Complications
Chapter Five – Boyfriend Things
Circe and Loki are sitting across from each other at a study table on the first floor of Sim State Library. Circe sighs, impatiently tapping her fingers against the mahogany tabletop as she watches Loki complete his twenty-fifth physics problem in a row. Circe gets up and grabs Loki by the arm, attempting to pull him up out of the wooden seat. "Come on, Loki," Circe whines as her boyfriend continues to churn out solutions with just one hand, "It's Friday night! Let's go out and do something. I heard there's a freshman mixer on North Campus," Circe suggests, a slight shine in her eyes.
Loki groans and gives a half-shrug, "Why would I want to go to that? I hate people!"
Circe cocks her forehead and shoots a sly smirk, "We can make out," she states.
Loki scrunches his face slightly, "We did that last week."
"Unbelievable!" Circe cries, throwing her hands up in frustration, "We're already two months into the semester and so far you've spent most of your sophomore year studying at the library and hanging out with your mother! Don't you see how bad that makes me look?!"
"No," Loki answers bluntly, "Besides, why would I want to waste my time getting to know a bunch of underclassmen, when I could be here driving towards the next scientific discovery?" he inquiries, actually setting his pencil down marginally to stare at his girlfriend.
"Because…this could be a great opportunity to scope out potential test subjects," Circe adds, lowering her voice a bit and scanning the room as she does so.
"Yeah, I think I'll pass," Loki replies, picking up his pencil once more and resuming his work, "It sounds like a lot of unnecessary work."
"Loki!" Circe growls, throwing her hands down on the table, the sound of her hands hitting the solid surface causing several students to jump up in their seats nearby, "If you don't go with me to this, then I'm taking Vidcund!"
"Hey," he shrugs, clearly indifferent on the matter as he refuses to look up from his textbook, "it's your funeral."
…
Meanwhile, at the Curious residence, the two oldest brothers are in the kitchen eating pizza amidst a rather awkward conversation regarding Pascal's love life…or lack thereof. "Pascal, you're overthinking this, okay?" Vidcund chimes, the pair sitting next to each other at the kitchen counter, "All you have to do is walk up to Jim and introduce yourself."
"I don't know," Pascal sighs, his shoulders drooping slightly, "The last time I tried to do that, I ended up screaming out my street address," he confesses, shaking his head in misery as Vidcund's phone buzzes in his pocket, "God, why is dating so hard?" he whines as Vidcund sets down his pizza and retrieves his cell phone from his pants pocket. Pascal cocks his forehead in curiosity as Vidcund continues to stare down in wonder at the screen, "What is it?"
"It's Circe," Vidcund answers, unable to believe that she would actually message him for a non-homework related matter, "She wants me to go to some mixer with her."
"Vidcund, don't," Pascal replies, shooting this idea down immediately before his brother can give it a second thought, "You and I both know that girl is nothing but trouble."
"You know what? You're right," Vidcund nods, carelessly tossing his cell phone into his jacket pocket, "I'm not going down that road again," he says definitively, "I'm done with her!"
Fifteen pathetic minutes later
"So, where are we going?" Vidcund wonders, trailing behind Circe at the freshman mixer like a lost puppy dog, "I had to sneak out of the house for this," he adds, watching as Circe stops in front of the refreshment table and turns to face him.
"Does it matter?" she coos, sassily perching her hand on her hip.
"Not particularly, no," Vidcund answers honestly, moving slightly to allow a large group of freshman townies to pass by him, "So, what do you want to do first? We can do anything you want," he states, surprisingly cheery.
A few hours later, after running around the premises and participating in nearly every activity there, Circe and Vidcund relax at a table near the back of the student union. "You know, Vidcund, you're way more fun than Loki," Circe smiles, taking a sip of her punch.
Vidcund shakes his head and sighs, "Man, that's a pretty low bar to surpass."
"Relax, I meant it as a very high compliment to you as well as a very low dig to the beast," she remarks, rolling her eyes, "Sometimes I wish you and I had stayed together. We could've been something…" her voice trails off as she gazes out at the sky.
Vidcund gulps, Circe's confession causing shock to flow through his entire body. "Uh, yeah," Vidcund meekly responds, "You know Circe, if you ever want to hang out again, you can always call me," he says, nearly tripping over his own words, "You know…if, Loki's not available."
"Hmm…" Circe states, turning back to him as some of the stars reflect in her eyes. She smirks, "I'll keep that in mind."
…
One week later, Circe and Loki are situated in the living room of Circe's apartment, making out on the green, lightly-worn down sofa. Circe sighs lovingly as she positions herself on top of her boyfriend before pushing her lips back on his. Circe slowly opens her eyes, now noticing Loki's attention appears to be elsewhere as he attempts to stare over her shoulder. "Loki!" Circe cries, getting off him and knocking one of his arms down in the process. Circe's eyes widen as a calculator falls onto the beige, shag carpet. She slowly reaches down and picks it up, her face turning red in the process. She looks up at her boyfriend, who continues scribbling in his physics notebook. "Are you doing your physics homework while you're making out with me?!"
Loki shrugs, waving her off like a housefly as he continues powering through the equation, "Just a minute, I gotta finish this last problem-"
"OUT!" Circe barks, pointing towards the front door.
"Alright, geez," Loki remarks, bending over to collect his things, "You don't need to make such a fuss about it," he comments after successfully grabbing all his physics supplies. He stops at the doorway and shoots her a smile, a surprisingly joyful and wildly unsuitable tone in his voice, "See you later, sweetheart."
…
Twenty minutes later, Circe is dragging Vidcund by the hand up the hallway stairs of her apartment complex, leading him as fast as humanly possible to her door. She stops in front of the familiar entrance, letting go of his hand to search for her keys. Vidcund has never seen Circe searching so frantically for something in her life.
"Uh, are you okay?" Vidcund wonders, cautiously stepping towards her.
"Yeah," Circe answers, still searching through her black leather purse. The young woman's face lights up when she grabs a hold of her signature arctic fox keychain, "Yes! I knew I didn't leave these at Loki's house!" she chimes, holding her set of keys up triumphantly. Vidcund cringes at the sound of her boyfriend's name.
Circe quickly shoves her keys into the lock and opens the doorway, leading him inside of her living room before he can give this situation a second thought.
"Where are we going?" Vidcund wonders, watching as Circe slams and locks the door behind them. She turns back to Vidcund and smiles, a devious look in her eyes.
"You'll see," she coos, trailing her fingers up Vidcund's arm, clearly toying his emotions.
Vidcund's stomach drops. The last time Circe said these words to him, he ended up with a broken leg. "Uh, are you sure?" he asks.
Circe smiles once more, letting out a small laugh. "Vidcund, trust me," she states as she pulls him forward by the arm, "This will probably be the most fun you'll ever have in your life!" Circe beams, leading him down her bedroom hallway.
"What about you?" Vidcund ponders, stopping in Circe's bedroom doorway.
Circe steps a few feet from her bed and turns towards him, still flashing a coy smirk. "Eh, I'll have better," she states.
Vidcund tilts his forehead, clearly troubled. "Better what?" he questions.
Forty minutes later, Circe's roommate, Crystal, is walking down the hall on her way to the bathroom. She stops short of the bathroom doorway, a loud noise catching her attention. "WOOHOO!" a man's voice cries from Circe's bedroom.
"Oh God," Crystal mutters, shaking her head slightly before walking into the bathroom to wash her ears out, hoping to erase this scarring moment from her memory.