Do I know you?[Idés, Edita]

Idés couldn’t help but widen his smile at her excitement. How could he not? It was rare to meet anyone who was as passionate about studying as he was. And what she was telling him was truly interesting. The thought of Zeals as an extension of the human body, he quite liked that. Nothing to be ashamed of or to fear, but tools that could help and aid where one's own abilities failed. How more people couldn’t see the good that could do, he would never know. He nodded enthusiastically to show that he listened. “Rambling is good. It’s very interesting,” he smiled as she sighed up at the sun. “I hope you’ll let me read it.”

The two entered the cafe and Idés looked up at a menu he was very familiar with. Two rows of fancy hot and iced options. He shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. He wasn’t that hard to please. “Just black filter for me,” he said. He was just about to ask her what she was getting, when a voice interrupted him.

“Well, if it isn’t the young professor in the flesh,” the barista spoke, leaning on the counter by the cash register with a sly smile. “Long time no see, Chapmann. What gives?”

Idés rubbed his neck as his old coworker gave him an accusatory, yet teasing look. “Sorry Harps.” he chuckled. “Just life. Been busy.”

“That’s what they all say.” There was no venom in their voice and the coy smile held only fondness. “But it’s okay. Now you’re obligated to come hang out with me. Anyways, what can I get you two?”

Idés reached into his pocket for his wallet. “Well, uh, black filter for me and–“

Harper held up a hand, stopping him. “Put the wallet away, it’s on the house.” Idés shot them a look that said ‘really?’ and Harper shrugged, smiling innocently. “What the boss don’t know. So that’s one black filter!” Then they turned to Edita with a welcoming smile. “And for you?”

”Ofcourse I’ll let you read it.” She said smiling as she entered the café. Almost immediately the barista recognised Idés, and struck up a conversation. It was clear to Edita that the two of them knew eachother well. She raised her brows slightly in surprise at the scene that unfolded. Not only did Professor Idés Lynn Chapmann know the barista on seemingly friendly terms, he knew them so well that he didn’t have to pay for their drinks. Edita didn’t know what she should think of this. Truthfully, she was very grateful for the gesture, but it also made her think; did Idés have a horrible addiction to the coffee here that he was a regular? It wouldn’t surprise her if he did… Or did he just know the barista personally? Perhaps.

“A latte, please.” She answered the barista… Harps? That was at least what Idés had called them, but she assumed that it was a nickname.

“Coming right up!” The barista said with their charming smile and turned around to make their orders. Edita turned towards Idés, her eyebrows once again raised, this time in question: ”You two seem to know eachother well?” Not that she disapproved of the supposed friendship ofcourse, she was just surprised for some reason - and partly intrigued to be honest. What had he been up to all this time? Other than his studies, she knew about that. But what had he spent his spare time on? Had he partied like back in the day? Found another group of friends that were similar to the Baker Street gang?

“One black filter and a latte!” The barista said and put their drinks on the counter. Edita thanked them and took her latte, the cup seemed to be filled to the brim, so Edita had to be careful not to spill as she moved about. ”Shall we sit outside?” She asked as she looked back at Idés. The weather had been so nice, she thought it would be a shame to just sit inside and not enjoy the few sunny rays that shone through the clouds once in a while.

The two stood over at the end of the counter, waiting for their coffee to be made. The background noise of coffee beans being grounded, the hissing of the milk being steamed, and the faint typing of students entranced in their work felt familiar, almost nostalgic. Idés nodded when Edita asked if they knew each other well. “Yeah, I used to work here when I was studying,” he explained. “The lab-assistant gig wasn’t exactly paid, so.” He shrugged, with an easy-going smile on his lips. He had liked his job here, despite the pay being bad and the occasional rush-hour. Making coffee was one of those monotonous tasks that once you had mastered, it just became second-nature, something you could do without even thinking. A nice break from studying. Plus, it was nice having coworkers and an honest job. In a very literal way, this had been his first legal one. “Harper’s an old coworker.”

Harper called out their order and Idés grabbed his coffee, just about to answer Edita´s question when he got eye contact with his old coworker, who was currently wiggling their eyebrows suggestively at him. “Enjoy yourself, loverboy,” they teased and Idés eyes widened in surprise, his cheeks flushing red in embarrassment.

He lifted his cup in an awkward goodbye, and he and Edita went out of the cafe out into the nice spring weather. “Don’t mind them,” Idés said, rubbing his neck, feeling the need to excuse that last comment. He couldn’t deny that he had had his… escapades, especially when he had still been studying, but he really did just want to catch up with Edita. “They just like to tease.”

“Anyways, your thesis sounds really interesting,” he said, deciding not to dwell on that comment any longer. He took a sip of his coffee, wincing slightly when he immediately burned himself on the hot coffee. Why did he do that every time?

”Oh, how nice!” She would have loved working in a place like this. The smell of the coffee beans, the never ending sound of students typing away on their laptops, the small chitchatter from the groups of friends hanging around in the sofas. She loved the whole atmosphere of it. It was also nice to hear that Idés had had honest work. It would also explain why he was so familiar with the barista. It wasn’t an insane addiction to the coffee here - although she wouldn’t rule it out, he did have the vibe of being a heavy coffee drinker.

Her eyebrows did raise once again in surprise when the barista, Harper, addressed Idés as ‘loverboy’. Idés? A loverboy? That was certainly not the case back when she knew him back in the day. He had been a shy boy back then. Didn’t say much and kinda just hung around. Although she must admit that she couldn’t remember him much. It had been so long, and her primary friends of that friendgroup had been Vicki, Frankie and the twins. Her phone vibrated in her bag, but she ignored it. It was probably just some unimportant alert from some random app. She did, although take notice of Idés red cheeks, flushed with embarrassment. She bit her lip trying to suppress a smile.

As soon as they went outside, she couldn’t help herself any longer: ”Loverboy?” She needed answers, or maybe she didn’t but just wanted to tease Idés a bit. The illusion of being a professor, her superior, definitely crumbled to dust after that comment from Harper. She didn’t mind that Idés might have had some fun in his time. It would be worrisome if he hadn’t. She also knew that she was no saint, and assumed that most people, definitely students at uni, acted no differently than her. She also thought that this was hilarious and couldn’t help but laugh a little over the comment. ”I bet you probably made yourself an easy subject for such teasing.” She said smiling, before taking a sip of her latte. It was hot, but very delicious.

Her phone vibrated again, which she once again ignored. If someone was trying to contact her, they could call her if it was truly important. She nodded as Idés mentioned her thesis. She thought it was interesting too, funnily enough. It’s almost like she chose it herself. ”Thank you, I’m really looking forward to working on it. I hope it will bring a more nuanced outlook on Zeals into the current academic debate.” She looked around the area outside of the café looking for someplace to sit that was also in the sun. ”Should we go sit over there?” She asked, pointing towards a bench nearby that was showered in the sunshine. It looked pleasant.

He blushed again at her comment about being an easy subject for teasing. She definitely wasn’t wrong. He didn’t party that much anymore after his new job, credit where credit is due, but a few years ago he had been known to. Well, get around.These days it was mostly just with Fallon. It was easier and less drama, he had come to find. Plus, the risk of accidentally running into one of his own students while out was very real and a little bit horrifying. He knew that being a young professor had led some people to choose his course of study, for the simple reason that he was still young and relatively good-looking. It was definitely a more popular subject now, than when he had started studying himself. But that felt weird to think about, so he elected not to, deciding to live in the belief that he might just be an okay educator. He decided not to comment further on the topic, instead opting to take another drink of his scolding coffee to occupy his mouth.

Her phone vibrated again, and he shot her a curious look. “Someone’s popular,” he commented, with a smile on his lips. He was a bit curious as to who wanted to get in contact with her. It wouldn’t surprise him if she were, popular that is. She seemed like a very likable girl, the kind of person who could get along with most people. It also came with the nature of student life and communal dorm-living to have a busier social schedule, it certainly had for him. Although, he supposed that probably wasn’t the case for everyone. Cassius seemed to be having a different experience for once, but that also made sense, considering his family and condition. And he didn’t actually know the man well enough to know what he got up to in his spare time, despite having known each other for years. He took another sip of coffee. “Do you live on campus?”

He agreed and the two sat down on the bench, which overlooked the bustling campus ground. The sun had drawn out many students from the dusty libraries. Some had simply taken their reading outside, while others sat in small groups and chatted. A couple of friends were throwing a frisbee back and forth and further down it looked like a group of people were trying to get a soccer game up on running. On days like this, the grounds looked more like a park than a place of learning. Not that anyone could hold it against the students, after a long winter. Idés took a breath of the fresh spring air and enjoyed the warmth of the sun against his face. He leaned back more comfortably on the bench and took another sip of coffee.

He looked at Edita. She had been in a group with a handful of girls, that much he remembered. One of them being Sammie’s girlfriend. But he still had some trouble remembering who of the girls that she was. There was Kevin’s sister, which would definitely have come up if she was. They definitely share a family resemblance either. Then there were the twins, which might be an option, if it hadn’t been for the fact that Edita came from Cirrane. The twins were from Erast, that much he was sure off. Which, that left only one option.
“It was you who made the stick and pokes, right? Do you still make them?”

She smiled as he blushed at her comment. This is fun, she thought, not really knowing why, but making Idés blush felt really good. Knowing that she could make him embarrassed - that he cared enough about her, despite them just having reunited since childhood, to actually become embarrassed. His red cheeks also confirmed her suspicion of his endeavours, which she thought was interesting. He had definitely grown since she last saw him, which she could barely remember. It felt almost odd to see how different he was from back in the day, and yet she could not stop seeing the scrawny kid of her past. It was intruiging.

Another vibration came from her phone as yet another notification went through right after he commented on her being popular. She smiled apoligisingly at him before she began digging into her bag after the phone. Her brows furrowed, annoyed that the phone kept making noices. ”Yeah, sorry, I don’t know what is happening - I’ll just take care of it…” She said apologisingly as she fished out her noisy phone. As she unlocked the phone it seemed to explode in messages. Omg what is happening?? She could see that it was her friendgroup’s groupchat that had exploded in messages. She opened up the chat to see if anything serious had happened to one of the others. The first messages read:

Did I just see Dita enter the café with Professer Sexy-mann?

w a t

Alyssa, the girl who had first written in the groupchat, had sent a picture of Edita and Idés smiling at eachother right outside the café where they stood right now. The picture was taken through the window of the café. Alyssa must have been sitting in the far back of the café hidden away in a group of people, probably her study group, as they often frequented the café when they did group work. Edita’s cheeks reddened in embarrassment as she read the following messages:


Edita stopped reading the rest of the messages - this was definitely not a serious crisis that required her attention - and quickly turned her phone on silent and hid it away in her bag again. ”It’s nothing.” She quickly said, her cheeks still hot from embarrassment. She bit her lip and looked up at Idés again, trying not to let the messages bother her too much. Although she did note mentally that she had to explain to the girls that she was in fact not on a date with Idés. But that could wait.

She nodded at his question, glad that he had asked her something so she could get her mind on something other than the messages. ”Yes I do,” she said, taking a sip of her latte and walking towards the bench. ”I have a single dorm, so I don’t have to deal with any annoying roommates.” She added with a laugh. She did enjoy having her own space, but she was also sometimes jealous of her friends who lived in the same dorm. The fact that they always had eachother in some way, whereas Edita was all alone at home. But it was best this way. She didn’t want to have to hide the part of her that was involved with The Family when she was at home. In a sense she really couldn’t trust anyone truly, for her own and their sake. ”What about you?” She asked, looking at him, narrowing her eyes as the sun hit them. She was also curious: where did professors live?

She placed herself on the bench next to him and took another sip of her latte while looking out at the people enjoying the weather. A smile on her lips while she held her cup with both hands, feeling the warmth from its contents. She always had cold hands despite the weather, so this was very nice. She glanced at Idés who had been looking at her, as if trying to solve a difficult riddle. And it seemed that he did solve it. She smiled and nodded. ”Yes that was me,” She said smiling at the memory. She had really liked doing those stick and pokes. Still did. ”I still make them, yeah. They’re fun to do at parties when the mood is right.” She smiled and looked back at the people enjoying the sun. Reminiscing every stick and poke she had made, at least the ones she could remember to have done. Her brows furrowed for a moment as she realised: ”We really were a bunch of irresponsible kids - I was only twelve when I started making them for everyone.” She let the thought sit with her for a moment, but then laughed at it. Damn they had been very stupid kids.

He had noticed her blushing as she checked her phone, and wondered who could possibly be texting her. A flirt or a lover perhaps? He took another sip of his coffee. Not that he minded, he wasn’t one to judge. It did make him insanely curious, but the chat seemed to be going too fast to just be one person, so a group chat perhaps? Not that he was reading her messages. He averted his gaze, a bit ashamed of his own curiosity.

Then she started answering his question about where she lived and he nodded while listening. “Oh, that must be nice. Living with roommates definitely had its downsides,” he smiled. He would’ve loved a single dorm. Instead he had shared his space with three other guys. While they had had their own rooms, the apartment itself hadn’t been a good study environment, nor particularly hygienic. It had its charms, but when it came down to it, it was only the sort of living arrangements you accepted while studying. He then pointed towards the coffee shop when Edita asked where he lived now. “Right now I’m renting an apartment above the café,” he explained. “It’s nothing impressive, but it’s close to the lab, not that expensive and big enough when it’s just me living there,” he shrugged, taking a sip of his nearly empty coffee. He really had almost swallowed the whole concerningly fast. “I definitely can’t complain.”

He then smiled when she confirmed that it had indeed been her doing the tattoos, and that she was still doing them. Then, he frowned when she told him how old she had been. He blinked in surprise, thinking for a moment that he must’ve misheard her. “Wait, hold on– you were how old? 12?” He said in mild horror that someone so young had been involved with their group. Although, he probably wasn’t one to act like it was that outrageous as he was only around 15 when Vicky and the girls had entered the picture. It was just that his youngest brother was 12, and the thought of him running around doing the kind of things they had been doing back then, didn't sit right with Idés. Which was probably a sign that none of them should have either, he supposed. He scratched his head, befuddled. At least it didn’t seem like Edita had suffered any major trauma as a result of it, she seemed fairly normal. But still, they had been so irresponsible and so very unsupervised. “Holy fuck, we were dumb.”

As she looked up at him after putting her phone away, her cheeks hot with embarrassment, she noticed that he looked away immediately. She thought it looked like he had been interested in her messages, a horrifying thought, if he had actually read some of them. She would have absolutely died on the spot if he had seen that her friends had called Ides for ‘Professor Sexy-mann’.

The heat in her cheeks slowly subdued as Idés began talking, turning her thoughts away from the messages from her friends, and to his apartment instead. ”Oh,” She said, surprised to be in such close proximity to his apartment. She had walked past the café plenty of times, truly countless times, throughout the years that she had been studying here. The thought of it was odd, now knowing that Idés had been living just right above the café, probably have heard her and her friends loudly walking past, drunk at night on their way home from a party. Although they would probably have been one of many too. She took a sip of her cup. ”Well, it does sound very practical.” She said, her bottom lip still touching the lid of the cup as she spoke.

She nodded, a smile forming on her lips as he seemed to realise her age back in the day when she had started doing stick and pokes on almost every person who entered the basement of Kevin’s parents’ laundromat. She took another sip of her latte, before she spoke: ”If I remember correctly, I had only just turned twelve. When we met I was only eleven, I think.” It did make sense for her… She had met Vicki when she was nine and became friends with her and the twins throughout that year. Frankie, Kevin’s younger sister, and classmate of Vicki was only introduced to their friendgroup the following year when Vicki was held back a year in school. When Edita, Vicki and the twins were finally invited over to Frankie’s, all of them had been intrigued by the older kids who hung out in the basement.

She nodded once again in agreement with him. ”Yeah, we were.” She leaned back on the bench, stretching her legs out in front of her for a moment, enjoying the sunshine on them. ”We had a lot of fun tho.” She smiled at the memories. Their endless nights of parties and pointless conversations. She had definitely been way too young for it in the beginning, but what did it matter now? She had had fun, but also had had to grow up a little too quickly. It had only helped forming her into the woman she was today - someone she didn’t mind being. As a thought struck her, she lit up and turned eagerly towards Idés: ”Remember that time Kevin’s mum accidentally ate one of our special cookies? Gosh that was quite the show. Good thing she never realised what had happened.”

She had actually been even younger when they had met the group, which was mind-boggling to Idés. Maybe it was just being faced with the fact of how young everyone had actually been back then. That time had been pushed so far to the back of his mind and with everything that had happened in the meanwhile, it was easy to lose perspective of how much they had actually just been kids. They had all acted like tiny adults.

Edita agreed that they had been dumb. But the look of serenity on her face in the sunshine didn’t seem to speak of any bad experiences with the gang. Which was a good thing, that she had had fun too. And it helped Idés relax. He smiled as well as he discreetly put aside his now empty cup. There was a beat of comfortable silence between the two. Idés watched the frisbee be thrown back and forth between the students. Then she turned towards Idés with a wide smile on her face. He blinked as she recounted the episode about Kevin’s mum, that he had all but forgotten. Had she not reminded him that is. He laughed, partially at the memory and partially at Edita’s enthusiasm. “Yeah, I remember,” he chuckled. It certainly hadn’t helped the situation that everyone in the room had probably already been high before the woman had entered. And had been fixing on sticking around, had Kevin not taken her back to the apartment. “That was so damn nerve wrecking. I thought for sure she was messing with us when she started recounting all her high school romances. But she was so high.”

He scratched the side of his neck. It was weird that none of the parents of anyone in the group ever discovered a thing, when he thought about it. He looked to Edita, who had said she wasn’t even from Erast at all. Cirrane felt like a whole other city comparatively, so it did make him wonder how she had been allowed to hang out with a bunch of stoners on Baker Street. Erast definitely wasn’t a safe place for anyone, let alone a kid. He knew family was a sore topic for many, though. He was still itching to ask, though, he was just going to have to go about it less directly. “How did you meet Vicki?” He was asking both out of genuine curiosity, but also to maybe shed some light as to what a kid from Cirrane had been doing in Erast to begin with. The reason had to be interesting.

”She was SO high! And there were so many high school boyfriends!” She laughed. A true laugh from deep in her belly that she couldn’t control. It had truly been a hilarious experience. Firstly there had been the moment of panic, where they were sure that they were going to get busted. Then the confusion as to what the hell the woman was talking about when she had stood by the steps of the staircase to the basement. Additionally, the fact that all of them had also been high. ”I was SO sure we were all gonna get busted!” She giggled into her cup as she took another sip of it.

Her almost empty cup rested against her lips as Idés asked her how she had met Vicki. She blinked at first, a bit surprised by the question, then her brows furrowed as she tried to remember it. How had she met Vicki? She could almost not remember a time where she hadn’t known Vicki. Vicki had just always been there throughout her life… No wait… That wasn’t true… Looking out at the playing students on the grass, the frizbee gliding through the air, the mathematics of it being something that Edita didn’t quite understand, the memory slowly came to her. She had been young, perhaps eight or nine years of age. She remembered that it had been dark outside on the other side of the window of the car. It must have been in the winter months then. Her father had assured her that he wouldn’t be gone for long and that she just needed to stay with these people for a few hours and then he would pick her up again. She had been nervous. As a small kid she had been shy, something she had grown out of at some point.

”Vicki’s mother used to look after me whenever my father had work with her father at nights.” She finally said, as the puzzle pieces came together in her mind. She remembered countless sleepovers and late nights with hot cocoa or ice cream. She smiled at the thought and took a sip of her almost empty cup. ”Luckily we liked eachother quickly after the first time I had to be babysat at their house, so eventually we just became friends.” She added and looked towards Idés again. The way he sat there, bathed in the sun, sometimes looking at her, sometimes looking at the relaxing students, reminded her of once upon a time a long time ago. It was a memory she didn’t know she had stored in her, but the deja vu of the situation brought it back to her mind. Just like now, they had been sitting together, although not alone, but together with everyone else back at Baker Street. She remembered that she had studied his features, the angle of his smile, how he leaned back in his seat whenever he laughed. She smiled. Then a thought hit her: had she had a crush on Idés back then? It would explain this memory of her admiring him… But no, that couldn’t be… She would have remembered that… They had also just been kids back then, or rather she had been a kid back then. Idés had after all been a couple years older than her, still was, that’s how ages work. Everything felt so similar, yet it was so different now. She was no longer a child, and he was no longer just one of the older boys.

Edita laughed as she recounted the experience, which really was very contagious. Idés laughed heartily along with Edita at the memory. “It was so bad,” he said, vibing a stray tear from his eye. “And we were so fucking high.” Thinking back like this, he realized exactly how many fond memories he had from his teenage years. Bad decisions had been made, sure. In fact, most of the things they had been spending their time on had been incredibly stupid. But it was those stupid decisions that had made that era in his life what it had been – and in turn made him into the person who was today. Sure, how it came to an end made the memories bitter-sweet. But right now, Idés didn’t want to dwell on the end. He couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed like this. “Gods, we really were a, uh, lively bunch, huh?”

The smile remained on his lips as Edita recalled how her and Vicky had become friends to begin with. It did strike him as odd that her father would have business in their part of Erast, but decided not to dig further into it. Most of the business near Baker Lane wasn’t exactly the most morally upstanding and, well, legal sort. As such it was often better to not be in the know about what you weren’t directly involved with. People had their secrets and their ways of making a living and for the most parts, Idés respected that. As long as no one was being directly put in harm's way, then people should be free to do as they pleased. Besides, Idés was only thinking as a man who had grown up from a background where crime was an everyday occurance – it was very possible that Edita’s father had a completely non-shady business that required partners in the Erast area. It wasn’t unthinkable. A thief believes everybody steals. No matter the reason, Edita had been part of the group and that was probably a good thing, even though she most likely had been too young to be there.

Idés nodded at her answer, before looking out at the flying frisbee and the relaxing students. A couple of girls were sitting underneath a tree, laughing at something on one of their phones. Nearby was a bigger group having a smoke, while deeply invested in some sort of debate. The bustling of life at the campus ground always puts things into perspective. Everyone of these strangers had their own background, their own lives, and hopefully a bright future ahead of them once they were done studying. How couldn’t that be uplifting in a way? Lost in his train of thought, Idés zoned out for a moment and didn’t notice Edita’s eyes on him at first. When he did, she was sitting there smiling. Had he unintentionally done something funny? Maybe he had something on his face?

“What’s up?” he asked, chuckling.

It wasn’t until Idés looked at her and asked what was up that she realised she had been looking at him for so long. Perhaps even staring. She blinked, as she returned to the present and left her memories of when they had been kids. She chuckled as her cheeks reddened ever so slightly at his question despite the innocence of it. ”Oh, nothing,” She said, shaking her head left and right ever so slightly to emphasise that it was indeed nothing. Or that whatever she had thought about was at the very least unimportant.

She took a sip of her coffee, emptying the cup of the little contents it had had left in it. Perhaps it had been an attempt to hide her embarrassment. Her embarrassing thoughts of him that she was theorising about. Maybe it was an attempt to even distract herself. She was very grateful at this moment that Idés was no enferi or nachon warlock. But little did it matter for next she returned to the very question again: ”I think I’m just very surprised to meet anyone from back then. It’s not really a part of me that I share with people, so it’s kinda odd - in a good sense - that another person knows that about me.”

She thought that that was a good explanation, and it was true, despite it not having been the subject of her thoughts earlier. She looked at her empty cup and shaked it ever so slightly, just to make sure that there were no drops left in it. Then she looked up at him again, with a smile: ”It’s nice though.” And it was nice. To know that she wasn’t all alone with those memories and experiences. Another person kind of made them real again. They had been a dream-like memory for so many years, out of reach somehow. This was a nice change.

She looked at her small delicate wristwatch, checking the time. Her eyebrows raised in surprise when she did. Was it already so late? She looked apologetic up at Idés again. ”I’m sorry, but I have to go - I have class in 20 minutes,” She explained, as she went to stand up from the bench, pulling her bag over her shoulder, suddenly in a bit of a hurry.

”Can I have your number?” She asked, already fishing out her phone from her bag, the lock-screen covered in a million messages from her groupchat. It reminded her that she definitely had to sit all of those girls down and explain that this was not a date, and that she was not dating Idés nor would ever be doing so. ”Just in case I have any further questions regarding your article, you know,” she added as she looked at him.

She seemed embarrassed, which made Idés even more curious to what she could’ve possibly been thinking about, that she didn’t want to share. She emptied her coffee before once again looking at Idés and explained. An explanation that he couldn’t help but smile at.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I feel the same way.” And he really did. Although so many of the memories were tainted in sadness now, it felt like validation to see someone else from back then who had moved forward with their life. It was a past he didn’t share with people for a reason. The image of the unruly Erast teen was in juxtaposition with the credibility he held as a professor. It turned his achievements from something he had earned in his own right into an aspirational sob-story about pulling one-self up by their bootstraps. Of course, Dominic and Cassius knew to a degree, they had also known Sammie. Fallon also knew some of it, the result of drunken oversharing and pillowtalk.  But Edita had the closest thing to the full picture. She had known him, even been a part of that era of his life. And now, they had met and knew each other again. That was something that he had to appreciate.

Then she looked at her watch and seemed surprised by the time. Idés check his too and made a small “oh” sound upon realizing how long they had been hanging out. He nodded and stood up with her. “That’s alright. I should probably get back to work as well,” he said, rubbing his neck as he watched her fish out her phone as she asked for his number. She then clarified it was for the article and Idés couldn’t pinpoint exactly why he felt a bit disappointed by that.

“Right! Of course,” he said before telling her his number. It made sense, it was for the article. It probably wasn’t totally appropriate to be hanging out with a professor anyways. He shot a smile her way. “Well, it’s been nice catching up.”

She blinked as he agreed with her. A smile grew on her lips. It felt nice that he felt the same way. It was comforting in some sense. To know that she was not only not alone with the memories, but also that they were together in their appreciation for eachother’s presence in them. And their continued presence in eachother’s lives. That what they found in eachother was not a reminder of a horrible life and horrific loss of friends, but rather a nostalgic sense of innocence despite the stuff they were up to back then. It was truly an odd situation, but she appreciated it nevertheless.

But despite their reminiscing about the past, present time still continued on. And she had class soon, that she had to get to. Sadly. ”Right, yeah,” She said, as he mentioned his work. He had work as well. She actually felt a little bad, since she had interrupted his work, pulling him out of his office and away from the next discovery. He could have made progress on his work while they’ve been out and about. He could have made new discoveries that could be important to science and technological advancement. He could have made history right now, but she had to be greedy and use up his time, talking about unimportant stuff like the past. You cannot change the past.

She pulled a stray strand of hair behind her ear and looked down at her phone, immediately creating a new contact on it. She entered the number on her phone and quickly sent a text to it:



“There,” She said, looking back up at him, a smile on her lips. “Now you have my number too.”

She nodded slowly, biting her lip for a moment. ”Yes, it’s been nice catching up with you.” For a moment, she stood there, looking up at him - he truly did tower over her, just like he had back in the day - and away towards the buildings of campus, not wanting to leave, but being obligated to do so. Every fiber of her body was combatting it’s neighbour, half of her being responsible of ready to leave, while the other, unreasonable half of her, wanted her to stay. She turned her gaze towards him again, a small smile on her lips as she spread her arms in an invitation for a hug. This way she could stay just a little longer, if only it was a few more seconds. But seconds was enough for her.

His phone buzzed in his pocket as he received the text from Edita. He returned her smile “Perfect.”

Then she said it had been nice catching up. “Really nice,” he agreed, nodding. Then she looked at him and he looked at her. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, it was clear none of them felt too keen on leaving right at this moment. But duty called, which was more important than catching up with an old friend, sad as that was. It was weird, since Idés loved his work and usually didn’t have an issue with prioritizing that. But now, it felt less like a joy and more like a chore. Then she opened her arms in the invitation for a hug.

Idés had to lean down a bit in order to hug Edita properly, which was when it occurred to him that he was actually quite a bit taller than her. The hug was brief, but long enough for him to catch a whiff of something sweet and vaguely vanilla-y. Maybe her shampoo or perfume? He shook the thought quickly, not wanting to be inappropriate.

The two separated once again and Idés offered a smile. “Well, hope I’ll be seeing you around,” he said, rubbing his neck a little as the time had come to truly say goodbye, so that she wouldn’t be late for her class. “Feel free to come by the lab anytime, by the way. I’m usually there or in the lecture halls, so I shouldn’t be so hard to find,” he added with a chuckle. It was an open invitation, though he knew the chances that she’d come by probably weren’t huge. She most likely didn’t spend a lot of time around the science buildings and she had her own life too. Still, he wouldn’t mind maybe being part of that, though they were technically still very close to strangers. Even if they shared a significant moment in their past, there was a lot yet that they didn’t know about each other. It didn’t feel right for him to just come and claim a spot in her life, just cause they had known each other once.

As Idés hugged her, if only for a brief moment, Edita was quickly enveloped in a cocoon of his smell: primarily the warm and roasted smell of coffee along with an undertone of cigarettes. It was not an unpleasant smell. She rather liked it. But the hug was brief and as they both separated from it, she reminded herself that she should not be thinking about whether or not she liked the smell of him.

She nodded agreeingly. "Yes, me too." She said and truly meant it. She would love to see him more around campus. Or maybe just in general. Seeing him again wouldn’t hurt at least. And that is why her smile widened even further as he gave her a free invitation to visit his lab or the lecture halls he would be teaching in. That would be very nice, if she found the time to do so. ”I would love that very much,” She said, readjusting her bag on her shoulder before she continued: ”But I really have to get going now, so I’ll see you later.” She said while checking the time on her phone. She had to walk quite far from here to get to the humanities building where her lessons were… With a last smile towards Idés she collected herself and turned around towards the humanities buildings, which laid some direction past the coffee shop. She walked a bit before looking over her shoulder to wave her left hand as a last goodbye towards Idés. Then she turned her attention forward, towards the coffee shop.

Firstly she looked upwards, towards what was supposedly Idés apartment. Some part of Edita couldn’t quite comprehend that he - a person from her wild childhood - had been just there above the coffee shop. A place she had walked past, and frequented quite often throughout her years here at the university. He had just been living there. He had probably had partners visiting him there, and she had most likely been walking past - probably drunk late at night - while he had those visits. The thought made her blush.

Then a face in the window of the coffee shop caught her eye: Alyssa looking out at her through the window, pointing towards her upheld phone, mouthing very expressively: CHECK YOUR PHONE. Edita simply pointed towards her wristwatch, indicating that she was busy right now and mouthed back: LATER, before hurrying off towards the humanities buildings. She really had to settle things straight with Alyssa and the other girls. This had not been a date!