A tad late…I do not
get a cookie. ;A;
Thanks go out to
everyone who reviewed! It made me happy to push my lecture notes
aside and write up this chapter. Enjoy.
G on Alvarado
Second Stop – The
Lotus
Disclaimer: I do not
(nor do I foresee to ever) own Beyblade. Cry with me.
ooo
Rei didn't even bother to stifle his yawn as he sat on the curb of Alvarado. It was 6:48. In the morning. He yawned again.
While he had wanted to get up early and catch a different bus (he dreamt of trying to escape a bowl of man-eating sharkfin soup), his hopes were dashed by Yuriy and an unexpected guest. Rei hadn't bothered to get up and say hello, but he stayed in bed blinking the sleep away as Yuriy conversed rather loudly with said unknown person in what he assumed was Russian. Based on intonation (and another wicked bout of laughter on the redhead's part), Rei figured Yuriy was quite acquainted with this early riser. And he stressed early. Yuriy's morning shift started at 7, and he got up at 5:30, which meant that Rei had also been unintentionally woken up at 5:30. AM. Ante Meridiem. Good Lord.
Rei had forgotten to charge his music player last night and so was only keeping himself awake by pure will. Granted he was already nodding off, but all things considered, he thought he was doing a good job. But as the morning mist set in and he laid his head against his folded arms, to his golden eyes, his surroundings got blurrier and blurr –
"God, Rei?!"
Damn. He was so close.
"Rei!"
Almost reluctantly, Rei lifted his head and tried to focus on the hand waving much too quickly for the hour of the day.
"Dude, get in. You're two minutes away from turning into a Rei-sicle."
Grabbing his backpack, the raven-haired boy approached the silver Mercury, opened the door and got in. Tossing his bag into the back seat, he buckled up and finally greeted his ride.
"Morning, Takao."
The car sped off around the corner and into the right lane. When they coasted to a stop in front of a red light, Takao pushed a container of donuts in Rei's general direction.
"I didn't think sane people woke up this early," he said as he reached for his coffee.
"I'll pass that statement back to you," he replied. As much as he hated to do so, Rei picked up a donut (plain…it removed some of the guilt). Before, he didn't want to risk falling asleep again, so he had gotten out of bed around 6. But once he had nodded off and burnt his toast, Rei decided to brave the chill and left for the bus stop without breakfast. Yeah, that donut was looking real good.
"Me? I pulled an all-nighter and I didn't want to wake the guys making breakfast, so I took off for donuts."
Rei paused mid-bite. "You pull an all-nighter? School just started yesterday."
"Not for homework. Video games," he said. Rei sighed and finished his donut. "I know I'm going to get projects and essays soon, so I needed to get the games out of my system. It felt so good."
"I'll bet," Rei leaned against the door and drew shapes in the condensation on the window pane.
"Wish you could have been there. Y'know, in the loft."
"It's ok. Max must have told you, right? I have a good place. Don't worry about it."
"Next year for sure, we'll get a big apartment and then we can all live there! It'll be like the dorms again," he said.
"I really don't know if I could handle that," Rei mused. Freshman year, he, Takao, Max and Kyouju had shared a quad arrangement in the dormitory. Quads consisted of two small "bedrooms" (two beds and one closet) and a slightly larger common room in between. Luckily, Rei had shared with Kyouju, so he was able to sleep a reasonable amount, but that's not to say he didn't need his trusty earplugs once in a while. Fun and chaotic. Rei is still grateful for living there and making the friends he had, but he wasn't sure if he could do it again.
"Well, it won't be exactly like the quad; for one thing, our bedrooms will be bigger than a matchbox," Takao said as he turned around the corner and changed lanes. "And we'll have a huge living room big enough for a beydish and a couple of beanbag chairs!"
"Max does love his beanbag chairs," Rei admitted. The blond had one in place of a traditional chair in the quad. Rei had lost count of the number of times he walked in to find Max nestled in that thing, but he stopped at 152. That pile of beans got a lot of love.
"Yeah, Max and…hey, wait, don't you…Max told me he saw you on the bus yesterday."
Rei sat up straight and racked his brain for a response for the upcoming question.
"And you never told me, so why are you up this early? If you ride the same bus as Max, you shouldn't be up for a while."
Rei paused. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds. "I – I need to talk to my advisor," he said. "I have questions about declaring my major."
"…Wow, that's dedication," Takao said. "Such an upstanding student, Rei, you put us all to shame," he laughed.
Rei shrugged with a smile and leaned against the door again.
"I'm going to park in the gymnasium garage. Is that ok?"
Another yawn. "Yeah, it's fine." Rei turned his head to the side, keeping his face out of view and trying not to look sleepy. It wasn't really working.
"Cool. I'm going to work out a bit first, but it's also the closest garage to my first class. It's right next to the information desk, too. I still can't find everything, y'know?" Rei didn't respond, but Takao continued as if he had. "They give out newspapers and magazines for free," he took another sip of coffee and held the wheel steady. "I actually read some articles the other day. Wild, huh? Oh, did you see the one about the break-in? Someone actually broke into the campus greenhouse, weird, right? Nothing was stolen…"
In hindsight, Rei hoped Takao didn't mind. He had only gotten five hours of sleep and was running on one donut. At least he was polite. He snored very lightly the rest of the way to campus.
ooo
Chocolate chips, cinnamon and rainbow sprinkles went into the shopping cart. Cutters and a non-stick baking sheet followed shortly after. Rei touched the labels of four cans of frosting before finally settling on a sugar-free Royal Purple and adding it to the cart. He mentally striked that item from his list and continued on to the checkout.
Baking always gave him that feel-good tingle. And if not for that reason, Rei felt keeping his hands busy was better than sitting on the couch checking his e-mail. So after his classes, he swung by the super market and picked up the cookie essentials. He already planned on making another bundt cake and cookies weren't that hard, the whole apartment was going to smell like a bakery.
'Why not,' he thought. 'I can always give the rest to Max and them.'
He paid for the items and walked out. Rei made his way down the sidewalk and across the street, and upon entering the complex, unintentionally bumped shoulders with one of his neighbors.
"…My bad," he said as adjusted his grip on the grocery bag.
It was the young man that carried the questionable box the other day…and to Rei's fine nose, still stunk of said questionables.
"Right," the guy said as he tucked an unmarked bottle into his messenger bag and walked off to the bus stop.
Rei shrugged him off and hurried into the apartment. After locking the door and kicking off his shoes, he unloaded his bag onto the counter and noted a half-sheet message from Yuriy. When did he come back?
Took the rest of the cake to work. Don't wait up.
True enough, his precious bundt cake had gone missing. Rei put the note aside and gathered the rest of the ingredients he would need for his baking extravaganza.
"Just give the rest to Kai and you'll be forgiven, isn't that what he said?" Flour, sugar, eggs. "What if I hadn't planned on making another one? Then what, Yuriy?" Milk, butter…Vodka? "Huh?"
Rei picked up the tiny bottle and held it between his thumb and index finger. It looked like a sample, and even then, Rei had to admire it. Frosty clear bottle. Bold black lettering. Simple design above the name.
"Blue Lotus Vodka?" He turned it around and read the fine print. "An 'energy vodka' with added caffeine, taurine, and flavorings…80 proof." He whistled. This was serious stuff. Placing it next to the baking sheet and his own bottle of Midori, Rei wondered what to do with it.
"Must have fallen out of that guy's bag earlier," he figured. "What can I do with a shot of Vodka?"
But when Rei saw the mold for his bundt cake and his trusty whisk…
"Kai doesn't like sweets…Although he doesn't mind a mild liqueur…it's probably the alcohol."
He tapped the top of the bottle lightly and wondered if he could really do it. Well, he was sure that he could technically. It was all a matter of measuring and diluting, but morally…
"You should meet him sometime…he's just like me."
Rei pushed the cookie essentials aside, preheated the oven and twisted open the bottle of Blue Lotus. Oh yeah, he could do it.
ooo
…zzzzt.
…zzzz… "You've got mail."
He needed a break. And he needed fresh air, both of which he got after 58 grueling minutes in the kitchen section of his square apartment. Rei pushed the window open a little more and inhaled. Non-alcoholic air. Yum.
His adventure into cooking with extreme alcohol hadn't been all that bad. It took a while to figure out the right measurements for the Midori and Blue Lotus, but in the end, everything mixed together. Another 29 minutes later and the cake had baked to the right color. He successfully got it out of the mold and it held its shape as it cooled. Taste aside, Rei had plenty to brag about. Taste…not aside…
Of course Rei tasted the Vodka. Any chef knows that it's important to try to ingredient before using it. To be precise, he had one pinky-dip's worth and that was all he needed. It wasn't terrible (not that he had much to measure it against), but it burned all the way down. It took one and a half glasses of orange-strawberry-apple juice to get rid of the tang. Poor esophagus.
He figured it wouldn't be polite to offer someone a cake with a piece missing, so he forgoed a final taste test. 15 more minutes of cooling and he'd take it to Kai. He would pray for hope then.
The cookies, on the other hand, were, to be Goldilock-esque, just right. He sprinkled most of them and Royal Purple frosted the rest. A couple of star and animal-shaped ones were already sealed in a bag for Max. The others were displayed on a plate.
"Mail deleted…"
Rei took another deep breath and exhaled slowly. Shaking his head a bit, he clicked on his newest piece of mail.
Dear AVS013-goers,
In my haste I
forgot to mention the primary report (which counts as the final exam)
for this course. I have enclosed a document explaining your objective
along with important resources for all to use. If you have any
questions, please come to my office hours.
Ah, AVS013. Avian Science 13. It's for Science credit…really…
After downloading the attachment, Rei scanned through it and then zeroed in on the bullet points.
10 page minimum. 5 certified texts (i.e. scientific journals) minimum. 4 photographs and/or drawings. 3 hours of field work. 2 consultations with the professor. And a partridge in a pear tree.
All right, that last one wasn't entirely true.
"Observe one avian and monitor its habits, environment and social interaction with others?" His mouth went dry as he read on. "Write a report about your findings as well as one issue regarding…your bird?"
Rei closed the document and leaned back in his chair.
"I wonder if it's too late to switch into Fairytales…"
ooo
Having mulled and groaned over his current situation (all 320 spaces for Fairytales were full), Rei sucked it up and told himself to get to the library later to look up some of the local fowls. The report was doable, but that didn't mean he wanted to do it. It was the first quarter of the new school year, and Rei had every intention of breezing through it with little effort. He should have known things never would have turned out like that.
"51…52…3 and 4."
Rei carefully shifted the plate carrying his Vodka-infused bundt cake to his left hand and knocked lightly with his right. While he was in a less-than-happy mood, he figured he would deliver the cake. There was no point in putting it off anyway.
"He's not here," he said.
Rei knocked again and looked around. It was mid-afternoon, prime time for lectures, no one was walking about. Taking one last look at apartment number 54, he started to leave.
And then the door creaked open.
Rei turned and waited. He could barely see into the dark living room, but someone was definitely moving around inside. As he was about to knock again, the door opened fully.
"…"
"Um…Kai?"
The guy on the other side of the threshold smirked and banged his fist against the door. "God, no," he sputtered.
Rei stood still as the guy held in his laughter. Two seconds later though, with regained composure, he stared at Rei hard and spoke to him gruffly. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm…Rei," he mumbled. Rei didn't mean to stare back, but he never knew someone could have hair that shade of…lavender… "Uh, Yuriy's roommate?"
Yuriy's name apparently gave him some merit. The other guy loosened up immensely. "Oh yeah, he told me about you. What do you want?"
Thrusting the cake forward, Rei urged him to take it with a pointed look. "For Kai, for um…" did he really have to say it?
"Savin' your ass?"
Apparently, it sounded even more embarrassing when a total stranger said it.
The guy took the plate with one hand. "Yuriy told me that, too," he eyed the dessert questionably. "Can't believe Yuriy would endorse the idea of giving Hiwatari a cake."
Rei forced his humiliation down as best he could while trying to appear nonchalant. How was he supposed to respond to that? And as he thought about what to say, Kai's roommate sniffed the cake.
"Is this thing spiked?"
Rei wanted to hit his head against the doorframe…repeatedly.
"Well…yeah, a little," he said meekly.
The other guy didn't respond, but he nodded slightly in what Rei hoped was approval. "Tell Yuriy he owes me money," he said as he closed the door.
"Uh, wait! Your name?"
"Boris."
The door closed and Rei could hear the lock attaching soon after. That was it. Silence swept the hallway. The world didn't end. No Apocalypse. No angst. He couldn't believe it. But in an anti-climactic manner, the raven-haired boy accepted it and (quickly) walked away from apartment number 54.
ooo
"Avian Science" is also real. I took it. I know it's random, but roll with it. Everything will make sense in time.
---
I know it doesn't seem like much (or too much in terms of description) for the time I had taken, but this chapter just didn't roll out as smoothly as the first. I have a good direction though, so expect the next chapter a little sooner.
Sleepy Sheep G.
