forum Like An Open Book (OxO) CLOSED

Started December 22, 2020 by @Elder-God-Jacks347

tune

"Breaking your laptop already? Not that I blame you, morning classes suck." Her friend Jose (Better known as 'Nacho' to the entirety of their Greek Philosophy classroom) leaned over his desk to greet her, grinning. Tua groaned and flopped into her own desk.
"It's probably fine. Probably. I mean, it's survived me this long." She scanned the classroom- most of the students had their headphones on and were glaring at the screens in front of them- oh hey, there was Kyron! Dang, he didn't look happy. Tua frowned, wondering what was upsetting him.
"Tua? Earth to Tua. The Prof wrote instructions on the board. Tuaaaa." Her other friend, Lucy snapped her fingers in front of her face.

Kyran worked diligently on his project, as he had been for the past week. He bit his bottom lip in frustration, this track just was not working with him. He had tried something new, mixing his own recording with some of the prerecorded music the school owned and it was not going well. He swore under his breath, he was just going to have to bite the bullet and re-record. Dammit.
"Well, what crawled up your ass and died this morning?" A head dropped onto his shoulder which he quickly shrugged off. "Not today Seth. I've had a bad day." "Yeah, I can see that." Seth snorted with a roll of his eyes. Seth had been Kyran's best friend since middle school. He was pretty chill and often acted as the buffer between Kyran and the rest of the world.

"T u a." Tua finally zoned back in, and turned to her friend with raised eyebrows.
"Can I help you madam?"
"You probably should get started. This is kinda a time consuming thing." Tua frowned at the the dull assignment on the board.
"It's busywork."
"Still gotta do it."
"Fair," Tua sighed, slipping in her ear buds. The day had been going so well, too… Oh well. Lunch was just around the corner.

"Sooo, you coming to lunch with me or are you going to lock yourself away in the library again?"
"Seth, I'm a library assistant, I have to. It's not my fault you can't find a job on campus."
"Ouch, that one hurt a little, buddy. Alright fine, go be boring in the library."
"At least being boring gets me a paycheck."
"Now that was just cruel."
"Leave me alone Seth, do your damn work."

When the torturous period of time that forced Tua to stare directly at an incredibly addictive, harmful, probably government-sanctioned screen had ended, she made her way to the door with her friends.
"Savannah's going to be with us for lunch, right?" Dorito asked, trying and failing to sound casual. Lucy snorted.
"Uh, yeah. I might be a little late though." Tua said.
"How come?"
"I've gotta swing by the library." Lucy raised her eyebrows until they disappeared under her bubblegum-pink bangs.
"You. At the library. Right." Now it was Dorito's turn to snort.
"Hey, don't give me that attitude. I'm quite the scholar when the mood strikes me," Tua said easily, very intentionally not looking around the room for a certain tall dark-headed figure.

Kyran sighed heavily when the class ended, somewhat aggressively throwing his things in his bag and tossing it over his shoulder before heading for one of the doors. His job at the library was one he actually enjoyed quite a lot. It gave him time to think and relax without too much worry of running into a certain annoying Classical Arts major that he loved to loathe.

Tua side stepped into the bathroom as her friends made their way outside to their designated rickety picnic table. She took a second to ruffle her hair in the mirror before shooting herself some finger guns and making her way back out into the world.
The library was a decent ways away, and Tua took her time on the walk between buildings. The sky was overcast, and she wondered if it was going to rain for a moment. It had been like this for a week, it was beginning to get a bit old. Oh well.
Passing some other students who all looked very engrossed in their work and lunch, Tua made her way into the building and took the stairs up to the library.

Kyran was already there by the time she arrived, buried in his work returning books to their designated spots. He hummed one of the violin pieces he'd been working on as he did, seeming much more relaxed than he did this morning although he was still a little pissed off.

Kyran wasn't at the desk. Crap. Tua sighed and turned towards the shelves- oh there he was! Returning books from the looks of it. What was that, the Y/A section?
Savannah LOVED Y/A novels, Tua was just a bad roommate if she didn't pick one up for her!
Tua shoved her hands in her pockets and grinned wider, strolling up to her fellow student.
"Good morning, comrade! Come here often?"

Kyran paused in his motions, closing his eyes and letting out a long exhale.
Goddammit, just when I thought today couldn't get any worse.
"Tua, I work here. You know this." He responded curtly, really not in the mood to play her games today.

"Often, then." Tua rocked back on her heels, still smiling. "I'm looking for a book for my roommate- she's really into Y/A stuff. You know, vampires, toxic tropes, unrequited love, all that. Have anything that could help me out?"
She was so GOOD at this flirting thing, she impressed herself sometimes! Honestly.

He chewed on his lip as he sighed, digging through his cart of books to return and pulling out a few, handing them to her. "Here. These should work."
Not like she hasn't already read them before, more than likely.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get back to work."

Tua glanced at the books in her hand and raised her eyebrows.
"Looks…steamy, I guess. I hope she'll like them." She contemplated walking away, but. No. Her mama didn't raise no coward. "I don't guess I could thank you with coffee sometime?"

"I'm literally doing my job, you don't have to thank me with anything. And for the last time, no I'm not going out with you. So stop trying." He huffed, gripping the books tighter as he put them away.

"Hey, you can't blame a girl for trying," Tua shrugged good-naturedly, still grinning. "Seriously, you look like you could use a cup or two though. You good, bro?" She asked in a slightly more concerned tone.
For extra measure, she took half a step back and raised her hands defensively. "Leaving in a moment, I swear."

He set his jaw and finally turned towards her. Kyran's voice dropped to a low growl. "Listen, I'm not exactly in the mood to play nice today. I've had a shitty morning and I do not need you making it worse. Now I can't force you to leave but I ask this as kindly as I can, leave me the fuck alone, please and thank you."

"Not a great day then, gotcha." Tua nodded thoughtfully. "Alright, I'll leave you be- I hope the rest of your day goes well though. If you need a break, take one my guy- it's not like you're going to get the day back, right?" She shot him one more smile and made her way out with her books- WAIT CRAP.
Tua doubled back to the front desk and checked them out under the supervision of the Not-Kyran at the desk. There we go.
She turned and waved at Kyran enthusiastically one more time before she left.

Well, that had been kinda rude. He was lucky he was so dang cute, and not genuinely a jerk from what she could tell. Everyone had their days, she supposed. Tua stopped to fish her earbuds out of her bag before making her way back across campus to where her friends were undoubtedly waiting.

He watched her leave as he got his temper back under control. He loathed that woman, he really did. She was much too enthusiastic and optimistic for his taste, although he begrudgingly admitted to himself that her smile was kinda cute. He shook the thoughts of her from his head and got back to work, grumbling under his breath.