The Virtues Of Literature

Part 3

Chapter 3

"Where the fuck is Wuthering Heights, fettuccine face?!"

A loud yell resonates back from the living room, "Fettucine is Italian, you uncultured slug! And I haven't seen your stupid book; you probably can't find it because it's hidden behind your overwhelming unpleasantness."

Arthur gives the biggest, most heartfelt scowl he can towards the door, even though he knows Francis can't see it, and continues searching for the missing book.

"Bloody hell, I need to get an entire essay done on this by tomorrow and I can't even find the blasted book."

Pressure is beginning to built up with the prospects of exams, and no one is difficult to piss off. All of the students are gradually getting less sociable, and arguments between Francis and Arthur are commonplace. Arthur looks up a copy of Wuthering Heights on a random illegal website, not caring in the slightest, and begins to scrawl down analyses onto cheap paper with a cheap biro, his posture ruined slouched over the cheap desk. No one has the time for fancy stationery, other than a select few with strange priorities, and a crappy ballpoint found on the floor will suffice for most things.

Eventually Francis calls Arthur to dinner, who trudges over to the table. He collapses into a chair with a defeated sigh at the same moment he spots the cheeky book he is studying made use as a coaster on the table, an almost empty glass of red wine perched on top. Arthur sighs, glaring at Francis who is serving out food but not being bothered to waste the effort of a fight at that moment.

Francis presents dishes of duck leg served with fried potato cubes, a drizzle of plum sauce and a selection of roasted vegetables. As per usual it looks like something served on Masterchef, and the taste is exquisite which helps to cheer Arthur up slightly.

"Taste good, mon amour?"

Arthur looks up to Francis smiling at him over the table, and automatically responds with, "'t's 'licious."

That is before realising he has a mouth full of food, and registering the nickname with his small knowledge of French, as well as remembering he is supposed to dislike everything to do with Francis. But despite how much the man pisses him off to no end, it is becoming more and more difficult to deny to quality of his cooking. So Arthur resigns to glowering over his plate, probably a bit more embarrassed and flushed than he should be. He feels defeated, but at the same time unkeen to badmouth something that is so clearly perfect. And by that he means the food, definitely not Francis.

Arthur's mind drifts back to the events of his concert in the pub and attempts to contain his feelings of embarrassment, but similarly his curious feelings of heat and a pumping heart. It was just a stupid accident and he probably would have been fine without the frog's intervention, and so he wonders why he keeps on thinking back to it. It's not as if it meant anything at all.

Francis excuses himself to go and finish off some evaluations in his art portfolio, but before long Arthur sees him back in the bay window continuing on that one canvas he has been working on for a while. It is for his final project, so of course it would take a while, but Arthur was somewhat unimpressed at seeing from the initial sketches that the piece is simply a boring still-life of a living room or a library or something. And so he doesn't bother to take a look at the progress. Arthur prefers the styles of surrealism and sometimes landscapes because at least they're actually interesting. The ones that just look like sketchy photos put Arthur off; he thinks they are nothing more than what you can see with your own eyes and they just present how boring the real world is.

After clearing up, Arthur is back at his desk. His professor is harsh, so he gets his assignment done quickly to avoid any scolding and begins the tedious process of rereading the classic book while curled up in his reading armchair in the living room, cosy and comfortable but getting bored. He must be familiar with the works they are studying in order to write about them comfortably and do well in the exams. Arthur loves literature and gets lost in reading but he finds in-depth studies to ruin books slightly, though he still loves the subject.