Complications
Chapter Seventeen – Heartbroken
Loki, Circe, and Vidcund are gathered around the kitchen table in Circe's two-bedroom apartment working through every page of their physics textbook. Vidcund moans as the clock on the microwave reaches three in the morning and drops his pencil, throwing his head down in exhaustion. The pencil rolls onto the floor, landing on the tile with a sharp thud.
"Vidcund, what are you doing?" Loki barks, staring down at his half-awake teammate, "We're not even close to being done yet!"
"Loki, we've been doing physics problems nonstop for five hours," Vidcund explains, hoping to convince Loki of his reasonable request, "Can't we just call it a night and pick this up tomorrow?"
"No, you heard about what those freaks said," Loki replies, fire in his eyes, "There's no way I'm backing down without a fight. We have to bash down those sexist losers and make them cry!"
Next to Loki, Circe places down her pencil, letting out a small yawn. "Loki," Circe says, turning towards her boyfriend, "are you sure they didn't say those things just to rile you up and get you disqualified from the tournament?"
"Either way, Circe, they don't have a right to treat you like that," Loki responds as Vidcund falls asleep nearby, "They shouldn't downplay your accomplishments, you're the smartest person I know. You're definitely way smarter than Vidcund!"
Circe leans back in her seat a bit, Loki's sincerity causing the young woman's stomach to drop. "That's surprisingly sweet of you to say, but I don't want you to burn us out. Even if we don't beat Academia Le Touré next weekend, it doesn't mean that they're right about us," she reminds him.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Loki says, after seriously pondering Circe's words over, "I just really want to stick it to those jerks. Anyone who thinks you're anything less than brilliant is a moron in my book!"
Circe nods slowly, more guilt flowing throughout her body. "Yeah…" she agrees, turning towards the refrigerator, "Look Loki, there's something I need to tell you."
"Oh no," Loki states, scrunching his forehead at this news, "You're not pregnant, are you?"
"No," Circe quickly shoots down the thought. She turns to the side, nervously fiddling with her hands as she tries to come up with the best way to say this to him, "I cheated on you."
"What?!" Loki squeaks, the volume of his voice causing a few angry knocks on the neighboring walls, "You mean that blonde chick at the library was right?!" he squeals, getting up from out of his seat and pacing into the living room, "Circe, how could you?"
"Loki, I'm sorry, okay?" Circe squeaks, trailing him to the coffee table, "It was a one-time thing…that happened over and over again," she adds, "But now I swear I'm done with Vidcund."
"Vidcund?" Loki repeats, feeling sicker by the moment, "You cheated on me with Vidcund?!" Circe nods, "Did he like it?"
Circe cocks her forehead, stopping in place to stare strangely at her boyfriend, "What kind of question is that?" she wonders, "Are you wondering if I liked it instead?"
"Uh, yes," Loki frantically corrects after a brief eye shift.
"Well, if I'm being honest, yes."
"I don't know what to say," Loki says, his body frozen in shock, "There's a lot of conflicting emotions here."
"Loki, I'm really sorry," Circe apologizes, latching onto his forearm, "Please forgive me. It probably won't happen again."
Loki tilts his forehead at this statement, "Probably?"
"Hey, I'm just trying to be realistic here," Circe gives a small smile, only half-joking.
"As much as I appreciate the honesty, now's not really the time for that," Loki whispers, barely able to hold his head up.
After a few moments, Loki walks over to the kitchen table and collects his things, his eyes starting to water.
"Where are you going?" Circe wonders, sounding surprisingly concerned for someone who just ripped Loki's heart out.
Loki sighs and turns back to Circe, clumsily throwing his backpack over his shoulder. "I don't know," he replies somberly, staring down at the floor, "See you later, Ceres."
…
Loki drags his feet across campus, stopping every few feet to wipe his snotty nose on his arm. He is so distressed that he doesn't even care about properly sanitizing his hands. Loki stops in front of Sim State Library, knowing that he can always find solace in books. He adjusts his backpack on his shoulders, stares up at the entrance, and sighs, feeling weaker by the moment.
Pascal bursts open the double doors and prances down the front steps, stopping when he eyes Loki all puffy-eyed and depressed at the bottom of the staircase. "Pascal," Loki speaks up, trying his best to act normal in front of his rival but failing miserably, "what are you doing here so early in the morning?"
"What are you talking about? I always grade my quizzes at five in the morning. It's scientifically proven to be the best time to get work done!" Pascal chimes, his face falling slightly when he sees Loki's current emotional state, "Uh…are you okay?"
"Yeah," Loki lies, unable to face Pascal's disbelieving gaze, "I just wanted to come here for some solitude. My mind's been going a mile a minute lately," Loki says, letting out a heavy sigh. Pascal watches as Loki trudges up the staircase, giving a few sniffs before haphazardly throwing the door open in front of him. Loki groans as the door slams into his forehead, cursing softly to himself before venturing inside.
Pascal sighs, a look of pure worry on his face as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his cell phone. He scrolls through his contacts and presses the seventh number on his speed dial. "Hey, it's Pascal," Pascal greets, the person on the other line answering in record time, "Sorry to bother you, but I think something's wrong with Loki-"
"Loki?!" Gundrun's voice squeals from the opposite end of the line, her loud squeal waking everyone up in the house, "Hang on, I'll be right there! Until then, keep me posted."
…
Loki sighs as he sits alone at a table near the center of the empty library, resting his chin against the light wooden tabletop. "Come on, Loki, be strong. This isn't anything to lose your mind over," Loki tells himself, giving his best pep talk, "Sims have been through a lot worse than this – just look at Mom. She had to deal with creepy Professor Irma breathing down her neck, and she still got an impressive college degree." Loki sits up in his seat, feeling surprisingly better by these thoughts. "You know what? Mom probably accomplished a lot while she was here, and there's no better time to learn about it than when I'm in the library at five in the morning."
Loki stands up from his seat and walks over to the front desk, his mind made up to push himself out of this slump and onto something much more fulfilling. He stares down at the librarian, who is busy typing away on her computer, her bright red glasses narrowly balancing on the bridge of her nose. "Excuse me, but I was wondering if you could help me find records of my mother's accomplishments," Loki tells the old woman, who barely looks up at the college student in meager interest, "Her name is Gundrun Halfdanarson."
"Alright," the librarian replies, taking a long sip of her coffee in one hand as she searches through the library database with the other. "I have two records on file, and they're both yearbooks," she concludes, swerving her chair around and scanning through the shelf of books behind her. The librarian runs her fingers across the spines and pulls two books off the middle shelf, "Here you go," she dryly replies, plopping the gigantic yearbooks onto the surface of the front desk.
"Oh, uh, thanks."
Loki grabs the two yearbooks and walks back to his empty table. He flips open the first one, which reads 'Sim State University 1983" on the cover. Loki flips to the back of the book, finds his mother's name in the glossary, and flips to page 53. He stares down at the photo, which shows college-aged Gundrun and Ben presenting a study to the head of the physics department. Loki squints as he reads the caption, "Underclassmen Gundrun Halfdanarson and Ben Irma present their idea for the Resurrect-O-Nomitron to the head of the physics department, Professor Frederick Reynolds."
Loki closes the book slightly, his mind going a mile a minute as he picks up the next book, which reads "Sim State University 1984." He flips to the back of the book, finds his mother's name in the glossary once again, and flips to page 107, which shows a photo of college-aged Gundrun, the heading "Graduate Students" printed at the top of the page. Loki tilts his forehead, something not adding up in his brain.
He returns to the front desk, holding onto the misleading textbook. "Excuse me?" Loki plops the yearbook onto the desk, the sound causing the grouchy old librarian to stop stamping books. "This yearbook you gave me is wrong," Loki tells her, opening to the deceitful page and pointing his finger down on the headline, "It says my mother was in grad school in '84, but she graduated in '83 and left Sim State for good before this print even came out."
The librarian glances down at the page briefly and cocks her forehead, flashing Loki a bizarre look. "How can you guys be that far off?" Loki continues, "My mother never went to grad school. She married my father, and I was born in the Summer of 1984!"
"I don't what to tell you, son, except the records don't lie," the librarian informs him, raising an eyebrow at the student.
"No," Loki steps back, unable to face what the woman is implying, "this must be a mistake. If this yearbook is true then that would mean that my mother dropped out of college…because of me," he concludes, the realization hitting him square in the face, leaving the college student speechless.
The librarian shrugs, unenthusiastically holding her hands up off the desk. "Surprise," she states before turning her attention back to stamping books.
"I ruined my mother's life," Loki says, feeling even more heartbroken than he was an hour ago, "She could've been something if it weren't for me," he realizes, his eyes watering once again, "I'm sorry, Mom," he speaks into the silence.
"Sorry for what?" a loving voice chimes out behind him.