Another day, another dreaded group project. Casey Parker didn't know anyone in this class and was desperately looking around, trying to find someone—anyone!—who was still available, when a cheerful female voice sounded from his left.
"Hey, do you want to work together? I don't know anyone in this class and the fewer people in a group, the easier it is to coordinate."
He couldn't believe someone was actually talking to him first. That almost never happened.
She was pretty too. She had black hair, the palest gray eyes he had ever seen with a mole under the corner of the right one, and a sunny smile. He didn't get smiled at very often so it threw him off and he wasn't able to get out an answer other than nodding.
Her smile grew wider. "Great! I'm Vera, by the way. Nice working with you."
"C-c-casey," he said as he took her offered hand and shook it.
"Alright, Casey. We should exchange numbers so we can set up a time to meet and get started on this before all the good topics are taken."
Casey simply nodded again, though it didn't matter to him one way or another. He knew he would hate every second of presenting, no matter what.
The two of them figured they would need a few meetings to get this all done. First, they would have to decide on a topic and gather the sources they needed. Then they would have to divide up the work. Then meet again to make sure the PowerPoint flowed cohesively and practice presenting it.
He wasn't particularly thrilled about having to meet with someone so often over the next few weeks but at least scheduling the meetings wasn't too difficult since they had similar class times. They both had a two-hour gap between some of their classes at the same time so it was easiest to meet then. Unfortunately, she wanted to meet in the busiest area of the library.
It made sense. That was where you weren't expected to be quiet. People came to this area to work on group things when all the reservable study rooms were full.
Casey would have to reserve one of those next time because he didn't like this at all. Being in such a crowded area made him feel exposed and it was difficult to concentrate on what Vera was saying.
"So, what are you majoring in?" she asked, surprising him.
She was engaging in small talk? No one else really bothered to do that with him. He needed to pull himself together and measure his words carefully.
"English. You?"
"History. I'm an antique restorer…one in training at least. I'll be inheriting my aunt's shop someday but she still wanted me to go to college for the experience."
Casey blinked at her. An antique restorer? He had no idea that was even a job before this. He was curious about it but didn't want to ask further questions and look like an idiot so he kept them to himself and simply said, "That's cool."
Vera laughed. "Let me guess, you're completely unfamiliar with antiques restoration. It's not something most people know about. I could go on about it forever and a day but I'll spare you since we have work to do."
"Y-you could t-tell me another time i-if you want."
He internally cursed himself for stuttering. He offered to listen to her because he didn't want to get on her bad side. Not when she had been so friendly to him. No one else ever was.
"Alright, but you've been warned. So, what do you want to do with an English degree? Are you a writer?"
Casey vehemently shook his head. He had to take a couple of creative writing classes as part of his major but he wasn't very good at it. He would never be able to do it outside of an assignment.
"N-no. I'm a r-reader not a writer."
"Oh yeah? What do you like to read? I mostly read historical fiction."
"All shorts—sorts!—of things," Casey said nervously. He needed to stop talking now. It was time to change the subject. "D-did you pick a t-topic you wanted?"
"I narrowed it down to three that seemed like they had a lot of source material. I thought we could pick together." Vera pulled out a notebook she had written the ideas in and showed it to him but he truly didn't have an opinion.
In the end he pointed to something at random and she declared it a good choice before talking about potential sources they could use for it. He very clumsily offered up ideas of his own so she didn't have to do all the work, feeling a bit bad that she got stuck with him of all people.
She didn't give him a hard time for it. She didn't seem to notice his stutter at all and treated him like he was a normal person.
That was new. New and unexpected. Did she really not notice or was she just nice?
Vera certainly seemed like the friendly type, considering both how she approached him and that she wanted to engage in small talk before they got the work. Casey preferred to dive into things and not waste words unnecessarily as a general rule but he didn't like talking. She clearly did.
She was the easiest project partner he had ever worked with. She didn't hesitate to shoulder her portion of the work, was reliable about texting back and meeting up, and didn't give him a hard time about his stutter.
He wasn't sure he had ever been so confused by a person in his entire life. Everything about interacting with her was strange. She didn't seem exasperated with him at all.
Casey struggled to get his words out even more than usual because he was nervous but Vera didn't seem to care. That didn't make sense. Everybody got frustrated with him. But not her.
She talked to him like there wasn't anything weird about him. Every time they met up, she would ask him about his weekend or how his classes were going as if they were friends. Or talk about antiques restoration like she said she would before. She was treating him the way the other students he had seen on campus treated each other.