doing something unholy ;

crisp collared shirts, monogrammed belongings, a gold signet ring, shiny brown Oxfords

Kat felt another pang in the pit of her stomach, her insides clenching just a little tighter when Damian explained his enrolment in biological sciences. “Oh yeah, I think I remember that,” she had actually forgotten it completely and It was more than likely that they would be in the same circles, maybe even some of the same classes depending on how Katherine’s credits from the University of Oslo translated to Essex.  She couldn’t help the small, but undeniably fond smile that tugged at the corner of her lips at the mention of the swim team. It felt more like the Damian she recalled for a moment and it was nice. “Maybe not as much has changed,” she conceded. He had felt like a stranger minutes before but all this talk of studying, swimming, volunteering his time for charitable affairs - that was the Damian she knew. The Damian she had been so embarrassingly infatuated with. “It’s a good time to get to know yourself, I think - and not worry so much about other people’s opinions” at least that had been Kat’s experience, a far cry from how she had felt during her high school years.

She wasn’t sure if Damian was aware that Andrea was on campus - surely they had crossed paths before but if that was the case, had they truly never spoken about Kat when they did? She tried not to think about it for too long. “Just saw the opportunity and you know, I missed friends and family at home so why not?” she shrugged her shoulders. When he asked about her studies, her mind returned to her previous thought. “Nursing, actually,” she wondered if the same thing would cross his mind about them being a part of the same faculty. 

-

It was good time to get to know yourself indeed. Though not worry so much about other people’s opinions? Damian didn’t know where he stood on that. To a degree, he would always care about how people thought of him. His parents seared into him at a very young age that image was extremely important. Though, he had to admit: people cared less here. Though it did matter to him, he didn’t find himself thinking about it as much.

“Nursing?” A lengthy beat passed before the realization dawned on him. “Oh.”

He wasn’t sure what stunned him more — Kat’s choice of major or the strong probability of them seeing each other more often than not, possibly even sharing a few classes or at least running in similar circles. He didn’t mean to seem so taken aback. It was just a lot that he didn’t expect.

“That’s... that’s wonderful. I suppose... with that, we may be seeing a lot more of each other then.” He didn’t mean to come off so... unforthcoming or unexcited. It was just a lot to process in a very short time.

Wanting to shift things into a more positive direction, Damian thought to offer what help he could. As he would any exchange student he would like to make feel welcome. Or even an old friend... if Kat could even be called that. They were sort of friends once before, weren’t they?

“If you need any pointers or... a study buddy, I’m around. Still the same handle on Instagram. My number hasn’t changed either.” Though he couldn’t recall if he’s ever given Kat that. Their communications were either always on one social media platform or another.

-

“Yes,” she confirmed, trying to keep up with his rambling. Had he always been so prone to crammed as many words into a single comment as humanly possible? “I’m living with my cousin and his family during semester break, it’s good - my grandparents live near by and a lot of people in town know them, so it feels a little bit like being at home,” she explained warmly. She had been so nervous about moving abroad at first but her family members had been so welcoming and helpful, even if they hadn’t seen Katherine in person since she was a pre-teen. 

She raised her eyebrows, surprised to hear that not only was Damian attending a fraternity party, surrounded by frat boys but he was actually a frat boy himself. It didn’t quite feel right to Kat. He had always been so disapproving of the wannabe fraternity at Broadripple, the aptly named Broadripple Boys Club. 

She followed his lead without question, it was almost embarrassing. “It was scary at first,” she confessed, “So, the Summer before senior year, my Dad was going to a conference in Finland and his assistant got COVID before he was going so he suggested maybe I go and play PA for a few days, earn a little bit of money and then after the conference we could go to Denmark because I don’t have good memories of going there and a quick stop in Sweden because I never been and obviously Norway to see family and stuff,” she explained, “I fell in love honestly, I just felt like I could be there forever. When I got back home I couldn’t shut up about it and everything I saw and all the people I met and my Mom was like - well, you know you’re a citizen you can move there any time you want to move there and it was just like a lightbulb up here,” she pointed to the space just above her head. “So I applied for Universities in Olso and Tromso and Lund, Stockholm, Copenhagen - even in Trondheim all the way up so far North in Norway,” she continued, “I got into a couple but I settled on Oslo because- I don’t know, I was nervous about being in a small town,” she hadn’t admitted that to anyone before. She recalled his question then, “So yeah, it was a little bit scary but it was amazing too. My Norwegian got so much better so fast, I figured out how to use the buses by myself and I never felt like an outsider, I guess,” she supposed it helped that Oslo was so used to visitors and migrants alike.

Katherine tried her very best not to visibly flinch at Damian’s use of the word ‘copulate’ but she couldn’t help the slight twitch in her eye as his syllables formed the phrase. “That’s fair,” she said to detract from the look on her face, “I don’t think I would want that either,” she agreed diplomatically, approaching the charger and plugging her phone in. 

“-and so, do you have a story for the last…” she tried to calculate it quickly “Few years?” evidentially math remained an Achilles heel for the blonde so she didn’t other with a specific number.

-

Damian listened to Kat with a surprising attentiveness despite all of the party bustle going on throughout the house. If anything, it was the way she shared her story that challenged his focus. Finland, Denmark, Sweden, then Norway. His mind pictured each place on a map as she went on. A smile — a genuine one — graced his features when Kat mentioned a lightbulb and pointed above her head. She always did charm him in that way, being sort of... casually offbeat in the most delightful way. “Nervous?” He echoed her word choice. “Why?” One would argue Nighmore, Broadripple... it all felt very small. A tiny world of its own. Wouldn’t that be familiar? “I’m very happy for you,” he told her once she finished catching him up on what’s been going on in her life these past few years. “You... really seem to have found your place in the world. Always a beautiful thing.”

“Myself? Well...” Damian pressed his lips together thoughtfully. His life, regardless of the details that changed since the last time they saw each other, felt strangely the same. He supposed it came with the territory of following a plan, a path chosen for him before his eyes even properly saw sunlight for the first time. “The plan was always going into the field of Medicine for me, attending something of an elite establishment on my way there. Hence Essex. I’m taking Biological Sciences. On the pre-med track with intentions to go to Harvard Medical afterward... I still swim. Captain of the team here now. Spearheading them to victories has been a challenge, but a very rewarding undertaking nonetheless.” What else? “I’m part of a brotherhood now.” He gestured vaguely to the room they were in. “I was a bit hesitant at first given the reputation fraternities get but... Pi Kappa Alpha has an amazing alumni network. We also do good philanthropic work. That’s the bit of it I most enjoy. The lackluster habits and rowdy gatherings... I tolerate more than anything else. But it’s good to be around people who aren’t like you. College is where the world gets more real isn’t it? I’ve learned to adjust. Loosen the reins a little so to speak. It’s... actually been quite nice actually.”

-

Drea rolled her eyes at his response. But unlike previous eyerolls to some dumbass shit Damian had said, this time it seemed to be in good nature. Paired with a slight smile. Like, for once, she was charmed that Damian had counted with something stupid and Damian-like. Rather than just annoyed. She would, however, deny it. It was totally the booze’s fault anyway. “ You do you, then, I guess. ” She said, giving up on trying to convince him otherwise. “ I’m sure none of your pledges will be complaining. ”

Yeah, effortless. Drea didn’t know shit about that. But she hummed a note of agreement, lips pursed together. Because yes, the theory was true, she just didn’t enjoy her studies. Her eyes narrowed slightly, wondering if Damian was actually picturing her as a clinical psychologist in that moment and what that would look like to him. She’d hate to know. “ No, not exactly. I’m applying to law school next year. ” Or that had always been the plan. Though she’d looked at the application once and it had made her feel sick for 24 hours. “ And you? What do you study again? Some sort of science, right? ” She asked, unknowingly just as eager to move the topic to him as he was to keep it on her. 

Well that … threw a massive fucking wrench in her plan. She tried not to let the surprise show on her face, but she couldn’t stop the slight raising of her brows as she lifted vape to her lips. She certainly didn’t expect any follow up questions, more than ready to stand there in silence and hope that ended the conversation. She turned her head to exhale, making sure to blow the smoke far from Damian just in case it caused him to explode. “ Um, ” She started as she turned the vape to the side, reading the label on the green and pink stick. “ Guava Raspberry. ” She answered, deciding to take another puff while she had it out. She almost always picked flavours truly on impulse. Or if she had someone with her that recommended a flavour. It was all the same sweet flavoured shit most of the time. She blew the smoke to the side again before tucking it in beside her cup so she could comfortably cross her arms again.

-

Was that... fondness that Damian detected? It wasn’t the usual distaste or disapproval he seemed to get from her. He didn’t think he was capable of that when it came to Andrea but he certainly wasn’t going to question it. In fact, it brought something of a good feeling and he let it show with a careful smile on his face. “Yes, they... don’t seem to hate me terribly yet,” he offered with a soft chuckle.

“Oh, law school?” Damian didn’t mean to sound so impressed. It was just something he never expected of Andrea. Then again, he didn’t know much of anything about her. Perhaps if he did know her a little better, that wouldn’t have been such a surprise. “Biological sciences, yes. I’ll be attending med school upon graduation. The plan is Harvard, just like my father.” Hence the grievous amount of work Damian put into his studies these days. “What law school do you have your eye on?” Shifting the ball back in Andrea’s court. Just putting to mind just how much more of his life will be dedicated to following in his father’s path made him feel a bit queasy. 

He could sense the suspicion radiating off Andrea in waves. He tried not to make a big deal of it and let Andrea enjoy her little puff in peace. “Ah, guava raspberry... Interesting combination. I have to give it to vape industry, they do select some unique combinations.” Not two he’d put together if it were his choice. “I think in my time in this house I think I’ve smelled... Peace Ice? Blue Razz? Rainbow Skittle? Aloe Grape? Just... a myriad of things, really. Do you have to have a sweet tooth to enjoy those things? The scent comes off very sweet. I imagine it tastes much of the same.” Damian didn’t enjoy candies or anything of that sort but he did relish in a dessert now again, especially with his sister. Though that probably had more to do with spending time with Eliza than enjoying what he was consuming. His mother always said processed sugar was never good for the body.

-

“Yep,” he was still questioning her while she stood directly in front of him and it stung. Her lips parted to speak, to tell him that it was alright, to assure him that he wasn’t the biggest idiot who had ever been born and that his ignorance was just fine - but was it? The way her stomach had coiled with embarrassment said otherwise. “Yes,” she said simply, making an effort not to crumble into immediate forgiveness. “ I don’t even go here,” she wasn’t caving but she wasn’t as steely as she had been a moment beforehand, allowing him somewhat of an excuse for his confusion. “I’m on exchange from my home school, like I live in Oslo, actually, so you wouldn’t see me around, probably,” she didn’t live in Oslo proper, she lived in a nearby town that Damian had almost definitely never heard of. When she wasn’t studying, she lived even further away in a coastal town on the western coast. There, she lived with her cousin’s family, earning a humble income by working at a local wharf, renting sea kayaks and ferrying people to nearby islands. 

When he offered the phone charger, her brow creased slightly with mild confusion, remedied only a moment later when he pointed out the life - or lack there of - the device had remaining. “Yeah, actually, okay - do you have that?” she couldn’t help but wonder if he actually knew where a charger was or where to find one if he didn’t. At this point, she was fairly convinced he would have offered just about anything he could think of to make up for his faux pas. Perhaps she should have asked if he had the keys to a brand new car on offer.

-

“Oh, Oslo. How swell. I’ve been meaning to visit Norway for a while. Never quite got around to it, but that’s great that you’re back in you’re... well, not hometown I suppose. But where your family is originally from. Must be very nice.” Damian pushed his mouth into a smile and gave a nod of his head, lips pressed together in a perfectly polite manner. Faux pas like that should have been impossible to come back from, but Kat has always been rather gracious with his shortcomings. He supposed some things didn’t change and he was glad for it.

The confusion was expected. Damian wasn’t surprised by that. “I do. I live in this fraternity actually. I have the charger just upstairs —” He raised his pointer finger toward the ceiling. “ — if you’d like to come along.” His body had already shifted in the direction of the stairs, lingering for a moment as he stared at Kat to see if she’d be willing to follow him, before ultimately deciding to move along anyway.  “How long ago did you make the move? I imagine that would have been quite an adjustment from you, growing up here and all.” Small talk as they made their way up the staircase and he led her through the second floor’s corridor.

“My room’s just in here,” he revealed when he came to a halt in front of one of the doors. Retrieving a key from his shirt’s pocket, he went to unlock the door but then paused when he realized how strange it might have appeared that he had to unlock a door in a house he lived in with a key. He turned to look over his shoulder at Kat and explained. “I keep my door locked because these parties tend to get pretty rowdy. I’m not to keen on having strangers copulate on my bed.” Or mess about with his belongings. With that out of the way, he twisted the key in the knob and entered his space, gesturing for Kat to follow in after him. “Welcome. The charger’s on the bedside just there.”

brodie furrowed his eyebrows. he thought it was kinda weird when some guy loudly said the beer in his hands wasn’t his. he thought it was even weirder that he was holding it in the same way politicians hold beer when they take photo ops in pubs to appeal to racist middle aged white blokes. but brodie wasn’t in the mood to judge anyone for being a bit weird. he was busy trying to have fun and take full advantage of the free booze. “mate, it’s only nine. it’s way too early to tidy up.” brodie stopped to take a brief look around. there were a couple of empty red solo cups and beer bottles left abandoned but the house wasn’t a complete mess yet. nobody had puked on floor or in a vase yet so brodie considered that a win. “you should try to relax. go get a a drink or ask somebody to pass you their cone. or just enjoy the vibes if that’s more you thing.” brodie wasn’t going to judge somebody for being teetotal. not even some random guy with uptight vibes. he knew teetotalers who knew how to have a good time and could stay up until 6am completely sober and just enoying the vibes. he nudged damian then pointed at the beer.“do you want me to down it so you can bin the bottle?”,brodie asked. he had a red solo cup ready in his other hand. he wasn’t going to drink out of a random bottle. he had standards.

-

Damian couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh. “You know, you’re practically the umpteenth person to tell me to relax tonight.” He sighed. Did these people have a point? Possibly, but Damian had a hard time seeing it. It wasn’t like cleaning was a gruesome task for him. He actually quite enjoyed contributing to having a clean space. It made his mind feel... lighter. Some people used marijuana to settle their mind, Damian preferred the art of tidying up. “Cone..?” He asked, unsure if he wanted to know what that meant. He figured with the other’s accent, it was cultural jargon and not slang he wasn’t familiar with. “This?” Damian looked at the bottle and made a slight face at the other’s offer to finish its contents. “Oh no no no, that’s fine. I’ll just empty its contents down the drain. I don’t drink but I doubt warm leftover alcohol tastes any good.” He chuckled good-naturedly. “Besides, you already seem to have a drink.” He nodded toward the cup in other’s hand. “You enjoy that, I’ll deal with this. I’m Damian by the way.” He lifted his vacant hand and stretched it out toward the unfamiliar face. “Take it you’re not from around here?”

Damian’s absence actually did allow Katherine to cool off to some extent. It had been her intense when she’d sent him on the errand but she hadn’t been all that confident that it would work. She managed to catch her breath, settle the bile in her throat that caused her to spit venom at Damian with every word and felt less like she was going to cry as well. Did it really matter if he didn’t remember her? If he didn’t cherish the time they’d spent clumsily slamming their hips against one another in the quiet corners of the campus? Things were different for Katherine now. She was independent. She had moved to another country where she had been forced to learn new ways of living and make new friends without her family, the church or a school uniform to make it easy for her. Sixteen year old Katherine had needed Damian to care about her so that she had a reason to care about herself. Today, Kat saw a future for herself. She was studying and doing surprisingly well, she had a job that she enjoyed where she was well liked and commended for her efforts, she had a good relationship with her parents and siblings and no longer endeavoured to be the center of their attention at all times. She was doing well. So what did it really matter if she crossed Damian’s vacuous mind from time to time?

Then he was back in sight again and God, he was still as handsome as ever. His eyes a piercing blue and the skin of his nose sun kissed and freckled. His hair perfectly tamed, as always and a smile any orthodontist would be proud to have procured. She couldn’t help but wonder if he’d maintained the physique from his days as swimming captain and her eyes fell to his waist line before a beer appeared in front of them and the male spoke again. 

“Okay, yeah, I will spell it then,” she was exhausted by his games, made evident by the snappy clipping of her voice as she gave into his request. She reached for a napkin but quickly realised that she would be hard pressed to find a pen - though knowing Damian, he probably always kept one on his person. Ten bucks said it was a Mont Blanc fountain pen, the same one of her professors used…though he was a seventy year something year old retired surgeon.

Instead, she unlocked her phone and used part of the last ten percent of her battery to type out her name Katherine Josephine Bishop-Baarstad. “Hello?” she held the screen to his face, believing that she was pointing out the obvious. If her full legal(ish) name didn’t mean anything to him either, she would be on the first flight out to Gardermoen, just watch her. She was certain (hopeful?) that her name would ring enough of a bell with Damian to snap him out of his frat boy fugue state but the chance that it wouldn’t made her anxious and so the snippy tone made an appearance once more   “-and do you want my passport also? My social security number maybe?” 

-

Immense relief was what Damian felt when the blonde before him agreed to spell out her name. Finally, he thought. They could settle this conundrum once and for all. It was a few moments later when her phone was being held up to his face and he was reading a name he hadn’t thought of properly in some years.

“Kat?”

His eyes grew wide almost comically at the realization that he’d been talking to a former something this entire time. Sounding as obtuse as they come given what childishness they were going back and forth on. My God, he was so embarrassed. He didn’t even know what to say!

It was then he took in her features with more scrutiny this time. It was Kat. Sure, with longer hair, but still Kat all the same. “I’m... I’m so sorry.” Apologetic for something else entirely now. In fact, he was flustered with how frightfully ashamed he felt for not recognizing her. He did to some degree but wrote it off as a similarity. “I just never expected to see you here. We lost contact and I just didn’t think our paths would ever...” He trailed off. “I’m sorry. Really, I am. I feel... impossibly stupid right now.” He pushed out a shaky breath, rubbing the back of his neck in an effort to soothe the heat crawling up the sides of his face.

What did you say to someone you never expected to see again?

-

“ But you could just, I don’t know, enjoy yourself instead? ” Yeah, one reference that Damian would approve of and she was done. Drea was swiftly back to saying what she thought. As determined as Damian might be there was just no way his efforts alone could make any sort of meaningful impact on the mess Drea anticipated for the night. So why bother. And why bother in the morning when you could just get freshmen to do it. She didn’t get it. Sorority and fulfilling weren’t exactly two words Drea would put together. Not even with the accoutrement of ‘oddly’. “ In a way, yeah. ” Was what she said with an assuring nod, deviating from saying what she thought as quickly as she had returned to it. She tried not to but she did still often flip like that. Her reasons for rushing sororities in freshman year were complex. Or they were simple but she didn’t want to explain them. And not to Damian, of all fucking people. So yeah, sure, Damian, it was super fucking fulfilling. She hummed an acknowledging note, just with his brothers. Definitely wouldn’t be sharing that with Kat. And then another one as he continued. Another thing she could not relate to. Certainly, she was a committed student. She always had been, finding it almost second nature to balance school and partying and socialising. But she didn’t feel any draw to books and rules, she did it because she had to. She longed for the freedom of leaving it behind. “ I guess that can be a good thing, if you like your major and all, ” And she didn’t think Damian was the sort to say if he had made a mistake in selecting his. Communications? The fuck? “ Psychology. ” She answered, a little bluntly. She didn’t like it, she didn’t want to talk about, she definitely didn’t want to know where the fuck he’d gotten communications from. She reached into her pocket instead, pulling out vape she’d stopped herself from hitting just a couple minutes ago. “ Do you mind if I …? ” She asked, any other frat brother and she wouldn’t ask, but a part of her hoped this would give her reason to excuse herself. It would be ditching the person in the bathroom she was waiting for, but that was a sacrifice she was willing to make.

-

"I find keeping my surroundings clean quite enjoyable,” Damian offered as a counter point, pairing his words with a slight lift of his shoulder. It was what he was taught at a young age. Mother would gaze upon his room fondly whenever it was tidy. It certainly helped Maria with her duties as well. Besides, it was just shameful to have his space be so messy once his age reached double digits. Ten years old? He was a grown boy by then, certainly more than capable of returning his belongings to their rightful place and keeping things in ship-shape.

With a nod of his head, Damian agreed. “Yes. Passion certainly makes things... easier. Effortless, really.” Slight overcompensation on his part? Possibly. But he pushed past it, eager to keep the focus on Andrea’s major instead. “Psychology. Right. My mistake. Are you looking to get into the clinical field with that? Become a licensed psychologist or something of that sort?”

Seeing Andrea produce a vape from her pocket, Damian’s brows lifted slightly before he shook his head and gestured for her to continue. “Oh, not at all. Please, enjoy yourself.” Did he disapprove of those harmful death sticks? Yes, of course. Anyone in their right mind would. But time away from home has taught him to become more tolerant of the ways of the world. As long as he held onto his values, what others did were of no matter to him. Besides, it wasn’t like his brothers were innocent either. A fair share of them indulged in electronic cigarettes. More than a few smoked marijuana. Damian had learned to exist in the same space as substance users since it seemed impossible to escape with everyone being a fan of one thing or another. “What, um, flavor is it? These things have flavors don’t they?” See? He even knew how to make vape small talk. He’s loosened up since their high school days; he hoped Andrea would see that.

“If what is my name?” Kat wondered how it was more difficult for Damian to remember that they had gone to school together than to have a conversation  resulting in one or more parties suffering an aneurysm. “I’m not upset,

When more questions followed, Kat had to wonder if Damian had always been this insufferably obtuse or whether this was a trait he had recently developed as a result of being embedded in fraternity culture. She could feel her blood pressure rising and hot in her ears and though he was committed to profusely apologising for it, he didn’t seem to have the slightest clue what it was he was apologising for. She wasn’t sure that she even knew at this point. 

“My name is okay, yes. It’s fine, okay? Not that you even know it, so I don’t know why you’re asking- can you get me another beer maybe?”  she insisted. 

She did genuinely want another beer or six but more than that she some breathing room before she had a complete emotional melt down or Damian’s head combusted and stained her new jeans, whichever came first. If she didn’t know that Damian was physically incapable of off-the-cuff humor, let alone that of the prankster variety, she would think that this was all a ruse, a gotcha, though it was more cruel than it was comedic in her opinion.  Was he making fun of her accent? The way she spoke? What was his fuckin’ problem?

-

“If Okay is your name.” Frustration was beginning to bubble within him. It was as if Damian was speaking another language and this person just couldn’t understand him. If she was indeed foreign, that was probably the case after all. But golly, who knew making an introduction could be so difficult? Practice patience, practice patience, practice patience, he reminded himself in his head. She was claiming not to be upset but anyone with working eyes could see that she was.

Her name is Okay..? Or Finokay? Was Finokay the full form of her name? Damian’s mouth fell open and shut a few times, looking much like a fish as he tried to comprehend what was just shared with him. He had to speak up about his confusion and make it plain now. It was beyond insanity that this has grown so difficult. But before he could, she cut off his train of thought by requesting another beer and considering how he had clearly offended her just now, he felt obligated to without complaint. “Right. Of course. Give me a moment.” 

“No,” she said bluntly, wishing now that she had kept the two-fingers worth of warm beer in the bottom of her discarded bottle so that she would have something to wash the bitter taste of rejection out of her mouth with. His lack of commitment to saying that he remembered Katherine fondly only deepened the wound. 

“If what is okay?”  she asked, a little venomously, painfully frustrated by the situation and how very, very wrong her various fantasies about this exact reunion had been. If erasing her existence from his consciousness was the behaviour in question then no, she would assert, it was not okay, it was fucked. If Damian was querying something else, however, it was lost on Kat. Maybe Drea’s wisdom about American boys being a bunch of dopes had been more valuable that Kat had given her credit for. Damian was certainly proving the other girl’s theory on time-wasting frat bros with this encounter.

-

No. Straight-forward and without the quiver of a doubt laced in it. This woman definitely had Russian roots. If Damian was a betting man, he’d put money on it. “Oh. Well, I guess... just me then.” He pushed out an awkward chuckle, hoping to diffuse the tension that was swiftly growing out of hand between himself and this stranger.

“If that’s your name..? Sorry, I didn’t meant to upset you. I’m just— this conversation has become impossibly more complicated than I ever expected it to be.” Damian certainly felt like he’d committed some cultural faux pas. Wherever this young lady was from, he clearly would not succeed at basic introductions. “Your name is Okay, isn’t it? Am I pronouncing it wrong? I truly apologize if I’ve offended you.” He put a hand to his chest to emphasize just how much he meant that. It seemed his time vacationing in Europe in his younger years did nothing to prepare him for this. “Maybe if you tell me how to spell your name, perhaps I could sound it out better.”

open starter: <3 when: early afternoon, day leading up to the Event where: library

Ben had his own laptop, but it came equipped with a fuck-ton of distractions. By twenty, he’d learned which ones he shouldn’t have within reaching distance. Including, but not limited to, MTG Arena. But he was about halfway through a entry for his class-assigned blog (God help him), when something funky went down. He hit the A-button, eyes on the screen, and nothing came up. No A. He tried again with another letter, the P-button, and got the same result. He pressed it again, many times in succession. Nothing. Growing annoyed, he pressed all ten fingers down on the keyboard, three times in a row, to no avail. The cursor on the screen blinked mockingly at him, refusing to regurgitate what he wanted to put down. Of course this would happen right when he finally got into the flow of things. His leg bounced under the table.

Ben turned to the person working at a computer nearby. “Hey,” he started, his voice at a normal volume. He quickly remembered where he was, and then adjusted. “Hey,” he repeated, this time in a half-hushed tone. “You know anything about fixing small-time computer issues?” He pressed down on the spacebar a couple times. “Keyboard’s given up the ghost.”

-

Damian was deep into his paper on Epigenetics when he heard Ben whisper beside him. His eyes only shifted away from his laptop’s screen when his former roommate mentioned something about ghosts. “Ghosts?” Damian wasn’t superstitious by any means. He wrote down paranormal encounters to mental illness and an overactive imagination. But given the rich history of the boarding school he’d attended in his teenage years, he did carry some... concern about any mention of such things. 

The warmth her gaze had held just moments before was doused with all the grace of a sparkler being stamped out by a steel-capped boot when Damian informed her that she resembled a clearly withered memory of his . Ouch. 

“Is that true?” she offered plainly, a little distantly, almost as if the upward inflection of her voice was habitual and she didn’t actually want an answer of any sort. Certainly, their conversations hadn’t ever been all that poetic, if meaningful at all but this one had really smashed the record for most pitiful. “Hopefully someone you think fondly of,” she added, bitterly as she straightened her spine and squared her shoulders, preparing for a swift departure before his hand came jutting toward her. God. She had no hope of disappearing and avoiding him for the rest of her life now, he actually expected an introduction. 

“Okay,” she accepted his handshake with all the tenderness of an icicle. Sure, she had matured somewhat, her hair was much longer and perhaps her accent had been warped by her return to Minnesota and more so by her time in Oslo but was she truly that forgettable? The thought wrapped her insides in barbed wire and pulled tight as their hands fit together. “I have somewhere to be, actually,” she announced dismissively by way of excusive herself. It wasn’t even untrue, in fact, she sort of did have somewhere to be while the last few remaining shreds of her self confidence were in tact - she was now committed to finding a bottle of red wine she could chug in record time and anybody of any sort who could make her feel less like the most unremarkable person who was ever born. 

-

Is that true? Damian made a face at her question, unsure if he was expected to answer it or not. Well, he wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t... He stared at the blonde before him strangely. It was probably all too easy to read the confusion on his face — all creased forehead and slanted brows. For the sake of carrying the conversation away from awkward waters, he responded. “Sure, I’d say there’s fondness. It was... just a bit of a complicated situation is all. A lot of nuance to... remembering. You know how it is, right?” As if all strangers he’d encountered had a past... something that shook them to their core back in boarding school.

“Okay...?” Now it was Damian’s turn to have his tone curl upward. He couldn’t tell if that was supposed to be this woman’s name or not. Quite... exotic for a name. Was she foreign? She did seem a little foreign. Would explain the accent he detected. And the lack of warmth when they shook hands. (Russian? Possibly?) His brows shot upward when she announced she had somewhere to be. “Hold on, I didn’t get your name,” he cut in before she could go anywhere. “If it’s Okay, I’m very sorry. It’s just not a name that’s familiar to me.” How painfully American of him.

If anybody below a solid six and a half had dared to pick up the mostly empty beer that Katherine had abandoned and had definitely forgotten about the moment somebody waved a watermelon vape in her general direction, it could have been enough to throw Kat into a shrieking fit at them. Fortunately for Damian, however, Kat had always thought of him as well above a solid six and he earned bonus points for being sufficiently taller than her and ripped as well.

Unfortunately, for Damian, however, Katherine hadn’t expected to ever see him again, after he had gradated from boarding school a year ahead of her.  She was borderline incoherent at the best of times - one of the many reasons she leaned into other students assuming she was a foreign exchange student simply because she had come from a foreign university on exchange -  but caught off guard like this and with perhaps more than just the nearly empty bottle of beer in her belly, she was pretty much useless. 

“Yeah, actually, it’s mine,” 

 “- but I’ll get another one, so”  ’ trailed as if there was more left to say but if the pointlessness of the rest of the statement hadn’t already made it quite clear: she didn’t have anything of value to offer. Instead, she was focused on his gaze, desperate to know that he recognised her and that if he did, he gave even the slightest shit about seeing her again. 

-

“Oh.” Damian glanced down at the bottle momentarily. A brief second passed where he considered handing the empty bottle back to her despite how unappealing drinking the remaining contents seemed. Thankfully, the blonde shared she planned to get another anyway. He shifted his gaze back upward and flashed a smile at her then. “Well, I’d imagine that one would taste much better than this,” he offered with a chuckle — slightly forced, out of politeness more than anything — before holding the bottle behind himself. It was then that he took proper notice of the woman before him. Blonde, tall, quite charming aesthetically. Had he seen her before? There was something familiar about her. “You remind me of someone I used to know,” he revealed then. Something akin to nostalgia, maybe a bit of tenderness, swirled about in his chest then. He quickly brushed it aside knowing it was childish however. “Maybe you just have one of those faces...” He reasoned with himself before stepping toward her and holding out his hand to introduce himself. “I’m Damian.”

-

Drea tried to keep her judgement from her face, to be polite, but a small crease between her brows still formed. The worst thing about Damian was that he said the most straight forward things in the most ridiculous way. If there was ever talk like a regular person challenge he’d lose immediately. He wouldn’t even be able to open his mouth, she thought. “ Sure, but it’s kinda more like Sisyphus and the boulder, no? ” See, Drea could make references too. And she didn’t sound 80 years old when she did it. “ Seems kinda pointless to try and get ahead of a task that will always be there tomorrow. ” And she didn’t imagine Damian had successfully roped many others into his task. So by the stakes of Damian vs everyone else that was already here and would arrive later, it was extra pointless. At his response to her question, stating that it wasn’t within his capabilities, she gave a small huff of a laugh. And exhale through her nose, looking down to her cup for a moment before taking a small sip. So maybe he wasn’t as righteous as the caricature Drea had in her head. Didn’t make it not funny to her, however. “ Yeah, good. Fine. ” She said, amicably with quick smile. Polite, though vapid. To say she was tired of parties would be a stretch, but she was certainly tired of parties that all felt the same and nothing new happened. “ Ben’s coming later, he’s still doing some unpacking and stuff. I just came with some friends. Sorority sisters, you know, ” She explained easily. She was jealous that Ben was arriving later, even if she was one drink away from sending him annoying texts that she missed him. “ What about you? Here with anyone? ”

-

“Sisyphus.” Damian echoed the name of the character with a fondness. Not because he held any attachment to the story personally, but because it surprised him that Andrea thought to bring it up. Not what he expected from her. Then again, after all these years of very casually knowing her, they never quite got to know each other. “Well, yes...” Damian agreed with a tilt of his head to one side. “But there will be less of a task to undertake tomorrow if we begin some of the cleaning tonight is the point I’m trying to make.” Not uncommon for Damian, an air of rightness radiated from his words. Old habits died hard. He may not have worn a shiny pin on his lapel but he was still rather helpless against wanting his word to be supreme. “Still unpacking? Ah, Benjamin.” He clicked his tongue fondly. See? Old habits did die hard. “Right, your sisters. How are you liking sorority life? Oddly... fulfilling isn’t it?” At least that’s how Damian felt about his brotherhood even if there was more drunkenness and tomfoolery he expected to deal with. Getting rowdy was the way of the Modern Age. Even Damian couldn’t fight that, so he’d learned to ‘roll with it’ as people his age liked to say. “Me? Oh no, just myself. And well, my brothers I suppose.” Fraternity brothers, but brothers all the same to Damian. “You’d think without all of the rules, there’d suddenly be more freedom, but I find myself still just as committed to the books and the classroom than I was before. Probably even more so sometimes.” Regrettably, a quiet voice in his head thought. But he quickly shushed it. “What is it you take again? Communications... or?” He couldn’t recall a single true thing about Andrea other than the sour looks she used to give him back in high school. He was clueless in knowing what she held a passion for.

-

Leaning against wall as she waited on a friend to return from the bathroom, Drea’s eyes flicked over as she heard a voice. Some people just … said things, huh. “ Right. ” Was the response she came up with first. Conveying an energy of ‘who asked?’ without having to say it. In moments of awkwardness at a party, Drea tended to instinctively reach for her vape. But in this one she kept it in her pocket and instead drummed fingers against the red cup in her hand. She got the feeling that this wasn’t the right crowd to vape inside. “ Isn’t that sort of what the day after a party is for? ” She asked, tone somewhat good natured though only enough to excuse the judgement also in her tone. It was also what pledges were for, she’d had to do it for her sorority and she didn’t think Pi Kappa Alpha was gonna get rid of that tradition just yet. But she’d start with the obvious. Speaking of obvious, she raised a brow. “ No. ” She stated, raising her cup only slightly a beat later. “ Are you planning on tracking down who it was? ” Anyone else and that would have been a joke, but to be honest, she could imagine Damian turning off the music to have people stand trial for littering.

-

“Well... yes, I suppose. But there’ll be less to clean tomorrow if we make an effort to keep things tidy tonight. Wasn’t it H. Jackson Brown that said ‘the best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today’?” He paired the quote with a amiable half smile. It was the attitude his parents taught him to have about things. Start early. Be prepared. Don’t waste time being idle and lazy when you could otherwise be productive. Besides, Damian had things to do tomorrow. An early morning jog. Swim practice. A study session slash coffee meet-up with a fellow Biological Sciences major. Seeing Andrea lift her cup faintly, Damian’s mouth fell open in acknowledgement before nodding his head and pressing forth. Track down who it was? “Er... no.” He made a slight face against his wishes. Did she think he was Sherlock Holmes or something? “I don’t think that’s within my capabilities,” Damian admitted. It would have been nice if it was. But it wasn’t. Unfortunately. “Anyway, it’s not an issue. I have the bottle. I can get rid of it.” Further issue needn’t be taken and get in the way of the evening’s festivities. “How’s your night? Are you here with a friend... or Ben?”

“This isn’t mine,” Damian announced. Between his fingers was an empty beer bottle that he was holding onto awkwardly. “I’m just trying to stay on top of the mess,” he went on to further clarify. Pi Kappa Alpha was no stranger to hosting parties. Damian was no stranger to being inconvenienced by them. Loud noise, littering, general tomfoolery... You’d think he’d have gotten used to it by now. At times, he deluded himself into thinking he had grown accustomed to it as well. But as the night went on and the general disarray started to pile up, the inevitable unease would crawl up Damian’s spine and settle uncomfortably over his shoulders. “This wasn’t yours, was it? Hardly anything in it.” He shook the bottle. There was barely half an inch of liquid in it.