Nocturne

Introduction weeks at universities always have these boring sports events.
Oh, in reply to a review: the town Alex and Stan are going to live in is quite big. There are student's houses spread throughout town, but the biggest buildings are situated somewhat outside of the centre (enough space and the students won't bother anyone but themselves, also, close to the station). The university buildings are also around town, but the faculty the boys will have to go to is in the centre of town. The only faculty closeby would be the law faculty. It's not an existing city, by the way. ;)

***

The sports event turned out to be pretty dull, but Alex still subscribed for a sports pass so he could work on his fitness whenever he felt like it. You could even swim there, or practice martial arts. Alex had been a member of a local taekwondo club, so he was kind of interested in joining that sort of club again. It turned out to be very expensive, even for students. There were some other possibilities, though: aikido, karate, kendo. However, he was wondering whether he would have the time. At home, Alex had done close to nothing when it came to school work, and he had mostly spent his time practicing taekwondo and gaming, but would it be the same here? He was hoping he’d get through university easily, as he had gotten through everything. Still, somehow, he felt as though the easy part of his school career was over. As he walked outside after subscribing, his brand new sports card in his wallet, he found the rest of the group on the football fields. Some of them were having lunch, but others were running after a football enthusiastically. It was five against five, but all the guys were pretty good. The ones sitting on the side of the field were cheering on them. Alex joined them and had a pretty good time after all.

That day, Alex spoke about his family for the first time with the others in his group. He told them he had a girlfriend and some of the girls were very interested.
‘How long have you been together?’
‘What does she look like?’
‘How old is she?’
‘Do you have a picture on you?’
Before he knew it, he was in the centre of attention for at least ten minutes. He showed the others the one picture he carried around in his wallet, but after that, he wanted to know if the girls had boyfriends. It didn’t take long for them to get excited about each other’s stories and Alex got involved in their happy chattering. The weather was amazing, though a bit on the hot side. Alex felt himself sweat more and more, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Suddenly, he heard a girl scream somewhere close by. On the other side of the field, she was running after her jacket, which was blown away by the wind. A moment later, the wind arrived at their group, too. It was cold and there were big clouds approaching quickly. Before long, rain was pouring down so hard Alex could hardly make himself understandable while standing under a small bike shelter. The trees around the sports fields were shaking, but some of the fanatical football fans were still outside, trying to shoot the ball without it flying off.
‘I wonder if the barbecue will be held in this weather,’ Stan yelled from somewhere at his left.
‘I hope so,’ Marissa yelled from somewhere behind him.
‘Yeah, me too! I don’t know where else to eat!’ Dorothy yelled right in front of his face. Luckily, after half an hour, the rain clouds were blown to other places, Germany, probably. The streets were soaked, so were the football players.
‘You guys are crazy!’ the girls screamed and ran towards them. Alex shivered and looked at them from a dry distance.

The barbecue, eventually, was held. Stan grumbled upon hearing that news from their group leader, a big black-haired second year student named Evan.
‘Do they have some vegetarian stuff there as well?’
‘Yes, they do,’ he said.
‘Okay, good.’
‘So, you’re a vegetarian?’ Alex asked.
Stan nodded. ‘Don’t even like meat. That’s not why I’ve done it, of course. Just trying to help.’ He turned his eyes from the street to Alex. ‘Better remember that when I’m coming over for dinner one time.’
‘Hey, stop inviting yourself!’
‘Oh, I think I just did.’
‘Aw well. I guess I don’t really mind.’
Stan smiled at him. It made Alex feel uncomfortable but also good, somehow. He liked to receive attention, especially when it was this much.
‘You know, I phoned my mom this afternoon, she said my dad had time to bring a bed to my place tomorrow.’
‘Cool. So you’re gonna go there?’
‘Yeah, he’ll be there at six thirty. But um… can I still drop by?’
Alex thought about that for a moment. He couldn’t quite grasp it. The feeling that he had a not-so-secret admirer became stronger every hour, to be honest.
‘I mean, we still have a lot of work to do to get that band of yours off the ground.’
‘So you’re helping me?’
‘Did I say that?’ Stan looked innocent, but there was a spark in his eyes.
‘You’ll have to stay with me tonight,’ Alex grinned, ‘and I’m going to force you to join!’
‘No wai!’
‘You know you want to, because my band is going to be awesome.’
‘Not without me, it won’t.’
‘Bitch!’
‘Oh no, you didn’t just say that!’
‘I totally did!’
‘Hey, be nice, you guys!’ Dorothy said.
‘We are being nice!’ Alex said.
‘We’re bff’s!’ Stan said, putting one arm around Alex.
‘Oh, it’s alright then!’

***