See previous day for part 1.

Day - pt. 2

Lily stood there, shocked. No one had ever wanted to spend time with her. No one had asked her to eat lunch with them. And here was Amy—someone Lily didn’t know but would certainly like to befriend—asking her just that. It felt great.

“Yeah!” Lily said, smiling. “That would be great!”

“Cool,” Amy said as they both walked out of the Statistics classroom.

As they walked to the dining hall—Lily shivering all the way, Amy bundled in a fuzzy sweater—they began talking. Lily had always found it so difficult to talk to people, even though she really wanted to. With Amy, it came more naturally—even if it was sometimes hard. She liked it, it felt good. She forgot about the cold as a new warmth filled her. Now that she thought of it, Amy was the first person Lily had said more than a sentence to in her entire time at this university. She had longed to do so, but simply couldn’t bring herself to. Sometimes it made her ache deep within from the loneliness. Lily craved human connection—friendship. Each time she saw a group of friends laughing together, she felt a pang. She wanted that for herself, but thought it could never be.

They reached the dining hall and entered to the warmth and chatter.

- Lily