Back when I was a senior in college, the only thing necessary to get me to attend the wedding of a distant relative was the promise of an open bar at the reception. Because I was in college, even the idea that there might be a young lady or two around my age to potentially hook up with wouldn't have been as much of a draw because I was already surrounded by such potential at school. I was attending college in New York City, where alcohol was expensive, so I agreed to attend the wedding with the rest of my family and figured they'd be the only ones I'd embarrass if I drank too much since I didn't really expect to know anyone else. I also figured it was an opportunity to wear the only suit I owned to determine if it would be appropriate for interviews as graduation drew closer. If it didn't look professional enough, perhaps my parents would spring for a new one.
Rather than catching a train from Manhattan to Connecticut, where somebody would need to pick me up anyway, I just took a train home to New Jersey and bummed a ride to Connecticut with my brother. As anticipated, the wedding was a snoozer and I didn't know anyone aside from my own immediate family. I was ready to start getting bombed when I saw her. It wasn't one of those moments where the clouds parted and a single ray of sunshine illuminated a blond woman around my age causing my heart to go pitter-pat. I just happened to notice a conservatively attired woman with shoulder length blond hair who appeared to be about my age and made a mental note to maybe say hi before I was hammered. As it turned out, because the bride and groom were older relatives, there were not many people in attendance around my age so she had notice me, too.
Whether it was serendipity or skilled planning on her part, it wasn't long before we bumped into each other and introduced ourselves. Her name was Susan and, in addition to the shoulder length blond hair and conservative attire, she was on the slender side with smallish boobs and, though she was cute, I didn't think she was probably the type to attract a lot of attention from guys. Of course I hadn't taken into account that she was at a wedding surrounded by her relatives, which it turned out she was much closer to than I was, so she wasn't likely trying to attract attention. We got to talking and ended up enjoying each other's company so we also danced a bit. There weren't sparks flying or anything like that; it was more about it being nice to find someone around the same age to hang out with. When it was getting later, she let me know that her mom was ready to leave and she had driven so she had to go. I ended up walking out to the lobby with her and her mom and, seeing the guest book, I grabbed the pen and jotted the phone number of my dorm room on one of the wedding programs.
"If you are ever in the city," I told her, "or feel like hanging out in the city, give me a call. I think it'd be fun to get together."
She surprised me by giving me a quick kiss followed by a hug then smiled at me before leaving with her mom. She never said anything about actually calling me so, as I pondered that, I figured I'd never hear from her again and I was okay with it. This was back in the early 90s so there were no smartphones, no texting and no social media so it was easier to just let things slide, especially when you didn't really have any other option. She had been fun to hang out with at the wedding but it wasn't like we'd become smitten with each other. I went back up to school after that weekend, told my friends about the wedding and the cool chick I'd met but just made it sound completely casual. When I got a call a couple of days later, I had to answer the phone to find out who it was since this was also before caller ID. I was definitely not expecting it to be Susan.
She sounded a little tentative at first but I was happy to hear from her and I guess my voice reflected that so it didn't take long before we were chatting just like we had at the wedding. I caught her up on what I'd done since we'd last seen each other and she did the same, though hers sounded a little more mundane compared to mine. She did say that the wedding and meeting me had been a nice change of pace for her and made her realize that she'd been in a little bit of a rut socially.
"I've been thinking about what you'd said about hanging out in New York," she said, "and I was thinking it might be fun to do that but, since it's kind of a long train ride, I was wondering if you'd be okay with doing a whole weekend rather than just a day."
"I think it would be a blast to spend a weekend here with you," I replied, "then we could see the whole city as well as the campus."
"Oh great," she replied, sounding relieved.
"I have to warn you, though," I said, "my dorm room is pretty small and there's just one bed."
"Well that's part of the college experience, isn't it?" she replied, "Even if I could afford a hotel room in New York City, I'd feel like a tourist, but hanging out with you in your dorm and getting the insider's tour of the city, I'll feel like I'm part of the college scene again."