Marty knocked on the door of Brian's suite and tucked his hands into his pockets as he waited. The door opened to loud music and a boy with shaggy red hair.
" Marty, hey, I'm just waiting for ANA TO GET OUT OF THE BATHROOM!" He shouted in the direction of a closed door that was muffling the sound of a hair drier.
" COMING!" Ana shouted back.
" Where's Craig?" Marty asked, closing the door behind him and flopping onto the couch.
" Meeting us there. He has to finish up at work and he'll meet us there afterward, after he picks something up. So, what happened with you lately?" Brian stopped sorting through a pile of gloves and scarves for a moment and looked over his shoulder inquisitively.
" What do you mean?"
" I mean, you've been canceling out on us, including tonight, and our fridge is desperately empty of ridiculously over-wrapped party leftovers." Brian grabbed a pair of gloves and sat down on the chair next to Marty. Marty avoided his eyes.
" I'm not following."
" Come on Marty. You're lost. You have this whole sad puppy look going for you when you're hot for someone."
" I do not." Marty frowned and shook his head.
" Ana?" The sound of the hair drier had stopped and Ana stuck her head out of the bathroom, scrunching product into her hair.
" Yeah?"
" Notice any thing about Marty?"
" Uh, puppy face? Aww, you like someone! Who is it?" Anna walked out of the bathroom, and zipped up her sweater, looking for her jacket.
" It's no one." Marty pleaded half heartedly.
" Oh, is it that Lori girl?" Ana asked.
" Her name's Rory." Marty corrected, before he could stop himself.
" Ha." Brian exclaimed, pointing his finger at Marty. " See. Liar."
" Look, I don't want to talk about it. Can we just get going?" Marty stood up and walked to the door,
" Yeah, sure." Ana said, smiling sympathetically, as Brian helped her into her jacket.
"We'll save the full drilling for Tara, she gets more out of him anyway." Brian added quietly to Ana. Marty looked back at them suspiciously.
" What?"
" Oil drilling. In Tehran." Brian lied.
" Yeah sure." Marty rolled his eyes, and knocked Brian's baseball hat to the ground.
As they drove their way through campus, Rory became curious.
" So, what is all this anyway?"
" Second Tuesday!" Colin declared triumphantly. The others replied with an equally enthusiastic 'Second Tuesday'.
" And what exactly is Second Tuesday?" Rory asked, bemused.
" Well," Logan began, running one hand gently across Rory's arm, and using the other to
gesture. " We at the Life and Death Brigade like some semblance of order to our entropy,
so we have Dare Night each month."
" Oh, on every second Tuesday." Rory grinned.
" Exactly," Alexis agreed. " Except when it's on the third Wednesday."
" Or the first Monday." Stephanie added.
" But never a Friday." Colin said solemnly.
" No. Never a Friday." Logan nodded emphatically.
"Why not a Friday?" Rory questioned. Finn gasped from the front seat.
" Friday is a sacred day." He informed. Rory looked up at Logan in confusion.
Logan smiled back at her and explained. " The first night of Weekend. Our most beloved of holidays."
" Oh, of course. Then…Who's next?" She looked around as they passed a look to each
other, and Colin smiled deviously.
"Newbie's turn. Gilmore's up, so thinking caps on fellows. Oh, and ladies of course.
Five minutes to the pub."
Rory smiled nervously, but couldn't help feeling excited.
Marty grabbed cues off the wall while Brian, who had started college a year late and was already twenty-one, got them a couple of drinks. Marty grabbed his beer and took a sip, leaning against the pool table. Ana walked around him and set the cue ball on the table, lining up her first shot.
" So Marty, haven't talked to you much lately. How's things going with Uncle Dad?" Marty laughed and turned to watch her shot.
" Okay. Not great, but better. He was over for Thanksgiving."
" Awkward?" Brian asked
" Not as much as I would have thought." Marty chalked up his cue, spreading blue dust across his finger tips. He bent down over the pool table. " Six in the left." The balls knocked heavily against each other and the six dropped into the pocket. " I'm definitely over the whole surprise part. I'm just still trying to fit in all the separate pieces that are finally starting to make sense, now that I know." His next shot missed so he backed off and took another sip from his beer.
" Hey, we were thinking about starting up a shinny league. You interested?" Brian asked, looking up after his shot.
Marty nodded eagerly.
" I was talking about that with some of the guys in my geo class. When it freezes over they set a rink up in McGullen Park over by Grady." Marty was glad he was out tonight, out with his friends. As much as he liked to be with Rory, this was good. Nice.
" What about girls hunh?" Ana teased them. She was a winger, with twelve years experience in the rink.
" No, no girls allowed." Brian said firmly. " It's is embarrassing and a terrible ego wound to keep losing to you." His shot missed and Ana stepped in and knocked her own into the pocket.
" See, I would have thought you were used to it now." Ana laughed. Disgruntled, Brian nudged her elbow on her next shot. Marty shook his head and lined up his shot while Ana whacked Brian in the back of the legs with her cue.
" Three in the centre." Marty called. The cue ball rolled across the table, ticked off a yellow ball, and hit the green, which stopped just short of the pocket.
" Oh, tough luck." A voice called from across the crowd. Marty turned and saw Tara weaving through the crowd with two draughts in her hands, followed by Craig.
" My lot exactly." Marty grinned. Craig nodded at him through the noise and headed for the cue rack. Tara came up and dropped the glasses on the table before she wrapped her arms tightly around Marty.
" It's good to see you hon."
" I haven't seen you in so long. When did you get back? You look so tanned. " Marty smiled harder than he had in a while. Tara had been on a two month exchange to California as part of a special program in the environmental science department. She shook out her loose blonde waves.
" I know! And I'm all naturally highlighted too! Lightened and darkened with no cost, well, other than the cost of going to California." Tara wrinkled up her forehead and Marty laughed, letting her out of the hug. She took both his hands and held them out, looking Marty up and down.
" You look good, you know" She gave him a half-smile. Her slate blue eyes were bright and Marty found himself wrapping his fingers around hers more tightly. He smiled shyly.
" Yeah, paleness really agrees with me." He said self-depreciatingly, noticing how much lighter his fingers were than her.
" I think it does…It's very….uh….British chic."
" Really. British Chic." They looked at each other seriously, then broke out in smiles.
" What?" Tara excused herself, slipping over to the pool table and grabbing her draught.
" The British were the only pale nationality I could think of!" Marty stood back for a second, having forgotten completely about Rory, and watched as Tara hugged Ana and Brian. She looked back over her shoulder.
" Hey. What are you doing over there? Come and join my welcome home party. It's your turn anyways. And Brian tells me that Ana and I are going to get to kick your ass on ice soon. I love the challenge of new terrain. It gets boring beating you on the pool table all the time. " Marty shook his head and pick up his cue from where he had lent it against the table.
" Alright, that's it. Craig, rack them up again. Restart, girls against guys." Marty challenged, chalking his cue, and spreading more blue dust across his fingertips.
" Hey, now Marty, don't get to hasty there." Brian protested.
" Gee guys, your confidence is really intimidating." Tara teased as Marty missed his shot and sighed.
"I'm going to go grab another beer. You want one Brian?" Brian drained his glass.
" Yeah. At least then their something to pass the blame to." He shrugged.