The hottest girl in my class

While moving an old suitcase today, a crumbled piece of pink paper fell to the floor. And even before I picked it up, I knew exactly what it was.

In college there was one task I'd make sure to accomplish at the start of every semester. It wasn't buying the right textbook or studying the lesson plan. It was deciding who the hottest girl in each of my classes was.

This accomplished two independent goals. First, it immediately narrowed down my crush prospect which helped pass many tedious hours, especially in the doldrums of "Environmental Geology" and "Intro to Socialist Nihilism." (I still haven't figured that one out.) Second, I knew right away the one girl I'd never speak to the entire semester.

In the winter of my senior year, in one of my communication classes, that girl was Sara.

Sure enough, I had spent the entire semester thinking about her, yet hadn't said a single word to her. And so, on the last day of classes, moments after the professor wished everyone a happy new year and said goodbye, I turned my head and watched as Sara grabbed her books.

And then I did something most unexpected.

I spoke.

At first I wasn't sure if I was talking specifically to her or simply out loud. She was probably thinking the same thing as she looked over, slightly confused. But then she did something most unexpected.

She smiled.

We walked out of class together and she invited me into her car. And unlike the last time, when it was a graying professor in a van, I didn't foresee a hospital visit and counseling if I accepted the offer.

For the next two hours we sat in her parked car and talked. By the time she turned the key and finally drove me the two and half blocks home, the city was dark. She pulled over beside my apartment and smiled once again. And then she did something even more unexpected than the two previously mentioned unexpected things.

She ripped off a piece of a paper from her notebook and scribbled her name and number.

"Call me." She said.

And so I did. And we went out a few times over the next few weeks. But this isn't a story about a relationship or even a story about a girl I once knew. No…

This is a story about a moment where the hottest girl in my class gave me her number.

And that's what I'll always remember.