"Fuck!" He shouts vulgar, gets up, angrily turning over the chessboard and knocks the beer out of the redhead's hand before he leaves the field with a sinister look. She runs after him angrily.

Sighing, I take a big, redemptive sip of my beer. People in general are sooooo annoying. 

"You pick that up." I say bored to Aaron. "It's your fault anyway that I'm sitting here."

"Thank you, man! You really have something good with me!" Aaron grins like a honey cake horse. At least one of us has fun here.

"What did you bet on if you won?" I ask. His grin scares me a little.
Aaron tilts his head with a grin. 
"Thats a secret." He finally says. I groan and put my head back.
"Don't tell me it has anything to do with the redhead!"

Aaron grins. "Yara!" he corrects me. "She's in my statistics class."

Frustrated, I let my head sink into my hands. "Dude, you're digging your own grave with something like that!" Aaron rolls his eyes.

"Now don't be so dramatic, He treats her like shit! I would do much better!"

I exhale long and intensely. "Man, if she ever finds out, your relationship will be over before it even starts!" Aaron studiously ignores me and continues to keep his carefree expression. Creepy.
While he picks up the chess-figures again, I let my gaze wander over the people. A few of them look over at us curiously since the guy made such a riot.

Finally, my eyes fall on a blonde girl in plain jeans and a white T-shirt in the doorway. She looks outside into the hallway. Funny. Her face shape looks familiar to me. Suddenly, she turns to us and my heart stops.

With a blink, hundreds of memories of my teenage days come up. I know them! I blink a few more times to make sure she's not a Vata Morgana.

"Hey man, is there something stuck in your eye?" Aaron asks, before settling down next to me on the guy's leather chair.

I only noticed fleetingly that he was talking to me. I still can't believe my eyes: in front of me, only ten meters away, stands my first love. The first, (and probably only) girl I ever liked. She looks almost exactly as I remember it! Standing in the doorway, she seems to be looking for someone. Is she looking for a friend? Or a boyfriend even? I swallow dry.

I had a crush on my neighbor girl Valerie since elementary school. Sure, I'm an antisocial nerd, but I did everything possible to be friends with her. I even tried to get along with her friends! Every day after school we were together at my house and played video games! For her, it was probably a simple friendship. But for me it was much more. Our friendship was unprecedented.
But only until she turned fifteen and her family moved away.

"Helloo! Earth to Adrian!" Aaron waves one hand in front of my face.

Irritated, I push his hand away, which blocks my view of Valerie. Aaron moves a little closer and looks in the same direction as me.

"Who are you checking out? The little blonde?" he asks curiously before taking a big sip of beer.

Where did they move again? Frankfurt? I can't remember everything. What is she doing here? Does she study here? What is she studying? Is she living in Hanover again?

My brain is working at full speed.

Oh God, what if she's only here for a short time? What if she only visits old friends before her semester starts in Frankfurt or anywhere else? Something like this actually happens often! At the thought that she could soon be gone forever, it runs cold down my spine.

How many times did I lock myself in my room crying and telling myself that if I ever saw her again, I would confess my love for her! I feel my face turn red at the embarrassing memory. But that was so long ago--Do I still have feelings for her?

"Do you know her?" Aaron asks. I nod wordlessly and want to take another sip of beer when I notice that the bottle is already empty. Shit! I stare reproachfully at the empty beer bottle. Ironically, in such a life-changing situation, the beer is empty! The supplies are in the kitchen. The only way to the kitchen is the door frame in which she stands. Apparently, she didn't find the person she was looking for. Now she's typing on her phone.

My mind is in conflict. An incredible nervousness gripped me. If I walk through this door now and don't speak to her, I will be in grief for the rest of my further, miserable, isolated, antisocial existence, because I missed the opportunity!

But if I spoke to her and she didn't recognize me, I would probably be so embarrassed that I wouldn't leave the lab for the rest of my miserable, isolated, antisocial existence. Chewing my thumb nervously, I look down at myself.
I shouldn´t curse so often, but shit, what should i do?  
I'm wearing the typical nerd outfit: a black heavy metal T-shirt from my favorite band, worn out pants, sprinkled here and there with sulfuric acid stains (just imagine what my lab coat looks like...) and terribly ugly, worn-out shoes! If I'm unlucky, she finds me so strange that she pretends she doesn't know me!

Indecisive, I fiddle with my fingers on my beer bottle label.
What if she has a boyfriend? I would sink into the ground in shame. And with remorse. Oh God, I don't even want to imagine.

However... From a sober point of view, I almost never leave my lab anyway, so that wouldn't be a big loss. And besides, if there is even the slightest chance that she is still single, I would be stupid to miss my chance! This must be a divine hint or something! If I walk past her and she recognizes me, she will ask me why I ignore her and then conclude that I don't like her anymore. Or even worse: that I had forgotten her. That would be an even greater disaster.

Well: logic has decided! I have to talk to her and get her number. Otherwise I might never see her again!

I'm about to get out of my chair when I hear a familiar voice. 

„Adrian? “ Valerie asks.