Coffee as black as your soul (Lucas)

[Marnie Sullivan]

Heading to the student union's cafe at this time of the day was a bit of a crapshoot, Marnie found. Most classes were done for the day, except perhaps the evening labs, so many students had retreated to their dorms or their homes off campus. On the other hand, sometimes she accidentally hit a wave of dorm kids on their way to the food court; on those days, it turned into a debate of whether she wanted coffee badly enough to wait in the absurdly long line. Today, Marnie decided, it was; the line was only kind of absurd, and she had a surprise quiz to study for tomorrow. That, and they still had a few pumpkin spice brownies left, and she wanted in on that.

So Marnie took her place in line and pulled a thick green notebook with "BIO 121G" in blocked letters on the cover from her backpack. The book she'd bought for fun yesterday sat at home on her nightstand, and she needed to be studying anyway.

[Lucas Blacke]

Bwwoooww. He was aware it would look odd for the people around him, but his hand couldn't stay still when extreme amounts of bass were injected into his brain by this thing called music on an mp3 player. Multiple downwards motions were made at the drops of the music he was listening to and his mouth moved with the (to most people) screaming that somehow turned him into a satanist or some shit. Ignorant people.

But anyway, he was at the college, a new point in his life and a good way to start anew with new people. Let them see he didn't care and avoid giving them reasons to start caring. Obviously there were few people who he still knew from Hammel, like the girls who gave him a hard time, but even with them he knew he could start anew. And with one of them he felt he had. So now it was the turn for Marnie.

Who he noticed standing in line for food when he almost bumped into her, his face aimed down and his fist pumping to the beat. When Lucas raised his head though he turned down the music blasting in his ears and took out the plugs. ''Marnes!'' He wanted to ask why she was there, but it seemed pretty obvious why she was. That and she held a notebook in her hands that read 'BIO'. Yup, she was going to study. Biology no less, the thing Lucas was studying for reals, despite most of the stuff right now being things he already knew.

''Biology.'' He said as he read the word on her notebook. ''Bio 's fun ain't it?'' He asked, pulling out his phone and navigating to a voice note, which he had without even asking set to record the lesson. ''Shit's pretty interestin'.''

[Marnie Sullivan]

It wasn't difficult to pull Marnie's attention from her notes; standing in line in the student union wasn't the easiest place to concentrate on studying. So the moment she heard the nickname - familiar even though only one person tended to use it - her eyes snapped back up. And sure enough, there stood Lucas, the headphone cord trailing to his pocket as always.

This time last year, Marnie might have stammered an excuse to leave the line and beat a hasty retreat. But a year was a long time; their last conversation had gone surprisingly well, at least well enough to bring them back to speaking terms. That had been before graduation had pitched them into a summer of transition and actually speaking had fallen to the wayside, but as long as they were students on the same campus, Marnie supposed she preferred it to the anxious chill it had once been.

"Hey, Luke," she replied, one finger marking her page as she shut her notebook. "Yeah, today was pretty cool, I think we're finally getting out of the review stuff from high school."

[Lucas Blacke]

Luke wasn't his name; and this was why he found it enjoyable that she, of all people, used it. He hadn't fucked her over as bad as most, but she was still his first and that was something he did not take with a grain of salt. Since the last time they spoke things had been slightly strenuous but they talked none the less. Marnie had always been of the joking variety, and a talk with her was quickly experienced as funny to Lucas. Except that one talk that one time.

God.. Luke always had a way of thinking of bad stuff in a good situation. Or, like right now, a situation that hadn't even been defined yet.

"Aye, seems like it." He responded. In a way she was right, what he had learned biology wise in school was starting to enter unexplored territory, but due to his ability he had an entire backlog of knowledge that could get him through at least a month or two without doing too much. Not counting simple repetition. ..maybe he could make some friends by offering to help, who knew?

His head turned when he noticed people entering the line behind him. A simple nod was enough for the people he recognized from one of his classes as he then turned his head back to Marnie. "First few lessons were mighty fun, though a slight bit crowded." He sighed slightly, this all was making it hard to pay attention in class.

"Luckily I know nine outta ten things th' dude mentions."

[Marnie Sullivan]

"Yeah, kinda makes note-taking feel a little pointless." Not that that stopped her; one of these days their professor was going to steer them somewhere Marnie didn't have her high school years to fall back on, and she wanted to be ready.

The line shuffled them closer to the register and she glanced back to the pastry case - it looked like the brownies had dwindled in number, but hope was not lost.

"I don't know if I'd call it crowded, though," Marnie said. "My English lecture has like two hundred people in it. Thank god they don't have assigned seats in college."

[Lucas Blacke]

Taking notes was never pointless, ''Unless it's a broken pencil.'' He replied with a smile and a raised index finger pointed at her as if telling a joke. ''Now that's pointless.'' Sure there was the obvious fact that they both knew their stuff, heck, her ability was tied to biology as well. Even if she didn't know the things Luke did he was sure she had at least a good basic understanding of it. And if she didn't, well, no biggie! Luke would help her out.

Luke had never been one to take notes of anything but in this new year of going to a new school he wanted to turn the page and start being a guy who did a damn instead of spending his days playing with hearts and finding new ways to cheat.

As he looked at Marnie and decided to say something he saw her head move slightly and noticed that her eyes focused on brownies down in the case, it wasn't odd for Lucas to see such things; especially now with his new found interest in biology.

''I'm sure stuff'll die down soon. Look around ya, talk ta a few people an' see how many of 'em actually use proper English.'' He joked, ''I know I don't, but shhhh.''

[Marnie Sullivan]

Marnie laughed, someone feebly, and felt a twinge of embarrassment; was that the sort of humor she'd been so enamored with only a year and a half ago? Or worse, had she not even noticed because she'd just found Lucas attractive?

Yikes, thank god he wasn't a mind reader. It was only a corny joke - totally harmless, especially compared to some of the things he'd done - what was she being so mean for? Marnie cleared her throat; maybe if she changed the subject she could get her footing back.

"Have you signed up for any clubs yet?" she asked him. It seemed like there were a hundred clubs on campus - Marnie had actually checked online postings and found the variety dizzying. No wonder it seemed to be one of the questions other students most frequently asked her, right behind her major and which dorm she was in.

[Lucas Blacke]

He was happy she laughed at his joke, even if it was the kind that made people roll their eyes straight out of their sockets -but when in school you always need someone to make it just a little bit more bearable. And that someone was Luke. That and he enjoyed puns that made so much sense that it hurt your brain just hearing it.

While he didn't know what she was thinking he could see her muscles move to and fro in her laugh, and what she conveyed in it wasn't really of any consequence. Lucas hadn't changed his ways of stuff being a total dick and actually liking people who laughed at him more than people who laughed with him.

Actually, he was on a bit of a turn-table on that one, it all depended on who was laughing, he supposed. ''Clubs? Me?'' He asked in return and instantly shook his head, motioning with his hands that he had no interest. ''Not gonna join any. Stuff never did anythin' fer me so I'll allow people ta tell me why I should.'' He was obviously talking about Marnie telling him, if she could.

After all, he did value her opinion a bit more than others. They had shared a bit more than meaningless sex, and that was something they actually didn't. But Lucas still felt closer to her for some reason than those other floosies, she was still his first, and that counted for a bit more.

[Marnie Sullivan]

"Oh." Not for the first time, Marnie was struck by how little she actually knew about Luke, and probably how little he knew about her in turn. At Hammel, she could have sworn he'd mentioned being in one club or another, but for the life of her she couldn't remember what. But maybe that's what he meant now - he'd tried the whole club life experience, and it hadn't been... engaging enough, or something. And to a degree, Marnie could understand that - since starting at UV she'd taken to running on her own, rather than joining the track team - but this was college! Didn't everybody try at least one group once?

"I don't know, I mean, it's an easy way to find other people with your interests, isn't it?" she tried. Probably a lot of freshmen made friends with their roommates or dorm neighbors and whatnot, but living off campus meant she didn't have that option.

[Lucas Blacke]

He smirked, it was a good way to get to know people, but as of late he had been getting acquainted with lots of people and, despite knowing he'd fuck them over sooner or later, the rare few who stayed would have no need to have anything in common with the Texan. Obviously there were those who did, but he never required it, his mind was easy to influence in a way that made him like people, even by himself.

And one of those people, he felt was Marnie, who stayed even after the things that had transpired. Still not quite sure even at that point who it hit harder -him or her, and even with the knowledge that they had been at the same school and it was tough to avoid someone haunting your mind again and again he felt himself kind of glad that they were able to talk normally now, even if Marnie's responses were a bit.. on the short side. Almost as if she was pre-occupied.

''It's also an easy way ta find people with similar int'rests ta just yell at th' top o' yer lungs an' see who responds.'' He replied jokingly, but saying that just going around town was no different than just going around college, ''or ya know, a cheerleadin' routine.'' He added as he gently poked Marnie's shoulder.

[Marnie Sullivan]

"Well, yeah, I guess you could do that, but then you end up on the wrong kind of mailing list," Marnie replied. Her eyes drifted back to the pastry case; she didn't even notice the shift in her focus until the poke to her shoulder.

"Huh?" Was he mad that she was ignoring him? But a second later Marnie's ears caught up and she realized what he'd said. The apples of her cheeks prickled - her training at Hammel meant she didn't change color over any little thing anymore, but this time last year her face would have been shifting before Lucas' eyes. The "cheerleading" incident he was referring to was, at best, the catalyst that had sparked their relationship; at worst, evidence of Marnie being more hormonally driven than she'd like to admit. She hastily tried to collect herself, hoping her thoughts weren't so transparent.

"Too bad it's so packed in here, you could get a lot of attention with a stunt like that."

[Lucas Blacke]

Wrong kind of mailing list? What?

Anyway, he was glad she still remembered the cheerleading thing he had done for her as it pretty much started everything between them that happened all those years ago in a different universe. Okay it wasn't that long ago or even in a different universe but never had Luke thought he'd be able to talk to a girl he had been crushing on this easily. Maybe they never loved each other at all to remain friends after breaking up, or maybe there was a certain something that still lingered. Or she was just pretending to be okay with it all, cracking jokes and all but dying mentally in the meantime.

But when she said he could get lots of attention by doing just that he shook his head as he began to think she wasn't joking anymore. ''Not gonna be doin' that, sorry.'' And then, even as the line shortened he pushed her forward a bit, though leaning in closer and whispering, ''That'll be our thing.''

Oooh! Wrong kind of mailing list! He finally got it.

[Marnie Sullivan]

"Our thing."

Marnie had no delusions about what they'd had, short-lived as it was. At least about her own feelings now. She'd never expected to stay with Luke forever, although neither would she have predicted they'd break up so soon and why. It was his feelings that were so confusing - every time Marnie thought she had the gist he went and got hung up on another girl, or was coming back to confess his love, or some other thing. Even now, she wasn't sure what to make of him; were they friends, like so many split couples claimed to be but couldn't pull off? Was this another move of his? That was the trouble with Lucas, unfortunately. But maybe she was used to it.

"Our thing." Well, he wasn't wrong. There wasn't really anything else the two of them shared, just between them.

"Thanks, I think." They shuffled forward a little further, nearly to the front of the line now. "But good luck with that, I guess. I think I want to try a few clubs, my classes are too big to really get to know anybody and living off campus makes it harder."

[Lucas Blacke]

He could see the cogs move inside of her brain, and almost assumed she was thinking about his last sentence. Or his last words, rather. He thought it would be fun to think about those words for a bit, and maybe he should have as they were cut short by his own behavior, and Lucas was sure of the fact he had changed over the years albeit not by much. He was studying, living on his own, doing good for himself.. the only thing he lacked was a girlfriend. And he knew it was sure as hell not going to be Marnie. Okay yes he still loved her, but then again, who didn't he love? Maybe that was his way of acting out or something. Psychiatrist material.

It was her turn to speak, and mainly due to Luke not knowing what to follow up with. Well he did know, but he didn't yet think they were close enough for him to say that. Right now being able to look at her move and witness her every move was about the limit, he felt. Like a stalker or something but minus the calling and the other creepy stuff.

Luke nodded then as the line moved a bit once more and their time was nearing an end. Maybe. He didn't yet think she was okay with him joining her as she ate. Though that biology notepad she was holding did beg to differ a bit. ''Meh.'' He grunted as he shrugged, ''I'm gettin' by without clubs, trust me. All those people wantin' me money.''

He lied, no one wanted his money, he just wanted her to know he had it.

[Marnie Sullivan]

At this, a real laugh bubbled up out of Marnie, wrinkling her nose and squinting her eyes. Now this joke, especially with his deadpan delivery, was more her speed. And it had to be a joke, Lucas didn't have money! At least not a lot of it, not that she had ever seen. He'd never even taken her on a date when they'd been together; not that Marnie had expected lavish gifts or anything, but if he was rich surely there would have been some sign of it. Now he was just cracking a joke, as though throngs of people were clamoring for him to toss a little cash their way.

"So that was you who came to class in a stretch limo today!" she played along with a grin, "I wondered who could possibly be tacky enough to take up four parking spots, but at least you can afford the parking tickets."

Through her giggles, Marnie realized they were next in line, and she stepped up to the cash register with her smile still in place. "Hi, can I get a small mocha? And..." She double-checked the pastry case - the last one! "And that pumpkin spice brownie, please?"