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 Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2024 3:50 pm
Abby hummed softly to the music that was playing through her earbuds as she walked through the hall. She was beelining to one of the dining spots that were scattered across the campus, just one of the other returning students looking for nourishment after moving back onto campus and everything that came with the start of the new semester. The willowy young lady was already tired of everything but knew that given a week or so she would adjust. It was just always so batty right at the start of a new semester. Looking to clog her arteries with fat and grease she gravitated to one of the ‘burger’ places, and she was apparently not the only one who wanted something a bit more filling than salad or any of the other healthier options around. The smallish place was full of people. Students mostly but there were some older looking adults as well… granted there wasn’t anything to say that they weren’t students as well. With a mental shrug she started to scan the tables, looking for an open one, even as she drifted towards the counter to order. Her eyes brightened when she spotted a familiar figure, with a table all to himself no less! With a grin Abby headed over towards Cliff, waving when she got closer. “Hey, I didn’t expect to see you here!” She greeted him even as she looked around, “Are you waiting on someone or did you just get lucky on the table?” And would he be willing to share? she silently added a bit sheepishly. It was a rather mercenary thought but well, it was crowded and rather than sharing a table with a complete stranger it would be much nicer to chat with a friend.
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2024 2:01 am
The start of his freshman year had been eventful, to say the very least. The whole move back to Destiny City had been, actually, and between reconnecting with old friends and reacclimating back to life in a much bigger, not to mention busier, city was…exhausting. Fun! Of course, but it was knocking the wind out of him, so to speak.
The added stress was causing him to slip in certain areas–the discipline with food being one. He’d been struggling with sticking to his workout regimen as well, though his morning runs hadn’t taken a hit just yet. After today, though–no, after this meal–he was determined to get back on the right track. The team’s training would start in just a little over a week, so the timing was just right.
That is to say, he could afford one more “cheat” meal before getting back into the groove of life as a student athlete.
Cliff had just picked up his double cheeseburger when Abby sauntered into view, so he lowered the burger and gave her a bright smile in greeting. Abby was one of those friends he was able to reconnect with almost as soon as he moved back, and it was thanks to her that he’d gotten settled as quickly as he did.
“Got lucky, some guys on the team were leaving when I got in.” He nodded at the seat across from him. “Seat’s yours if you want it.” Abby nodded and quickly took him up on his offer, slipping her bag full of new textbooks, or at least new to her, on the open seat. “ Hold on, I’ll be right back!” With that she slipped through the mass of people and quickly ordered herself a cheesesteak. With a receipt, and her drink, in hand she made her way back to Cliff. “It will take about twenty minutes so please don’t wait for my food. Burgers and the like really are best hot.” She didn’t want her friend to have to wait to dig into his meal, hence her comment as she slid her bag to the floor and herself into the now open seat. “So how are you settling in? No issues? Do I need to beat off the girls with a stick yet?” She teased the guy, knowing full well that as a member of the soccer team Cliff would be popular with quite a few of the fairer sex on the campus. As long as he wasn’t a tool, which she knew he wasn’t. Abby was a fantastic judge of character. “When does practice start anyway?” He took a bite of his burger while she was gone, and was just washing it down with a sip of water when she got back. “Couldn’t wait, sorry,” he said with a slightly sheepish smile.
“Twenty-minutes, though??” he proceeded to grimace at the wait time, then offered her a sympathetic smile and a gentle scoot of his large boat of curly fries. “Have some if you want.” He wouldn’t force her, of course, but in case she was really hungry, the offer was there for her. He never hesitated to share with his friends, after all, and he owed her way more than just some of his fries, as far as he was concerned.
“Settling? Not bad. Helps that I managed to snag a single room versus having to share with someone.” While some only-children would prefer to experience what life rooming with a similarly-aged other person would be like, Cliff was quite the opposite. He much preferred privacy over checking off a box on the proverbial list of life experiences, not to mention he didn’t want the pressures of adjusting to roommate life piled on top of everything else.
“Not no issues, but everything’s been pretty manageable.” He grinned then, when she teased, and shook his head. “And no problems like that.”
He snagged a fry and popped it into his mouth. “Little over a week. After this I plan on getting back into the usual routine with food and workouts and all that.” He nodded to her, at that point, and asked, “What about you? Start of second year going okay?” “Yeah, apparently they are swamped and need to cook everything from scratch. I can’t imagine it taking that long though.” Abby just shrugged and happily took an offered fry. After finishing up the pilfered snack she added, “Honestly they might have just inflated the time so when it's done faster you're happier than it takes longer and you get mad. People are weird that way.” The young woman eyed him with a rather incredulous look on his face. “How did you pull off a single room? I thought I was lucky to get a shared space dorm with two other girls. Like my bedroom is singular but it's basically a glorified closet and the small little living room we share. It should be interesting, that's for sure.” She just hoped that her new roommates are at least as ‘good’ as her roommate last year. That girl had never been in their shared room, but when she was… well Abby was just glad that she had her own little sleeping cubby this year, even if she had to share the rest of the space. “Really though, I will have to pick your brain to see how you pulled off a full single by yourself. Maybe I can get something like that next year.” She didn’t mind the sharing really, at least so far, but it would be nice to not have to worry about her nightly coming and going being monitored. She grinned and was going to make some snide comment about how having a single room would be easier with all the sport’s groupies he was going to have to beat off with a stick but she heard, or at least thought she heard, her order number being called. “Hold that thought, I’ll be right back.” With that she bounced out of her seat and headed back to the counter. It took a moment before she was passed her food and a touch longer for her to be once again seated at the table. “Here, since I stole a few fries, turnabout is only fair,” Abby offered her own basket of fries before doing her best to make the messy cheesesteak a bit easier to handle. It was a losing battle but she was still going to try. “Well if you ever want a workout buddy just let me know.” Abby knew Cliff was well aware that she wasn’t talking about running or even weight training. The young man who sat across from her was a senshi as well and they both knew she ment sparing or patrolling if he had the time for it. The young woman took a decent bite of her sandwich before declaring, “it's ok. Not great but it does hit the spot of ‘artery clogging’ that I need right now. The first few weeks are always bloody nutty, and this week is no different. Getting a feel for the teachers, the roommates, the classmates, and everything. At least I don’t have to sit through Maths this year. I got that nonsense done last year.” “Beginner’s luck?” he replied, noting the look on her face with an amused grin. He was about to reply before she got up to get her food, so he took the opportunity to get through most of his burger and half of his fries by the time she got back. He picked up the conversation as soon as she got settled.
“About the room, honestly I probably used up all my luck for the rest of the year. Just watch,” he laughed before popping another fry into his mouth. “I can tell you all about how that worked out for me later. Anyway, you know you’re always welcome to come over. Just gimme a heads up, I’ll make sure to come back alone.”
Another grin, because she’d been joking about him having girls all over him since she sat down. It’s not like he didn’t notice when girls gave him attention, he just tended not to ever play into it. He had other priorities for the moment, and a romantic attachment of any kind really wasn’t one of them.
It took him a second to catch on what exactly she meant about “workout buddy,” but when he did he nodded slowly.
“It’s…,” he said, unsure how to go about the conversation with coded language that didn’t sound absolutely ridiculous. “Yeah, I’ll keep you posted.”
He went back to his food for the moment, wanting to let her get into her food a little bit before carrying on with their conversation. He finished the burger soon enough, and was slowly working through his fries when she next spoke. He nodded along in total agreement. It had been quite the experience so far, but it was an exciting sort of nuttiness, to use her phrasing.
“Mm, yeah. Same,” and then he grinned again, “minus the roommates.” Abby just made a face at him and dug into her food. Beginner's luck… her a**. He had to have pulled some kind of strings to get a single room. She would get it out of him one way or another. Eventually. As for the ‘company’, she didn’t really care all that much. As long as she didn’t walk in on something or get dragged into any drama. Cliff was her friend, a good guy, and a jock. Of course he would have girls over. If he could actually fit any of them in between classes, homework, practice, training, and patrolling that is. He definitely has the same problems as Abby did when it came to dating. She also just wasn’t overly interested in any of the guys who actually got her to go out with them. They were just so… well… childish. Ah well. It wasn’t like she cared about the whole ‘dating’ and ‘college experience’ thing that others were. She just wanted her degree. She was much more focused on that than any party or romance. The cheesesteak was nearly done when she actually remembered something. “Let me know when you’ve got some time. I learned a new dance style that’s kind of like breakdancing and I think a few of them would be useful for you. It's called capoeira. It's pretty fun but it does take some skills but there are some kicks in it that might work for your soccer.” It wasn’t really the sport that she was thinking of or even really talking about, but patrolling and the fights that crop up from them. But as Abby finished up her sandwich she was also thinking about how some of the moves might actually be useful for a soccer player. She would just have to ask Cliff to make sure such things were within the rules of the game. He couldn’t help but laugh at the face she made, and happily chatted about other school-related things while she finished eating. By the time she was nearly done with her cheesesteak he had helped himself to a good portion of her fries, so there was a fresh boat of curly fries sitting on their table that he was just starting into when she brought up this new dance style.
It was his turn to make a face.
“Is it actually dancing?” he asked, eyes down on the fries for a moment, a slight blush on his cheeks. “‘Cause I mean…we both know I suck at dancing.” Well…to his credit, it was more because he was stiff versus actually lacking the ability. More practice might help, but he didn’t have much reason to so he’d never bothered.
“But if it helps with soccer,” and probably other things, if he had to guess, “I’ve got time today if you’re up for a meeting some time in the evening.” He was more than willing to try if it meant helping with his powered life. He’d been considering going back to it more and more, and had a number of reasons to hesitate–including his lack of fighting experience and a good way to defend himself.
And if it helped with soccer, too? It was a no-brainer.
They made arrangements to meet again later on, and from there the conversation carried into more of the same between them. School, mostly, and learning a little bit more about what happened in each other’s lives after he moved away.
It was a good break from the bustle of the day, and he was always happy to spend time with a good friend.
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