"Savannah and I like to get coffee and sketch sometimes. Oh, that reminds me! Savannah, Seth. Seth, Savannah. And you may note a STUNNINGLY handsome man to Seth's left-"
"Kyran, I assume?" Savannah cut in, reaching across the table to shake both their hands.
Kyran shook her hand firmly with a nod. "That would he me. Apologies for barging in on your time, Seth dragged me out here."
(Srry for the wait! I was getting my butt kicked at a scholarship competition 🥲)
“Mhm. Nice to meet you,” Savannah said, a touch of something Tua couldn’t quite place in her voice. “I’m Tua’s best friend. I’ve heard a lot about you. A LOT about you.”
(Pfft, felt that. But don't worry about it!)
"I'm sure you have. Unfortunately." Kyran rolled his eyes with a sigh. "I'm not sure where exactly her obsession stems from, but I'm sure you won't have to deal with it for much longer." Seth shot Kyran a glance that was near unreadable. Was Kyran saying that because he believed in her? Or because he thought she'd give up once she got too deep?
"Hmmm," Savannah hummed noncommittally, staring at Kyran with narrowed eyes and a large smile.
"So. Bowling Night! Are you two excited? I know I am," Tua said quickly. "Also, do you want any coffee? Drinks on me if this lovely human being will give me his number," Tua finished all in one breath, throwing in a wink towards Kyran at the end.
Kyran rolled his eyes as Seth laughed. "As much as I would love that, I don't drink coffee." "And I don't think any coffee is worth having my phone blown up so I'll pass."
"I would NEVER blow up your phone! You think I wouldn't value communication with my soulmate?!" Tua grabbed at her heart exaggeratedly, feigning hurt. Savannah raised an eyebrow, unimpressed by her friend's antics.
"More to the point, you don't drink coffee?" Savannah asked, looking at Seth. "What do you do, sleep at night time? How. Tell me how." She said with a sudden intensity. Tua awkwardly patted Savannah on the shoulder.
"Hahaha… She's got a stressful Lab Practical coming up, don't mind her."
Seth simply laughed with a shake of his head. "You wanna know my secret? I mix citric acid in with my tea. Or my Red Bull, depending on how close to God I'm willing to get that particular night. Regardless, that stuff wakes you up." "And it'll give you a heart attack. It really is a habit you should break, Seth." "Eh, I'm not dead yet. I'll be fine."
"WHY would you tell her that?" Tua asked, closing her eyes briefly. Savannah made a note on her phone under guise of sending a text message. "I can't afford for her to have a heart attack right now, that crap's expensive."
"Hey, if she has a heart attack, no more lab practical." Seth shrugged with a smile. "Ignore him, he's procrastinating writing a speech he has to give in government." "Shh, it's not procrastination if I accept it."
"Are you kidding me? Speeches are so much fun most of the time! I'll pretend to be you and do it for you if you want. I'm great at disguises," Tua grinned at Kyran.
Kyran raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. "If from what I've heard is correct, that is very much untrue." Seth swatted his shoulder. "Give the girl a chance. Maybe she'll be better with you than me."
"That was a fluke," Tua waved off. "It's not my fault Seth happens to have supernatural powers of perception. I might have to start hitting the gym more though, if I want the impression of you to be accurate," she threw in with a wink.
"Tua, please. Not in front of my coffee." Savannah groaned into her hands.
"Don't kid yourself, dork. You don't even have an accurate image of what that would be." A slight smirk tugged at his lips. "Not that you haven't imagined it, I'm sure." Seth nearly choked on his own saliva. "Who are you and what have you done to Kyran."
Tua ignored Seth and Savannah both and leaned against her elbows, letting her smile turn a little more flirtatious. "You're not wrong! We could fix that, you know. For the sake of artistic accuracy and all that." Savannah sunk even further in her chair, half hiding under the table at this point.
"That's true. But you'd like that too much." He turned back towards Seth, letting his smirk drop. "Are you okay?" "About time you stopped flirting and asked."
"Don't worry Seth, My flirting has never directly resulted in casualties, I'm sure you'll be fine," Tua said cheerfully, taking another sip of coffee.
"I disagree," Savannah muttered into her hands. "At least I'm not the only one who has to put up with this lunatic tonight."
"Yeah, now she's subjected all of us to the torture." Seth laughed as Kyran rolled his eyes. "You were the one who dragged me along." "You're the one who said yes! Don't come at me like this is all my fault!"
"Hey, if that's what you're into," Tua said suggestively to Kyran. Savannah was saved from groaning again by the bell over the cafe door ringing. Savannah sat up straight and narrowed her eyes as three college students came in, before turning to Tua with a pursed mouth. Tua stopped flirting with Kyran to flick her eyes over the group in annoyance. The three boys were laughing loudly and play-fighting with each other in front of the register.
"Don't know what those idiots are doing in a cafe, not like they have crap to study for," she muttered, slouching in her seat more. Savannah snorted beside her, and cut her eyes away from the group to try and hide her face with her hair.
(bc I can't stop introducing characters apparently ¯_(ツ)_/¯)
"Hmm? Who are those guys? Do you know them?" Seth raised an eyebrow at Tua as Kyran glanced over the three boys. He didn't recognize them but then again he didn't recognize a lot of people on campus so that was nothing new.
"Of them. Through a friend." Savannah said shortly, inspecting her nails. Tua grimaced.
"Yeah, unfortunately I do know them. They're just some jerks who gave Nacho some trouble when he transferred here last semester. Also they fit the whole jock stereotype to a T."
"Ahh, so they're that kinda guy." Seth squinted his eyes as they turned around. "Hey wait a second, aren't they the same guys who-" Seth suddenly cut himself off because of the icy glare from Kyran. Seth motioned him zipping his lips before going back to silently staring.
"Who…?" Tua prompted with raised eyebrows. "Don't leave me hanging."
Seth shook his head insistently. "I can't say unless you want me to get murdered with a plastic fork. Let's just say they didn't exactly treat Kyran the best when he first showed up here."
Tua's jaw clenched briefly.
"Yeah, that sounds about right. God I hate those guys."
"Tua," Savannah hissed, nudging her friend briefly, jerking her head in the direction of the trio of jocks. Tua looked over and made direct eye contact with one of them.
"Yeah, they see us," Tua muttered, refusing to break eye contact.
(I just began two separate sentences with 'yeah' but that's fine :P)
(Felt that so hard)
Kyran kept his head down. The last thing he needed was people opening up old wounds. Not that it would ever show on his face but that didn't mean it would affect him.
One of the three held eye contact with Tua, an annoying smirk on his face. Tua wanted to punch it off of him. She didn't blink, jaw set in an intentionally blank expression.
"Maybe look away??" Savannah muttered under her breath, staring devoutly into her coffee and patting down her sketchbook with one hand, making sure it was well out of sight.
"And let him win?" Tua said back, squaring her shoulders. The boy she was staring at said something to his group and began walking over.
(Hey!!! So. I've been gone for a hot second, sorry about that. I may be on here a little more infrequently bc life (and college applications) are actively trying to squash me like a bug rn, but I'll try to be on here at least a few times a week. Sorry again!)