The Year Agos: At First Glance

A year ago today, I had trouble finding the house. I was using my GPS, but it sometimes takes me to wrong locations. I stepped out of the car and began walking to the house when I heard someone call my name from down the street. Luckily, she had been there before and knew which house it was.

The email said to bring dinner with you so I stopped at Sonic before arriving. I clutched my Sonic bag as I walked into the unknown house with what seemed like a crowd of people staring at me. There wasn't a place at the table and I didn't know if it was okay to eat in the living room. Heck. I didn't even know who owned the house! So I quietly took my Sonic bag to the kitchen where I ate at the counter.

On the drive over, I had given myself a pep talk. 

"Be yourself. You have nothing to lose here. You'll make friends."

As I stood in the kitchen eating my Sonic and drinking my limeade, people I knew finally arrived. Familiar faces in a see of unfamiliarity. We sat by the fireplace before the devo started, talking and laughing as friends are known to do. 

They were explaining to me who everyone was and giving small backstories on each person when Kelsey said, "See that guy? He went to OC. Guess what club he was in." I barely recognized the guy from a party I had been to a couple days earlier at Kelsey's house. I remembered him being super nice and friendly to everyone.

So I guessed a couple clubs before Kelsey finally had to tell me...

Delta. 

The club known on campus for... well let's just say they weren't necessarily known for their saintly attributes. They were also the club that caused the most headaches in all my Spring Sing years.

There was no way this nice boy sitting across the room from me was in Delta. I had to talk to him. 

So I called him over. 

And I don't really remember the rest of the night after that.

I know we talked about music we liked. And I know this Delta guy and his roommate made fun of the way I said "limeade." I know I left my Sonic toy as a gift for the men who lived at this house. And I know as I was leaving the house I was on the phone with my best friend. I was saying goodbye to two of the guys who lived at the house (one being the Delta boy), and I hear this from the other end of the line...

"Who are you hitting on??"

I don't remember what I said. I don't remember what caused her to say that in the first place. I do remember leaving a little more hopeful that night. Maybe I would fit in here in Tulsa. Maybe I would make friends and find my niche. But thoughts of dating anyone were still pretty far from my mind. 

That is, until a phone call I received the next night...