don't kill my vibe

“Undergrads,” Dmitry whined, even though he’d known what he was getting into since the posters for the ball went up. “I’m not saying I’d rather shoot myself than hear one more story about last year’s prom– actually, no, I’m saying that. I’d absolutely rather shoot myself than hear any more about prom.”

“Hmm,” she hummed thoughtfully, thinking it was rather audacious of the male to be talking about undergrads like that when most of the people in attendance were surely just that. “Let me be one of the undergrads that will promise not to bore you to death with stories about prom,” she insisted, “Mostly because I wasn’t there and I know nothing about it,” she reasoned, “-and also because I don’t think we know each other,” she added with a chuckle, perhaps she’d seen him around the place but his name didn’t come to mind.

“Am I supposed to tell someone if their lipstick is smeared?” Laila wondered out loud, using a compact to check that hers wasn’t. “I mean, I know I’d wanna know, but it’s so awkward sometimes.” 

Whether or not it was the intended effect, Naomi immediately felt a twitch of self-consciousness when Laila spoke. Was that the brunette’s relatively obscure way of telling Naomi she had lipstick all over her face. Following suit, she used the darkened screen of her phone to check her reflection, wiping what she thought could be a minor smudge with the tip of her index finger. “Always, you should tell somebody,” she insisted, “If you say it politely, it’s better than somebody making jokes or some asshole guy saying it- don’t you think that’s true?” she reasoned thoughtfully.

“Do you have a minute?” Blake asked, tapping on the shoulder of a nearby student. “Gonna need a shot buddy. Hate taking them alone. I’m supplying the whiskey, it’s top shelf.”

“Of course,” she agreed with a smile tugging at her lips, “I always have a minute for that, nobody should have to drink alone,” especially top shelf whiskey, she considered, wondering the value of the liquid she was about to throw down her throat so carelessly. “Is it your drink of choice? Whiskey?” she was partial to beer, Jager if she had to and anything with a fruity flavor went down nicely, though apple and pear schnapps always reminded her of an especially good night but a  particularly bad hangover.

status: open !! location: bohn

D'Arcy  is  no  stranger  to  late  nights  and  the  caffeine  a  stressful  life  at  university  costs  ,  but  there  has  to  be  a  modicum  of  respect  despite  the  chronic  sleep  deprivation  .  A  loud  crash  rudely  robs  her  of  another  peaceful  slumber  .  She  throws  her  blankets  off  her  as  she  trudges  into  the  common  room  .  "  Please  ,  "  she  grumbles  ,  "  if  you’re  going  to  make  such  a  racket  ,  can  you  just  take  it  to  your  room  ?  "

Naomi pulled the headphones out of her ears when she realized that D’Arcy was addressing her. “Huh?” she uttered, admittedly a little rudely as she attempted to catch up on what the other girl was saying. She sat up a little, shifting from her previously slumped and lazy position on the common room couch, “Was there- it wasn’t me,” she insisted, she hadn’t even heard the racket, likely due to the overwhelming volume of the explosive action movie she’d been watching instead of doing her readings for class the following day.

Now, without the sanctity provided by noise-canceling headphones, she could hear the calamity that had woken the other girl. “My God, who is that?” she asked rhetorically of the screaming voices she could hear. Two, maybe three people. Were they arguing or having fun? She couldn’t tell. “Does this happen a lot?”

“Do you think the music department offers classes like ‘hey dumbass, here’s a piano’? ‘Cause I’ve always wanted to learn like.. some instrument but my brother scared me off of band in high school. Like, carrying the instruments and all?” Laila realised she was rambling, but the point still stood. No one had to carry around a piano– or anything else, she was an adult and she had her sister’s old shitbox car now. “Anyways. Pianos? Or do they assume everyone’s taken lessons since they were four?” @hadopens​

Naomi thought about it for a moment or so but didn’t think she had the answer Laila was hoping for, “I doubt the music department offers classes like this but why don’t you ask one of the students to tutor you?” she suggested, raising an eyebrow. She was confident there would be plenty of music students around the place eager to make an extra buck by teaching one of their fellows how to play the intro to A Thousand Miles or similar. “If you find one that thinks you’re cute, they might even do it for free,” she advised in addition.

“I think it sounds a little bit weird for me because I didn’t have to do it before.” then she added “It probably makes me sound like a jerk but I promise i’m not, It’s just that… you’re the first person that has suggested me something like that” She thought that being honest would be the best way to go since she realized she didn’t know how to interact with people in a “natural” way. “So you’ve seen the world! you know whats out there, I’m from New York City. Nothing exciting really I’ve lived there my whole life with my parents.” The thought of her past tinted her face with a sad expression “Gosh I wish I at list had siblings, do you have any?

She hoped her new companion wasn’t offended by the suggestion, “Is it rude to say?” she asked, she had discovered that some of the things that were perfectly polite to say in Germany and even other parts of Europe made the expressions of Londeners contort and sour, perhaps she’d find the same thing in America.

“Here and there, yes, a bit,” she confirmed with a nod of her head. There was still much of the world left for Naomi to see but she liked to think that in good time, she’d see a lot of it, maybe even most of it if she was especially lucky. “-but I have much of it left to see,” she explained, “This is why I’m studying anthropology. I want to know all about the world and all the people in it,” she was passionate about the matter, in fact, “I’ve never been to New York City though,” she confessed, “Everything I know of it is from movies and TV shows- I doubt it is much like Gossip Girl for everybody though,” she said with a chuckle, she imagined that a very small portion of people actually lived like anybody in the American TV shows she’d become hooked on at one time or another. She nodded her head, “Two brothers, both older than me,” she missed them, admittedly, “One lives in Germany, one lives in Niederlande- I planned to visit him there but actually, I got my acceptance to Haddon, so my plans had to change,” it was a good thing, she’d decided, she was pleased it had worked out that way.

“Yes! That’s exactly him, the song it’s called Soldi. I won’t lie I saw last year’s Eurovision just because of him, I was so bummed he placed second though” She was excited to be talking with probably one of the few people in the entire campus who knew about European music and it’s most important event. She never actually shared with anyone her musical taste so talking about it marked her face with a sincere smile.

“You know what? I’ll actually try to do exactly that, I’ll be more friendly “ she said the word as if it was completely new to her. “Ow and how come you’ve been new three times? Did you had to move a lot or something along those lines?”

“Amazing, yes, I remember it. Germany did not do very well, I think, that is what I recall,” she shrugged it off with a chuckle, she wasn’t particularly competitive about the whole thing, she just liked the show and the prospect of the competition being hosted somewhere that she might travel to in the future.

She nodded her head in agreement, “It’s easy to do,” she assured her, “It won’t work for everybody but it will work for the best people,” she was confident in that. If somebody was horrible to you when you were nice to them, they were hardly worth befriending anyway. “I moved from my home town to Berlin, from Berlin to London and London to here at Haddon, so that makes three times now. Where did you come from?”

“Oh, cool,” he grinned.  Freshman seemed to be nonexistent, but if they were around, they were pretty confident on where things were, and just how college worked in general.  He felt like a lone wolf out here, like a baby wolf, trying to figure out how to walk while everyone else immediately got the hang of it.  Tomislav swallowed his food and gave a little smile and shake of his head.  “It’s okay,” he assured, before chuckling.  “It’s got the special mom touch, I’m the youngest, so it was a rough morning for her.”  He tucked his lunch away for a moment so he wouldn’t be rude as they chatted.  “That’s really cool!  I’m a film major, this is my first semester of college, like, in general.”  Hard to believe, apparently, according to his parents who said he still looked the same as he did three years ago - at this age, he wasn’t sure that was a compliment or what.  “My name’s Tomislav.”

“How lucky you are,” she chimed, “I would love a sandwich made by my mother today,” she confessed, a warmth filling her belly just at the mere thought of it, “Fresh bread too,” she added, it was something that she was already starting to miss now that she was somewhat settled in the U.S. She did, however, plan on finding an adequate bakery soon enough, it was most certainly near the top of her priorities on her to-do list. “Do you have many siblings?” she asked curiously, it sounded as if his mother was used to the protocol when it came to emptying the nest, so to speak. 

She nodded her head, a smile tugging at her lips, “So very interesting,” she commented genuinely, “There are so many movies, so many languages, so many different time eras- to study them all must be so amazing,” and difficult, she thought, she wouldn’t know where to begin. “I’m Naomi,” she greeted in return, offering the male a handshake, “This is a Slavic name?” she couldn’t pin point it exactly but she was sure the male would fill in the gaps.

Chuckling a bit, “I am fluent in Spanish and French. I’ve tried Chinese and it is not possible for me. For some reason I just can’t” he shrugged, was he actually admitting he couldn’t do something? Yes, but he was also bragging as well so, win win. He followed her into a bar then led them to a table, the waitress was quickly to come get their order, probably because they all knew how well he tipped. “What would you like?” he asked Naomi.

Raising his eyebrow he nodded, “Okay” was all he said leaning back in the booth a little. “You know, some of that is true, but I normally don’t take them out to dinner” he said leaning towards her, intertwining his fingers, “They usually just end up in my bed” he honestly said.

The boy couldn’t keep his eyes off the blonde, most girls never had this affect on him, “I wish I would’ve met you in a bar in Berlin, a long time ago” Chuck said, saying he wanted to know her long before this moment.

“I would love to learn French, it seems so sophisticated, so romantic,” she gushed warmly. She was hardly sophisticated but she did find herself more inclined to the romantic side of life. “Maybe you can teach me a little,” she suggested, though she imagined he’d already thought of that, or at least demonstrating other things his tongue was capable of.

She shrugged her jacket off and made herself quite comfortable, taking in the sights and sounds of the place she had heard so much about, now that she was finally actually there. Once she was settled she pinched a drinks menu between her index and middle fingers and observed it curiously. Most of the things she recognised with ease but a lot of them were foreign to her and she wanted to try something new. “I was going to have a beer but look at all these cocktails,” she was sure Charles was already perfectly familiar with the menu but it didn’t stop her from showing him, “I’ll try a blueberry mule,” she was glad she’d picked something she could pronounce with ease.

Naomi cocked her head slightly as she looked at Charles, trying to read the male, “Is that true?” she asked rhetorically, she wasn’t convinced until he spoke again. “I see,” she smirked as she nodded her head. She considered herself fairly liberal, certainly a proponent of body freedom but perhaps the culture was different here. “I must be different then,” she deduced coyly, taking some pride in the fact.

“Yes, it would be nice...but then we wouldn’t be right here, right now and isn’t this perfect?” she considered, looking around the place once more. She was enjoying Charles’ company, enjoying the venue, enjoy her new life and the prospect of new experiences and she wouldn’t change any of it, she decided then.

“I actually don’t but I would love to listen to her music sometime, maybe you can show me at the cafe? I am more familiarized with the music of this side of the globe, although I do enjoy listening to Mahmood, have you heard of him? If not i am definitely going to show you some of his work.” It felt nice finally having an opportunity to talk about herself without having someone behind her telling her what to say. And as she started following Naomi she thought out loud without even realizing she was doing it.

“I really hope time is all that I’ll need to feel better”

“Of course,” she chimed with light enthusiasm, always more that happy to share music with somebody else. “Is he the same as in Eurovision last year? For Italy? I don’t remember the name of the song but he was so good looking,” she gushed a little, the most memorable thing about the artist had been his flamboyant shirt and his handsomeness, she considered, though she didn’t think Eurovision was as popular in the U.S. as it was elsewhere. She wasn’t even sure it aired here, truth be told.

She nodded her head in agreement, “I’m sure it is,” she assured the other girl in an effort to comfort, “I’ve been new before, three times, in fact. If you are friendly, it becomes easy,”

Aurora wasn’t expecting that answer at all, and maybe the fact that it was so unexpected combined with her feel of loneliness made her quick to respond “of course! I actually kinda need some company now. I just got here and I honestly feel very overwhelmed by all the campus energy, everyone seems to know exactly where they go and what they have to do.” She wasn’t sure of why she was so honest with someone she just met so she decided to cut the awkwardness with one more sentence “I love your name by the way”

“Oh my God,” Naomi uttered with relief as Aurora encapsulated exactly what she had been feeling all week, “I feel just the same,” she confessed, “I’m new too and it feels like everybody knows each other,” she reiterated without restraint. “It’s not so bad, I think with time it will feel much better,” she assured the other girl, attempting to be optimistic about the situation. She’d felt the same way when she’d arrived in Berlin but within weeks it felt like home, she recalled.

“Thank you- and your name too. It’s the name of a Norwegian pop-star, do you know her?” she asked curiously, wondering how far the European music scene stretched across the Atlantic. 

Aurora was walking in the campus with her head down, she didn’t want to go out at first but she decided to walk before going to her dorm. She wasn’t sure of what to do as she fell like an intruder and although she was a former student now she didn’t know anyone which made everything a whole lot worst. With that one her mind she saw a person walking past her and the words slipped from her mouth before she even could think about it.

 “Hey! I’m Aurora I was wondering if you could tell me where I can get a sip of coffee and decent WiFi?”

She blushed thinking how awkward she sounded and wished to be buried right there and then. 

Naomi hadn’t been expecting the other girl to address her, she certainly hadn’t expected it to come so suddenly. That said, she didn’t mind it, she was new to the University and in need of friends and any opportunity was a good one to make them.

“Hey,” she greeted in return, “Naomi,” she offered her name politely, tucking her hands into the pockets of her jacket to keep them warm. “I was actually just on my way to the cafe now, do you want to follow?”

“No, I know German because I try to learn, maybe not all languages, but the main ones” he wasn’t going to explain his job at the moment to this random girl and explain that is why he actually knows it. Hearing her speak about her studies he nodded along with her, “Oh yeah? Then what about me? What do you think about me?” he asked, maybe it was a little forward, they had spent no time together, but something about her he was so interested in.

Walking down the street he kept her at arms length at all times. She was interesting, how she spoke and what she spoke about. Normally by this point the girl was in his bed or walking out of his house, but not her. He couldn’t help but chuckle along with her, “Yeah, we aren’t all bad, only sometimes” he winked. He knew they were getting closer to the bar, “Germany I’m sure is better in many ways, but hey, you wouldn’t have met me” he said walking to the door of the bar to open it up for her, “And I don’t know about you, but I’m actually not having a terrible time” he joked letting her in.

“Hmm,” she hummed in a thoughtful manner, trying to guess what those languages might be, “Spanish?” she suggested, it was an obvious answer, “French?” another obvious one, “Maybe Chinese?” more difficult than the others but also more widely spoken than Spanish or French of even German. She didn’t envy him, learning languages was difficult and she was still fine tuning her english.

“I think many things,” it was true enough, she’d had a whole range of thoughts about the male since she’d first laid eyes on him sitting on the porch with a beer. “I think you probably do this a lot- take girls out for dinner, tell them how beautiful you think they are,” she answered without reservation, “-but I’m having a nice time, so you must be good at it,” she suggested in addition with a chuckle decorating her words.

She shrugged one shoulder casually, “You never know, I could have met you in a bar in Berlin just the same,” with a handful of languages is up his sleeve, he must have been partial to international travel, she suspected. She smiled at his words as she wandered into the infamous Billy Jack’s for the very first time, pleased that like her, he wasn’t having a terrible time.

Diem wasn’t entirely sure of the protocol for most things at the university, but she did vaguely recall in her freshman year when she had received a collection of English novels that clearly hadn’t belonged to her. It was just a matter of remembering what she had done with them. Attempting to recall her own course of action, she nodded her head. “Think I’d bring it to the main desk, like in the Registrar,” she suggested. “Or even concierge of your dormitory might be able to take care of it, but I don’t trust any of them.”

Naomi nodded her head in understanding, making a mental note of the various options Diem had offered. She knew where the concierge of her dormitory building was, it was where she’d collected her keys from before meeting her roommate for the first time. Upon arriving at Haddon, however, she’d spent more time in the Office of International Programs than she had at the main desk like other students. “You don’t trust them? Why is that?” she asked curiously, always interested to learn more about her new school. 

It felt so easy. He knew it was easy. For him it was always easy. She made it easy. Shaking his dead, “Don’t be impressed” he said casually. Leaning his head to the side, “I guess you are right. What is your major then?” he asked curiously. Taking the last sip of his beer, Charles was surprised by the girl, not in a bad way, but in the best way. Walking a little closer to her he looked down, “What do you mean? I’m not flirting” he said, lightly moving her hair out of her face. 

Walking down the steps he listened to her explain why she left, it was fascinating honestly. How one person could be so free, it was probably because he would never be able to do that. “Celebrate? Okay then” he said walking out the front door with her, walking towards the side of the street. “So how are you liking it? Here in America?” he asked.

“Why is it that you know German?” she asked curiously, finding herself surprised more and more often as she learned bits and pieces about the male. Some things were predictable, college age boys had plenty in common with one another, no matter what part of the world they were from, she’d established. Other things, however, she was interested by and it made her want to know more but she spared him the agony of an interrogation. “I’m studying humanities,” she explained, “I’m interested about people,” she added, “I want to know why people do the things that they do, now and historically,” her voice was emblazoned with passion when she spoke.

She smiled at the tender touch and her eyebrows lifted in an inquisitive manner, “No? I don’t this is true,” she challenged, she didn’t believe it for a moment, she wondered if other girls in her position did. “Yes, I like it very much,” she hadn’t had a lot of time to make an assessment but thus far she could sincerely say that she was having a good time in the U.S. “It’s different but exciting.  There are things I miss about Germany but I don’t want to go back, not yet,” she assured him  “-and the people aren’t terrible,” she added, playfully bumping shoulders with him as she did so.

“Du bist schön” he spoke in german to her, he wasn’t fluent yet, but he did know some phrases that are really needed. “Economics” he informed her, “I guess you could call that romantic though, if you try enough” he insisted. Letting her walk past him, “Why were those your guesses?” he asked, h knew why she would say those, but she wanted to hear it. “And why did you decide to come here?” he asked her. Walking out the door he started to walk with her out of the house, “So walk or drive? Your choice” he said letting her be the leader of the night. 

She couldn’t deny that she was impressed by the words that left his lips. Naomi expected him to come up with something designed to make her swoon but she most certainly hadn’t expected it to be in her native tongue. “-and you are impressive Charles,” she responded quite genuinely, an emphasis coloring her tone of voice as she spoke to him, the compliment pulling her cheeks into a grin. 

“Money, numbers- there is nothing romantic about that. I wouldn’t have guessed it,” though now that he was fully clothed he did dress in a manner that suggested he knew a little something about money and cared about it too. “Maybe it is a native skill of yours, I thought maybe you were trained to flirt in everything you say,” she teased him in an affectionate manner, finding that the rude boy on the steps of Hawthorne house was actually quite nice to be around.