When it comes to love, you can't help who you fall for or what groups you are pulled towards. I was always in the middle about what type of guy I was interested in. Blonde Russian guys always made me melt, but dark haired guys with black eyes were so dangerous, I couldn’t help wanting them. I never wanted to categorize the kind of guy I wanted to be with, but as I listed the guys I was interested in while in high school, I saw that I was aimed more at the blonde haired, blue eyed, pretty boy types.
I threw myself for a loop while a junior in college. I had dated a few guys, blonde haired and blue eyed of course, but nothing had come of those relationships. I accidentally ran into Thaddeus Gappinsky, a very attractive soccer player with dark brown eyes and brown hair. He was Italian therefore he had dark skin. We had been in a class together the first semester of our junior year, but I had learned he was transferring. I was shocked to see him on campus the second semester and even more shocked to hear he had become friends with Julie, a girl in my suite. I didn’t like Julie much and figured a lot of people didn’t because of the annoying personality she had, but I learned that Thaddeus really was her friend. They hung out a lot and he always stopped by my room if she wasn’t here or busy.
Thaddeus always made me say hello to him if we passed, and he always asked if I had done my homework, a running joke between us from the class we had shared. He never did his homework and copied mine most of the time just before class. I found myself looking for him all of the time, at meals especially because it was then he’d kiss my cheek as he walked by.
The day I looped myself, was a cool day in mid-April. The weather wasn’t so great, it was snowy and rainy at the same time, and I was bundled in my coats and sweaters. I was on my way to the library to use a printer; mine had decided it had had enough after seventy pages of mid-term papers due the next day. So I was on my way to the library and not really watching where I was headed, when I bumped into something; or someone in fact. I looked up into the softest, warmest brown eyes I had ever seen.
I felt my heart flutter and my face flush. I nearly dropped my books but I felt them slipping and woke in time to catch them.
“Hey Chez, what’s up?” Thaddeus asked. He too, was bundled up and his cheeks were pink from the cold.
“Printer broke, so I’m off to the library,” I answered between chattering teeth. He smiled.
“Let’s go get hot chocolate,” he suggested.
“I cant,” I said. “I need to get my papers done. They’re all due tomorrow.”
“I’ll go with, we can drink after,” he said. We headed off towards the library.
Half an hour later, we headed out of the building and off towards Wood Hall for hot chocolate. We sat a bit close together as we drank our cocoas but I didn’t pay attention to it. The next day, Julie said our flirting was off the scale. I asked what she meant, trying to ignore the warming sensation in my cheeks. She had gone down to the Galley, our school cooking service, to get some soda and had seen Thaddeus and I at the table. She said we were in the back of the food court, alone in the dim lights, sitting practically on top of each other. She also said that we were flirting so much with our body language, it was almost triple X rated! I was aghast at the insinuation that Thaddeus and I had been flirting. I was trying not to let my real feelings surface. I mean, I was pretty sure my type of guy was blonde haired and blue eyed. I coincidentally had been busy the following few days buried in tests and papers, that I had not much time to see Thaddeus or Julie.
About a week later, I was on my way to dinner, alone as usual on Wednesday nights when Julie was at work. I was walking with my eyes cast to the ground, as I have always walked; I like to see what I am about to step in or on. So I was walking and not paying attention when someone shouted, “Hey!”
I looked up and behind me, it was Thaddeus and Mike. Mike was in my class that semester, but I didn't know he knew Thaddeus. I smiled and said “Hey, back.”
I was about to walk on when Thaddeus continued. “What’s the matter? I don’t get a hug or kiss anymore?” He pretended to be hurt.
I laughed and opened my arms. He shook his head and pointed to ground, signaling for me to go to him. I laughed harder and walked over to him. I let him wrap his tan muscles around my shoulders in a brotherly manner and place a small kiss on my cheek.
“I haven’t seen you in a while. I was beginning to think you were mad at me,” Thaddeus explained.
I shook my head. “Been super busy with classes. Haven’t had time to think let a lone socialize.”
“I see.”

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