Chapter 05
"You – You cleaned," were the first words Vlad managed to say after he opened the door of his dorm room. He shared a room with Jack for so long that he forgot there were people capable of cleaning.
"Yeah, well, I didn't really have anything else to do," Danny said as he finished making Jack's bed with fresh sheets. Especially since I didn't have to spend hours finding a girl to go on a date with you, he thought, though I suppose it would have been smarter to find out how far they've gotten on the Proto Portal. He turned toward Vlad.
"It's nice to have a roommate who knows how to clean," said Vlad. After closing the door, he walked over to the couch and flopped down on it.
"And you never cleaned because?" Danny prodded as he joined Vlad on the couch.
"Hey, I would have if I didn't have a lot of work – oh, who am I kidding?" Vlad sighed. "I've been just as much a slob as Jack." He leaned against the back of the couch and put his feet up on the table.
"Being a slob must be a guy thing," said Danny, shrugging. "I never would have bothered cleaning if this was my room." Silence came over them as Danny wondered how he could convince Vlad to agree to the date. "So, um, how was your day?"
"I think some of my classes are far too easy for me," answered Vlad, his face wrinkling in mild disgust. "How am I supposed to expand my realm of knowledge when my classes don't challenge me intellectually?"
Danny stared at Vlad for a moment before posing the question, "Would you really want all of your classes to be challenging?" When Vlad gave him a puzzled look, he continued, "If all your classes were hard, you would be overwhelmed with work. You don't want to overload your brain, right? That's how people burn themselves out."
"I suppose you do bring up a good point," Vlad said after a moment's thought. "A few easy classes will allow me to focus more on the harder classes."
"Speaking of giving your brain a break," Danny said slowly. He glanced at Vlad and almost expected to find the man glaring at him in suspicion. Instead, Vlad merely looked on with curiosity in his gaze. "I thought we could go out tonight to a club. Maybe, um…" Danny trailed off as he reached into his pocket for the note that Laura had given him. "Uh, the Bunny Bar."
Vlad leaned over and glanced at the note. "That looks like a girl's handwriting." He lifted his gaze and frowned when Danny laughed nervously.
"You're rather observant," mumbled Danny. "I bumped into this girl on my way to the Laundromat, and she told me about this bar. I thought maybe you and I could check it out."
"Why me and not Jack?" Vlad's eyes narrowed.
"Jack's not here," Danny answered as he shifted awkwardly in his seat. "I knew he wouldn't be back until late this evening. He left me a note and his key in case I wanted to go out during the day."
Leaning back, Vlad sighed and shook his head. "Jack is always so careless," he muttered. "We don't even know you that well, and he trusts you with the key to our dorm."
"You don't think I'm trustworthy?" Danny looked hurt, even though he knew the Vlad of this time period had no real reason to trust him.
"You seem like a nice person," Vlad replied. "But the first thing you did was lie to me. There have also been a lot of reports about people having stuff stolen."
"I'm not going to steal from you!" Danny snapped. Sighing, he lowered his head. "I didn't mean to lie to you. I just - I didn't know how you would react when you found out I wasn't a student. I was afraid you would yell at me or kick me out of the class or something. And you had been so nice to me when you thought I was a student. I didn't want to make you angry."
"I'm more angry about the fact that you lied to me than that you aren't a student here," Vlad said in a calmer tone than Danny expected. "I wouldn't have cared that you don't go here."
"I'm sorry. I won't lie to you like that again."
"And the idea of going to the bar?" Vlad asked and heard Danny gulp.
"Well, you see," mumbled Danny as he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "All right. The truth is that the girl I met in the Laundromat wants to set you up on a blind date with her friend. She thought it would be a good way for both of us to work off our debts for favors that other people have done for us."
"And you agreed to this?" Vlad demanded. The angry tone of his voice made Danny flinch.
"Is there really any harm in it? I'll be there too so if you don't like the girl, you can tell me and we'll leave." Danny stared hopefully at Vlad.
"I don't like the idea of blind dates," Vlad explained. "Besides I already have my eye on someone."
"Oh?" Danny frowned, knowing exactly who that someone was. "And have you asked this person out?"
"N-No," stuttered Vlad, thrown by the question.
"When were you planning on asking this person out?" asked Danny, trying to think of some way to convince Vlad to go on the blind date.
"Well, I – I hadn't - I hadn't planned on it yet." Vlad coughed and tried to regain his composure. "She's a good friend of mine. I have to go about asking her out carefully. What would happen if she rejected me? It could ruin our friendship."
"I know how that is," Danny said, thinking of the time when he thought he had feelings for Sam. Thankfully, the single date they went on hadn't completely destroyed their friendship. "If there's so much risk asking out this friend of yours, then would it really be that horrible to go on a date with someone else?"
"You're going to continue to pester me about going on this blind date until I agree, aren't you?" asked Vlad, frowning.
"Of course!" Danny grinned widely. "You're not going to make me beg, right?"
"You're acting like Jack," Vlad murmured. "Pestering me until I agree to what he wants. I'll go, but I don't promise that I'll enjoy this date."
You could at least give the girl a chance, thought Danny, frowning at Vlad's last statement. "Where are you going?" he asked when Vlad stood.
"To take a shower," Vlad answered like it should have been obvious. "Though I would have preferred to take it later when I know I would be able to take a hot shower. But since I'm agreeing to go on this date, I might as well make myself look presentable."
As subtle as he could, Danny raised his arm and sniffed. The bad odor made him realize that he could use a shower as well. "I'll go to," he said as he stood. After Vlad gathered his things, they headed down to the bathroom. When they got there, a mob of men were already there, waiting for their chance to use the showers. "Is it always this busy?" Danny whispered to Vlad.
"During the day," grumbled Vlad, who hated this part of dorm life. "But around midnight, it's mostly empty."
They waited in silence for their turn. Vlad sometimes went to speak to some of the other men, but no one wanted to give up their chance at the showers. When he finally got into the shower, Danny enjoyed the spray of water, even though it was quite cold. He was happy to be able to scrub away the dirt and grime that had accumulated during the many hours of cleaning he did that day. Vlad, on the other hand, was less than happy with the cold water. He muttered to himself about how much he hated showering at this time of the day. He then cursed angrily when suds got into his eyes.
After they had finished showering, they walked back to Vlad's room. Danny felt awkward about only wearing a towel around his waist while he hugged his dirty clothes to his chest in an attempt to cover himself from the sight of the other men lingering in the hallway. Being used to it, Vlad strode forward, more confident about his nearly nude appearance. Danny was relieved when they reached Vlad's room and were behind closed doors.
"I guess it's a good thing you did the laundry," Vlad stated as he searched his clean clothes for something suitable for them both to wear. "What time did you agree to meet them at?"
"Nine," answered Danny as he pulled on the pair of pants that Vlad had thrown at him. "What do you want to do for the few hours that we have until then?"
"I was thinking of studying," Vlad replied and turned to face Danny. "But I suppose you're going to be like Jack and want to play games."
"I wasn't going to suggest that," Danny said, though it was his first thought. "What were you going to study?"
"Just some paranormal studies homework," answered Vlad as he finished dressing. He turned away from Danny and walked over to his desk.
"And what are you working on in that?" Danny crossed the room to join Vlad at the desk.
"Just some theories that Jack, Maddie, and I have been discussing these past few weeks." With his brow raised, Vlad glanced at Danny. "You don't find that weird? Most people laugh and tease me about it."
Danny frowned at the resentful tone in Vlad's voice. "I don't think it's weird," he answered after some time. "And I don't think there's anything funny about it. What kind of theories are you working on?"
"You wouldn't be interested in them," Vlad replied as he picked up some papers sitting on top of the desk.
"How do you know I won't be interested in your theories?" Danny tried to catch a glimpse of the papers Vlad was looking through, but Vlad quickly snatched them out of sight and stored them away in a drawer of the desk.
"Let's just play some Pac Man until it's time to go," said Vlad, stepping around Danny and heading toward the couch. He flopped down on it and grabbed the game controller from where it sat on the table.
Curious to know about the theories, Danny was tempted to sneak a peek at the papers. Sighing, he walked over and collapsed beside Vlad on the couch. They took turns playing, and in a matter of moments, it turned into a contest to see who could score the highest.
"Hey! Don't turn it off!" shouted Danny when Vlad turned off the Atari.
"It's nine," Vlad said. He grabbed a jacket from the closet and pulled it on. "We're supposed to meet those girls now."
"Oh, right," mumbled Danny, frowning. He got so in to the contest that he forgot all about the blind date. Sighing, he stood and followed Vlad to the door.
"You never told me what these girls are like," said Vlad as they headed down to the first floor of the dorm building.
"I didn't? I guess it slipped my mind. You never asked about them." Danny paused to think about the women he had met earlier. He realized he didn't really know much of anything about them. "Well, their names are Laura and Sara, and they… seem really nice."
"So basically you got us dates with girls that you didn't even bother to get to know?" Vlad asked flatly as they stepped out of the dorm building.
"Um, yeah, you could say that," replied Danny, grinning weakly. He expected Vlad to get mad at him, but he only received a sigh and a shake of the head as a response.
They walked for some time in silence. Vlad led the way since he actually knew where the Bunny Bar was. He went there once or twice when a few of his friends forced him to go along with them. When he noticed Danny shiver, Vlad frowned.
"You should have worn a coat," Vlad said, trying not to sound like he was scolding the man.
"I don't exactly have a coat to wear," mumbled Danny. He wrapped his arms around his body.
Vlad sighed as he removed his coat and offered it to Danny, who blinked at it.
"But won't you be cold?" Danny asked.
"I'm used to the cold weather here." Vlad shrugged.
Danny glanced between Vlad and the coat. Then he decided to take the coat before Vlad changed his mind. He pulled the coat on and wrapped it tightly around his body. It was still warm from having been worn by Vlad. They walked the rest of the way to the bar in silence.