Tripping Over Air

OLIVIA - Close Encounters of the Frat Kind

OLIVIA knew that getting all of her required credits out of the way early was smart, but it had become a pain when it came to selecting any class come summer. She was running out of things to fill out her timetable to keep her a full time student and things interesting enough that it wouldn't tank her GPA. After about an hour of searching during her enrollment window, she found something. An anthropology class discussing gender depictions in media through the ages. That, she could work with. Didn't mean she was looking forward to any sort of schooling when the day finally arrived.

With a small sigh as she tucked herself into roughly the middle of the room. Close enough that she could see the board, not be accused of being a dead beat, and interact with anything the professor asked should she have something interesting to say, far enough back that she wouldn't be accused of being a suck up, and would be out of everyone's way. She pulled out her designated notebook for this class and her wide array of pens and pencils. She didn't expect anyone to sit next to her, and really she didn't want anyone to. The ever shy Olivia Kennedy could not handle the casual acquaintanceship that came with "knowing someone because they were in the same class as you." Nothing against the people who could, but her need for a community couldn't handle it.

Not that she had much of a community. That was an unfortunate side effect of being a shy actor as well as a burgeoning playwright. Her classmates still casted her for things, but after-show socials were a different matter. Too many people, far too many tangled webs of "who was sleeping with who", and just a smidge too much alcohol. Olivia wasn't a prude mind you, more power to her classmates, it just wasn't her scene. Though she did find that it tended to leave her with very few people to actually interact with. And she could not have just Maddie as her only friend, that would drive her insane.

She loved Maddie dearly, really she did. But her roommate's proclivity for frat boys made her sister's warnings echo in the back of her brain: stay clear of frat boys and if one introduces himself as Ezio Auditore you run. Olivia knew it was mostly a scare tactic, her sister had found herself heartbroken after a whirlwind first semester in her undergrad, but she still heeded the warning somewhat. But Maddie seemed interested in everybody but the one the student body colloquially called "The Delta Pack", usually citing that the hot ones were unattainable and she wasn't really into women. Who she counted as "the hot ones" depended on the day and what temperature it was outside.

All of this was an elaborate thought tangent to say, finding someone sitting next to her was a surprise and yet not fully unexpected, but just a dash unwelcomed. She thought she exuded enough "leave me alone I'm actually here to learn shit" energy that had kept most people at a distance since middle school, except for a few choice friends who'd learned to see past it or were just like her.

Too bad they all were currently at far away, out of province universities now.

The man who chose to sit next to her was... surprising. He was well dressed, had his hair pulled back in a low ponytail, which she was fairly certain would've looked ridiculous, but he seemed to have enough volume to carry it off; and had a bit of a two day stubble going. That or he missed his beard when he was shaving. He looked slightly exhausted, and even more so when after rifling through his bag, he came up empty handed, she could hear the sigh escape him as she shoulders slumped, even as she hadn't yet seen his face. He turned to her and Olivia stiffened unintentionally, conventionally attractive features paired with a small scar across his nose and cheek and a kind smile was what any self respecting introvert would call "a recipe for disaster". What? She was solitary, not blind.

"Pardon, you don't happen to have a pencil I could borrow?" He asked. A light accent was not helping his internal case against Olivia's knee jerk impression. He'd either end up the worst person on the face of the planet, squandering any good will gained by his features, or he'd be decent and that would make ignoring him all the more difficult and somehow her brain would end up either having hope or lamenting like she did in her younger and more vulnerable years. Neither of which would be good.