The sun shone brightly on the open field. A gentle Autumn breeze passed along the tall grass. And there, standing under the shade of a maple tree she stood. Her pink skirt blew gently in the wind, as she brushed a strand of blond hair away from her large blue eyes.

Looking up as she heard me approach, her lips trembled as our eyes met. She was stunning.

“I was afraid you weren’t going to show!” she gently placed her hand on her chest as she breathed a sigh of relief.

I waved my hand to comfort her.

“Of course I came.” I replied. “I told you I would always be here for you whenever you need me.”

Her eyes darted towards the ground as a flattered smile came across her face. Her cheeks became flushed as she looked at me through a sidelong glance.

“You don’t know how much it means to have a friend like you.” She sighed. “You are always looking out for me. When Brent cheated on me, you were there for me. I don’t think I could have gotten through those dark times without you.”

She was trembling as she thought back on those memories. It might have been forward of me, but I placed my hand on her shoulder in order to comfort her. I tried to look strong as she looked up at me in surprise.

“Brent never appreciated you the way you deserved.” I comforted. “I am sorry you had to deal with a guy like that, but I promise you that there are guys out there who love you for who you are, not what they can get out of you.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, as her expression changed from shock to pure appreciation.

“Thank you!” she cried. “I knew I could always trust you to say the right thing. And that’s why I felt I had to ask you this!”

“What is it?” I asked, feeling my own cheeks starting to flush slightly.

She wiped the tears from her eyes then looked at me apprehensively.

“Do you promise not to laugh?” she asked, fidgeting nervously.

“Of course I won’t!” I replied attempting to smile reassuringly.

Her eyes darted nervously between me and the ground. I felt my heart starting to pound inside my chest.

“I’ve wanted to ask this ever since I first met you.” She began, “But I could never work up the courage to ask you.”

My heartbeat beat ever harder. My face seemed to switch between waves of heat and cold.

Her eyes struck me like lightning as she looked up at me.

“But you’ve proven time and time again that I can trust you!” she continued, the determination flashing in her eyes. “And that is why I made up my mind. Even if it isn’t the normal way… I have to ask you. I have to ask what has been on my heart for years now!”

I wanted to say something smooth and cool, but there was no chance of that at this point. My heart was beating so harshly that I had lost control of my mouth.

“James?” she asked, staring deep into my eyes.

“Yes Lisa?” I replied quickly.

Taking a deep breath, she cried out full of emotions. “Is your friend Chris single!? Do you think you could talk to him about me??”

My name is James Heart, and I am cursed to be friends with an attractive guy.

“Oye James!” a familiar voice called out. “Earth to James, has the mothership returned to earth yet?”

Returning to reality from my reminiscing, I looked up to see the friend in question looking down at me.

“Yo!” Chris called out with a smile. “Welcome back to the land of the living. It’s time for lunch!”

Putting my books in my bag I looked up at Chris. We had been friends since kindergarten and I still didn’t quite understand how he did it. He was tall sure, but hardly athletic. In fact he might be considered kind of lanky. His strawberry blond hair was long and looked more like a surfer cut than anything. He didn’t necessarily excel in anything, yet for some reason, people always seemed to flock around him.

“It must be a super power.” I mumbled as I picked up my bag chasing Chris out the door.

“Did you remember your lunch today?” I asked as we made our way towards the school cafeteria.

“Oops!” Chris replied with his usual haphazard smile. “Totally slipped my mind!”

“You need to be more careful.” I sighed. “We’re in college now. You’re going to starve yourself at this rate!”

“You worry far too much man.” Chris laughed. “Things will work out, just wait and see.”

“Oh Chris!” a teacher called out carrying a platter of food. “We just finished a meeting and these were left over. Would you want some?”

“Would I ever!” Chris replied happily grabbing the tray of food before continuing on his way.

“Oh! Chris Smart!” another voice called out. This time it was a teacher from the culinary program, walking up with a cart full of various cooked wonders. “A growing boy needs a full balanced meal! Why don’t you take some of the left overs from our class today!”

“Oh they look amazing like always Mrs. V!” Chris cheered as he attempted to pick up two or three meals off of the cart. “You really teach those students well!”

Chris waved goodbye to the teacher only to be confronted by another first year student holding a gift bag.

“Umm Chris.” She began nervously, holding the bag at her chest. “I wanted to thank you for your help last week, so I baked you some brownies… but maybe now is a bad time to…”

“Of course not!” Chris replied, struggling to free a hand to grab the bag from the girl. “That was very thoughtful of you! I’m sure between James and me, we’ll make short work of this!”

By the time we finally made it to the cafeteria, Chris sat down with what appeared to be a full four course dinner for two. I sat across from him looking down at my cold bologna sandwich a little uncertain what to say.

“See!” Chris exclaimed, filling a plate from his various choices. “Things have a strange way of working themselves out. You really need to learn how to let loose.”

“I think this kind of stuff only works for you.” I replied under my breath with a smile.

“So what’s left on your schedule for today?” Chris asked munching away at his meal.

Pulling out my new schedule, I squinted at my own writing.

“It looks like my only course left for today is Introduction to Accounting.” I replied.

“Accounting?” Chris asked. “I thought your program was writing.”

“It was offered as an elective.” I replied. “I figured it would be good to know consider… well a lot of things…”

“I see.” Chris replied while giving me an odd look.

We finished our lunch and then parted ways. Chris had most of his classes in the medical wing of the building and as such we rarely saw each other sparing the rare elective.

Writing was the smallest program at John Syliac University and as such had no wing devoted to its courses. The cafeteria was located in the center of the university, but my next course was at the far edge of the business wing so I would have to hurry.