The Redemption of Stingy Jack

Chapter Two

"Yeah, I'm okay." She answered and suppressed a yawn.

"Alright. I'll be there in thirty. We gotta go get our costumes!" The voice on the other end said with excitement.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. Don't you remember?"

"What part? That today's Halloween or that we're supposed to get costumes."

"How could you even forget?" The voice asked with a chuckle.

Lyn gave a half shrug. "Fine. See you in thirty."

"Alright, babe."

"Yeah." And Lyn ended the call. She blew a raspberry, with the sunlight already warming her left arm, and stood up.

Maud noticed this movement and she turned to look. Lyn was only headed to her room.

"Where are you going?" Maud asked before Lyn would go out of sight, earphones unplugged.

"Cole said we gotta go get costumes. He'll be here in thirty minutes." She gave her a lazy glance, to see Maud sink into her chair.

"Alright then. Good luck." She faced her laptop again, reading something about the Celtic history.

"Why would I need luck," Lyn said in between spiky chuckles as she made her way into her room.

*****

More than thirty minutes had flown past, and Maud was still in that swivel chair, cultivated with a commensurate zeal. Now her laptop was on a Microsoft Word page, as she poured out words of research on it. Her assignment was due in a few days, and from the looks on her face, it seemed she hadn't even gone deeply enough into it. The music she was playing on her laptop ended, and during that moment of silence, while she launched the Spotify app to pick another playlist, she heard a series of incessant honking outside. She paused, looking up like she could see through the gray colored walls before her. She recognized that honk pattern, even though she wished she didn't. And it was usually made by no other person but Cole. The door wasn't far from her right, and she felt for a moment there that Cole could bust in any minute, now that the honking had stopped.

He hadn't bust in yet, but instead, Lyn emerged from her room.

She was in a white crop top, black jeans and white Nike sneakers. Her glowing short hair had been split into two, and they almost touched her shoulders. She had a red velvet lipstick on her perfectly proportioned thin lips. Her strong floral perfume instantly filled the living room, and a quick glance at Maud made her guess if she'd over dressed.

"Is it too much," she scanned herself and then looked at Maud for an answer.

Maud's mouth curved into a smile, and it seemed that'd had answered her. "You look gorgeous." Her lips were still quirked up. "Too gorgeous for that douche bag."

Lyn snickered, as she stuffed her phone in her black purse. "I hope you two get along eventually."

Maud only jerked her brows and faced her laptop.

"Should we still celebrate?" Lyn turned to ask, a few steps away from the door.

"Celeb... yeah, sure." Maud caught herself, and realized she was talking about Halloween.

"So should I get the pumpkins or..."

"I'll get it."

"Ok, cool. If I get back on time, we'll carve it together." She met her eyes, and Maud gave a sharp nod in response.

Lyn's hand was about to grab the knob when a rap was heard on the other side. She unlocked the door, and Cole's brightly lit face met her, when she pulled the door open. His short brown curly hair, fairly visible stubble, and his piercing gray eyes, complimented with a dandified pretty-boy-looking sort of figure, pulled Lyn's face into focus.

"Babe, come on, let's go." He stepped in, just enough to see Maud seated by his right. Their eyes met, and Maud slowly averted her glance in annoyance. "Creep." He called at her, and reached for Lyn's hand.

"Come on," Lyn pushed him out, keeping him from saying another word, and shut the door behind her.

His red convertible was already parked by the main road, and the outside was bright and busy under the propitious sky, marbled with pearly white. Even though it was a Saturday, the street was full of people, with the majority being students.

Cole was in a brown leather jacket with a white t-shirt underneath, and a black denim jeans. He was inches taller than Lyn, and standing beside her, he looked like he was her protector. He gestured, allowing her to go ahead while he followed behind.

Maud glowered at her laptop screen, trying to boot the thoughts and the annoying looks of Lyn's boyfriend out of her head. Her eyes staring blankly at an artist art on the Spotify app, when she heard a car rev to life. It zoomed off right after, and Maud felt slightly at ease that Cole was out of the vicinity.

Whether they both started off on the wrong foot or not, Maud never knew and didn't care. Maud majored in History, and Cole majored in Sociology, and the inevitable conditions that there were some minor courses that they both shared and would have to take together in the same lecture theater, always made her stomach turn. Sometimes he'd make eye contact with her in class just to tease her, which might result in her losing concentration at that crucial moment. He'd always have something to say, about how Maud dressed, or looked or the kind of things she was interested in, and the fact that he was dating her roommate gave him even more opportunity to taunt her the more. So immature. He was definitely taking Sociology the wrong way, in her opinion.

She shook off the thoughts of Cole O'Shea, and focused on what was before her. She had to finish the Celtic and Irish related assignment on time, and she must not forget to go buy pumpkins for tonight. It was Halloween, after all. Her favorite tradition to celebrate. That actually came in as a tie with Christmas, but she was totally fine with it. She scrolled through her alternative playlist on the Spotify app after having heaved a sigh. The cursor hovered over Billie Eilish's image, and she hit the play button beside it. She minimized the page, opened the Microsoft Word app, and she looked set to punch in more words onto the page.