Christmastime had set in, and IU senior Nick Smoot intended to surprise his girlfriend Peri Paul where she worked at the mall. He spent an hour combing aisles for the perfect gift.
When Paul got off work, she found him sitting on a bench, next to a huge Sephora bag and a perfect stranger.
“I’m so sorry,” Paul remembered hearing. “I meant to come and surprise you before you got off, but I got caught up talking to this guy.”
As they left the mall, he told her the man had just gone through a divorce, so they had been talking about his life.
“That’s just like him,” Paul said of Smoot. “All the time.”
Smoot died suddenly Oct. 22 in Bloomington.
He was the blue-eyed, big-smiled free spirit whose constant surprises Paul loved.
He was the younger brother Molly Smoot looked up to. He was the older brother with whom Luke Smoot performed countless silly handshakes.
He was the comedian whose knock-knock jokes his mother Denise Smoot couldn’t get enough of.
He was the sports marketing and management major his father, James Smoot, coached, took golfing and joined in analyzing football games.
He was the Polo Ralph Lauren enthusiast who no one could stop from donning his dark blue flannel and Ugg slippers.
However, Paul said, he would give every article of clothing to someone who was cold. She would see him shivering after lending someone a jacket.
He was the air of gentle confidence who walked up to Las Vegas card tables just after turning 21. He acted like he owned the place despite not knowing what he was doing.
He was the Cincinnati Reds, Indianapolis Colts and IU fan who waited outside Assembly Hall for hours in freezing weather to secure the front row of the student section.
He was the concert and festival frequenter who loved electronic dance music, classic rock and ’90s rap.
In the Indy 500 Snake Pit, a PVC pipe whacked Smoot’s head. He received eight staples to close the wound and returned to the festival for the rest of the race. Everyone told him to go home.
“Nah,” Smoot said. “I’m good.”
He was the animal-lover whose visits home caused his dog MJ to get excited and pee a little every time.
He was the former recruitment chair who never hesitated to welcome new Phi Kappa Tau fraternity brothers.
He was the tireless host his roommates called Snorlax when he finally fell asleep after a long night of making drinks at the wooden bar he assembled.
He was the interested stranger who never remained such for long.
On the tailgating fields, he and Paul waited in line for the restroom. Smoot struck up conversation with a group of men he’d never met. By the time Paul finished, Smoot and the men chatted like old pals.
In his Hawaiian shirt and red Goodwill blazer, he held out one of the men’s plates.
“Hey, do you want some food?” Paul remembered Smoot asking her. “These are my friends.”
