Page 4 of First Impressions Series

CHAPTER 2: ZIA

Mondays were always such an uphill battle. You’d get used to sleeping in on the weekends, staying up late, and then you could never go to bed as early as you needed to on Sunday nights.

This weekend was fairly uneventful; although I at least didn’t have any studying to do since our mid-terms were last week. Clara had gone out with Cason on Sunday evening as they had planned, and when she got home late that night I got to hear all about what a great time she had. It seemed like she was really feeling Cason so far. It was no surprise, really, since she’d had her eye on him for weeks.

I made it through my morning classes and headed to the Student Central Building at the university to meet up with Clara and grab some lunch. I stood in line to pay for my sandwich and grabbed the last empty table to sit and eat.

I went to set my book bag in the chair next to me, and I noticed that someone had left a Biology text book there. I picked up the book and flipped it open to see if someone had possibly written their name inside it.

“There it is! Sorry, I left my Bio book sitting here earlier. I thought I’d lost it.”

I looked up, and there was Mr. Pack Leader Guy himself with his hand reaching out for the book I still held in my hands.

“Oh, yeah. I’m glad you found it then. Here you go.” I handed the book to him, a forced attempt at a polite grin.

“Thanks.” He smiled at me graciously.

“No problem,” I answered and then directed my attention back to my lunch.

“I’m Dylan, by the way.”

“Uh, nice to meet you, Dylan. I’m Marzia.”

“Marzia. That’s an unusual name. I haven’t heard it before.”

“It’s Italian. Marzia Benagli. I really just go by Zia.”

“Well, Zia, it’s nice to meet you, too.”

“Thank you.” I really didn’t know what else to say. I definitely didn’t want this guy mistaking my words with any kind of flirtation after seeing all those girls hitting on him just a few nights before. No need to feed his ego any more than it likely already was.

There were a few seconds of awkward silence before he finally began walking away after saying, “Well, see you around. Thanks again for finding my book.”

It looked like he was actually annoyed or mystified that I didn’t respond to him like the girls I’d seen at the Book Shelf the other night. Maybe it was just my imagination.

Clara came and pulled up a chair at my table in a rush. She began spearing the salad that was her lunch.

“Were you seriously just talking to Dylan Porter?” It figured Clara would know who he was.

“So it seems. I guess he left his Biology book sitting here and he came back to find it.”

“Wow, I didn’t know a guy like him had to study.” Clara was focused on her salad as she spoke between bites.

“Why is that?” I wondered if he was some type of genius or something, but he didn’t strike me as that kind of guy.

“Oh my God, Zia, Dylan Porter is a legend around here! Apparently his dad has bank and donates all kinds of money to the university. I’m pretty sure there’s a building named after him somewhere on campus. Dylan’s pretty hot, though, isn’t he? I couldn’t believe you were talking to him. He doesn’t really seem like your type. But speaking of hot guys, guess who asked me out again for this Friday?”

Clara seemed so excited, and I was glad for the topic diversion.

“Who?” I asked.

“Cason! Who else? I’m going to have to go get a new outfit, and maybe a manicure. I saw this sweet little bright blue dress at that new shop on the corner by our apartment. It’ll be perfect.”

Clara and I lived on the fifth floor of an apartment building close to everything. It wasn’t officially college housing, but it might as well have been. We were within walking distance of the school, shopping, restaurants, the university, and of course, the night life. Most of the time we just walked anywhere we needed to go, except for after dark when we would usually take a cab or call for an Uber. Since it was such a short distance, the fares were quite cheap.

Clara and I continued chatting about her upcoming weekend until it was time to walk to our next classes, and so we went our separate ways. We usually ate lunch together, since we both had the same break between our classes. We had planned our class schedules that way after it had become tradition two semesters in.

Most people might have thought that we’d get tired of each other after spending so much time together and being so different from each other. But luckily, we were both so easy-going that it really worked out well for the two of us. It came as a surprise to most people that we had only just met since we had both moved here for school and hadn’t known each other all our lives.

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