The first time I met Matthew was really uneventful. He was sitting outside the music building, fiddling with his guitar, trying to work out another Rufus Wainwright song. His bare feet and shaggy hair made me sure that he was yet another liberal hippy that our campus was flooded with, so I walked on by without smiling. I couldn't help but want to turn around and help him with his chord progression...and by chord progression, I really do mean chord progression. At that point at least.
As the first week of classes passed by, it turned out that we were both in the choir. He sang bass, and I was a soprano so we really didn't have much interaction. I couldn't help but pick up on the cute snarls he made when he struggled with Handel, or the looks of utter peace that washed over him when we sang Eric Whitacre even though we were on opposite sides of the room. I also couldn't help but notice when his gaze drifted my way when our director got a little long winded.
When it was announced that we were going off campus for our weekend retreat and that we needed to sign up for what rooms we were in, I forgot to, of course. When the housing assignments were posted, I saw that I was placed in a common area on the floor because they'd run out of beds. It didn't really matter though, because I knew I wouldn't be sleeping much. I was, after all, a hardcore study girl at the time. I knew I'd be up into the wee hours of the morning doing reading, writing and arithmetic.
The day we left for the retreat, I was little late. I'd had class right up until 2, and my professor seemed intent on holding us until 2:15, but I made it in time. The bus was already full though, so I had to ride in one of the cars we were taking to haul equipment. Matthew was driving, and the back seat was full of all sorts of random things. Luckily there was room in the trunk for my bag, and we headed off on the 4 hour drive to the retreat.
On the way there, Matthew and I didn't talk a lot at first. I played with the hem of my skirt that rested at my knees, and I stared out the window. The radio seemed to hum dully whenever I touched it in search of music, but Matthew's fingers always seemed to find the best music no matter where we were. Our conversations were dashed with simple yes or no questions. "Is this station ok?" "Is it too cool in here for you?" "Did the bus merge to the left up there?" I really wanted to get to know more about him, but I was just too shy to ask. Then all of a sudden, he hesitated on a country song playing an old George Jones classic, and I started humming along.
Matthew's face lit up and he quickly turned his head to me. "You know this song?"
"Uhm...Yeah. He Stopped Loving Her Today is pretty standard."
And then it happened. We just clicked and started talking and laughing. He told me all about his experiences growing up, and we shared a lot. We were both raised as Methodists in small towns. We both loved country music and bass fishing. It was like we had been friends since we were kids. We spent the rest of the drive talking and laughing. When we finally pulled in to the huge cabin all of us were staying in for the weekend, I was kind of disappointed we wouldn't be spending time like that together again for a while.
It turns out that Matthew was staying in the men's common area that weekend. When we pulled up however, he had noticed a hammock outside. He then decided he was going to sleep out there that night, and I helped him round up a rope and a sheet to create a tent over the hammock so he wouldn't be attacked by mosquitoes.
After we had all settled in our things, we marched up the hill to the building for our rehearsal. The day was so slow to come to an end, but after dinner, another rehearsal, and some sectional bonding, we had some free time. I was, of course, intent on doing homework. I isolated myself at the kitchen table while everybody else talked with friends or went to bed. Almost an hour into my work, I heard somebody behind me opening cabinets. I turned around and it was Matthew.
"You haven't seen any coffee cups have you?" he asked after stifling a yawn.