Norah.

Being brave has never been something I feel drawn towards. Being comfortable and relaxed is much more me. Staying home, watching a good film is something I prefer much more then attending to a party. Then how did I end up here? At a party, a university party, in a town I've never been to before, alone.

My name is Norah Watson and I'm from London. My passions are reading, reviewing films, and physics. Yes I'm a gigantic nerd. It's not something I brag about nor something I decline or hide, it's just a fact. I'm 19 years old and I've only had one boyfriend, I was seven and he promised that he would give me his entire Pokemon cards collection if I was his girlfriend. It lasted for two days, then I broke it off, I told him I wasn't ready for a steady relationship, I was such a wilding. Today I spend most of my time on the Internet or reading a book or watching a film at the theatre, or watching the stars. I love astronomy. I also hate astronomy. All the unanswered question and all the mysteries are killing me. My life has been a constant hunt after the meaning of life. From a very early age I've suffered from something called existential crisis. It's when you question the meaning of life and the meaning of your existence in such detail that you end up on the floor curled up into a ball and try to think of anything but the meaning of life, but everything just feels meaningless so it's quite hard getting out of an "attack". If I ever find the true meaning of life I'll consider my life a success, if I don't I'll feel rather disappointed.

At the moment I'm studying math with physic at Cambridge Univeristy. It's a lot of fun. But also very, very hard. I haven't done anything that's not study-relatable since I got here. So how come I'm at a party? Alone?

Well, I wasn't supposed to be alone, my friend Alex was supposed to be here. She's the one who persuaded me to attend this stupid party. She told me to meet her at the party but when I got here she was nowhere to be seen so I called her and she told me that she'd "forgotten" about it. She's just doing this to me because she want me to explore more new stuff. Alex is my roommate and she's always complaining about how I never leave the room. Honestly I think it's because she wants to have sexual intercorse with her boyfriend, Pete.

So here I am, at a party, alone. I've decided not to go home, not until I've investigated this event. The party is held at a bar and there's very loud music playing. I can hardly hear my own thoughts. I don't understand the people sitting together talking, how can they possibly hear eachother? There's some toilets in the far back to the left, the queue seems quite long. But worse of all is the people dancing. They are jumping up and down and trying to sing alone. They are all clearly under alcohol intoxcation. Some don't even dance, they just watch other people dance or make out with someone else. All seats at the bar are taken. People are ordering fluids of alcohol. Most of the girls are wearing clothes that shows of a lot of skin, I'm wearing black jeans and a navy t-shirt. Fashion is fun. Yes, I'm a nerd who likes fashion. Are you astonished? I like fashion because you can make a statement with just a piece of fabric, it's interesting. I mostly wear black, my wardrobe only contains of black jeans and either black, white, gray or navy shirts and dresses. I like to keep it classic and simple. The only accessory I wear is watches. Shoes are fun too. I never wear heals, they are very bad for your knees, I like to wear simple sneakers or boots, anything but heals really. When it comes to makeup and doing stuff to your hair I'm very lost. I own a mascara and some powder but that's it and I never use it because I don't know how. My hair is long and dark brown and the only thing I do to it is put it up in a ponytail when it gets too greasy. I prefer to keep it down, it helps me fit in.

While my mind wandered away a person had walked up to me, or walked towards me, when I realised this I simply took a step to the side, I guessed that was what he wanted me to do. When I took a step to the side, he looked at me with a half smile like I was confusing him.

"Could I buy you a drink?!" he shouted to overpower the music. Now I'm confused, why would this stranger want to buy me a drink? Oh, he's flirting, I think. Or is he just nice? He kept looking at me, he looked very confident, but not in a bragy way, just comfortable in his skin. When he didn't stop staring at me I realised I never answered his question.

"No, thank you" I said simply. When I answered he didn't look disappointed, it was almost like he'd expected me to say no. But that's weird, why would someone ask a question they already knew the answer to if they didn't get anything out of it? He kept looking at me, and now I'm starting to feel very uncomfortable. I don't like socialising with humans and definitely with people who might have been drinking alcohol.

"Not even water?" he smiled at me polity and looked me into my eyes. I hate eye contact. It really makes me uncomfortable. What did he ask me? Water, right.

"Uhm... I only drink water from bottles and I know that can be quite expensive at bars so you don't-" before I could finish my sentence he cut me off.

"The bartender is my friend so I don't have to pay" he said and then he turned around and walked towards the crowded bar. What just happened? What does this means? Do I now have to talk to him? I didn't ask for this? Is this what people do a parties? Buy drinks to strangers? What is expected of me now? Can I just leave? Or is that rude? I don't want to be rude. It's embarrassing to be rude. I don't want him to remember me. Can I take the water, thank him, and then leave? I'll do that. After five minutes he came back to me with two water bottles. Is he also drinking water?

"Do you want to go outside, catch some fresh air?" he asked, but before I had a chance to answer he had already turned around and was heading for the door. Do I follow him? I followed him. I want to get out. And I'm also a bit curious. When we stepped out of the bar I could really take a good look at him for the first time, in the bar it was such dim lighting I couldn't really see him. He's average height and slim, not slim slim, just slim. He got brown hair that was pushed backwards, it was quite short, not too short but still short, he reminded me of Chace Crawford. He had blue eyes, like me. He was wearing black jeans (seems like a nice guy) and a simple white t-shirt with some fancy brand on the left side of his chest. He handed me one of the water bottles.

"You don't recognize me, do you?" He said with a half smile.

"Should I?" I asked blunt. Maybe I'm acting rude. How do I save this? I don't want him to think I'm rude! "I'm sorry, but I'm very bad at remembering faces"

"We're in the same math class, I'm the guy who borrowed a pen from you and never gave it back" He didn't seem ashamed that he forgot to give the pen back, he seemed to think it was fun, like a fun memory. Maybe it was a joke I didn't understand.

"Oh, I remember, your name is Lewis, right?" I remembered his named because he was one of the most talkative students of the class.

"Yeah, I didn't think you knew who I was, you're Norah" it wasn't a question, he knew my name. I didn't think anyone in my math class knew who I was.