As they walked outside the library, Paolo slowly inhaled the chilly morning air, and that slowly turned into a low yawn. He turned to Lotus, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back "You know, autumn really is the best season. It's a good in between for summer and winter, with none of the spring allergies." he inhales again and smiles at Lotus "What's your favorite season?"
"I'd have to agree with you on the autumn part, though I like the later half of fall better than the first half," Lotus replied shoving their hand into the pockets of their denim jacket. They instinctively hunched over trying to make themselves smaller once they got outside. They glanced over at Paolo and noticed his strange posture. They couldn't help but blurt out, "You look stupid walking like that."
"Yeah, probably, but it feels good. Makes me feel masculine. Gender's a performance, y'know?" He said, unfazed. That was most definitely a quote he used in his essay to get into the school. Then he paused for a moment " I'm trans by the way" he had no idea why he was clarifying this to a person he had just met, but he wasn't uncomfortable doing so. Especially because they use they them pronouns. He looked at Lotus again "Plus, I'm tired. Don't have time to care about how I look."
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Also you just said genders a performance to a person who looked at gender and said fuck it," Lotus said flat out ignoring the whole Trans statement. They, they didn't really know what to say about that. Congrats on figuring out you weren't a girl? But that w a s stupid so they kept their mouth shut, "Either way doesn't change the fact the walk looks stupid."
He just shrugged " Yeah." he smiles at them "You're pretty blunt, you know that?" When they reach his car, which is parked surprisingly far, he unlocks it with a beep. It's a blue Camaro. Once the both get in the car, he starts "Alright, so, I don't know how the GPS on this car works" he took in a sharp breath and sighed "Kinda sad, I know" he chuckled. "So you're just gonna have to guide me to where you live." He rubbed the back of his neck.
"I'm aware at my bluntness," Lotus responded to him before muttering to themselves, "Not like exactly stop it." They shook their head and sat down and buckled up running a hand over their bag in their lap, "Oh yeah I can do that. It's only like a twenty minute drive I think." They pulled up their address on their phone to help with navigation, "When you pull out you're gonna wanna go left."
(Should we timeskip to getting to their house or have you got something specific planned?)
(We can skip I've got nothing planned.)
(It works for me)
Paolo pulls up in Lotus' driveway and parks. Not in a parking space though, just on the road, so he can drop off Lotus and go back. "Well, Lotus, it was nice getting to know you." he smiled softly at them "I hope it was nice for you too. See you later. Oh! and make sure to sleep well." he waved at them
"Um yeah, I'll try to. It was nice to meet you too," Lotus blinked as they exited the car. They still weren't quite used to how talkative Paolo was and they gave a little wave before heading into their house. They tried to be as quiet as possible as to not wake up anyone else.
(TIME SKIP)
The next day was pretty good for Paolo. It was a pretty chilly day, which he always loved, especially because he got to wear his favorite yellow hoodie (though he also wore sweatshorts which sort of defeat the purpose). He finally got some math through his thick skull and most of his other classes were extremely simple anyways. His english teacher had assigned a 12 page essay though, so that wasn't great, but the rest was relatively fun. It wasn't until lunch though, that Paolo remembered the numbers he had to put on his phone. He decided it would probably be easier if he just put them all in a group chat, so that's exactly what he did. He named the group chat Library Gang and sent a message
Library Gang
Hey y'all, It's Paolo, thanks for the help yesterday! It really made calc a lot easier today ❤
He didn't even hesitate in putting the heart there, but once he sent it, he started blushing furiously. He mulled over whether he should apologize for it for a few seconds before sending a second message.
Sorry, mistype, I meant 👍
And then he put his phone down. He was both anxious and excited for somebody to respond, and he didn't know why, but waiting for the response was an excruciating experience.
(Boop)
Lot noticed that they had been messaged and checked their phone once they knew they were alone. The blinked a few times as they realized it was a group chat and it was also both of the guys from last night, this morning? Even with the long night, they still weren't completely aware of everything going on. So they went on autopilot as they texted back into the chat, Lotus. Also I didn't help you at all, why am I here?
Romeo was still fast asleep at his desk in his dorm. Even when he got back, he continued studying and working on assignments. His laptop was open while textbooks and papers were spread about. Then on the far right corner of his desk laid his phone. It's vibrating is the reason why he woke up. Well, he jumped out of his seat and had to catch his glasses before the fell.
Quickly, he put his glasses on then grabbed his phone. It took him a few seconds to look through the chat. He chuckled to himself before sending a text. Two's a company, three's a crowd they say. And don't mention it. ~Romeo
Setting his phone down, he rested his head against his psychology textbook and tried to go back to sleep.
At Lotus' text, Paolo physically shrugged, even though neither of them were there to see him, but he wrote You helped just by being there. Either way, the name of this group chat isn't "People who helped me" it's Library Gang he smiled at his phone. Immediately after he sent the message though, he received Romeo's text, which made him smile just a bit wider. To that, he responded A crowd of hotties 😉. After texting that, he sat down at his usual table to eat lunch. Most of his friends were also film and english major, though there was the occasional STEM major. Like the girl he sat next to, Cara. "Hey Paolo!" she chided once he sat down "You seem happy, who ya texting?" she looked up at him and smirked. Tons of people had thought he and Cara were siblings, since they both had brown skin and curly hair and were always hanging out together. Neither he nor Cara ever saw the resemblance though. He responded "Oh, just some people I met at the library last night" Cara practically burst after he said that "OH! Speaking of the library! I need to pick up some books, but I sort of uhhhh… lost my library card… could you pick them up for me?" she asked desperately "Uhh sure. I needed to start my paper anywa-" he couldn't even finish before being cut off "Great, here's the list" she handed him a sheet of paper with like, a dozen book titles on it "You're the best!.. Oh! And I need them by tomorrow so uh… go tonight?" she patted his cheek and started talking to the other people at the table. Paolo rolled his eyes and put the paper in his pocket, taking out his phone. He opened the group chat again and texted Hey, Imma be at the library 2night, got stuff to do, hb yall?
Lotus felt bad about something that was completely out of their control and felt their leg begin bouncing up and down violently as they sat alone during lunch. They bit their lip as they tried to think of some response other than just straight up leaving the group chat. However the later texts from Paolo made them relax ever so slightly. They glanced at the assignment they had been casually working on while eating and figured they could go to the library again tonight. But then again if the other two didn't want them their then their would probably be a problem. It didn't hurt to check and they quickly sent, I can be there. If you guys don't mind me joining you.