anonymous: three // stories
masterpost +
I know haven’t updated in ages, but I’m getting more inspired for this story so hopefully I’ll get back in the swing of it soon xx
Rose didn’t need the number on the top of her cup from Louie’s.
She found her way to lecture hall 17 perfectly well on her own.
But that didn’t mean that Ashton wasn’t the newest contact in her phone.
The lecture room was large, each student at a two person table. Rose wasn’t late, but every single table had at least one person at it already, everyone just wanting to sit by themselves. With a sigh, she looked around, a girl with jet black hair sitting towards the middle of the room alone, playing a game on her phone catching her eye. Deciding she looked friendly enough, Rose approached her.
"Uh, hey. Do you care if I sit here?" She asked, toying with the lid of her coffee. The girl looked up, black septum piercing adorning her nose, in hard contrast to the bright blue of her eyes. Rose first thought was she must be a natural blonde to have eyes like those.
"Not at all. Name’s Gray. And yours is…?"
"Rose," she smiled, sitting her coffee on the table along with her laptop, sliding into the hard red chair and sitting her camera bag by her feet.
"I like that. What’s your major?"
"Creative writing. Any idea why either of us have to take this class?"
"No fucking clue," Rose sighed, turning her laptop on. She logged in quickly, her background popping up.
"Damn, did you take that?" Gray questioned, nodding towards her screen. It was a picture from Rose’s vacation, a shot of the ocean crashing against black rocks. She’d stood there for over an hour, just waiting for the perfect wave.
"Yeah," she tried to act casual, pulling up a document as the professor came to the front of the room.
"Looks like you don’t need any classes if you ask me," Gray mumbled, pulling up a document herself and taking a sip of her coffee.
"Welcome to Art History 1-12, I’m Dr. Wilson and I’m excited to be your professor this year." His voice carried throughout the lecture hall, and within the first few sentences Rose had already zoned out.
By the end of class, her notes were still blank, and when she glanced over Gray was asleep, head lolling to the side. She nudged her gently, her eyes flying open as Dr. Wilson closed the lecture.
"Fuck, did I miss anything important?"
"Do you know who Picasso and Beethoven are?" Rose teased, slipping her laptop into her bag and standing up.
"Yeah," Gray replied, packing up her things as well.
"Then no, nothing important happened, except I think Dr. Wilson has a cat named Freddy," Rose chuckled. "I’ll see you Wednesday, yeah?"
"Wait, you’re a freshman right?"
"Yep," Rose braced herself for the criticism that she figured was coming.
"Have you ever been to Ovids? The little cafe under the library?"
"Then you’re coming with me for lunch, no exceptions," she smiled, grabbing her bag and walking out the door, a very confused Rose following her.
Once she caught up to Gray’s quick steps, she was given a ‘real campus tour.’
"That’s where everybody smokes, so don’t go there cause the cops watch it like a hawk," she pointed to a small opening behind one of the large buildings of the campus. "Fusion-" she nodded towards a tiny restaurant bustling with kids, "-has kickass milkshakes and really good fries."
Before she could show Rose anything else, they arrived at the library. The oldest building on campus, a massive cathedral like structure with murals and shelves upon shelves of books. Rose looked at the stone work and couldn’t help herself.
"Gray, hold on just a sec," she murmured, reaching in her camera bag and quickly uncapping her lens, taking a few seconds to line up the shot before snapping it, the sunlight sparkling off the stones as it came through one of the stain glass windows.
"Sorry," Rose apologized, stowing her camera hastily, catching up and continuing to walk.
"No need to apologize, you’re not a real artist if you don’t put art first in my book," Gray grinned, opening one of the five identical wooden doors lining the walls. The tiny cafe was crammed with more tables than it should have, something Rose had decided was commonplace in London.
"Are you a picky eater?" Gray questioned.
"Uh, not particularly no," Rose answered.
"Good, go find a seat by the windows, the rain’s supposed to come in soon. I’ll be back in a minute."
Rose did as she was told, finding a small, wooden, two person table, occupying the time before Gray got back by tracing the letters people had carved into the round surface. She came back with two sandwiches and bags of chips. She sat down, smiling at the window.
"Told you. The window seats are the prettiest when it’s like this."
Rose looked, and sure enough the rain had begun, students bustling more quickly, a dozen umbrellas opening on the street, bright raincoat hoods coming up to cover heads. The city was beautiful from here, even with the sky a dreary gray. Rose chuckled to herself, looking over to her new friend.
"Let me guess; you’re about to make a joke about how London is a good place for me because my name matches the sky," Gray sighs, biting a chip in half and looking at Rose as she gawked.
"Okay, what the fuck," she giggled.
"I’m a writer Rose, it’s my job to get into people’s heads," she teased. "Now you have two options. Eat or tell me your story."
"Good choice. Commence," Gray smiled, watching expectantly.
"Uhhh, like what do you mean my story…" Rose stumbled over the concept. She wasn’t one to open up very easily to anyone, so it was a bit of a foreign ideal.
"Anything you feel like telling me is probably important. It’s your story, you tell it," Gray shrugged, continuing to eat.
"Okay. Um, well I’m 18, I was born in New York, and uhhh I have a little sister named Raven whose 16. Were pretty close. Umm I started photography when I was 12 and my parents never really supported it but I worked my butt of in school and managed to get enough scholarships to come here. So, yeah that’s about it," she trailed off awkwardly, picking up her food and taking a bite. Whatever it was, it was possibly the best sandwich she’d ever had.
"Okay, now your story," Rose countered.
"I’m a writer, my story is in my work," Gray dismissed it.
"Ah ah, no you don’t get by that easy. Tell me."
"Fine. I’m 19, I’m an only child and I’m from Baltimore. I went to school there, linguistics major, but it wasn’t really my thing so I took a summer trip to Australia and decided I wanted to be a writer, and then while I was there my boyfriend Calum was home for the summer and he told me about Capelvern-"
"Wait. Calum like Calum creative writing major friends with Ashton, Luke and Michael Calum?" Rose cut her off.
"Yep, that would be the dork I’m dating. You know him?" Gray chuckled.
"Fuck me it really is a small world. I met them at the coffee shop this morning. Anyways, continue," she urged, continuing to eat.
"So I chose Capelvern and came here and that’s about it. Age wise, I’m a sophomore, but class wise I’m a freshman so we might have some more classes. Speaking of those, I’ve got one in a few minutes so I gotta run. I’ll see you Wednesday, or sooner. Bye!"
And just like that she was gone. Rose checked her phone and murmured a quiet ‘shit’ under her breath. Her next class was in 10 minutes and she had no idea where it was. Reluctantly, she pulled up the only contact she knew would be able to help her. Pulling her umbrella from her bag as she walked back through the library, she called Ashton.