Annoyances and Allegories

Hailey and Vincent sat next to each other for Biology class, as they had for the past couple of weeks. Vincent still wasn't very confident at school, and having to be apart from Hailey's side still terrified him. He'd wanted to sit towards the back, but Hailey had insisted on sitting at the front of the room. Vinny was absolutely determined to avoid answering questions, and spent the time staring daggers at his perfectly neat notes. It was hard to stay unnoticed when you were next to little miss 'knows every answer' who kept raising her hand like a shot and having a minor panic attack when the teacher wouldn't call on her.

Hailey was impatient, and incredibly competitive, so not being the center of academic attention practically killed her. Meanwhile the little round letters of Vincent's notes seemed to taunt him every time a question was asked and he was far too anxious to raise his hand. Finally the lecture was over; and Vincent stood up with Hailey to quickly gather their books.

"That took forever." Vincent complained, "Our classes were never long like that in high school."

"We aren't in high school anymore." Hailey rolled her eyes, "Colleges have longer blocks for their classes, so you'll have to get used to long lectures.

Hailey and Vincent made their way out of the classroom and into the quad. The small liberal arts college had a grassy open expanse for a quad, with lots of trees and a statue in the center. There were picnic tables and benches scattered about, usually flocked with people, and some students had even elected to sit right on the grass. It was a warm day and the leaves hadn't changed yet, so it reminded Vincent of the summer that had slipped away. Most colleges started in August, rather than in September, so Vincent felt particularly robbed.

"I have a hole in my schedule right now." Hailey stated. "What have you got?"

"Same." Vincent nodded. He had a two hour break before he had to be back on campus for his second class. "What do you want to do?"

"I might run to the library and study." Hailey said solemnly. Vincent could tell she didn't want to, but knew she should get a leg up on her homework.

"I'll come with you." Vincent nodded, and the pair set off to the library, which marked the end of the quad on the front side. It was a big old building, and the first one that had been displayed on the brochure for the college as Vincent and Hailey considered going there. Inside however it was clinical and a little musty, not quite as scholarly as the photos would have suggested.

"We should get moving towards the Biology books." Hailey said more to herself than to Vincent.

"I might try and write an essay for English." Vincent whispered back, and she only shrugged so he started off in the other direction.

The aisles stretched off into the distance, and Vincent wasn't quite sure where he should go. He'd brought his laptop, so he had the option of sitting in a more comfortable chair if he wanted, rather than a stiff desk chair at the ancient library computers. Deciding that was as good a plan as any he could come up with, Vinny slumped onto a moderately dusty leather couch and got settled in.

It was a slow grueling process, as he had very little interest in the subject matter of his essay, but Vincent enjoyed writing and tried to fanci-fy the language to entertain his artistic side. Late romantic literature was even more fun when you sprinkled in a few vernacular words, and he hoped the teacher would agree. Though after reading it through Vinny got anxious and scrapped it. Being an English minor meant Vincent would have to write many essays like this. He didn't mind though, as it would open up more doors for him.

Vincent felt the couch beside him dip, and looked up from his work to see Lucas Marshall sitting beside him with a book in his large hands. Vincent stared at the other boy for a moment and his frustration grew. He had come to the back of the library to be alone, and now somebody was sitting directly next to him when there were many open seats. He wanted to ignore the other boy, but that too seemed weird, especially since they knew each other; small talk had never been his strong suit.

"What are you doing here?" He asked in a hushed but urgent whisper. Lucas looked up from his book and eyed him without emotion for a moment.

"It's a library. It's a public place. I'm studying." Lucas turned back to his book. Vincent tried to ignore him, tried to tell himself that made sense, but he knew it didn't. Lucas could have sat somewhere else, but he chose to sit right on top of Vincent, and it was clearly just to get on his nerves.

"I meant here as in next to me."

"Not everything is about you," Lucas whispered, "I like this chair."

"There's another one just like it over there."

"Aw no." Lucas chuckled. "That one's different."

"Why?"

"Because it's not next to you." Lucas stated plainly and Vincent's face darkened with anger.

"So you're just sat here to annoy me? I have work to do."

"No I just like this seat." Lucas stated.

"Then I'll move." Vincent stood, packed his bag and sat in a chair across the way. He even put his bag on the chair next to it, so nobody could take the seat.

Lucas watched him, then like clockwork got up, walked over, and half hazardously tossed Vinny's bag onto the ground.

"Hey! I have valuable stuff in there." Vincent whispered yelled.

"Then you shouldn't have put it on the ground like that. It's unsanitary."

"You are the most insufferable-" Vinny's voice began to rise.

"Shhh!" A librarian at a nearby desk scolded.

"Person I have ever-" Vinny continued in a whisper before being cut off again.

"It really isn't polite to talk in a library. People are trying to study." Lucas smiled condescendingly. Vincent shot Lucas one final death glare then sat down again. He clearly couldn't do anything, so he might as well just deal with it, finish his essay, and go. It wasn't like Lucas was doing anything more than sit there before Vincent had talked to him.

Ten valuable minutes of work passed in silence until Lucas began clicking his pen. At first it didn't bother Vincent, but as it wore on the clicking began to bounce around his brain and make it impossible to think. The nerves caused his foot to shake up and down with anxiety.

"Could you please stop that? It's really distracting," Lucas gestured to his foot. Vincent saw red for a moment, took the pen out of Lucas's hand and threw it across the room. This earned a sharp glare from the librarian, but she had missed the actual projectile of the altercation, so they were allowed to stay. "Now that was just rude. That was my favorite pen."

Lucas walked over and picked up his pen, Vinny had hoped he wouldn't come back, but knew he couldn't possibly be that lucky, and much to his disappointment Lucas did. Vincent went to his essay, on which he had made very little progress and tried to write again.

"What are you working on?" Lucas asked after another extended moment of silence. Vincent pursed his lips and looked up from the essay again, Lucas was testing him, and he decided he would give the boy no further satisfaction.

"A paper for my Romantic Literature class." Vincent replied.

"I'm in that class." Lucas set his book in his lap, turning slightly on the sofa to face Vincent.

"How? You're a junior."

"Eh." Lucas shrugged. "I didn't take English my first couple semesters. Besides, the honors classes are mostly mixed with people trying to fill out their requirements."

"Oh. How's your essay going?"

"I haven't started yet." Lucas chuckled to himself, "Two years behind, and you're already ahead of me. Typical Vincent."

"Thank you?" Vinny raised an eyebrow, and moved back to his work once again.

"You should indent there."

"I know." Vincent reached down to press the button. He had planned to go back and indent the paragraphs at the end, but apparently it was bothering Lucas, so he fixed it.

"You know-" Lucas began again.

"Alright." Vincent shut his laptop and turned to Lucas. "I can just do it later."

"Geez. I was just gonna say that if you closed your tabs, your computer might run faster."

"If I closed my tabs, I wouldn't need my computer to run faster." Vincent groaned. "What are YOU working on?"

"I'm working on you."

Vincent bit his lip to keep from screaming. Lucas clearly just wanted to see him angry, and so far he had given that to him. He just need to get away from him.

"Well can't you go hang out with your friends?" Vincent sighed.

"We used to be friends."

"We aren't anymore, Lucas." Vincent ran a hand through his red hair. It was harsh, but it was the truth.

"Thanks to you." Lucas grumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Lucas raised his hands in surrender. "I didn't say a thing."

"I'm going...I've just got to go... I've got class." Vincent stood up.

"I'll see you in Romantic Literature," Lucas grinned. That was it. Lucas was trying to ruin his life.