New Beginnings

Don't close your eyes

Cavanaugh's was a hole-in-the wall cafe that the underclassmen of WVU frequented in the days before they were old enough to enter the bars, or conniving enough to procure a fake ID. It would do for now. The coffee was served in more unnecessarily extravagant forms than you could count, and the music played songs that would never grace the radio with their presence.

"That's a long way to come just for WVU." Tara half-shouted to Spencer across the little booth in the back of the shop.

"Yeah, very. I was awarded a scholarship, though, full ride." Spencer told her, a bit nonchalantly.

"Wow. Smarty pants, huh?"

"I guess you could say that." Spencer blushed.

"Spencer is so smart. He's amazing. You should watch him read." Luke gushed to Tara.

"Yeah, I uh, can read like 20 thousand words per minute."

"Wait, really?" JJ joined the conversation with interest.

"That's impossible!" Tara laughed, looking at Spencer like a zoo animal.

Spencer blushed again. The redness crept up his neck and greeted his nose. Luke pulled him close in a hug and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Nope, I've seen it. Totally legit."

"Well Damn, Spencer, you've got to give me some tips!" Tara flashed a bright smile. "I'm barely passing my basic english course as it is."

"No way, he's my study-buddy." Luke grinned and poked Spencer's side, eliciting a giggle out of him.

Luke looked across the shop and spotted Matt sauntering in an hour late. He waved over at his friend, and he arrived at the table apologizing for his tardiness. He had been held up helping one of the students scrub hot tomato bits off the walls after they had decided to microwave it on high for 9 minutes, for no good reason at all.

"Perks of being an RA." Matt sighed. He had a glint of mischief in his smile, and Luke knew that his friend reveled in the antics of his dorm-students whether he would admit it or not.

"Oh." Spencer squeaked, and turned all eyes on him. "That was, uh, my dorm, I think. My friend Penelope said she was doing an experiment that involved red squishy foods and hot places."

Matt laughed and rolled his eyes. "You're in Madison hall then, kid?"

Matt supervised half of the floors in that hall, gaining free room and board in the process. Not without a price though, as he became the sounding board for everyone's problems.

"Yep. That's the one."

Matt slid into the booth and everyone scooted down a ways to accommodate him. Luke pressed up against Spencer. He could feel the heat radiating from his thigh, and their arms rested comfortably touching.

"Matt is a post-grad." Luke explained to Spencer. "He's working on his masters."

"Oh really? What in? I have on-" Spencer stopped himself, and tried to play it off with a cough.

"It's in psychological and psychiatric anthropology." Matt shrugged. "Bit of a mouthful."

Luke was still eyeing Spencer. "You have one what?"

"Eh, nothing." Spencer shrugged in a way that Luke thought wasn't very casual.

"No really, what do you mean?" He raised his eyebrows.

"A PhD!" JJ giggled across the table, jabbing Tara with her elbow and making her laugh.

"In kissing boyyyys!" Tara teased through giggles.