That group that somehow always took your table.
THAT GROUP THAT SOMEHOW ALWAYS TOOK YOUR TABLE.
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Remember the scramble? Lunch rush, mid-terms looming, and all you craved was that one corner table – the one with decent light, just far enough from the loud conversations, perfect for a quick bite and a glance at your notes. But every single time, without fail, they were there. That amorphous, ever-shifting collective of faces you vaguely recognized, never quite pinpointing their major or why they needed that table specifically.
It wasn't malice, you knew that. Just a curious, almost gravitational pull they seemed to exert on your preferred study-snack spot. You’d eye them, feigning disinterest, mentally calculating how long it would take for them to finish their discussion about a notoriously difficult class or the latest campus debate. Sometimes you’d give up, settling for a less ideal location, perhaps subtly glaring across the room as they laughed a little too loudly. Other times, a minor victory, they’d be gone, leaving behind only the ghost of their impromptu lecture notes and crumpled napkin.
These weren’t just tables; they were battlegrounds of unspoken social dynamics, arenas where minor daily victories and defeats played out amidst the clatter of trays and the hum of a thousand conversations. Every meal was a micro-observation in human behavior, a brief respite from the academic grind. It’s those small, shared experiences, those moments of quiet frustration or unexpected camaraderie over a suddenly vacant seat, that truly define our time on campus, shaping the stories we carry long after graduation. What was your most coveted cafeteria spot, and who always beat you to it?