paying any attention to her surroundings and as the turned a corner Katie suddenly got really excited and hung up her phone. "Katrina!" she yelled. "It is FATE! You have to talk to him!"

Katrina was confused. She looked around and only saw one guy - someone she had never seen before. He gave them a weird look and walked away. Katie was still freaking out so Katrina looked around again. And then she saw him. Landon was right there. Fate had brought them together. Or something like that. Katrina's heart sank and even though she was nervous, she wanted to talk to him. He walked just a few steps behind them and she tried to think of a way to say something without making it awkward.

"Do you want me to say something first?" Katie whispered.

Katrina couldn't think of another way to go about it, but she didn't want to miss her chance. It was going to happen. She was going to talk to him. "Yeah," she whispered back.

Katie quickly turned around to face to Landon. "Hi," she said, "I'm Katie." 

And do you know what happened next? Landon introduced himself.He wasn't rude. He didn't quickly run away. He just introduced himself and waited for Katrina to do the same. Katie walked on ahead, leaving Katrina and Landon to awkwardly have a conversation as they walked across campus. When they came to the corner they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Katrina was more than happy. She skipped and danced and sang all the rest of the way home.

Was it chance that brought them together? Will they talk again? In the library later on, will things be awkward? Stay tuned to see what happens next.