The first time it happened, Darcy thought it was a fluke.
The second time, she thought it was a coincidence.
The third time...the third time just pissed her off. Same with the fourth. And the fifth. And so on.
"Jane!" she shouted for her roommate. "Jane, he's doing it again!"
"Again?" The physics major peered between the blinds just in time to see the tall stranger walking off. "What is his problem?"
"I dunno, but he's two steps away from getting tased."
"Darcy, no..."
The tall, dark-haired junior had stopped outside the Midgard residence hall every day that week. He was pretty unmistakable-one of the two brothers that transferred in from Britain or somewhere. Jane identified him on the second day. She was crushing really hard on the guy's blonde brother. Darcy figured the daily attacks had something to do with that.
"Are we sure he's flipping us off?" Jane asked.
"Yeah! Yesterday he even pointed, at our window, specifically! I should have a talk with him."
"You really shouldn't."
"Too late. It's happening."
Darcy spotted the guy across the dining hall, recognizing him instantly. There he was. That asshole. Just eating his soup. Like an asshole.
She stowed her iPod in her bag and ditched the remains of her lunch with her friends. (Steve'd pick up after her, that Boy Scout.) Darcy was on a mission. As she got closer she was struck first by how tall the guy was, seeing him face to face. He was-oh God help her, he was handsome, too. He could've been a model in a photoshoot, just sitting alone at a table, reading some book. A very rude model.
Darcy reminded herself why she was there, and closed the distance to him.
Slamming her hands down on his table, she demanded, "What the hell, man?!"
Loki looked up with a start-there was a very angry brunette interrupting Othello. "I-do I know you?" he demanded back.
"Heck yeah, you know me! You've flipped off my window like every day!"
Oh. Well, as cute as she looked when she was angry, she wasn't his target. Loki put down his book and regarded her with an infuriatingly calm tone.
"I'm afraid you've got the wrong idea. It's not you I'm trying to insult."
"No?"
"It's your roommate."
"I have a taser!"
"I don't threaten."
"What did my roommate ever do to you?!" Darcy had been Jane's roommate since forever-and Jane, sweet Jane, wouldn't hurt a fly, much less a British boy with very, very blue eyes.
"I'm terribly sorry you got caught in the crossfire, but your roommate deeply wronged me long ago."
"Um, what?"
"She cheated on me."
"Jane...dating? Jane got a date? And she didn't tell me? ...Jane got a date with YOU?"
"Like I said, deeply-...who is Jane?"
A warm breeze curled around the two, standing on the grass outside Midgard hall.
"See? Rebecca Skadi, floor 3, room 11!" Loki insisted. He even pointed up at the window to show her. Darcy studied the paper in his hand. (He'd charmed his way into the administrative files for it at the beginning of the semester-much to Darcy's amusement.)
"Oh, hon..." Darcy almost hugged him. "Oh you sweet, British flower. Floor 3 is the floor above ours."
That...was news to Loki. "No, it shouldn't be. See? One, two, three." He counted up the floors on the outside of the building and ended up pointing at Darcy's room. Darcy actually did hug him then.
"Loki, baby, I don't know how they number things where you're from, but in America, the first floor's the floor above the ground floor. So one, two, three-you meant to flip off that window."
Loki just stood there for the longest time. (Loki, speechless-his brother would call that a miracle.) Finally he whispered, "...That's madness!"
"Here, let me give you this." Darcy said (when she was finished laughing). The journalism major took a pen out of her bag and scribbled a number-her number-on the paper.
"Just in case you need any more help speaking American. I'm your guide to all things States, 'kay? And I'll tell Janey you're sorry." She had class, so Darcy took off then, with a wink to Loki and a middle finger to room 3-11.
Loki would think of ten reasons to call her before the week was out.