Good Guy

Part Three

Scotch Wilkins coming in a few minutes late for Professor Solis' lecture was no surprise to everyone in class. Since his first year of college, he'd been known as the fashionably tardy one, much to his annoyance. There was nothing fashionable about crazy morning traffic during commute, which he'd had to endure every day until his dad finally gave in to the whining and bought him a bike. His reason: cars were too bulky and only added to traffic, and motorcycles looked cooler. He'd promised to pay his old man back after graduating, of course.

Now he was only two or three minutes late, an impressive improvement from the previous twenty.

Professor Solis didn't seem to mind the few minutes much either, so long as his grades continued to improve. Not once did the old man look behind his shoulder as Scotch opened the double doors to the lecture hall and let himself in. He made his way to the back row, specifically to an empty seat behind two chatting students.

"Dude," the first student greeted. Arthur Everest pulled his hand from between his chin and the desk, raising it in the air for a bro-fist. Scotch rolled his eyes and dutifully complied.

"Hey, Scotch!" The other student gave a little wave as he sank into his seat. It was clear to see that she was practically vibrating with energy, as always. Shayla Edmunds was perhaps the cheeriest teenager ever known to man.

"Hey Shayla. Art," Scotch greeted, noting that both of his friends were wearing denim jackets. It couldn't be more obvious that the two were a couple. While hanging out yesterday, it had been the school's jersey, and the day before that, the Science club's official pin.

Arthur—Art as he was commonly called—turned in his seat and leaned on Scotch's desk. His somewhat loose combover fell down, shielding the upper half of his eyes. It was clear as day that Art was trying another messy hair look for Shayla again. "What took you so long? Are you trying to get your ass handed to you by Professor Solis?"

"Nobody wants their ass handed to them by Professor Solis," Scotch replied.

Art paused for a while, one of his brows arched, before prompting him for more details. "So?"

"What do you mean 'so'?" he questioned, not liking the weird look his friend was giving him.

He and Art had been classmates since high school. They knew the names of each other's past crushes, and he'd been Art's wingman for Shayla. They'd gone through that first bottle of beer together, well before the age of eighteen too, ending up with excruciating hangovers and an endless lecture from his dad. They'd covered for each other's backs on more than one occasion, mostly against bullies and insecure idiots. If anyone could expose his hidden secrets, it was Art.

As if to prove that theory, Art smirked and opened his mouth. "Something happened. It's all over your face."

"There was a freshman looking for her homeroom. I helped her out," Scotch admitted after making sure Professor Solis was still busy with writing this semester's course outline on the whiteboard. There was no point in keeping anything from his best friend. Unfortunately for him, now that Art was in a steady relationship, his girlfriend also had to know.

"No way!" said girlfriend exclaimed, catching a few of the nearby students' attention. Shayla immediately covered her mouth and hunkered down, prompting the others to either get back to copying the outline or return to their own conversations. Only when nobody seemed to be looking did she start talking again. "You? Mister too-emotionally-detached-for-relationships is hitting up a freshman?"

"Yeah," Art chimed in, leaving his notebook and binder completely untouched. "What's up with that?"

Scotch frowned. Much as he loved his friends, there were times when they meddled too much. Creating an issue from his little good deed for a freshman was one of those times. "It wasn't like that, okay?! She looked like she was gonna have a panic attack."

Scotch recalled his impression of her. All brown hair, brown eyes and nervous energy in a rather attractive figure. And minutes later, sarcasm and wit to rival his own. He usually didn't believe in destiny, but Cleo's existence in the same building had almost convinced him to convert. "She was running through the halls, and almost face-planted on the floor."

"And then you swooped in and saved her." Shayla gasped dramatically, this time more careful to keep her theatricals unnoticed. "That's so sweet! I hope you got her name."

"Yeah," he confirmed, liking the way her name had rolled off his tongue the first time. "Her name's Cleo."

Art tilted his head, perhaps sifting through the number of freshmen he'd encountered during enrollment. It was always Art who made more friends. It helped that he was the more talkative type. "Doesn't ring a bell."

"There are lots of people in the world named Cleo," Shayla reasoned, discreetly raising her phone and taking a picture of the whiteboard before Solis could start erasing. "You should've asked for her family name as well."

"It's not like I asked her for it. She told me herself," Scotch revealed, only to later regret the decision when Shayla's Cheshire grin appeared.

"Oh em gee!" She snickered, pulling at Art's jacket by the sleeve. "It looks like somebody has a little crush on Scotch Wilkins."

Scotch groaned, slumping onto his desk and burying his face into crossed arms. Apparently, college was no impediment to being teased like a grade-schooler. The only improvement was that nobody would be accusing him of sitting in a tree with Cleo and k-i-s-s-i-n-g.

What are you thinking, idiot? He scolded himself before his imagination could get any wilder and move past the point of kissing. Stop thinking about kissing Cleo, you pervert. You only just met her! Scotch groaned again. He wasn't getting the calm, boring start of sophomore year that he wanted.

This was going to be a long, miserable first-day-of-class lecture.

♥

Author's Note

Currently coughing like there's no tomorrow. Don't worry though! I'll be right as rain after a few days. On another note, say hello to Art and Shayla! They'll be joining Scotch and Cleo every once in a while. And yes, some of the scenarios here actually do happen in college: talking to seatmates, gossiping in the back row, and taking a sneaky picture of the board when too lazy to write and the teacher's not looking (avoid doing this last one, kids). At least, these happened where I came from.

More Art and Shayla (#Arla) shenanigans will becoming soon, as well as some delicious fluff between Cleo and Scotch. And a special hello to MaxineWade (@MaxineWade), Merlin (@Merlin) and Briana Mae (@houseofmirrors)! I hope you guys are enjoying this story. :)