I hadn’t thought much of her at first glance. Just some girl, kinda regular looking, and nothing special in the personality department either. You know the type: she hung out with the flaming gay guy and the quiet redhead that got drunk a lot. She was the girl in the barracks next door.

Finally, a few weeks in to the course, I noticed her. It was a Thursday night. We had all traipsed to the base pub to shove a few down our gullets before a big test the next day. I’m not sure what it was that caught my attention. Something about her dorky glasses maybe. She seemed fun, singing along at the top of her lungs to “I Kissed A Girl” in front of all her classmates, while dancing in a sandwich with her two buddies. She didn’t care much who was watching or judging.

I thought I blew it right off the bat. I said some dumb shit, tried to hit on her, and embarassed myself. She schooled me. I avoided her for three weeks in shame.

Then we got roomed together on the ship, and everything changed.