The Grad School Collision Phenomenon
Emma was starting to think the universe had a weird sense of humor.
It wasn’t that she minded running into the same people at social gatherings—grad school wasn’t that big, after all. But Daniel Carter? The guy who had accidentally taken her coffee at the campus café, argued against her thesis proposal in a seminar, and once stole her seat at a department event? Why did he keep showing up everywhere?
She wasn’t even sure what he studied. Literature? Political Science? Astrophysics? He had the kind of face that could belong in any department—messy dark hair, perpetually tired eyes, and an air of over-caffeinated desperation.
And yet, here he was again, standing across the room at yet another party.
Emma turned to her friend Lisa. “I swear he’s following me.”
Lisa barely glanced up from her drink. “Who?”
Emma gestured toward Daniel. At that exact moment, he turned his head, locked eyes with her, and then—as if by instinct—spilled his beer all over himself.
Lisa snorted. “Yeah, seems like the stalker type.”
Accidental Proximity
It wasn’t intentional, but somehow, they always ended up near each other.
At Alex’s game night, they both reached for the last slice of pizza at the same time. Their hands bumped—an awkward moment of eye contact—then a silent battle of polite refusals:
“You can have it.”
“No, you take it.”
“I insist.”
“I’ll feel bad.”
“I’LL feel bad.”
Alex finally took the pizza himself.
At Sophie’s birthday picnic, they ended up sitting next to each other when the seating arrangements mysteriously shifted (thanks, Lisa). They made stilted small talk about their research—Emma’s on cognitive biases in decision-making, Daniel’s on historical narratives in media—before being forced into a three-legged race together.
They lost. Miserably.
At a Halloween party, Emma came dressed as a mad scientist, lab coat and all. Daniel? Frankenstein’s monster.
Everyone laughed. Emma rolled her eyes. “This isn’t funny.”
Daniel looked at her, deadpan. “It’s a little funny.”
She hated that she agreed.
The Turning Point
The real shift happened one rainy afternoon at the library. Emma had been half asleep, buried under books and drowning in citation formatting when a familiar voice broke through her haze.
“You look like you need caffeine.”
She looked up. Daniel. Holding out a coffee.
She narrowed her eyes. “Is this one actually mine?”
He winced. “Okay, I deserved that.”
Emma took the cup anyway. “Why do I keep running into you?”
Daniel hesitated. Then, after a moment, smiled. “I was going to ask the same thing.”
And just like that, the universe seemed a little less annoying.
The Not-Date
It wasn’t a date. Just two people grabbing coffee to talk about their research. And their weird mutual friends. And their shared hatred of networking events.
And then somehow… their favorite books. Their first concerts. The weirdest things they’d ever Googled at 2 a.m.
Somewhere between coffee refills, Emma realized something:
She liked talking to Daniel.
And maybe—just maybe—she didn’t mind running into him after all.
The Official Collision
A few weeks later, at yet another gathering, Lisa leaned over and whispered, “So when are you two going to admit you’re dating?”
Emma scoffed. “We’re not dating.”
At that exact moment, across the room, Daniel caught her eye. Smirked.
Lisa just raised an eyebrow.
Emma sighed. “Fine. We’re probably dating.”
Lisa clinked her glass against Emma’s. “About time.”
And for once, Emma had to admit—the universe might have been onto something.