Northern_Lights_2017

73 Dusk Stacey McDonald Hi, my name is Natalie. Am I supposed to say that? I’m not sure. I wouldn’t consider myself a writer by any means, but my friends tell me I should write more to let my feelings out. What is that supposed to mean? I wouldn’t consider myself to be emotional, but I have a feeling my friends just don’t know what to say to me anymore. My life, especially in the past, seems to be an ongoing saga of a sort. My friends often laugh and tell me I am just like the main character in the typical chick flick, except that in the hypothetical chick flick of my life, I don’t get my happy ending. I have never been the relationship type. Especially when I was going into my first year of college, I tried to avoid the whole dating scene. What’s the point of an average short-term relationship or a random hook-up anyway? I wanted to focus on myself and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Basically, I felt like I was too independent to be dating anyone. I kept up this wall and independence act for a solid two years. Then, I met Rhett. The story of how I met Rhett was actually pretty funny. You should remember Rhett. He is the main guy in this story—my dream guy actually. Let me start from the beginning. Rewind to five years ago when this guy quite literally walked up to me and changed my life. One day, being the independent twenty-two-year-old I was, I was sitting alone at a picnic table on campus. I was attempting to simultaneously read another one of my chemistry books while eating some yogurt. I was just about to crack open a Club Soda when I looked up and saw Rhett looking at me. I had seen Rhett before; we were in a few of the same clubs and shared Facebook friends, of course, but I never really said anything to the guy. Glancing around, I was completely confused. Did he confuse me with someone else? Why does this random guy want to talk to me? Before I had a chance to sort out my thoughts, Rhett was rambling something about his co-ed softball team. Apparently his summer team was looking for more players, and he had heard I was a pretty good outfielder. How does he even know I play softball? Facebook. Facebook is the culprit . I couldn’t help but laugh. I replied, “I’m okay I guess.” With that simple response, I knew it wasn’t enough. He was going to convince me to play somehow. I am completely in awe of how confident and persistent Rhett was. There he was, going completely out of his way to get this random girl on his softball team because she was supposedly good at catching a ball. Just to be polite, I told Rhett I would think about it, with no actual intention of doing so. I had my own softball team I was busy with in the summer, and I was not even close to being sold on the idea of playing on a co-ed team with an entire team of strangers. He was satisfied with my answer, flashed a smile, and that was the last I saw of him during the spring semester. As summer was well underway, I suddenly received a message on Facebook from Rhett. The message simply contained a few dates of upcoming co-ed tournaments and a batting order with my name in it. I was listed as the fourth batter. What? I never even agreed to be on the team. Before he gave me a chance to come up with an excuse, he already knew me too well: he quickly replied and said I was the centerfielder. Hmmmm. Centerfield. Tempting. I had told him that I loved the outfield and that centerfield was my favorite position. But I told him that over three months ago. How did he remember that? I attempted to weigh out my options. I love softball, and this co-ed opportunity would allow me to play for two different teams! The more softball, the better. On the other hand, how intimidating would it be to become teammates with a bunch of strangers? Spontaneously, I typed back: “Sounds good.” Why am I so impulsive? I didn’t agree to play on this team because I liked Rhett, of course, but because I wanted to play as much softball as possible, or so I tried to convince myself. That summer flew by. I only ended up being in two tournaments with my new co-ed softball team. I’m almost positive our record ended up being below .500, but it was a blast. I am so glad Rhett invited me to join the team. We ended up carpooling to practices and all of our games, and I would not trade those experiences for the world. Between obnoxiously singing in the car and talking until sunrise, I found my best friend that summer without even realizing it. He was a genuine guy and I appreciated that I could confide in him and that he accepted me for who I was. We both returned to college in the fall. As soon as the semester began, I didn’t see Rhett much. Undoubtedly I let my guard down when I met him, but I still was trying to be independent. I had my own life to live, and I just appreciated that he was a part of it. We had different friend groups, I guess you could say, and we just went our separate ways. Although I didn’t see him much in person, we talked all the time. We were constantly texting, snapchatting, facetiming, and we talked on the phone almost every night. Throughout all of this, Rhett had asked me to come over a few times, but it never worked out. I remember Rhett asked me on a few dates as well, but I could not help but turn him down. I enjoyed where our friendship was, and I did not want to ruin it. I was way too scared to take a risk. I wasn’t used to taking chances. I wasn’t used to feeling something so real . One night I finally ended up going to Rhett’s house. He simply texted me and asked if I wanted to come over and work on homework. He knewme too well. Of course I would be able to make the time to hang out with him and enjoy myself as long as I would get my homework done. I stopped over, unaware that he was a part of a fraternity. I went up to the door and rang the doorbell. I quickly glanced back at the street, wondering if I would make it back to my car in time before anyone noticed me. Before I had the chance to retreat, Rhett was standing in the doorway staring at me. Gosh, he was cute. I quickly attempted to make a joke about getting lost on the way over, but I hurried inside before I caught his response. I knew a couple of his friends, Zach and Mark, and then I introduced myself to a few other people sitting in the living room. I found a spot on the futon, and