Where Are You Going? - Part Two
Jun. 29th, 2018 12:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
churbooseanonIt is a simple enough thing, for all that it is the only tangible clue Nic has in his possession. Very little data to be taken from the pen the mysterious man left. The ink is blue, it’s ballpoint that depressor mechanism rather than a cap, and the writing doesn’t flow so well. This was something that was likely bought en mass, meant to keep a brand in your mind, in this case the brand of course being the college itself. Nic has of course checked the bookstore on the way to the cafeteria for lunch and, for all his searching, he hasn’t found it’s mate offered. That means either the pen is an old design or not for the general public. When inspecting it closely it’s obvious the faux-gold ink used to put the college’s name and seal on the pen is the sort that wears off when used frequently, but here it is, fully intact, suggesting less use. And, when he takes it apart he finds the ink levels barely depleted. New, then, at least in terms of use. Which, unfortunately, doesn’t tell him anything real.
Nic is no closer to solving the question now than he had been before, and somehow, that doesn’t bother him.
“If you keep smiling at that pen, I’m going to be worried about you putting it somewhere unpleasant. And also what that would mean about your sexlife would mean I would have to break our oath of no interference.”
Nic huffs at his sister’s comment, twirling the pen between his fingers. At last he salutes here with it and tucks the thing away into the bookbag at his feet.
“This feels like a story I need more context for,” Connie says, and while it makes Nicole roll her eyes, Nic is happy to tell it anyway. Just because of how she cringes when he tells the story.
“Let’s go with the simpler than simple version,” Nicole counters. That’s the version that makes Nic look bad, but he is nothing if not accomodating for his sister, so he gestures for her to go on. “Nic was worried about a guy I was dating in highschool. So he conspired with the guy to set up a double-date. By the end of the night our dates were making out with each other.”
All in all her version makes him laugh. It really wasn’t an accurate description of the thing, but good enough for him to let it stand. That is, with one minor correction.
“He was her beard,” Nic grins. “So she wasn’t really that upset. ANd it gave her an excuse as for why she said no to other guys for a while. One: overprotective older twin brother on the football team. Two: last guy betrayed her. And I, in return had to swear not to get involved with her love life, or lack of it. A promise she returned. But I do reserve the right to avenger her if if someone breaks her heart.”
The look he gives Connie is pointed, and it gets Nicole to roll her eyes and shift her seat closer to the freshman’s. From what little he knows the two had originally met when Connie was doing a campus tour last year and came to see the facilities the swim team used. Ever since she had started as a student the two had spent most of their time together. Which, of course, is more than Nic can say for him and his twin. Sophomore year is only just starting but he’s seen her at only a few meals at best. This, he has to remind himself, is what she wants. And probably something both of them need.
“Protective?” Connie asks, an eyebrow raised. Nic gets the question in the world. After all, Connie’s only known about him for about, what was it now, fifteen hours? Dinner last night had been an experience for them all. Nic, on the other hand, has known about Connie since the pair met a second time at a weekend mixer the returning members of the swim team held just before the school year started for incoming scholarship students like Connie.
“Anyway,” Nicole presses on, clearly wanting to avoid questions of how she could date someone for a while and not tell them about having a twin, “this is just a stupid thing Nic does. Guy has a boner for mysteries, real or imagined. And whatever that pen is, it’s getting Nic’s patented ‘puzzle to solve here’ look.”
“Oh? I love mysteries!”
Well that gets Nic not only smiling, but to pull the pwn back out of his pack to hand to Connie. As he does he shoots Nicole a look that he is certain she will read as his ‘I like this one’ look. Sure she doesn’t have much experience with it directed at her choices, but now as ever she gives him an indifferent huff. His approval or disapproval doesn’t really figure into her concerns really, unless it’s time to shop for presents for someone in the family. Still, it’s an acknowledgement that she’s got his point, and with that Nic returns his attention to the pen, twisting and dancing between Connie’s fingers, pausing for the briefest of moments to click the button a few times before spinning again. At last she passes the pen back.
“It’s just a pen, how is that a mystery?”
“Please don’t start with him, Connie. It isn’t worth it. I would rather listen to your friend David prattle on about his cat Loki. Again. For the five hundredth time.”
“Hush, you. I wanna know how a pen is a mystery,” Connie insists, and with how bright her smile is, Nic doesn’t mind the idea of explaining. Damn the girl is cute, is that what his sister looks for? Well, that doesn’t matter, what does is that if he gets Connie invested in this maybe she will drag Nicole to meals with him more often.
“The mystery is the guy who dropped it,” Nic answers with a smile that he hopes conveys a sense of the mystery. Must work because Connie is leaning in closer.
“Of course it’s over a guy. Already over Terrence then I see,” Nicole says, sass in the smirk she grants him. For a moment Connie looks like she’s going to interrupt, but instead she makes a beckoning gesture. An invitation for the whole story. How disappointed is she going to be when he doesn’t have anything particularly interesting to offer her? Is there a way he can talk this up to get her interest?
His eyes catch Nicole’s, catches her brief warning. No twisting arms, no conning people into things, just none of that. Their lives are too complicated for them to do that. So he just smiles and tells the story like it happened. It’s brief and after that Connie shrugs it off. Apparently not as interesting as Nic wishes it was. The rest of their lunch becomes about Nicole and this girl she can’t stand in one of her classes.
Still the man lingers in his head, the mystery of it enough to hold Nic’s attention well past the point where the girls had gone off for their next classes. In the end he stays long enough to almost be running late for his class. That timing seems to be the right one, though, because as he’s going down the stairs the mysterious man is there, heading up them with a woman at his side. He wants to run after him, wants to ask who he is. Wants to give back his pen. But class beckons and he can’t exactly give up his education for this. No, the guy is clearly associated with the college, he’ll get a chance to figure it out later.
