Tripping and falling... in love

1 Accidental Acrobatics

Trying to make sure she wasn't going to be late, Evangeline aka Vani, raced across the front lawn of the building. She had woken up late, fallen down the stairs, dropped her purse spilling her belongings all over the place, slipped in an icy puddle of dirty slush, taken the wrong path and was forced to detour even further.

The building was quiet and she raced up the stairs to the second-floor entrance to the lecture hall. She whipped open the door banging it against the wall louder than she had expected drawing the eyes of the entire lecture room. 

Vani slipped in with her heart racing not making eye contact and hoping to slip into the seat beside her best friend Briar, without further incident.

Of course, she wasn't that lucky, oh no, that would have been too easy, no one had been witness to her humiliation and frustration yet.

Vani Stepped down the first step and instantly knew something wasn't right and before she could correct herself she tripped on her untied shoelace and felt her whole body lurch forward. In slow motion, the events of the next few seconds unfolded around her.

She tripped and fell forwards, but instead of just bumping into a row of empty lecture hall seats, she was heading down the full flight of stairs between the very full lecture hall seats. She managed to stop her fall with her hands grabbing the leg of a student who had the misfortune of having the aisle seat. 

She came to rest halfway down the stairs with her shirt hiked up over her head, her jeans ripped at the knee and across the bum below the left pocket, successfully finishing the tear that had started on her first stair experience. She had carpet burn on her side and a bump on her head.

Her knee ached and her hands were scratched. Vani was mortified. She looked up at the boy whose leg she still clung to as the entire class stared in stunned silence. 

"Of course!" She said before she could stop herself. She let go of the jean-clad leg and stood up fixing her clothes.

She had caught the leg of RC a very good-looking, well-liked asshole.

She mumbled an apology and hiked back up the stairs to where her back pack had safely landed and found a seat near the top of the stairs. She was searching the crowd for her friend they locked eyes and Briar waved from across the room, Vani nodded and pretended to bow before slumping down in her seat and opening her books. 

"If we are done with the show?" The professor called up to her making the embarrassment remain strong and the flush in her cheeks brightened. Vani nodded and tried to hide. 

"Wow, that guy is a real dick!" The guy next to her said nodding at the professor who was now going over the syllabus and study notes for the exam that would be held the following week. 

"Right? If I had wanted attention I would have somersaulted into the room or something. Jeeze!" Vani smirked at him. 

"Some people!" He smiled shaking his head. 

Vani smiled but was distracted by the pain in all the weird places she had caught on both of her stair incidents that same morning. 

"What if I told you that was actually the second time I fell downstairs... today?" Vani said making him turn to her in shock. 

"And how do you plan to celebrate your good fortune?" He asked pretending to be impressed. 

"Oh, I really hadn't thought about it, hmm, is going a trip too much?" She asked contemplating with a smirk.

"A trip to the ER maybe!" He suggested making her laugh. 

Vani felt a little better about her day being able to joke it off and settled in to listen to the lecture.