A History of Love

Entry 1: I met a guy today. Not like the other guys I've met, dated, had cheat on me, then dump me for some girl with big tits and inversely proportional brains, like my old boyfriend just did. In fact, I don't think my new Biology partner has ever had a girlfriend before, but I think I may try to change that. I was spacing out in bio lab, as usual. I'm not too good at bio, but I have to take a lab science for my Business degree and Physics kicked my ass in high school. Either way, I wasn't paying attention to the TA who was going through the safety manual that I had ignored completely, so when he finally stopped talking and began wandering the large lab room, helping people who were stuck, I sat up and picked up the lab instructions. I read through them quickly, hoping to have some idea as to what I was supposed to be doing, but it was more complex then I had anticipated. I put the paper back down to look at my lab partner to find him returning with the tray of supplies we were apparently supposed to get. His six foot frame towering over my 5' 3" body even with me sitting on a tall bench. He was almost tall enough to touch the ground while sitting on the stools, so when he got to the table, he pushed the stool under the table, hinting that he preferred to stand while he worked. Setting down the tray, he asked me for some information off of the sheet, either oblivious to my confusion, or respectfully ignoring it. As I skimmed the sheet, he offered some more helpful advice, showing that he was fully aware of my failure, but would rather offer help then scoff at me. The kindness in his eyes was evident through his half rimmed glasses. I finally found the information he was looking for and read it out to him. He thanked me and began to work on the experiment. "How's your handwriting?" He asked me suddenly. I looked up from the lab assignment, trying desperately to understand the instructions. "Huh, oh, um... It's alright, why?" He passed me a bound black lab notebook, "My handwriting's shit, so I was wondering if you'd be willing to write out the results, I'll do the final version after class, but it's easier if someone else does the writing while I work." I remember finding his attitude pompous, but after the day I've had, I can assume he was trying to make my life easier. My later findings don't change how I responded to him, though, "What, you don't think I can do the lab?" His response was a snicker, which made me even more displeased with him. "No, I'm pretty sure you could do this, anyone can, but I know you're only here for a lab credit, which means you have no interest in actually learning biology, only in passing this class so you can go back to classes you find relevant." I blew off his perfectly accurate observation with a "Whatever, let's just get this shit done." He nodded and began to do the tests, reading off the results as he got them. In no time at all we had finished the lab, and he began to clean up. "I'll e-mail you a copy of the lab report when I finish it." I nodded my response and left the lab room, hoping to surprise my boyfriend with an early arrival. My intention to surprise him was quite successful, as I came into his room to find him balls deep in some girl I didn't know. Normally someone caught cheating on you would try to do some damage control, but this moron wasn't capable of that apparently, as his response to me calling him a cheating bastard was to tell me that you can't cheat on someone you're not dating. I slammed out of the room sobbing, and didn't stop until I found myself curled up in one of the overstuffed armchairs that populated the vicinity of the fireplace in the on campus coffee house with a warm cup of cocoa. I must have gone here to avoid the ice witch I had for a roommate. Cold and calculating, she was of no use when you needed moral support, and she kept the room super cold, which I knew wouldn't help my mood. I continued to nurse my cocoa, when I saw my lab partner enter the coffee shop. His arms full of books, he paid little attention to the people around him as he set them down heavily on an empty table before pulling out one of his ear-buds to order a drink/ He then returned to his seat and began to work on some homework that required a lot of time on his calculator. I figured he was one of the science majors, but I hadn't asked his name, let alone his college plans. He seemed to have not noticed me, so I went back to my cocoa, trying to block out the world and generally feeling sorry for myself. I was fairly shy, so I didn't really have any 'girls' to go watch a rom-com and eat ice cream with, so it was cocoa in a warm dark room for me. Then, he noticed me. He looked up from his work as one of the waitresses set down his order next to him, amid all of the books and notes that now covered most of his table, and his eyes locked with me, I put on a convincing smile, not wanting anything to do with him, but he didn't seem to catch the hint. He reached into his backpack, pulled out a few papers, and walked over to me, sitting in the chair next to mine. He offered me the papers and I took them gingerly. It was immediately obvious what the were for. It was our lab report, all typed up and printed. I was actually surprised with the quality of the report, and was going to tell him so, when I realized I still didn't know his name. I quickly scanned the top of the document and found his name. "Thanks, Vincent." "You're welcome, Roxanne." He smiled kindly. "How did you..." "The lab partner form." His response to my unfinished question "Oh... Right" I realized how dumb my question sounded now. We had been given a list of the lab partners and our assigned tables, but I had ignored the name, preferring to just remember the table number and hoping to ignore my lab partner almost completely. I must have looked really sad while I was thinking because Vincent put his hand on my shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?" Normally I would have shrugged off his hand and considered him a creep, but I was in just the right emotional state that his touch was not only welcome, but almost relished. Being so absolutely shut down by my ex had left me vulnerable, and Vincent seemed so nice. I'm not sure what came over me but I began to cry again, telling him about what happened after lab, and then about how much of a dick my ex was, then about my roommate. Through all of my story and ranting, he listened intently, letting me let out everything I needed to say but had no one to say it too. After I was done, Vince mustered up all the courage he had, and stuttered out an offer for dinner at the diner across the street. At the time I was too introspective to realize how hard it must have been for him, but now, here at home I realized that asking me to dinner was probably the hardest thing he could think of doing, but his caring heart, and possibly a minor crush, got the words out. After accepting his offer, I followed him to the restaurant and we had a quiet yet friendly dinner. I learned a little bit about Vincent, or Vince as he preferred to be called. Vince was a senior Physics student, taking Biology as an easy elective, which explained why he was okay with doing a big portion of the work. He payed for dinner, and we ended up heading back to his apartment to continue the conversation that we had started at the restaurant. We ended up talking about movies that we liked, and I offhandedly mentioned that there was a movie that just came out that I wanted to see, but hadn't got around to, when Vince surprised me by reaching behind the couch we were sitting on and pulled out a tablet. He deftly used the tablet to look up something and nodded to himself before looking up at me and asking if I wanted to watch it now. At first I was apprehensive, I had only known this guy for less than a day and he'd taken me out to dinner, and I was already on his couch talking to him like we'd been friends forever, but when he offered popcorn and soda, I couldn't resist. He got up to go make popcorn and I looked down at the coffee table looking for a remote. I started to ask where it was when I looked at the wall across from the couch and saw that there was no TV. I called out to him, "Umm... Where is your TV?" I began to worry that his TV may be in the bedroom and he was trying to score, then I got really nervous. I heard him slap his broad forehead and laugh. "Oh, right. You aren't a complete nerd like me. On the tablet, if you press the house button on the bottom, you should see an app labeled 'Remote,' open it, and there should be a big green on button." I picked up the tablet gingerly, I wasn't too good with electronics, but his instructions were simple, and I quickly found the app, and the button. Then I heard a mechanical whir from the ceiling. Looking up, I realized why I hadn't seen a TV. He didn't own a TV, rather he had a projector screen. I looked at it in amazement as it slowly descended from a box in the ceiling. Then sound started coming from nowhere, making a sound that I vaguely recognized, but couldn't place. Then the projector lit up the screen. I stared up in surprise at the massive screen until Vince returned with the popcorn and drinks. He set them down in front of us and took the tablet, again deftly maneuvering across the screen, before setting it down. Just as the tablet touched the table, the projector went black and the movie began to play. We sat on either ends of the couch at first, but by midway through the movie, I found myself with my head in his lap and his hand on my hip. I don't think I fell asleep, but I know that when the movie was over, I was tired after my hectic day, and all I wanted to do was go home and sleep. Vince walked me back to my room, making sure I got there safely, I tried to keep some of my dignaty by claiming that it wasn't that far and I was fine, but his chivilry knew no bounds. He claimed that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if a woman got hurt when he could have prevented it, and the conversation was effectivly over. Now that I'm back, I'm wide awake and can't stop thinking about the nerdy knight in shining armor that appeared in my life, with just the right amount of care, respect and self esteem to sweep me off my feet. He left his phone number with me when he left, and I think that tomorrow I'll be taking him to coffee. This is going to be an interesting quarter.