...I wish I could say that I was happy with this but I'm not.
Their eyes meet from as she looks towards the bar and his eyes scans the room. He is sitting on a bar stool chatting to the pretty night bartender and she is with friends either celebrating something or drinking the night away. He's frozen in the spot, mouth open as he stares, his foot on the ring below so he doesn't swing towards the bar. She is mid drink, sat in the middle of her friends, and freezes a moment mid sip as she looks up. For a moment it's like they are the only two people in the room with no sound then the blaring music changes to someone speaking and the moment is lost. He lifts his foot and turns to face the bartender and she accidentally spills her drink.
"Whoa, what happened? Are you okay, Ro?" Allie asks as tries to find some napkin to clean the growing liquid mess.
"Uhh, yeah. I thought I saw someone I knew. I'm going to get some napkins from the bar, excuse me," Rosalie gets up and edges around the crowded seating area to get to the bar.
The speaking stops as the DJ starts a new track. Ro has no idea what caused it but the between not eating before drinking a strong alcoholic drink, the music that is both blaring and beat heavy at a rapid pace, and the mass of stinking people moving around her not giving way she really doesn't feel well. It takes far too long to get through the crowd and when she has a chance to reach the bar there's only one seat open and it's beside the man that she definitely doesn't feel a case of instant lust towards. She falls and leans heavy on the grimy cheap looking oak bar.
"Excuse me, can I please have some napkins?" she asks loudly before realizing that a)the bartender was busy on the other side of the circular bar and b)the guy she was staring at looks like a model.
"Let me get you some," the man says as he reaches the nearest napkin dispenser on the bar.
"Uhm, thanks. I really appreciate it!" she says far too eager and maybe a bit too loud.
He stares at her and she stills embarrassed and wondering what he was thinking before he looked away and handed her a handful of napkins.
"Are you okay? You look a bit pale…" he asks as she tries to find her table but the crowd is just too packed to see them through the throng of people.
"I… no. I didn't even want to go out tonight. My friends wanted to celebrate the end of term and my roommate dragged me here. I didn't even get to eat before coming here and my friends - all heavy weights decided that it was a good time to get something hard while I barely count as a light weight since I don't drink as much, as often, or as heavy as them," Rosalie said as she leaned against the bar and tried to will the intense headache and fuzziness away.
"Afraid that you didn't do well?" the man asked.
"Oh, I know I passed the majority of the courses at least- but did I do well? I'm one hundred percent certain I failed the mathematics course. I really don't have the mind for any of the courses I'm taking," she answered as the pain receded a little.
He laughed and she looked up at the pleasant sound and laughed a little herself unconsciously at the gentle and contagious laughter. Her lips curved into a small smile. She relaxed a little as tension drained from her body just a bit. The man certainly had a calming air and uniquely effective effect on her.
"My friends call me Zee. Short for Zeta- my mom was obsessed with delta waves when she had me and so she named me after the one of them. It's nice to meet you," the man introduced himself.
"I'm Ro- well Rosalie Rowan. It's nice to meet you, too. I'm hoping to be a criminal law major," Ro grinned at Zee.
"I see- a criminal lawyer in the making. I guess I know who to go to if I break the law then?" Zee asked sounding far too serious for it to be a joke.
"I guess so. I don't really know why I want to be one- when I was younger I'm told it was more likely I'd need one than become one. I just- it feels right, it's something I want to do, and I find it interesting," Ro blushed and looked away.
"There you are, Ro! Come on, we need to go before Allie decides it's time to go. The others left already since they were starting to get sick! Oh, hi Professor Zeta. Let's go!" Rachel tugged away Ro as he shrugged and Ro pulled her arm away from her friend and they walked out together.
"So what do you think of Professor Irons Umbra Zeta?"Rachel asked as the door closed behind them.
Ro was silent, lost in thought, and trying to gather them to form something coherent. There was something familiar about the dark haired blue eyed professor that tugged at her. She shook her head and tried to focus on what Rachel was saying. Her mouth moved but she couldn't understand a single word that came out. It was a fight but Irons Umbra burst through the heavy fog. It was certainly a strange one like a celebrity child first name, middle name and last name. It almost sounded like an alias but who would choose a name that was obviously odd?
"Oh, forget it, Ro. We'll talk after you sober up. Let's go home and you can sleep off whatever has gotten to you." Rachel lead Rosalie to the dorm and the moment Rosalie hit the bed she was out like a light snoring. In her dreams she saw a strange man of metal running ahead of her with something she knew was a panicked look instinctively on his face with his hand around her wrist. She felt pain and crashed into the ground and it was starting to get cold. She never saw the end of the memory or dream but as it faded she smiled knowing that once again she found her Zee and they had another chance of happiness. Her hand clutching the napkins curled up into a tight fist as if it was his hand she was holding.