There’s no one out and about to let me in at this time, so I take my phone out and call him. It takes a while, but eventually, he answers.
“This is Zach,” he mumbles, and I huff a laugh.
“This is your wake-up call. I’m outside.”
“Foster?”
“No, it’s Seth.”
There’s a pause.
“Of course it’s Foster. Hurry up and get your ass dressed and out here.”
“Out where?”
“Are you always this dense at the crack of dawn? Outside your dorm. There are experiences to be had.”
Another pause. “Did you go out last night? Are you still drunk or something?”
“Zach, please get dressed and come down to meet me.”
The line cuts out, and I have no idea if that’s a confirmation or a polite way of telling me to fuck off.
A few minutes later, Zach appears, his hair a mess, his eyes weary behind his glasses. He looks sweet and cute and …
“Are you wearing two different shoes?”
He’s got on one blue and one white.
He glances down. “Someone made me get dressed in the dark.”
“Does your room not have electricity?”
“Shut up,” he mumbles.
“Coffee?” I hold out a cup for him.
“What are we doing?”
“I have a list.”
“You make no sense at stupid o’clock.”
“It’s a list of college experiences you have to mark off. First one is to see campus at sunrise. Of course, the idea behind it is to stay up all night beforehand, but I didn’t think you’d want to start with something that hardcore.”
“Oh sweet Jesus. You were serious about that?”
“Mmhmm, and I have a whole day of fun planned.”
“I have classes.”
“College experience number thirteen: ditch an entire day of classes.”
Zach gasps. “How many things are there?”
I hand over the list on my phone.
He scrolls through it. “No. No, no, no—”
“We’re not doing all of them. It’s something I found online, but let’s get started.”
I lead him to the quad and steal glances at him sipping his coffee while we walk. The sky is starting to brighten a little, and he stares at the surrounding angular buildings with disinterest. Or maybe it’s confusion.
“Doesn’t it look awesome?”
The sun rises, slowly spilling light through the gaps in the buildings. It’s calm and peaceful.
“Eh.”
I cock my head at him. “Eh? Eh?”
Zach shrugs.
“What is it?” I ask.
“Did you know the University of Vermont has been around since 1791? It was chartered the same year Vermont became the fourteenth state.”
“Are you having a stroke? You’re at Colchester.”
He sighs. “UVM has history. Rich history. This place is … eh.”
“Hey, just because CU is newer, that doesn’t mean we don’t have history. These buildings were built by a super famous architect.” I lower my voice and mumble, “Probably.”
“Really? What is the name of this super famous architect?”
“Archibald … Fleurgenstein.” Sounds legit.
“And what was he famous for?” Zach’s lips are pressed together like he’s trying not to laugh, but I don’t give a shit he’s not buying the words coming out of my mouth.
“Architecture. Duh.”
“Oh, of course. Here I was thinking a fictional architect would be a caped crusader at night.” Zach deepens his voice to a rich sound I’ve never heard come out of him before. Ever. “Draws buildings by day and scales them at night looking for trouble. He’s … Architect Boy!”
My feet stall. “Did you just … make a joke?”
“Despite people’s first impressions of me, I’m not actually a robot. I deal better when I only have the attention of one person.”
“And you make jokes?”
“Are you forgetting I’ve been friends with your brother for years? I watch movies, I have access to the internet. I know memes. And when I’m comfortable with people, yes I’ve been known to make jokes. Are we done examining me now?”
I want to bring out this more relaxed side of him more often.
Something orangey-red catches my eye on one of the trees up ahead. When we reach it, I pluck the dying leaf and hand it to Zach. “First leaf of fall.”
“Thank … you?” He lets out a squeak and drops the leaf. “T-there was an … ant.”
I purse my lips. “Are you scared of ants?”
“No, but I might have thought it was a spider at first.”
“Oh, so you’re scared of spiders?”
“Isn’t everyone? Nothing natural has that many legs.”
“Umm, octopuses have eight legs.”
“Unnatural.”
I laugh. “I’m learning a lot of new information about you this morning. You’re occasionally funny, and you have an irrational fear of things with eight legs.”
“I’m learning you’re way too happy this time of morning.”
“I’m used to being up at this time to go to early practices.”
“Another reason to hate sports,” he mutters.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. Okay, Mr. CU Has No History, we’re going on an excursion.”
“Where are we going?”
“Malletts Bay.”
“Why?”
“It’s a surprise.”
The bay isn’t far off campus, but for what I have planned, we’ll want to drive back fast and get into a warm shower pretty quickly.
On the walk to the car and the two-minute drive there, Zach rambles about Pierre Mallet, some French dude the bay was named after.