After getting up and running errands, my mom and I decided to end the day how we started: watching movies.

"So have you thought about your Instagram post at all?" My mom asked as I browsed for a movie. 

"I haven't."

But I lied. I had been thinking of the perfect caption and the perfect photos to send in. In all honesty, my plan was to craft up a perfect post that would get the attention of a girl. I was a little surprised my mom even made the suggestion of meeting a girl. It's not like she was against me dating, and there was no family rule saying when the child can start dating, but she was always quick to tell me no to a girl. I'd show her a picture of a girl that I thought was cute and she'd instantly be like "No! Why's her tongue out? She looks foolish." She always found something, and the most of the time she was right. She had advised me from going out with the girl I was with Junior and Senior year. And she was right. That girl wasn't the right fit for me. I was also too focused on college and finishing my high school sports. I wasn't ready to commit to a relationship. My mom always said that I would find the right person in college, someone with more similar goals. And I was hoping she was right. I did want to find a girl that I truly cared about and wanted to spend every second with. I also hadn't done much with a girl. My previous girlfriend and I had done things, but never did we have sex. That wasn't an issue though, and I wasn't in a rush to have sex. But, I did want to meet someone who I felt like that moment would be passionate and true with. With having more independence in college and not having to advise my parents about a girl coming over, I thought I would be better fit to approach a relationship than I had been before. 

My mom snapped me out of my thoughts. "Well you give me that remote and you make one right now!"

I didn't even argue. I gave my mom the remote and pulled out my phone. I went into my notes app and found all my draft captions. I decided that I was overthinking it. I messaged the account, who actually made the posts, with all the info that I wanted in the post. I wanted my caption to include where I was from, the major I was considering, which was Film Studies, and the sports I was going to playing. I also asked for my social media to be included, Instagram and Snapchat. I sent in a few photos. I had a photo of me at my school's homecoming dance, as well as me playing football and running track. I asked my mom what she thought about the post and she was a fan. 

"Do you want to add that you're looking for a roommate?" She asked. 

"No, I'll be fine with whoever I get. I'll probably just end up with another football player."

My mom had been advising me for months to take the roommate situation for seriously, but I didn't worry. I was able to talk to anyone, I'd survive with whoever I got assigned with. 

As I waited for the account owner to review my message, I started my deep dive into the account. My mom had found us a movie, but she too started digging into the account. The only sound for awhile was the movie playing in the background. I scrolled to the beginning and saw that the page had been up since December, at least that's when the first post was from. I wondered how people were so quick with it if they had just found out they were accepted in December. Maybe the first post was just the account owner and they passed the word to people they knew that were also going to Elm and the page had grown from there. 

"Oh! What about her?" My mom would ask multiple times showing me a new girl she found on the account. Or "He looks nice!" Trying to get me to reach out and find a fitting roommate. 

I requested to follow everyone I came across on Instagram. I then would add the girls that seemed to be nice on Snapchat.

I decided to take a break and actually watch the movie. 

My dad later came in after he finished his workout. I joined him in the living room to watch an NBA game. Every commercial I would open my phone and look at more posts on the Elm 2026 page. I started messaging the girls who added me back on Snapchat. However, most of our snaps consisted of a picture of the girls forehead or a picture of their ceiling. So things weren't going as planned in that department.

When another commercial came on, I decided to take a break from Snapchat and went back to the account. I came across the March posts and one post specifically actually made my heart started beat out of my chest. There she was. I didn't know what it was but this girl had all my attention and I had no clue who she was. I read her caption, her name is Claire Hawkins. She looked so sweet. I instantly started following her and also added her on Snapchat. I couldn't believe it when I read that she was also going to be running track. I was going to be seeing this girl one way or another. I then started to analyze her pictures. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a fan of nose piercings or colored hair. When my mom and sister got their noses pierced when I was little I literally cried and accused them of being aliens. I'm not really sure about the reason for my stance on piercings but I wasn't a fan. But Claire had both a nose ring and septum piercing. She also had purple in her hair. But it didn't bother me at all. She looked amazing. If it had been anyone else, those things would have turned me away. It's silly but it's just not what I'm attracted to, but for some reason, Claire Hawkins had me in the palm of her hand and she didn't even know who I was. She also had pictures of her running track and she looked so good in her uniform. The thing that I first noticed were here eyes, they were so blue. Not like any other blue eyes, I had never seen any eyes like hers. She had such a unique look. And by that I mean a natural beauty that I simply hadn't seen in another girl before. I made sure I leaned away from my dad on the couch so he couldn't see me essentially stalking this girl. I went to her actual profile to look at more pictures of her. I found a picture of her with her natural hair and it was so beautiful. Her hair in general was so curly and wavy, I loved it. I felt a sense of warmness looking at Claire. She seemed like a good soul. But then I started feeling like I was acting like a creep and turned my phone off. I wasn't going to make a move over the phone. I'd see her on campus. 

...

It was now July. Track hadn't ended the way I had wanted it to. My best time in the 800 was 2:02. It was my best time ever, but it wasn't fast enough to make it to state. But I had been training myself this year with workouts I found online. I had no doubt that a college coach with a more legitimate training program would help me get my time down even more. I had recently been added to a group chat with all the other incoming freshmen who were going to be running track. I checked every notification in the group chat to see if it was sent by Claire. She had added me back on Snapchat but I was way too nervous to send her anything. I didn't want to ruin my chances before I even truly saw her. She had just recently posted a picture of her by the pool in a bikini and I was looking at that nonstop. I really needed to say something, because I was pretty convinced this girl had no idea I existed outside of Snapchat or Instagram. But I didn't know what to say. I didn't know if should be bold or try to have a genuine conversation. But the genuine conversations I tried to start with other girls usually ended up with me on read on with bland responses. My previous experiences were telling me not to message her, so I didn't. I waited patiently for when I would see Claire Hawkins on campus.