Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice

Rainy days seem like some of the most interesting days to watch people. There are two types of people, those who love the rain and those who don't. Those who do are obvious, they are wearing their coziest sweaters and perhaps even packed an umbrella for the day, while those who don't perpetuate summer attire. Those who don't seem to enjoying the weather are still wearing shorts and tank tops and shivering periodically. Those who do are caressing their warm cups of coffee or smirking when they look out the window, those who don't are still drinking ice tea and viciously rubbing at their bare arms above the elbow to retain as much body heat as they can muster.
I for one welcome the rain any time it will come. Cold rain is inspiring to me and males me want hot coffee instead of the iced that the summer brings out of me. Warm rain makes me want to walk in it and soak my hair, enjoying the smell of wet grass and concrete. I can see that in the faces of others, some people who are walking in are breathing heavily and basking in the smell while others are damned with the curse of allergies.
Although it is windy and murky outside, the air conditioning is still on in the food court making more and more people shiver and stir about in their seats, irregardless of sweaters and sweats. But outside, having just come in, is fairly warm with a chilly wind; accentuated by the air conditioning inside, the outside is not so sullen. Fall is most evidently upon us when the wind is louder than the television and occasional sneezes and wheezing of the few students actually tough out the AC. The effervescence of pumpkin spice and cinnamon is evident as well, I feel as though I am the only one drinking regular coffee anymore.
Every time I do these field notes, I see more and more recognizable people walk past me. We almost always make awkward eye contact and I am convinced that they think that I am watching them. It always starts as a one-second, an eye to eye interaction before one or both of us looks away, but then has turned into repeated glares. Once I have been caught looking at someone it is hard to then look away. I feel tempted to tell them what I am doing, but it is perhaps more interesting this way instead. Not everyone that I see often seems to give off this vibe, however. Some people seem to be more welcoming to the attention with smiles, waves, even saying hello in passing, this is quite nice but always seems to take me off guard, I can never tell in time if they are directing it to me or almost always, people behind me.
During this time, I like to think about what else I have to do for the week and plan it all out to make the best use of my time. This is occasionally convenient given the fact that many of my classmates have been walking around and given me an opportunity to ask them about the work or readings or vice-versa.
There is always something so enchanting about acknowledging someone in public that also acknowledges you, it makes you feel special and nostalgic, even if that person is not someone that you normally converse with. For me, I was approached by an attractive girl that I always see in class but don't talk to because of the lecture based environment. She walked up to me mid-sentence and took me off guard. She asked me the usual questions that are meant to break the ice but only extend the awkwardness of silence like "how are you?" to which I respond "I'm good, and you?" It is a vicious cycle of asking questions that you don't actually care to hear the answer to. But now that I pay attention, I would say that that is happening all around me, between most to all of the people that run into each other unexpectedly, and perhaps even expectedly. Then the conversation turns the attention to the only thing that we have in common, class, and she asks something along the lines of "did you do all of the reading for tomorrow?" to which I have to wonder; if I say yes, I'd lying and sound like I may be bragging and based on her tone, she hasn't so I'll say no. However, if I'm honest, I almost always sound lazy or force the topic to shift awkwardly again by her saying something like "oh". All in all, I told her that I hadn't done all of it yet to which she only said "me neither" before saying she had to go. I can almost swear that I have had that conversation with numerous amounts of faces in my life, and from the looks of it, I'm not the only one.