"So, when you're not assaulting helpless strangers what is it you do?" Quil grinned before taking a bite of his sandwich and flinching in his seat when Claire pinched at his side.
"Helpless?" She scoffed. "You're hardly that Quil! Have you seen how big you are?"
Quil cocked an eyebrow and his grin returned as she flushed brutally and dipped her head so that her hair covered her face. "Everybody has their weak points; mine just happens to be my nuts…As I'm sure every other guys are. A swift kick or a quick tug can render us speechless, both for very different reasons!"
"Wow! Appropriate." Claire scowled and dug her fork into her pasta salad.
"I never claimed to be." He shrugged. "You never answered my question."
Claire sipped her drink and turned towards him a little. "I haven't picked a major yet. My dad wants me to go to Law school and my mom wants whatever he wants. I'm just biding my time."
Quil leaned forward with his chin resting on his hand. "What about you, what do you want?"
"I want to travel, see the world." She replied the corner of her mouth twitched into a small smile. "I want to go to Africa and see Elephants without bars in the way, go to France and climb the Eiffel Tower or maybe a ride on a Gondola through Venice."
She sighed and shook her head. "But I can't do those things. They're flighty and whimsical as my mother would say."
"It's not up to your mom what you do with your life." Quil said softly. "If you want to do it, then do it."
"What about you? What do you do when you're not stalking random girls?" She asked, quickly changing the topic.
"Mechanical Engineering," He answered. "But spitting off the top of the Eiffel Tower sounds like a lot more fun!"
"I never said anything about spitting off the tower!" Claire exclaimed.
"I know," Quil nodded. "You can just look over the edge or take pictures, whatever it is that you want to when you're up there and I'll spit."
"What makes you think I would want to go with you?" She asked cocking an eyebrow.
"Why wouldn't you?" He smirked. "Do you have a passport?"
"Of course!" She said.
"Then there really isn't anything stopping you." Quil shrugged and stuffed the last of his sandwich in his mouth.
"How am I supposed to pay for it exactly?" Claire questioned, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't have that much. I mean, I have a small trust fund but I can't get into that until…I can't get into that yet."
"If you look around you can get cheap flights, and there are hostels and bed sits depending on how long you want to stay." He pursed his lips. "If you really want to do it, you can find a way."
"It's a pipe dream Quil, nothing more." Claire grabbed her bag and stood. "Thanks for lunch, again, I'm sorry about the whole kneeing you in the…."
"Balls." He offered when she trailed off.
"Yeah those." She nodded. "I'll see you around."
"Hey man, how'd it go? What's your buddy like?" Jacob asked, twisting in his seat as Quil dumped his bag and shoes and headed in to the kitchen.
"Claire Young." He grinned, popping the cap off a bottle of beer and jumping onto the couch next to Jake. "She's smart, beautiful and she was the one who nut cracked me last night."
"No way, how did that work out for you?" Jacob chuckled.
"She was pissed, I was pissed, she apologized for busting me, I apologized for scaring her and then I bought her lunch." He nodded. "Overall I'd say it went quite well!"
"Only you, Quil, only you. " Jacob shook his head and his chest vibrated with silent laughter. "So listen, I talked to George and he hasn't got anything right now, sorry dude."
"It's okay." He shrugged. "Can I ask you a question?"
Jake cocked an eyebrow and nodded, waiting for him to continue. "You ever been to France?"
"Quil we've known each other since we were in diapers, you've never lived more than five minutes away from me, you would have known if I'd been to France." Jacob exclaimed.
"Well you've been with Ness for a couple of years, and you had that vacation with her, I figured she was getting you all cultured and shit." He swigged from the bottle.
"We went to Florida for a week; I don't even have a passport. What's brought this on anyway?" He asked.
"Just something Claire was talking about got me thinking about what I'm doing here." He sighed. "I look nothing like a mechanical engineer."
"Uh, I didn't realise they looked a certain way?" Jacob eyed his friend warily.
"No they don't, I mean…" He threw his hands up and Jacob blanched. "Look at you, your clothes are covered in grease stains, and your nails are black you just look like a mechanic. It fits you.
But me? I look like I should be running down some beach with a board under my arm yelling 'dude' and 'totally' because they're the only words I can manage after three hours of hot boxing, while my parents look on in shame and tell me I should have gone to college."
"Quil! You're making absolutely no sense!" Jacob exclaimed. "More so than usual. How hard did she kick you last night?"
"I'm serious Jake! I'm twenty two and I've spent over half of my life going to school." Quil sat forward with his elbows on his knees. "Eventually, yeah, I want to settle down, own my own home, have a good job and not have to worry about money but I want to be able to say I did something with my life!"
Quil jumped up from his seat and ran down the hallway, leaving Jacob open mouthed and wide eyed on the sofa. A sharp knock on the door drew his attention and Renesmee let herself in with a wide smile on her face.
"Hey baby, miss me?" She asked, skipping over to him and pressing her lips to his, pulling back to find a frown on his face. "What's wrong?"
"I'm not entirely sure…" He paused when there was a loud bang from the direction of Quil's room, followed by a tirade of obscenities. "But I think Quil may have had a mental breakdown."
"What?" Renesmee frowned and turned towards his room but stopped when Jacob grabbed her wrist and Quil came rushing back towards them with the phone to his ear and a backpack.
"You see what I did with my passport?" He frowned rummaging through a drawer.
"Quil, what…" Renesmee stopped when Quil held up his finger and pointed to the phone.
"Hi, yeah I was wondering if you could tell me what building Claire Young is living in?" He spoke into the phone quickly, listening intently to the person on the other end. "Come on please? All you have to give me is the name of her building, that's all!" He begged.
"Please, my names Quil Ateara I'll give you my address, phone number, social security number hell, I'll even get my parents to call if you want proof I'm not a serial killer but I really need to know….Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're a life saver, I love you."
"What the hell is going on?" Nessie exclaimed.
"No time, need to get going." Quil grinned and grabbed her in his arms. "I love you Ness, you're the best thing that ever happened to Jacob, and he doesn't deserve you."
"Thanks!" Jacob blanched.
"Jake," Quil slapped him on the shoulder. "I'll miss you dude."
And with that he grabbed his overstuffed bag and headed for the door, Jacob stalking after him "Quil?"
"I'll send you a postcard!" He shouted and slammed the door behind him.
Claire sat on her bed, text book on her lap and a pen between her teeth, completely ignoring her room mate who was chattering away into her phone while simultaneously painting her toenails.
A loud bang on the door made them both jump, and Claire watched as her room mate hobbled to the door and yanked it open.
"Who the hell are you?" She exclaimed, hand on hip.
"Does Claire Young live here?" She balked at the sound of her name and tried to look around the girl to see who the voice belonged to.
"What's it got to do with you?" The girl asked and squealed when the person pushed past her and glanced around the room.
"Quil, what are you doing here? How did you find me?" She asked her eyebrows arched in surprise as she pushed herself from the bed.
"I called campus housing and they told me which building, I knocked on every single door over the last two floors." Quil sighed deeply, trying to catch his breath. "I came to ask you something."
"Okay…" She pressed. "Well what was it?"
"What you said earlier got me thinking about what I want to do with my life and I made a decision." he puffed and dropped his bag to the floor. "I know you don't know me well…or at all, but…"
"But what, Quil?" She exclaimed.
"I have two airline tickets reserved. One way to Paris, France." He explained. "Come with me?"
"Holy shit are you serious?" She screeched. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that everything you said at lunch sounded great." He smiled. "And how I don't want to go through my life and realise that all I did was spend most of my days in an office following other people's specifications."
"This is ridiculous! What about school? Jobs? Money?" She asked shaking her head. "Not to mention my parents would kill me."
"We can pick up our courses next semester, it's allowed and I have enough money as long as I'm careful with it." Quil stepped towards her. "Forget about what your parents want and think about what you want. The plane leaves in four hours, come with me, see the world…spit of the top of the Eiffel Tower!"
Claire pulled her lip between her teeth. "I'm not spitting from the tower."
A grin split Quil's face. "Is that a yes?"
"Yeah." She nodded and giggled nervously. "It's a yes!"
"Then what the hell are you waiting for? Get packing!" He chuckled.
"I can't believe I'm doing this!" Claire squealed as she slipped into her window seat while Quil pushed there bags into the over head compartment. "It's insane; I should be studying for midterms and ironing my work uniform not sitting on an international flight!"
"Believe it." He smiled wedging himself into the seat, his knees pressing into the seat in front.
They watched as the cabin crew closed the door and began there checks and soon they were taxing towards the runway.
"This is really happening." Claire grinned, as the plane sped up along the runway and she felt herself tip back in her seat. She glanced at Quil's beaming face and grabbed his hand from where it gripped the arm rest. "Thank you for this."
This chapter was written by Olivia (keepthechange) but reviews are still appreciated.