forum O/O - ((closed))

Started January 12, 2019 by @blue_topaz

tune

(frick I gtg, I'll reply to this as soon as I get back
are you on in like half an hour?)

"It's fine," she whispered back, eyes darting nervously around the room as she pulled an old-looking laptop from her bag. "Don't worry about it. I'm Marla, nice to meet you." The hairs on the back of her neck prickled, a sensation which she promptly ignored.

(back)

“Nice to meet you.” Gwen replied curtly, straining to hear the professor. She began to type scattered notes, but occasionally she would pause and pick up the small box. It fit in the palm of her hand. This happened for or six times, each one ending with a quiet grain of frustration as she set it back down and began to type.

Marla couldn’t help but deflate at the sharp, flat response Gwen gave her. She nodded a tiny bit, turning away and opening her laptop before the other girl could see the disappointment on her face— not at Gwen, but at herself for believing that someone would actually take a liking to her, for once. .Get your head out of the clouds, she snapped at herself, trying and failing to focus her full attention on the lecturer.

Gwen was ready to slam her head against the keyboard. History sucks. She decided silently. The box on her desk was her botany homework assignment. She had three days to make the little fiend grow, but it was refusing. It didn’t help that she had no idea what it was. So she’d simply started carrying it everywhere. After glancing at the professor a few more times she quit paying attention and started looking up certain variants of plants, trying to figure out what was inside the small cube.

Marla couldnt help taking a tiny peak at Gwen’s computer screen, immediately looking away as guilt twisted her stomach. Before she did, though, she caught sight of an article on some obscure plant, and frowned slightly. What on earth…? She shook herself out of it, gaze snapping back to her own screen. Focus…

Why did I pick this as my major? Why do I do this to myself? I should’ve just been a landscaper or something. Gwen sighed, bored out of her mind. She closed the tabs and went back to her notes, but found herself unable to focus again. She glanced around the room, her gaze eventually settling on Marla. I still have to give her something for crashing into me… Can I give her my homework? Maybe she would know how to grow it?

By now, Marla had glued her eyes to her screen and was typing up rows of disorganized notes, determined to stay focused. Her vision rose to the forefront of her mind, making her fingers stall, hovering above the keyboard, but she quickly pushed it away and returned to the test at hand.

Gwen studied the girl in beside her for the first time, feeling a bit more comfortable now that Marla’s attention wasn’t on her. After looking for a few moment Gwen started to realize that Marla was attractive. Very attractive. And for the third time that morning Gwen silently cursed herself out for being an idiot as she refocused on the lecture, her whiskey brown eyes narrowed in false concentration on the screen in front of her.

Marla could feel Gwen’s eyes on her, and god, was it distracting. “Focus, dammit,” she muttered under her breath, refusing to take her eyes off her notes.

Gwen managed to pull through the rest of the lecture with half decent notes. She shut her laptop with a yawn, pretty much ready to fall asleep where she sat. After packing away her things (all except the box, which she scooped in her hand) she dragged herself to her feet. She took a deep breath, and with an unexpected burst of bravery turned to Marla. “When’s your next class?”

Marla’s heart skipped a beat when Gwen spoke to her. She turned to the other girl, a hesitant smile on her face. “I’ve got an hour or so,” she replied, biting her lip. “You?”

“Same.” Gwen smiled back tentatively and prayed to any gods listening that it didn’t look as awkward as it felt. “How about that coffee I promised you? Like, now I mean. There’s a place need Treetop that I usually stop by. If you drink coffee. I’m down with tea too. Or uh… water.”

Marla almost dropped her laptop. There was a very cute girl asking her out for coffee— was she dreaming? Blinking, she gave a slight tilt of her head. It’s not like that, you idiot. She’s probably straight, anyway. “Uh— I— I’m— Sure. Sounds- sounds good.”

“Cool. We can head there now?” Gwen shifted her weight nervously from one foot to the next. What am I doing? I’m not ready to be this social today! Her fingered drummed nervously on the plant pot in her palm.

“Sure.” Gwen’s evident nerves mirrored her own. “Sounds— sounds good.” Mind scrambling to find a topic of conversation, she slipped her laptop into her bag. “How old are you?”

“Twenty. Just turned it about a month ago.” Gwen waited patiently for Marla to pack up, watching students file out of the hall. “How about you?”

Marla slung her bag over her shoulder, beginning to walk down the stairs and motioning for Gwen to follow. “I’m nineteen, turning twenty in January
(Should it be like October?)

Gwen trailed at Marla heels, relieved to walk instead of run this time. “Happy uh— really early birthday?” She cringed at how stiff she sounded. “So… what’s your major?”

Marla scratched anxiously at the nape of her neck, mentally berating herself. Calm down, you idiot. It was easier said than done. “Theory of Prophecy,” she answered, “You?”

“Oh, wow. Cool advanced stuff.” Gwen was a bit caught off guard. She had expected Marla to be an art student or something. “Mine is going to sound pretty lame now, but botany. Plants are sort of my thing. Usually, at least.” She glared at the small pot again.

“That’s not lame at all,” Marla hurried to assure her, tucking an escaped strand of platinum hair behind her ear. “It actually sounds really interesting. What’s in that pot?”

“At the moment? A failed homework assignment.” Gwen sighed as she continued to follow after Marla. “Professor won’t tell us what the plant is. He just gave us three days to grow it. The little fiend won’t listen when I’m trying to help it!” The last sentence was spoken mostly to the plant. “You ever have the baby thing in health class? This is like… the plant version.”

Marla tilted her head, an amused smile playing out across her lips. “Have you rechecked any clues? Maybe look at the type of soil? Would that do anything?”