FRESHMAN PARTY
"There they are," Robin spotted the small congregation in the corner of the room, pointing out his hunched friends to Marian. She gave grave nod, silently implying that she wasn't going to join him. Daring to plant his lips on her cheek, he dodged past the dancing couples towards the corner shaded from the revolving violet lights. Marian clenched her fists angrily at his gesture, making her way towards a cluster of giggling female voices.
"Here he is," Much sighed, his body racking as he received a strong smack to the shoulder. He whipped off his slim glasses and gave the sides of his nose a tired rub as a cheerful Robin fell into the chair beside him.
"Fellas," Robin grinned as Allan clinked the neck of a bottle with his own with an equally satisfied grin. Will gave a small nod and hastily returned his attention to the spare napkin placed on his lap, which he was etching on.
Much gave Allan's fourth bottle of beer a disapproving glare, receiving a pair of undefeated waggling eyebrows in return. "How was everyone's night?"
"Great," Allan belched, then gave Much an apologetic shrug after slurring his 'better out than in' excuse. Other than leaving the dance floor with a tight slap from an angry girl, Allan was quite enjoying himself, bathing outside the blinding party lights for once. It was quite foreign territory, actually sitting with his crew instead of mingling with good-looking Helens and Katies, but he enjoyed his friends' company – as boring as they may be.
He clunked his beer down on the table and leaned over the table towards Will. "What you drawing?" he asked, trying to see past the tangle of long, pale fingers. He's such an odd boy, Allan chuckled to himself. His hair needs a decent trim, too, he noted.
"Just, nothing," Will mumbled, not looking up. He quickly slid a small camera out of one baggy pocket and clicked at the sketch on the napkin, just to save the picture. He smiled contently to himself and continued to scribble and snap at his work.
"Let's see," Allan quickly swiped the napkin out of Will's hands, an action which was surprisingly smooth for his bleary vision.
"S'nothing," Will repeated angrily, knocking over Allan's beer as he stretched across the table.
Slipping his glasses back on his nose, Much peered over Allan's shoulder and raised his eyebrows at the confusing diagrams sketched into the tissue, "It's just designs," he shouted as the volume of the stereo blared shamelessly through their words.
Will chewed impatiently on the end of his pen.
"Yeah, well done," Robin smirked knowingly. He'd been an elder brother to Will for many years, adding to their surprise when Will landed a scholarship at Nottingham University, and had unconsciously memorised all of the quiet boy's habits. He took a sip from his bottle, craning his neck to watch his beloved Marian dance with her friends.
He took note of the thick book in her hands, whilst she swayed to bass-line, and the crazed interest in her eyes as she flicked through the pages whilst giving a quick synopsis to a dancing lecture-buddy. Othello, he frowned at the cover. Marian's body moved fluidly, still in tune with the music, but her lips were moving enthusiastically as she pointed to the pages in the book. The lecture-buddy rolled her eyes and gave Marian a pitying pat on the shoulder, mouthing the word 'obsessed'.
"Why don't you draw a person, mate?" Allan continued, in Robin's earshot, dropping the napkin back on Will's lap, "instead of taking snaps of your creative wonders."
"Let him doodle whatever he feels like doodling," Robin returned to Will's defence as he tore his eyes away from Marian and turned around to face the boys, "you lot heard of Othello?"
"No. Where's that?" Allan yawned.
"It's a play, by Shakespeare," Much looked at them both in disbelief and gave a wild display of memory-stimulating hand gestures. He sighed helplessly at their blank faces.
"OK.." Robin shrugged, clearly clueless.
"It's about a black officer from the war marrying a venetian woman...? Interracial marriage? Desdemona and Othello?" Much ellaborated, searching for a spark of recognition in his friend's eyes.
"Oh, yeah," Robin slapped his frustrated friend's leg in victory, "And then they die in the end, right?"
"You've actually read it," Allan remarked into his drink.
"The couple nearly always die at the end of Shakespeare's plays, genius," Much groaned under his breath.
Allan waved off the Othello discussion with a scowl, considering they were at a party and not a communal book-club. The scene had relaxed into a series of rock ballads and the excitement had toned down considerably as the many female guests made their way towards their own dormitories. Allan's attention rotated to Will's hands, again. The dark-haired boy had flicked the napkin off his lap and was absentmindedly clicking the flash button on his camera at various angles of the party.
"What you taking a picture of?" Allan inquired lazily as he slumped into his chair.
Will frowned, "I'm just bored. Nothing, really."
"It's something," Allan persisted for the second time, sitting up properly. "Let us see."
"You know it's just architectural," Will mumbled, spinning his thumb over the lens. He bit his lower lip, pointing the camera in various directions, occasionally adjusting the lighting and zoom. His antics were torturing his drunken best friend, who continued nagging him for a peek.
Robin sighed inwardly, hearing the bicker rising between Allan and Will at his side. Diverting himself from Much's lecture about English literature, he grabbed the rubber band that was wrapped around the beer can-opener and aimed it at Will's wrist with a well-targeted flick. The flying hoop gave a surprisingly loud twang against the boy's skin and the camera rattled onto the table. Success.
Allan sniggered at Will's hiss of pain and slid the camera off the table. Before Will could launch a pair of gangly limbs at him, he flicked through the 'review' button to take a gander at the quiet boy's previous photographs. Tables...chairs...vases...round thing...He observed with a bored expression on his face.
Allan stopped abruptly when he came across a particular snapshot. "Who? -"
The image was of a young woman, half of her face flooded in pitch black, smiling sadly. It was completely out of sync with Will's other random snapshots of table-legs and vinyl discs. It was human. It was gentle, in fact. The photograph was black and white, but her face was noticeably duskier in comparison to the white of her eyes. Her cheekbones were highlighted in her softly rounded face and her dark hair had sprayed across one cheek. The next image was the same, but the lens was zoomed into the area around her eyes. Allan thought it was obscure, considering it was only half of her face in view.
"Who's 'at?" Allan asked, feeling his voice soften.
Will immediately understood which image in the camera's memory Allan was referring to. His ears burned at the realization.
"She's in your class?" Allan cleared his throat.
"She goes to the science discussion group," Will admitted, prizing the camera out of Allan's hands and placing it safely in his lap. He blushed slightly but ran his thumb fondly over the present image on camera screen. The picture that had been zoomed into the girl's eyes was the pride of his collection. Only Will could see the moisture clouding at his model's gaze, hinting at the tears threatening to fall. He saw the sadness in her brave smile and he desperately wanted to know more.
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BENCHES IN CAMPUS
"Water," Robin smirked, throwing a heavy bottle at Allan, who winced at the volume of his voice.
"Cheers," the tired young man rasped.
Much twisted the frame of his glasses between his fingers in amusement, clucking pitifully at Allan's state of hangover – just to annoy him. Allan sent a weak glare in his direction, which withered in comparison to Much's stern "I told you so."
"I'll see you later," Robin quipped under his breath, running towards a Marian-looking figure in the distance.
"Bye," Will called, smiling as Allan slapped his hands over his ears to muffle the sound of their voices.
"Drink it," Much urged, pushing the mineral water in Allan's direction. He watched as his friend took a weak swig, belching in thanks. Much glared.
"Sorry, mate," Allan grinned sheepishly at his outlet.
"Better out than in?" an airy voice laughed.
Will immediately turned at the sound and ran his fingers through his hair, pushing the dark locks out of his eyes. Allan watched the boy in amusement, throwing a glance at Much, who pushed down his glasses to inspect the girl standing beside their table.
"Hi, Saffiyah," Will muttered and shot up as if the bench were on fire.
Allan recognised her immediately as the girl on Will's camera, albeit the colour was visible in her face – the caramel eyes and olive skin were strange to the black and white tone of the photograph. Still, apart from that, something didn't click about the expression on her face. She seemed kind of cocky and confident, almost wearing a mask. Not at all like the sadly smiling beauty hidden in Will's camera.
"Hey, just thought I'd tell you," she offered, nodding expectantly at Will, "the next science discussion is in about five minutes."
Will simply stared at her for a second. Much sighed, reaching over to push him forward. Luckily, it did the trick and Will snapped out of his daze and hastily stuffed his bag before joining Saffiyah as she walked towards the Science common room. His long stride and her march seemed to fit perfectly as she allured a surprising amount of gabber that had seemed all-too dead in silent Will Scarlet...
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OUTSIDE THE CANTEEN
Marian was greeted by Robin with a brave slap to the backside. Brave, because she wasn't type of girl who would react readily to such a degrading 'hello', and he knew it. Her image would often let her down, with her sultry chocolate curls and rosy lips, but she did her best to show every male bravado about the campus that she was the boss. And she did not appreciate any hands on her bum.
She gave Robin an angry shove and smugly watching him topple backwards. After recovering from the shock, he picked up his pace and followed her into the canteen. Her sore backside moving elegantly underneath her jeans, he noted.
"Y'know," he panted, jogging to keep up with her fast-paced trot towards the canteen queue, "I was thinking how much you and Desdemona have in common."
Calmly placing a plate on her tray first, she turned towards Robin. "You mean, Desdemona...from Othello?" She cocked an eyebrow.
"Yes," He smirked from under his sweeping fringe.
She had to admit, he was rather cute. Especially when he was eager to please her with knowledge. It was a refreshing change from the guys who wooed her with sleek cars and expensive jewelery – both of which didn't really touch her. But reading Shakespeare was something she treasured very close to her heart, she agreed to herself.
"What kind of things do I have in common with Desdemona?" she asked softly, ladling some potatoes onto her plate.
Robin gave a pleased smile and continued, "You both have open minds," he ticked off his fingers, "both of you are loyal and..."
"And?" Marian smiled, wanting to know just how much of the play he had actually read.
"And you're both beautiful. Like, ideally. You're both attractive..."
'Beautiful'. Marian froze at word and spun on her heel, heading towards the nearest table. The word stung. In a quarter of a second, memories of shouting men and a rough hands dawned on her. The faces of superficial teenage boys and taunting kisses filled her head and she became internally flustered, angry at the memories.
She left a defeated Robin who wanted to slap himself unconscious for ruining such a perfect conversation. He yelled to himself, he knows her well enough to understand that beauty means to her what a crossword means to a playstation addict. Beautiful means nothing. She'd become so accustomed to being praised for her good looks that any compliment is as transparent as glass cup – completely empty. Empty words, Robin growled at himself. Empty, empty words...Which changed the atmosphere within seconds.
Marian's skin pricklde from his feeling his presence still glued to her side."You know what?" sh hissed angrily, "Desdemona dies at the end of the play. Or did you not ask Much about the ending?"
Robin, who had cautiously placed himself in the seat beside her, folded his arms, "Actually, I read it. All of it."
Marian smirked venomously, "Oh, really?"
"Othello kills her, and then he dies in greif, once he finds out that she was genuinely innocent," Robin blurted, "not just beautiful. She's genuine. And you're genuine, too -"
"She lied to her husband," Marian spat, grabbing a fork and waving it madly in Robin's stunned face. "And she lost that her husband's handkercheif!"
The final piece of composure in Robin's brain snapped. He forgot how the argument had even started or how ridiculous it sounded, all he could think of is how frustrated she was. How frustrated she was at him.
"Shakespeare made Desdemona's character a completely innocent girl," he countered, meeting Marian's piercing glare.
"Is that what you think of me, too?" Marian scoffed, pressing the fork onto Robin's chest, "just a beautiful, innocent little girl?"
"She's religious and loyal," Robin grabbed the fork from her grasp and threw it across the table with a noisy clatter. Eyes around the canteen shifted nervously as the young man raised from his seat, frantic whispering summoning around him.
"Like a chaste little noblewoman," Marian laughed bitterly, also beginning to stand, "who flirts with Cassio, may I remind you."
"She married the man she loved, even though her Dad was completely against it," Robin argued, his memory sweeping over every line of the book.
"Then she's nothing like me," Marian rolled her eyes, "my Dad loved you when we used to see each other."
Robin smiled triumphantly, "So we're talking about us, now?"
Marian felt herself turn pink and shook herself to remove any sign of embarrassment. "No. We're talking about Desdemona."
"Right. And Othello."
"Yeah," she hissed, feeling insulted by his correction, "He killed her."
"I know."
There was a steady pause. Brains ticking, spectators whispering about the absurd topic of the couple's argument. Robin felt himself cringe at the thought of actually arguing over a play written by Shakespeare, but Marian didn't seem to care too much.
"I cried at the ending," Marian admitted childishly.
"He made a mistake, killing her," Robin gulped, "She was perfect."
They looked at each other for a painful second, their hearts beating wildly. "Did you make a mistake, leaving me? Do you admit it?" she whispered, tucking an escaping strand of brown hair behind her ear.
"I admit it," Robin nodded, his blue eyes meeting hers. "And you're exactly like her."
Marian sighed. Here we go again, she thought to herself. "How?" she asked in a bored tone, for the umpteenth time.
"You're a strong woman," Robin stated.
Marian felt her lips part in astonishment. Nobody had ever praised her for her strength.
"Strong and perfect," he finished, eyeing any escape routes out of fear that he'd receive a punch to his face.
Without warning, a rush of adrenalin flooded through Marian's veins and her hands secured either side of Robin's face. She urgently pressed her lips to his, feeling him respond gleefully. The couple received a round of applause from the cooing canteen audience and pulled away hastily, feeling like a silly romantic display. Robin felt his chest swell in relief, that did not just happen, he warned himself. She...kissed him?
"So," Marian giggled, grabbing Robin's arm and dragging themselves away from the crowd, "you actually read the book?"
"Yeah," Robin shrugged, wrapping an arm around her waist, "I was up all night."
"Really?"
"Just to impress you, Desdemona," he grinned.
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I hope you like!
It's my first attempt at contemporary Robin Hood.
I threw in the drunk Allan, wise Much, lovesick Will, mysterious Saffiyah and RobMaz bickering.
Summary: 1) The gang meet up at a party. 2) The gang, minus Robin, meet Saffiyah. 3) Robin and Marian fight and make up.
And I hope, if any of you have never read Othello, that everything kind of made sense. Perhaps? Maybe?
Next up, we should be meeting Little John. YAYS.
Leave me a reviewww, please? x