Kindra dropped the correct change into the last washer and hit Start. She had two weeks' worth of clothing to clean. This was a several hour affair, but it was a Friday night after dark and what else was she going to do, really? In fact, she already had her activity ready. Out came her tablet, preloaded with pirated movies. She didn't bother wearing earbuds. The noise of the washers drowned out the sounds of her device, and no one else was around. Up? Probably. Around? No way.
Not for a while anyway.
About twenty minutes into her first movie, she noticed someone else walk into the college dorm laundry room. "Oh. Sorry!" she instinctively said. She looked up. It was a tall, thin boy, probably her age (19), and with unkempt but short dark sandy blonde hair.
"No, no, it's fine," he replied. He moved around her to the free washers, dropping in his load, then the detergent, and finally his change. He moved to the opposite side of her, leaning back against a dryer after fiddling with his phone.
Kindra went back to her movie. This was awkward, but that was college life for you, wasn't it? Wasn't this supposed to be the "college experience?" Meeting new people? Forcing opportunities to meet new people, if that wasn't really your thing? Like Kindra's? She noted his loose-fitting clothes and lanky figure, and then sort of ignored him.
"What movie is that?" he asked.
Crap, Kindra thought. She forgot to put in earbuds. "Uh, just a flick," she half-lied. She was silent for a little bit. "What are you listening to?"
As a response, the boy pulled out one earbud. The music was a genre Kindra didn't particularly enjoy, but certainly could respect. "That's pretty cool," she told him.
"What are you studying?" he asked.
"Chemistry. You?"
"Mech E." Mechanical Engineering. So they shared maybe one class - Chem 101 - and she already tested out of that her sophomore year. ...Of high school. No chance of seeing him around campus.
The next twenty minutes passed in silence. A buzzer went off, then another, and a third. Kindra moved her clothes to the dryer and deposited her next round of change. She went back and sat in front of the washers. "I've, um... I've seen you around before, I think," she started. He looked up. "What's your name?"
"Wallace," he said.
"Kindra. Nice to meet you," she smiled.
"Nice to meet you too," he smiled back.
---
It was only a week when Kindra went back to the laundry room. She learned her lesson this time. She only had a load and a half, so she made two mostly-full loads and started the washers.