Time for my favorite part of all of this! The reviewer thanx part!
chyp: I'm glad you think it's goin' alright. And I hope that your story is coming along. Maybe we can co-write something sometime. I've always wanted to do something like that!
Raya: I've hit the real Jimmy with a stick before…it wasn't pretty… And yes, I'm glad you've updated after months of writer's block. I feel ya on that, though. Writer's block is quite the bitch!
Wesley had been in the bookstore until late that night, ten o'clock, doing accounting work in the back offices. The bookstore had been closed for four hours, but a couple of his friends had stayed behind as well and they just sat and talked for most of the time. Frank had given them the task of locking up when they were done; even he had left a long time ago.
Finally, he and his co-worker friends decided to lock up and left the Student Center. They parted halfway across the Quad and Wesley continued back to Branham Hall for a long nap. Rich sat patiently in a car just behind the Student Center. After waiting for hours and hours, he got out and cautiously stalked Wesley back to the dormitory. He was very careful not to be seen, lest he blow his cover. He was, however, a very impatient man and all the waiting he had to do had frustrated him terribly. He was almost inclined to just grab Wesley and take him back, but Bryan's voice kept echoing through his head. That kept him in line for some reason. He made a note of Wesley's room number and crept outside to the back of the building, where Wesley's window was conveniently opened. He peeked inside, from a distance, and saw not only Wesley, but the other two guys that had been at the bookstore when everything went down. He made a note of that as well and returned back to his car, and back to his awaiting buddies.
"What took you so long?" Bryan asked as Rich met them in front of the garage. "We been waiting on you all night?"
"He's some kind of workaholic," Rich said. "It was driving me crazy to just sit there and wait. He lives with the other guys that didn't freeze up, just like we thought. I heard them talking about magic and some other weird stuff. They could be dangerous. I could rig up a bomb or something and set it up in their room for extra security."
"Perfect," Bryan said, rubbing his chin. "So now, we need to wait until nobody's there, set up our insurance, then grab the guy when he's alone."
"It's Monday," Mike said. "The campus will be full of people. I think we should wait until next weekend. Maybe he'll do another all-nighter at the bookstore again."
"Fine," Bryan agreed. "Now, we wait."
It was Wednesday afternoon and Matthew had just gotten back to his room from classes. Wesley still had another psychology class, which meant he wouldn't be back for another fifty minutes. Matthew walked into James' room and closed the door behind him. James was buried inside a gigantic biology book, trying to make sense of it. He didn't notice Matthew come in, and was taken by surprise.
"Have you told him yet?" Matthew asked, closing James' book. "You haven't, have you?"
"Not yet," James said. "I figure, if it's not hurting anybody, why tell him at all?"
"C'mon, Jimmy," Matthew said. "Just get it over with. Tell him, let him yell, and it'll be over. He deserves to know. He's been telling me that he's gonna try and get back with her this weekend. That gives you three days, max."
"Whatever," James said. "Since I'm in the habit of telling things, I'll tell you something else. I think that I started this whole thing."
"I think," Matthew said sarcastically, "I think…you may be right."
"No," James explained, "you don't understand. A while ago, when Lina first came back, I told her some things that I probably shouldn't have. I told her that Wesley didn't like her. Don't worry, I didn't say anything magical. Just that he thought that she was shady and stuff. That must've gotten to Stephanie, because when she talked to me the other day, she told me that Lina told her what I said. She said that Wesley has changed and that she didn't want to date a person like that."
"Interesting," Matthew said. "I'm not a psychology major, but it seems like something's going on. I don't know what it is, though."
"I do know this, though," James said, opening his biology book. "I need to get this work done before I end up staying here another year."
"Huh?" Matthew asked.
"I'm a sophomore, remember?" James reminded Matthew. "Next year, I have to transfer to the Emory campus in Atlanta. You knew that, right? This is only a two-year school."
"Man," Matthew said, "I completely forgot about that. What are we gonna do?"
"I'm gonna worry about this work," James answered. "You're gonna leave me alone. Then, we'll talk about that later when nothing else is going on."
It was a beautiful, yet frigid, Friday afternoon. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was doing the best it could to fight the cold wintry weather. Wesley was on his way to work at the bookstore when he spotted Stephanie, also headed in the direction of the Student Center. He ran to catch up with her, but she acted as if she didn't notice him at all.
"Hey," he said as she kept walking and looking ahead. "Listen, I don't know exactly why you're mad, but I think the least you can do is tell me why. How about over dinner tomorrow?"
"I'm busy," she replied coldly.
"We can go anywhere you want," he threw in, hoping it would change her mind. "C'mon. you can't go all shady of me all of a sudden."
"Shady?" she asked, stopping to look at him. "You think I'm shady now? I'll tell you what's shady! The fact that…"
"Ha!" Wesley said, cutting her off. "I got you talking! Tell you what, save those words for tomorrow evening. Meet me in Lil's at seven o'clock, and we'll go somewhere with real food, like Olive Garden. Okay, I'm late for work. See you tomorrow!"
Aw, Wesley, get out of here with that if-I-talk-too-fast-and-leave-you-can't-reject-me trash! It'll never work, or will it? Meanwhile, Bryan and his homies seem dead set on getting what they want, but will they be able to?