ghosted;

PARTIES. not exactly lucien tremaine’s idea of a good use of his time , he hardly considered most so-called parties his peers threw to be a good time any way you look at it. anyone who knew or recognized him at all would DEFINITELY be surprised to find him wandering through the crowded frat house with an entire bottle of scotch in one hand and a pack of cigarettes crushed in the other , but he had his reasons. what wasn’t surprising was the look of discomfort and slight panic in sharp blue eyes as they flitted around the room as if looking for SOMETHING.

upon spotting a mostly abandoned stairwell near the back of the house , lu was quick to DISAPPEAR up them. it didn’t take long for him to locate what appeared to be an empty room that he could slip inside of where he’d be left to his own devices which he clearly found the far superior option. the blonde art history major heaved a sigh of relief as he leaned his back against the shut door , removing a cigarette from the CRUMPLED carton and placing it between pale pink lips. 

lucien pushed off and away from the door to stand up straight , pulling out a matchbook and striking one to light the end of his cigarette. LAZY blue eyes lift to follow the smoke rising towards the ceiling , conducting a quick search for fire alarms only to find they had all been disarmed or broken to some degree. what else did you expect from a NOTORIOUS party frat , right ? but for someone who though himself rather keen and perceptive , lu still hadn’t realized he wasn’t alone after all.

Having receieved a slightly alarming message from one of the girls in her most recent group assignment, Ines had retreated to the calmness of the stairwell to try and conjure the concentration to respond properly. Half-drunk at a frat party was certainly not the ideal time to be dealing with assignment drama but Ines couldn’t just let it go and wait until morning (or afternoon, depending on her hangover) to respond and so here she was, eyes drilling into the screen of her phone as she tried to understand what exactly her assignment partner wanted and what she expected Ines to do about it.

After a few minutes of back and forth between the girls, Ines assured the other that if she submitted a draft, Ines would edit it in the morning. Though it was somewhat of a thorn in Nes’ side, it seemed to alleviate at least some of her group’s anxiety and so she was prepared to leave it at that...at least for now. 

“Shit,” she jumped at the arrival of the male, pressing her hand to her chest as her heart skipped a beat. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” and she was jumpy after the bonfire. “I guess that means the smoke alarms are busted, huh?” she asked, looking upward, toward the ceiling, impressed by the way the smoke lifted and pooled against the surface without any evidence that an alarm was about to react to it in any way.

OPEN TO ALL.

his back against the wall, a cigarette dangled from between his lips in a rather precarious manner. producing a zippo from the confines of his pocket, a thumb ignited the spark wheel; the other hand lifting to shield the naked flame against the breeze. taking a long drag from the stick, finn reclined his head slightly to blow the smoke into the cool night air above him; dark eyes observing the coiled vapour as it dissolved—melting into the sky much like a snowflake to the ground. as a shadowy figure in his peripheral ghosted alongside him, he soon realised that his tranquillity was sure to be interrupted. 

   ❝ fair warning, ❞ he began, seemingly unbothered whilst flicking the end of his cigarette, watching the flecks of ash drift south only to scatter to the ground at his feet. 

   ❝ i’m not in the most sociable of moods. so, if you’re approaching me for pointless conversation, i’m afraid you’re wasting your time. ❞

eventually, after a beat, finn’s inky pupils rose to peer at the other—the twinkling of the stars illuminating his face against the twilight backdrop of the courtyard.

The message from Finn was fairly clear, Ines could concede as much. Still, it didn’t stop her from approaching him, not entirely.  “Thought I saw an ember in the darkness down here,” she explained, motioning to the building she’d emerged from, the one she had been studying in before she’d noticed another student alone in the shadows. “It’s not exactly safe to roam around by yourself these days,” she reminded him and a moment later, her heart skipped a beat as an unsettling realization made a nest in the pit of her stomach; it wasn’t safe to be alone unless you were the danger. 

“Yeah! I mean, there was the whole bonfire thing, we were all there, and like… that could’ve been me. I never really go alone through the woods, but like… what the hell am I gonna do now? Sit in my dorm bored to tears all week? Cause the frat parties here are lacking. Music is bleh, and nobody really dances. Everyone just wants to get their dick wet,” Judah said, scrunching his nose in faux disgust. Not that he was exempt from that, exactly.

"Wait, what rumor? What’s he doing? Is there something I missed? Please spill all the tea, cause I need a new hobby now that I’m not going clubbing at midnight on a Wednesday night,” he said, giving Ines an innocent little pout. Judah could be quite dramatic sometimes, true to his Aquarian nature.

She nodded her head, “No cap,” she agreed, “I don’t even remember the whole night, I definitely wasn’t thinking about whether I was going to get murdered or not- I wonder how easy it would have been for me to stumble into this killer guy and never be seen again,” she’d given it some thought and it made her stomach twist in knots. She chuckled at his assessment, “Yeah, no shit, I’ve noticed. Guys around here have no game- no offence, not that you’re included anyway- I mean het white boys with bulging bank accounts and beer bellies and nothing else bulging anywhere have no game,” she clarified.

“Oh my God, you didn’t hear? Yeah- I heard that he couldn’t be accounted for on the night of the bonfire and like- some people think maybe he had something to do with what happened to Charlie and that other guy, the soccer player and he’s like, always playing guitar,”  she never fancied herself a fan of the rumor mill but here she was, knee deep in gossip and sort of enjoying it.

Leaning in towards her he gave her a mild shrug, “I guess you could call it homework… anatomy, science, whatever” he suggested to the blonde. He could lie and say he was never this type of guy and just having a bad day. but that would be a lie, this is what he is always like. Until he finds a girl he can’t stop thinking about. “What do you say blondie? Want to go?” he asked again. 

“You know, it’s strange. I’m a biochem major and yet I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in any of my anatomy classes,” she mused, feigning ignorance though she knew precisely what he was getting at.  She pursed her lips as he questioned her, the nickname grating on her nerves. Couldn’t he at least be a little more creative than that? She wondered. “I could say a whole handful of colorful things but I don’t talk like that,” at least not in public, though the temptation to tell him to go fuck himself remained.  “I think I’ll stay here, try my luck with the obnoxious freshmen,” she decided, maybe they weren’t so bad after all compared to a guy who thought he could score with a girl by calling her blondie, “You’re cute,” she offered and it was true, he was handsome, well built, he had a sense of refinement that made her think he probably had an impressive bank balance too, “-but not cute enough to talk to me like that,” 

Judah was almost obsessed with reading everything he could about what had happened during the attack after the bonfire. He was scrolling through the campus news article, and through several Instagram accounts to piece together events of the story. It was wild, to say the least, and he was thankful it hadn’t happened to him with how flagrantly he’d been wandering through the woods without regard to anything else. “Oh my god, this shit is intense. I like… sneak out late several nights a week to go party in town, but now I’m gonna have to start doing the buddy system or something.” He almost made an inappropriate joke about a friend being stabbed instead while he ran away, but figured it’d be in poor taste and too soon. Instead, he looked up at the person next to him as he walked. “Some people are thinking about withdrawing from school or going somewhere else. Honestly? I’m intrigued. Not to sound totally morbid, but this is probably the most interesting thing that’s happened since I dumped my ex this summer. Anyway, what about you? What do you think about all this shit?“

“Something new?” she asked, leaning over to take a peek at the screen of Judah’s cell phone, trying to eye what it was that he was explicitly reacting to. She raised an eyebrow at his confession, “What- like, do you go through the woods?” she felt a shiver tickle her spine at the thought of those woods at night. She would never in her life be foolish enough to try and traverse them alone, of that she was certain. 

She nodded her head in agreement, “I heard about that- some people’s parents are making them transfer,” she added. Her own parents had been mortified but they’d only suggested she spend some time at home to process things, not that she drop out or move away entirely. She laughed a little, somewhat of a scoff, “That is morbid,” she corrected him, “-but I get it. It’s kind of hard to ignore- like trying to look away from a car accident as you drive by. You can’t help it but be just a little curious,” she conceded sincerely. She shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know what to think- but I don’t think Soup should be in the firing line. Do you know how that rumor even started?” 

✈ ??? @ open ◌ starter //

❝ All press is good press, ❞ his father once said when his company was in the papers for potentially employing guerilla death squads. Though that kinda’ thing you can get away from with the right PR people and a few happy accidents. Having the school’s premier source of gossip label you as a potentially murderer however? much harder to get out of. That’s not to say he wasn’t excited to have his name on everyone’s lips, he just wished it was regarding something entirely different. 

Walking around in a disguise didn’t really help his whole ❛ innocence ❜ thing but after a few days, the stares were getting scary. He’d walk into a room and it’d fall silent. So he’s resorted to the good ‘ole Marvel disguise of a baseball cap and shades. Head down averting his gaze from everyone, he plops into the seat opposite of his companion. ❝ It feels like the fucking children of the corn out here, fuck me. ❞ he mutters knocking the brim of his hat up a little. ❝ You know I’m not actually a killer right? ❞ he leans in and says with a stage whisper— just in case his companion had any doubts.

“Nice disguise, very deceptive,” Ines mused, her words dripping with sarcasm. Soup wasn’t somebody that was particularly easy to mistake, he had somewhat of a signature look, if you asked her. 

She pressed her lips together, shrugging her shoulders casually, “I wouldn’t have thought so,” she conceded but she also didn’t know the male all that well. Anybody was capable of homicide in the right circumstances, right? Murder, however? That was different and she didn’t think Soup was a murderer per se. “How are you coping with the rumor mill churning?” she asked, knowing that if the same had been said about her, she’d be feeling uneasy, “If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t heard anybody talking about it like they actually believe anything that’s going around the school right now- you have a pretty good rep when it comes to not being a total psycho, that’s something to feel good about,”

if he was being honest, he hadn’t expected such a well thought out rebuttal to his ramblings. eyes wide, his mind raced as he tried to make sense of the things she had said. if he was thinking rationally he of course knew that it would probably be hard, but the points that she brought up were actually pretty important points to be made. “ i don’t know,” he paused to run his hand through his hair, “i hadn’t actually thought about the logistics of actually doing it, i just thought it would be a fun idea.” he said with a grin, not dissuaded from his idea. “ like imagine, not us necessarily, but a group of friends in a castle together, just having fun, and making memories.” he stopped, finally processing her last statement and looked at the girl, “did you just say that you don’t believe in ghosts?” he asked appalled.

“So, what? Night one you throw a huge party, get shit-faced, totally wasted and then wake up in the morning and...?” she raised an eyebrow as she allowed her voice to trail somewhat, “Do it all again the next night or by that time are you so overwhelmed by all the mess and shit everywhere that you realise you have a pretty big responsibility now?” she asked, hypothetically, “It would be like having a frat house but you can’t even call in a professional cleaning team in, even if you pool the money together to do it,” she decided, not that she thought she’d actually ever have to deal with such a situation. She chuckled at the look on his face, “I think I said I didn’t believe in the Amityville Horror but while we’re on the subject, no, I don’t believe in ghosts,”

His dark hues went to the blonde next to him. Asher couldn’t help but give her a quick scan, honestly at this point it was just a natural habit for him. Taking another sip of his drink he gave her a nod, “I guess you’re right” he said not taking his eyes off of her, but could still hear the loudness behind him. Leaning in a bit he put his elbow on the bar, “Why don’t we go to the library?” he asked cocking an eyebrow up at her. 

Ines accepted her drink from the bartender graciously, a smile on her face and a soft ‘thank you’ passing her lips before her attention returned to Asher. She cocked her head slightly, raising an eyebrow at his suggestion, “Got some overdue books that need returning or are you just that eager to catch up on your homework?” she teased lightly, she doubted he had either of those things or anything remotely akin to them in mind. Boys that looked like Asher rarely suggested anything as innocent as a leisurely stroll to use one of the school’s finest facilities. 

Sitting at the bar Asher kept throwing beer back like it was nothing. Not only did he have to attend school all day and try not to tell the professors how idiotic they sound, he also had to deal with his family. A big event was going on not far from the school, so he had to be there. Ordering another drink he tried to ignore the loud sequels from the people next to him, “Could you keep it down” he shot out sternly. He understood he was at a bar where people come to have fun, but he didn’t care. Anywhere he was he felt as if it is his property.

Ines stood patiently at the bar, waiting for her cocktail to arrive while she busied herself with her Instagram feed. When Asher piped up, her attention was drawn from the iPhone in her hand and delivered directly to the male, then to the group of people he was scolding and back to him again, “Don’t think that worked,” she noted with a light chuckle, “-and I don’t know if anybody told you this but drunk people are loud and obnoxious, it’s kind of their thing, so I think it’s kind of par for the course if you spend your night glued to the bar,” she reasoned. She took another moment or two to observe the offending group, “Freshmen,” she deduced, “They don’t know how to use the library and they don’t know how to hold their liquor,”

“you’re drunk and i’m beautiful!” theo slurred, dimples engraving in her cheeks before her brows knit into a furrow, “wait…no…” she could count on her fingers the number of times she’d been drunk: 1. so to say that she was a lightweight was an understatement. “i MEAN you’re beautiful and i’m drunk. there we go. nailed it.”

Ines took a sip from the red plastic cup in her hand, a neatly trimmed eyebrow lifting in a curious manner as she did so. She smirked, the tug of her lips momentarily disguised by her drink as Theo struggled but eventually landed the compliment she’d intended. “Thank you,” she offered graciously, though it was obvious she was amused by the process it had taken to get there. “Why do I get the feeling I’m gonna be carrying you back to Farrow tonight?” she asked with a chuckle. The two of them lived in the same building and if Theo was face down on the front lawn after midnight sometime, Nes would feel compelled to help her, she was confident.

dylan  saeli.    ↬     open.  /  bonfire  event.  trail  toward  the  woods,  mid  to  late  afternoon. 

       — -     a  noise  of  disgust  was  paired  with  a  sweet  scrunched  nose,  watching  the  trail  of  white  paint  disappear  into  the  thick  forest.  they’d  wondered  how  on  earth  there  could  be  a  single  space  BIG  ENOUGH  for  a  bonfire  hidden  somewhere  in  between  the  trees.  as  their  boots  dug  into  the  soft  dirt,  crunching  leaves  on  purpose,  they  groaned,  trying  to  find  a  few  stars  to  deafen  the  sound  of  (  fake  )  frat  boys  already  enjoying  their  SECOND  red  solo  cup  full  of  cheap,  warm  beer.     ❛     and  here  i  was  thinking  frat  boys  had  gone  extinct,     ❜       a  paused  chased  their  words,  fixing  the  fact  that  they’d  been  thinking  aloud  and  turning  it  into  a  conversation.      ❛     wishful  thinking,  i  guess.     ❜       smooth,  dylan.  very  smooth.

Ines chuckled at Dylan’s announcement, it sounded a lot like wishful thinking to her and not something that would ever come to fruition. “Frat boys are like cockroaches,” she insisted, “They’re hairy, disgusting and they live in filth but they have a surprisingly sturdy resolve, one of the most impressive survival rates in the animal kingdom,” she offered with a shrug of her shoulder, “I’d rather have a frat boy than a cockroach in my bed, however,” she admitted with a smirk, some of them were kind of cute, even if most of them were assholes and idiots.

❝ oh babe, I’m all about the romantics. So if you ever want to meet me in the park, you know where to find me. ❞ he’s trying to hold back his own laughter as he winks at her. He steps outside with her and begins down the sidewalk, hands in his pockets. ❝ I dunno— ❞ he says with a shrug of his shoulders and glances over to her for a beat. ❝ It’s kinda more fun if i just let you guess. ❞ he adds with a smile. 

She rolled her eyes at the way he winked at her, the sly expression that decorated his face. She knew where to find him, indeed, “The gutter?” she suggested, playfully biting back as they began their journey toward the park, for whatever duty it was that he so desperately needed to undertake. “Hmm,” she hummed pensively, “So, it’s not a date,” they’d already worked that out, “Not a hook up,” which was almost sort of the same for guys like Soup, she was certain, “Are you selling something?”  she asked, maybe it was more fun if she guessed, she kind of like the game.

❛ okay but like hear me out    ❜ his eyes darting up from his phone. he’d been looking up the prices of castles in europe, and he couldn’t help but think about the possibilities, ❛ in certain european countries they will give you a castle if you make a plan to take care and improve it, so, what if a bunch of us move to like.. ❜ he paused and looked back down to his phone ❛ like italy and make a plan to restore a castle. we could have a castle and realistically it wouldn’t be that hard.❜ 

“We? Us? Pass,” Not only was Ines not particularly fond of the idea of moving into a castle in the middle of nowhere, she was most certainly not interested in doing it with Percy, whatever his last name was or any of his kooky pals. Despite her unwavering position on the matter, however, she couldn’t help but bite, joining in on the conversation when Oddball continued, “It would be ridiculously hard,” she objected, “Firstly, how many of you and your buddies know Italian? Cos I’ll bet the people out by wherever your castle is don’t speak english. Secondly, renovating anything is hard- let alone finding the tools and materials and like- the people who are experts in doing that shit for an archaic building, not just some bungalow in the suburbs. Think about what happened to the Amityville Horror House people- they were so in over their heads with renovation costs they literally had to run away from it and say it was full of ghosts. Good luck trying to pull that one off in 2020,”

   ‘   not   to   go   all   psych   major   or   whatever   on   you   ,      but   are   you   good   ?   ’   the   expression   on   his   face   clearly   screams   concerned   and   confused.   brows   up   arch   at   the   other   before   returning   to   his   schoolwork   ,         a   miracle   he   was   even   sitting   down   and   attempting   to   do   any   school   work.   it   was   no   secret   he’d   rather   be   drinking   or   drowning   out   his   mind   with   whatever   drug   he   could   get   his   hands   on   ,      truth   be   told   he   should   be   getting   asked   if   he   was   okay   ,      because   he   clearly   was   not.

It was unreasonable for Ines to deny that she was just a little wound up that afternoon. She could have lied to Santi but the creases on her brow and the hardness of her gaze as she stared at her laptop screen betrayed her. With a sigh, she softened somewhat, muscles loosening as she massaged her temple, willing her headache away, “I’ve got three online module tests, two written assignments, daily discussion board participation for five days and an oral presentation with a total psycho,” she explained, giving a reason to her tense posture. 

♦

“ you’ve passed intimate, ” eli pointed out, taking great amusement in nes’ predicament. “ you know how long she takes to shit, intimate is in the rearview fuckin’ mirror. ” he chuckled, gesturing over his shoulder. “ that’s the best case scenario, ” he commented about the boxing story. honestly, he would have much preferred it over a couple weird groups he’d been in over the years. “ like, it’s shit, but better than– one time i was in this group where one guy kinda ghosted so like, alright whatever, we’ll just do it. no big deal, you know? but then the dick showed up on presentation day. we were like, fuck okay, just do this bit, its easy– or it should have been if he’d shown up to a single class. he completely tanked it for us, total bullshit. ” he expressed, he could laugh about it now but at the time he and his other group mates had typed up a scathing email to the professor about the situation.

he laughed again, “ well, look at you now, ” he smirked, not able to hold it back as he continued. “ started the day having no idea who she is, and now you’re basically married. ” he teased. it then occurred to him he didn’t even know the name of the person nes was paired with. not that he expected he’d know them, it didn’t sound like someone eli associated with. but it would be easier to talk about the person in question later on if he knew her name. “ why do i just know she has a weird ass facebook? like, there’s no way this chick doesn’t have something fucked on her page that should’ve been a huge warning sign. ” 

She let out a slow and steady breath, processing her situation with a sense of dread when she realized that this was only day one and that they still had weeks before their presentation. “How do these kids even get into college?” she asked, “Did you rat him out?” she would have, without a doubt. She would have thrown the guy under the bus with both hands, crucified him in the town square too if she had the opportunity.

Nes wrinkled her nose, though the smile tugging at her lips made it clear that she wasn’t as seriously horrified as she was pretending to be for dramatic flair, “Shut up,” she scolded for a lack of anything more intelligent to offer in response to Eli’s teasing. “I could always tell her I have a friend who is single and just her type,” she warned, wiggling her eyebrows playfully as she shot wide eyes in his direction. “She actually invited me to add her on Facebook,” she suddenly recalled, having otherwise repressed the memory for the sake of her mental stability, “I told her I didn’t use it,” she admitted, cringing a little. It sounded so much more cruel now and she felt a little guilty, just not guilty enough to remedy the situation or apologize to Kira for being a judgey bitch.

he took a swig of his beer, eyes briefly glancing up at the girl. “sounds spooky,” he teased, though his voice held no amusement. “it’s probably just some dumbass freshman trying to prank you” he muttered before shrugging his shoulders. “i wouldn’t worry about it.” 

“I’d rather it be some sort of supernatural phenomenon than be explained by the idea that a bunch of freshmen are probably circulating my phone number,” she mused, perturbed by the thought. She tried to think of anybody she’d given he number to recently who might be inclined to fuck with her by giving it to a freshman or writing it in a bathroom stall somewhere. Nothing came to mind. She locked her phone and tucked it into her pocket in a dismissive manner, trying not to think about the prospect of receiving more mysterious texts once her phone decided to start working again. “-and you? What are you doing out here? Aside from offering sage advice, obviously,”

✿

“Yeah, totally,” Kira agreed with a nod, as if she’s actually had something more sophisticated than a Tropical Punch flavored Capri Sun in her life. “I completely get it,” she lied.

“Med school,” she repeated, mouth slightly agape. “Wow.” Of course, Ines wanted to go to Med school. Hot, smart, had goals and big ones at that. Total package. “You’ll definitely get in,” Kira assured. “For sure. I mean, you seem really organized and I heard that’s like, step one to achieving your goals or something.” Actually, she had no idea where she heard that or it was even true. But she imagined being organized definitely didn’t hurt if you were trying to accomplish that type of thing. “So you’re like a… Bio major, right? Or..?” Kira didn’t know much about Med school but she knew it was something that came after regular college. And that you had to do something similar in regular college to go there. Or something like that anyway.

Oh my god, her peasant hands touching Ines La Santa’s laptop? Wild. The boys will not believe this. “Sure. I’ll just…” She leaned over and inputted the information requested. Boom, bam, all done. “There ya go.” Thank fuck she didn’t forget her student email. “Oh, you don’t?” Of course, Ines doesn’t. She’s like super into school and hot. She obviously doesn’t have time to waste, scrolling on Facebook and tagging her friends in dumb memes or food videos. “That’s totally fine. I mean, we have email, right? Works for me if it works for you.”

Kira was more than content to just nod at whatever Ines was saying, guzzling down her drink nervously. Was it possible to get brain freeze from an iced latte? Probably not, right? “That works for me,” Kira chimed. The less she said, the better. “Oh, um.” She moved the straw away from her lips and looked at her drink, which was a little more than halfway done at the rate she was drinking it. Maybe take a break, she advised herself, pushing her drink away slightly. “Iced latte.” She forwent telling Ines there was a double shot of espresso in it. She didn’t need to know that Kira wasn’t used to being awake right now because she’d commonly be passed out in bed at this point after class.

“Do you drink coffee ever or are you strictly a juice kind of gal?” She asked, unable to help herself because she needed something to do now that she wasn’t trying to inhale her drink.

“Thanks,” she felt like she was saying that a lot at this point. It was flattering to an extent, at least until it became kind of uncomfortable. It was sort of like when the old guy at the deli in town told Ines she had a beautiful mouth, except Kira was a lot younger and had way less hairy arms. “Biochem,” she corrected and she didn’t mean to make it sound condescending, she just couldn’t let it slip by her. It was a habit of hers, when people said things that were blatantly incorrect or ignorant, she struggled to let it go if she was sure it wasn’t going to result in her getting kicked out of class or chewed out by a staffer. “-and you’re majoring in...?” she asked curiously, hoping she wasn’t majoring in anything that would see them share classes for the rest of their student careers.

She shrugged her shoulder again but only because she didn’t have anything more to say on the matter. She was a half-way decent liar, that’s how she bought booze and got into clubs without always having a fake I.D. in her arsenal but when it came to things like this, she wasn’t all that fond of lying to somebody’s face. Especially when she was lying to them to avoid associating with them any more than she had to, even if they were totally harmless and arguably kind of nice.

“Nice,” she offered easily and meant it as sincerely as she could. She was partial to iced lattes herself, occasionally with a double shot but always with lactose free milk. “Are you kidding me? I love coffee,” she insisted, a smile curving her lips at the thought of her being on a strict juice and water diet, “Yeah- there’s like, no way I could get through the day without a coffee or....six, depending on the day,” she joked, though it had come to fruition at least once or twice, particularly when finals were looming, “I had a latte this morning,” she explained. It had just been a regular one and the heat had kept her hands warm while she waited outside for the library to open. “Have you tried the Freddo latte?” it wasn’t until Ines had ordered it that she’d discovered it was an iced drink, “It’s like a regular iced latte but a little thicker, smoother,” she much preferred it, in fact. Not to mention that having an exotic coffee order made her feel sophisticated for no good reason.