Over the next few weeks, Flora and Cecilia meet under the tree or wander around campus just talking about various subjects.
One day, Flora waited for Cecilia under the tree with a basket in hand filled with cucumber sandwiches, a couple of slices of lemon pie she got from the bakery, a thermos filled with mint rose tea, a couple of teacups, two plates, and two forks.
Cecilia walked under the tree and sit down next to her.
"Hey Flora", Cecilia said.
"Hello, Cecilia!" Flora said with excitement.
Cecilia tilted her head, "What in the basket?"
Flora started to pull out the cucumber sandwiches, the thermos, and the two teacups, "Well, I thought it was a nice day to have a picnic, so I made some cucumber sandwiches, made some rose mint tea, and got a couple of slices of lemon pie from a bakery".
Cecilia eyes lighted up when she mentions lemon pie, "What's the occasion?"
"No occasion", she said while handing Cecilia a teacup and plate, "Just did just because".
While Flora was plating the food, and pouring the tea, Cecilia started the conversation. "How is your day so far?"
"It's been good so far", Flora said, "how about yours"
"Pretty good", Cecilia said, "I and the other student are making good progress on the "The Ideal Husband" so far! A few of us fumbled a bit, but we managed."
"That's good", Flora said while eating her sandwich, "remind me which character do you play?"
"I play Gertrude Chiltern, the wife of Sir Robert Chiltern!" she said.
Flora smirks "Isn't there a couple of scenes where you have to kiss him?" Flora asked giggling.
Cecilia nodded, "Yes, but we don't actually kiss. There a trick to it."
"Oh?" Flora said intrigue.
"Want me to show you?" Cecilia asks.
Flora thought for a moment. "Sure".
Cecilia place her thumb on Flora's cheek and place her lips on top of her thumb. Cecilia pulled back and removes her thumb from Flora's cheek.
"That's one of the ways to it!" Cecilia said proudly.
Flora giggles, "That's really neat!"
Cecilia smiles, "Ah", she said, "I almost forgot to tell you! The costume designers are done with our costume for Act 1 for the play".
Flora smiles, "Are they really nice?"
Cecilia grins, "Very", she said, "So, we're doing a dress rehearsal for Act 1 to make sure everything fit right".
"Can I come and see?" Flora asks.
Cecilia bounced happily, "Sure, I would love for you to come!"
Flora clapped gleefully, "Great!"
Flora and Cecilia ate the sandwiches (though for Cecilia she just shoves the sandwiches whole, because she doesn't want to say anything mean about them. Maybe Cecilia could offer her cooking lessons.), and drinks the tea in silence.
Cecilia suddenly stood up, and hide in the bush.
Flora tilts her head, "What are you-"
Cecilia cuts her off "If an older man asks about me, just say I went home"
Flora was about to say something, then an older man walked up to her. "Have you seen Miss Cecilia Deadmen?"
Flora paused for a moment then nodded, "Yes, but she left a while ago".
"Do you know where?" the older man asked.
"She said that she was going home".
The older man snapped his finger, "Not again", he said, "thanks for letting me know miss".
"If I may ask", Flora said, "why do you want Cecilia Deadmen?"
The older man grinned, "Well", he said, "I just want to make sure this girl doesn't make a big mistake that is going to ruin her life".
Flora gave the older man a puzzled look, "Her being in Theatre is ruining her life?" she said plainly, "Why?"
"Well", the older man drew closer to Flora, "Miss Deadmen is a smart girl, so smart that she needs to be in a moreā¦fitting field of study"
Flora scrunched her face, "And what would be a 'fitting field of study' for her?"
"I think she would be more suited for either mechanical engineering or archeology", he said
Flora hummed, "And what do you teach at the University?"
"Well I teach mechanical engineering", he said proudly.
Flora hummed louder, "Don't you think that a bit bias for you to try to convince her to go into one of these fields of study that you coincidently teach?"
The older man glared at her, "What are you implying?"
Flora gets up from the ground, "That you are harassing a poor girl into a field that she doesn't want to be in!" she shouted, "And even if she does go into one of these fields, she not going to like it one bit".
"How would you know?" he sneered, "she might like it."
Flora tsk at him, "See that's the key word there "might". She "might" like it, but what if she doesn't like it. Then you've just wasted not only her time but everyone else as well".
The older man was about to say something, then Cecilia pops out the bushes. Walked over between Flora and the older man.
"Ah, Miss Deadmen the person I want- "
Cecilia cuts him off, "You need to leave. Now.", Cecilia coldly said.
The older man was taken back, "W-what did you say?"
"You heard me! You need to leave! Now!" Cecilia shouted.
The older man aggressively pointed at Cecilia, "You'll regret this!"
The older man walked off, and both girls signed with relief. "Are you ok?" Cecilia asked.
Flora nodded, "What was that all about?"
Cecilia drew a long signed, sinking to the ground, "For some reason about three or four professors here are obsessed with me switching subjects to either mechanical engineer or archeology". Cecilia drinks the rest her tea that had long since gone cold. "Most of them gave up, but this one persistent for some reason".
Flora sat next to her under the tree. "Well, don't listen to people like him. He doesn't know what he's talking about!"
Cecilia chuckled bitterly, "I try not too", she muttered, "but sometimes it can get to me".
Flora pulled out the slices of lemon pie and forks out of the basket. She gave one of the slices to Cecilia. She takes the slice and started eating it.
They ate the pies in silence under the tree.
'She doesn't deserve this!' Flora thought 'I need to get the Professor involved before she does something she regrets'.
