When it hit ten o’clock at night, Jaz started packing quietly. Although Cameron is actively working on his assignments, he noticed. He didn't realize just how successful he was in pulling off the appearance of being focused until Jaz started to walk away, without a utterance of goodbye. 

“It was nice meeting you, Jaz." The call had been way louder than he anticipated because the young woman glanced over her shoulder, both earbuds in, and everyone from the surrounding tables also looked his way with narrowed eyes. He offers a quick 'sorry' to his neighbors, the tips of Cameron's ears burning as Jazmine laughs under her breath. But waits patiently as he turns back to her, voice lowered to a more appropriate level. 

“Sorry. Uh, um. Thanks for being so nice.”

“It's nothing. It was nice meeting you, too, Sunshine.”  

With his typical dark colored wardrobe, no one ever called him that. The new pet name makes his face warm. Initially.

The view as she walks away has the slight flush deepen. Who could blame him? She's near, if not over, six-foot something. (Like in real height, not guy-height.) He probably wouldn’t be eye-to-eye unless he wore his four-inch heels. Of course, there were other reasons, but Cameron tries to remain a gentleman in mind and spirit. 

It's difficult for him to keep his eyes on her subtly, but Cameron tries to. Turning to the table, a melancholy began to creep up, only to vanish as he glanced down at the table. 

There on the hardwood lay a stylized drawing of Cameron from her perspective: he looked feminine and pretty. Everything he didn’t think possible when he was a little boy. Seeing it so clearly on the paper brought a sting to his eyes. He began to carefully tuck the paper into a sheet protector when he finally registered writing in the bottom right corner:

‘I need a new reference for my comic, and I loved to draw you sometime. Text me if you ever want to model. Or in general. You seem like fun. XXX-XXX-XXXX.'

Without thinking about it, Cameron entered the number and typed out a text he hoped didn’t sound too cringy: “I'm willing…only if you show me some cool spots around here.”

Maybe that was too forward? It’s not like she said he was attractive or meant something deeper by it. As the seconds ticked by, Cameron began to worry.

Fuck, I need to—

His phone buzzed mid-spiral, and his immediate smile was as blinding as the stars as he read her one-word response: 

‘Deal.’

After an hour of texting, they agree to meet every day for the rest of the week (Tuesday through Saturday to be exact) at places of Jazmine’s choosing. When he read Jaz's proposal to do something every day, Cameron grew a little worried at first. Yes, she was hot and nice, but what if it was a trick? What if she was trying to set him up for a mean prank? It wouldn’t be the first time. 

Within ten minutes, Jazmine sent him the flyers for all the campus events and initial meetings of spaces she was aware of. It had honestly been overwhelming until she began to ask questions about his interests and hobbies, slowly filtering out events based on his reaction to them and his class schedule. Being able to verify each through the school's campus site and social media reassured him enough to let the final selection be entirely in her hands. Only after a final confirmation to meet early tomorrow did he let himself get excited. He didn't know what she’d choose, but he wanted to go. 

This year would not be like his previous two. This time, Cameron interally swore to himself, he'd have a real social life since his meat-head of a roommate didn't count. The eighteen-year-old provided only so much stimulating conversation, and he was very unappreciative of Cameron’s outfits of the week. It didn't matter that this stranger-girl asked him to be out of his dorm by eight in the morning; he was going to trust the feeling in his gut.