In junior year, Bianca and I move into an apartment above our usual coffee shop. The building is on a street of old brick storefronts in downtown Alderbrook. Livia met our new roommate, Dane, in an international-law class the spring before. Bianca and I have met him only once, but we agree to take the rooms as soon as Livia tells us about them.
Dane is a senior. Two of his former roommates have graduated. The third, a business major, is in Australia for the autumn term. I take his room until winter break, when he comes back and I leave for a spring term in Edinburgh. Neither of us has to find another place for those months.
At a college as small as Alderbrook, we've heard about Dane even though we barely know him. He throws elaborate themed parties on Orchard Avenue. At other people's parties he often arrives with good liquor, several friends and music everyone likes. At home he turns out to be considerate as well as sociable. He and Livia occasionally argue because they both like making decisions, but Dane pays close attention to other people. He organizes parties for them, chooses gifts with care, introduces people he thinks will get along and draws shy guests into conversations.
I get more comfortable talking to people I don't know. I find I often enjoy their company. When it's time to leave for Edinburgh, I wish I could stay in the apartment a little longer.
Edinburgh has old stone buildings alongside modern ones, and I spend as much time exploring as I can. Talking to strangers is easier than it used to be. Several of us on the study-abroad program meet for pints in Old Town pubs. Sometimes we buy hot food and eat while walking beside the Water of Leith. On weekends we picnic in gardens, drink champagne, visit galleries and browse bookshops near Victoria Street.
The other students develop close friendships and start relationships. I spend more and more time with Elliot, another American. Studying together, and sometimes neglecting our work together, helps me miss my friends less. But I still think about the apartment at Alderbrook. I imagine the snow disappearing outside its bay window and the first flowers coming up while Dane, Bianca, Livia and the student who has taken my room are inside.
Toward the end of term, Elliot and I have exams to prepare for. We both know our relationship is brief. We have been together while studying here, and soon we'll leave.
My parents send more messages as my flight home gets closer. Dad wants to hear about Edinburgh and says he's saved a documentary series about dinosaurs. Mom says the people at Dr. Kessler's veterinary clinic would like to take me to lunch because one of them has a son considering Alderbrook. She also asks if I can help in the yard; she's been too busy to keep up with it.
I had intended to visit my parents briefly and then go back to Massachusetts. They're so excited to have me home that I stay for two months in Grand Rapids. I look forward to seeing my friends again throughout the visit. At the end of it, I fly directly to Washington for Cape Lark Crab Week.
My flight arrives late. It's dark and the air is cold and damp. A couple of cars are idling in the parking lot with their headlights off. I look for the red sports car. Livia got her license specifically so we could drive it together that summer.
Livia isn't the person waiting beside it. A man leans against the hood, looking at his phone. When he raises his head, I see blond hair that hasn't stayed combed back, a lock hanging over his forehead and a strong jaw.
"Mara?"
His low voice surprises me. I've seen Rhys in photographs my friends sent during the past semester. Before that I'd seen him passing by on campus, never close enough for a proper look. Up close, I notice lines at the corners of his pale eyes and the uneven curve of his upper lip. He is handsome, but not quite in the way I expected. I keep looking at him.
"Livia," I say. "You look exactly the same."
He smiles, and I see his dimples. "I went to all that trouble changing my appearance for nothing?"
"Afraid so."
"She and Bianca have been drinking boxed wine. I think they've finished a box each."
A gust of cold air goes down my collar and I shiver. "Sorry they sent you. I could've taken a cab."
"I didn't mind coming. They've talked so much about Mara Ellery that I wanted to meet you."
He's looking directly at me, and I feel self-conscious. I wasn't comfortable with my appearance when I was younger. I wore braces and had a series of haircuts I regretted; learning to talk to people with ease took practice. Rhys appears comfortable standing here with me.
"Livia exaggerates," I tell him.
I don't think her descriptions of him were accurate, though. Because I knew she had a crush on him, I'd imagined someone neater and more formal, more like Dane. Rhys comes toward me and reaches out. For a moment I wonder if he's going to examine my face after everything he's heard.
He takes the bag from my shoulder.
"They told me you had brown hair."
I snort. "That was their description of me?"
"It's the only thing I can check right now. I'm not sure they got it right."
"It is brown."
He puts the bag in the back seat and leans against the car. "It's very dark. In this light I can see some blue in it."
"Blue hair?"
"Only a little blue where the light hits it. Your photographs didn't show it. You don't look quite the same in person."
"Photographs aren't always accurate."
"The painting looked more like you."
I know the painting he means. For her final figure-drawing project, Bianca painted Livia and me naked beside each other. The work was displayed in the art building for weeks, where many people passed it. I wasn't bothered by those strangers then. I'm embarrassed now that Rhys has brought it up while I'm standing in front of him.
"So you've seen me naked in Bianca's painting."
He looks away and rubs his neck. "I forgot it was a nude."
"That's reassuring."
"No. I remember that you weren't wearing clothes." He pauses, visibly embarrassed. "I forgot how odd it would sound to tell you that a nude painting was an accurate picture of you."
"This introduction is going well," I say.