Chapter #46Leisure Time and Letterman Jackets by: rugal b.   You sit back on the couch, joint in hand and take a puff. It's not the first time that Lina's dug into her own supply after all and her mindset is that she paid for it, she's sending a cut back so she's as entitled to her stuff as any of her customers. It's a nice way to take the edge off after... well, not a particularly hard day truth be told. Lina doesn't really have "hard days". That's not to say everything is always easy street but she doesn't like to stress over every little thing.
She's smart enough to be able to get through her classes with little issue and though she's got a part time job it's in fact a supplement (and something of a cover for her family) to the money she makes supplying the female population of Keyserling with what the baggies of magic herb that they seem to need. She's also not dumb enough to get herself so baked that she can barely functioning, just enough to give her a buzz and help her relax.
It also means you don't even jump when the front door flies open and Lina's roommate storms in, practically tosses her backpack into a corner and collapses onto the opposite end of the couch. You glance over at her and extend the joint in her direction. It takes a few seconds for her to notice and you let out a small laugh because you can see her own disgusted refusal. Melody is definitely someone who's wound a little too tight and in fact with her hair often pulled back like it is she even has the look of someone constantly straining against themself.
"What's eating at you today?" you ask.
"What do you think?" she retorts and you brace yourself as you have a pretty good idea as to where it's going to go. "Blackwell decides he wants to double check something from the school library's special collection. That he wants me to go get it. I don't know what for and I tell him that, you know, I'm busy cataloging some other stuff but he just tells me he's too busy to go himself."
"Uh huh."
"So he gives me the name and I go down there and of course this just has to be the day that fucking Gwen is helping out." She places extra emphasis, and extra venom, onto the "fucking Gwen" part. "And so I am not dealing with her and I just head back and tell him that they didn't have any luck finding it. And you know what Blackwell does?"
"No idea."
"He shorts me!" she explodes. "I've cataloged half his library, helped him with translations and that creepy old bastard says I disappointed him, that he 'thought me more competent than the other halfwits' and docks me pay for the day!"
"Sucks."
"And it's... it's all her fault!"
"You sure you don't want any of this?" you ask once more extending the joint and the offer.
Melody, of course, refuses it even harder. "I'm just going to hop in the shower or something and give myself time to calm down or something." she replies though she sounds no calmer."
Still you watch her hop up from the couch and can do nothing but shrug. Not like she's ever accepted any of Lina's offers to get high before. "Suit yourself," is all you can say as she marches off to the other side of the apartment.
God, comes a thought. You wouldn't expect it by looking at her but Melody Weiss is just so damn tiring to deal with. For all that she's smart she's also high strung, neurotic, not at all humble and she really hates Gwen Smart. Well, hate might be a strong word but Gwen does cause unusually large amounts of seething from her. Because Gwen is pretty, Gwen is popular and Gwen somehow got the position as aide for the special collections wing of the university's library.
Melody spent half an evening ranting and raving about that when it'd happened. It wasn't fair, she's the one interested in all those old manuscripts and books and dead languages while Gwen is just some bubbleheaded bimbo who probably undid a few buttons and pushed her chest out to get that position. Lina had asked why she would've wanted that position then and Melody had simply said that it "looked good on your resume".
Of course if Gwen had more boobs than brains Lina had wondered why she'd care about something like that but she kept that comment to herself. She knows enough to know that it's better to let Melody vent until she's lost steam than to try and counter, argue with or needle her. And is Gwen really that vacuous? Lina doesn't have the faintest idea. She knows of Gwen -- there are few people on campus who don't -- but she doesn't actually know her, doesn't share classes with her and has never so much as exchanged greetings passing each other on campus.
But Lina does know that she's very popular and that's enough to intrigue you and give you something to check on tomorrow.
* * * * *
It's late in the afternoon the next day by the time you have the chance to head over to the library hoping that you're able to spy on Gwen. You take a table near the special collection, plop your backpack onto it and pull out an assignment for her econ class and half-pretend to work on it. It's a few minutes before you finally spot something out of the corner of your eye and decide to look without making it obvious.
Gwen definitely stands out compared to most others. Her hair is long and red, her chest is large and she's stunningly gorgeous. Lina knows enough to know that she's a junior and the head of Keyserling's cheer team and you wonder if that means she went to Westside. Maybe not though because you're pretty sure you'd remember someone like her even if that would've made you a freshman at the time. Maybe she did and she's one of those ugly duckling late bloomer types?
But it's not like any of that matters though. What does matter is that yes, Gwen is beautiful and yes Gwen is popular. But what else is there to observe about her? Well you get a glimpse of her popularity almost immediately when you see a guy with shaggy blonde hair casually stroll up to her and start initiating conversation. You can't really hear what he's saying but he seems animated and confident all the same.
For her part Gwen seems to mildly entertain him for all of forty-five seconds and then shakes her head. She goes to step past the guy but he throws an arm out and seems very persistent. Gwen, though clearly irritated as she gives him a sharp look, she seems to keep her composure and again while you can't hear anything it's easy enough to tell that she's shutting him down. But it's not until another guy with dark hair comes up and punches him in the shoulder that the first guy seems to finally relent. You watch the dark-haired guy make what you figure to be an apology and then practically drag his friend away.
"--an't blame a guy for trying right? They say you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take."
It's Horny Blondeman saying that as he and his friend come walking in your general direction. It's as they're passing that the blonde flashes you a quick smile and a wink though you just let out a noise and roll your eyes before going back to your econ assignment while his buddy chastises him about how nobody's interested in his "horseshit".
You decide to stay for another twenty minutes but nothing much else of interest happens so you pack up and get ready to head out when you get a text from Umeko -- who must have gotten your number from Zoe -- asking for you to come out to K.C.'s place. You text back saying that you'll head out there right now. As for Gwen, you're not sure that you learned much of anything about her that you didn't already know aside from the fact she might not be as dumb as Melody seems to think but all the same you make a point to put her name on your shortlist of candidates.
* * * * *
"Well yeah I switched back," Umeko says with just a bit of a whine in her voice. "Zoe's nice and all but it's just kind of weird being in here with your two robot buddies and knowing neither of them are actually you. You ready to switch back?"
"I think I'm going to stick it out as Lina for a few more days," you tell her. "Things are pretty easy for her right now and she's connected enough for me to scope out candidates. I already checked in on Gwen Smart today."
"Gwen Smart... right! Yeah Umeko's seen her around. She's definitely pretty but, hmm, I guess not her type?" she says as she makes a face. "She's not really into the perky sorority sister thing. The girls that might put her parents on edge like K.C. are more her speed which is why you should switch back already. Or even Jelena, that'd work too."
"If she wants to be so rebellious maybe she should swing by Lina's some time then," you say.
Umeko giggles and then gives you a quick peck. "She's never gotten high or anything and I don't want to risk, like, getting in that much trouble with her parents."
"Sucks for you I guess. Anyway what'd you want me to come over for."
"Well for starters if we're talking about candidates then K.C. told me something pretty interesting earlier," she states. "She said that Charlotte was really happy that she finally accepted the invite to the music fest since I guess Charlotte's interning for the sales department at the MacGregor Media building. So actually getting one of the more popular local bands to play that show will look really good for her if she wants to get hired on."
"And if she's interning for a company that oversees a bunch of radio stations then you figure she's as good a candidate as any?"
"Right," she nods. "So that's one thing but there was something else too."
You follow her gaze as she looks down at an old Candyland box sitting on the coffee table. You eye it oddly. "The fuck do you want to play a shitty old children's game for?" you ask.
"We're not going to play anything, sweetie," she dimples. "This is a tutoring session."  You have the following choice: 1. Continue |
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