penroseholmes:
Aspen winced but waved it off. “Nah, it’s okay. It’s gotta hurt before it gets better. That’s what my mom always told me,” she told him, offering another smile. “And honestly, I’ve done worse to myself. And people have thought worse things about me than ‘wow, did that girl join a fight club?’” she chuckled a little.
Her eyebrows perked up when Arlo delved further into his girlfriend’s choice of major. “Geo-sciences?” she asked curiously. “Sounds complicated but cool. I’m willing to bet if I ever met her and asked her to elaborate, I’d find it interesting in its own right… I’m actually a double major. Physics and journalism.” People still blinked and gave her funny looks whenever she divulged such information. Most just cringed at the thought of trying to do the coursework for one major let alone two. “My mom is a scientist and one of her friends is actually an experimental physicist. I spent my whole life in a lab practically. At least it felt like that sometimes.” She chuckled again. “I’m also minoring in astronomy. I would’ve just majored in it but… well, I was trying to be more practical. Hence the science major with the journalism major. I figure if I couldn’t get a job with NASA, then I could at least write about them.” It had made sense at the time.
She smiled warmly again. “Crushingly but she means well. She’s really sweet,” she agreed. “Goodness, it’s going to be so weird this summer with everyone gone from this building…” She sighed nostalgically, looking past him to gaze down the hallway. Funny to think that she was actually missing all of the bustle and noise. Rory and Eury’s antics. “… you’ll probably be around to visit though. On campus, I mean. I’m sure.” She paused a moment to study him curiously. “Have you ever considered actually attending NYU? Or is college not really your ‘bag’?” she asked.
Arlo chuckled a little at Aspen’s aphorism, “Smart mom.” He was surprised to hear that people even thought of Aspen in a violent nature. “Do you enjoy being bruised or is it just something that comes with the territory of being yourself?”
He nodded, still attending to her forehead. “Yeah. Definitely complicated. She tells me stuff she’s worked on in labs and I do my best to understand it, but most of it just goes right over my head.” He made a small noise of approval, “Are you one of those people that likes having a lot on your plate? I can imagine with a class load like that you wouldn’t have much free time.” He finished up his pseudo-medical work on her head and started to put away the rest of the first aid things he’d brought out in search for the bandage. “That makes sense to me. Cover all your bases.”
“Too sweet sometimes. I’m sure there were times she’d rather have me not been there, but she’d never kick me out.” He liked Bianca a lot. She was one of his first friends here and there was something compelling about her caring and exuberant presence. He nodded when she said he’d be around to visit. “I’ve got nowhere else to go. Not that I know of anyways.” He wasn’t sure what the future of the Power Rangers would have in store for him since he was supposedly their ally. He shook his head, “Attending NYU would mean I would have to forge some papers that I don’t currently possess, and not to mention the amount it would cost, so I guess you could say it wasn’t in my ‘bag’.”
