From: CyraLin <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 13:49:29 EDT
Subject: Our Pre=Post
"Why did I tell her to meet me in Admin?" Stana asked herself for
the fourth time, glaring at the red light that was holding her up. Ever
since
she had
sworn off speeding as a hobby she could never seem to get anywhere on
time...
"Come on." she urged the light. "C'mon c'mon c'mon....Chance, why
does this happen to me?"
Chance was her car-- and although she WAS insane enough to ask--
Stana
did draw the line at receiving an answer. The car ran contentedly and
waited for the light to change with more patience than his driver.
Yes...HIS driver. Chance was definitely a male. If a car could
have a gender. Which hers did. Didn't everyone's?
The light finally turned and Stana directed Chance into the
parking lot tucked in behind Admin. Pulling her pocket bible out and
stuffing it into her pants' pockets. She grabbed her patchwork bear
Woodstock and headed for the door.
****
Teri pulled into the smallish parking lot and yanked the emergency
brakes
on, the car into neutral. Leaving the car running to listen to the
radio,
she dug her little black bag out of her book bag and repositioned her
rear-
view
mirror. Mumbling about the circles under her eyes, she unzipped the
small
shiny bag and dug through her make-up. Fingers running past deoderant,
razor,
toothbrush and toothpaste, floss, tweezers, a condom and some pina
colada
flavored lubricant (just for sentimental purposes; they were given as a
gag
gift during a musical she was in: she didn't like pina colada anyway),
she
grabbed her concealer and applied under her eyes. Debating whether to
put on
make-up or not (she didn't consider under-eye-concealer to be make-up:
it was
simply a fact of and necessity of life) she opted for a natural looking
lipstick and some lip gloss. She didn't usually wear much-- she just
liked to
have it. And she didn't particularly care whether that old man a few
cars away
was watching her put on makeup with a humored expression. What did men
know
about primping, anyway?
***
Paul flashed the mirror a dazzling smile, coughed into his hand, and
tried
again. "Hello, I'm Paul... I'm... Paul. Hi. I'm Paul." The reflection in
the
mirror, so absolutely charmed, nearly nodded in approval. Paul combed
his hair
back, grateful that, for today at least, it wasn't at all pouffy, and
then
returned his attention back to his bureau. Cologne, comb, floss,
toothbrush....
***
Pulling out a hairbrush from her bag, Teri struggled with her abnormally
thick
hair before twisting it into a half-bun and throwing the hairbrush back
where
it came from. She leaned over and scooped all of the various necessary
junk
she needed for travelling and dumped those into her book bag, as well,
before
turning the car off, locking the door, and hopping around to the trunk.
She
grabbed her sleeping bag, pillow, and having completed the tedious,
boring,
but necessary task of grabbing all of her belongings, set off for new
adventures on the Kutztown campus.
She was supposed to meet Stana at the admissions building, that being
the
easiest to find from the parking lot, and tried to look cool toting her
overstuffed book bag, sleeping bag, and pillow. She just couldn't go
anywhere
without her pillow. It takes many years to prepare or find a perfect
pillow.
The breeze was soft against her cheek, and she looked around with a
critical
eye as she walked the path to the admissions building.
She paused, kicking the straps of her clogs over her heels so that she
could
climb the stairs without losing her shoes, and juggled her belongings to
a
more comfortable position...She looked up at the staircase and saw a
young
woman walking down towards her. Trying to wrack her brain for details,
she
hoped that this was Stana, and that she would be able to put down most
of her
stuff sometime soon.
"Stana?" she asked as the woman neared her on the staircase. The girl
looked
up, blinked a few times, then continued on her way.
"Guess not.." Teri mumbled and continued climbing. Panic threatened --
she
didn't like being lost, not knowing where she was going, and she hated
having
to wait in a strange place, with strangers watching her. She put on a
"I'm
totally confident and LIKE carrying around lots of shit to a place I
don't
know how to get to" look, and finished the stairs, a little pink in the
face.
"Ok, the admissions building" she muttered, setting down her sleeping
bag and
sitting on it in front of the main doors. She debated taking out her
book, or
some paper to doodle on, but chose instead to watch the students walking
or
running around the campus. A tall boy with dark hair walked by, looked
at her
strangely, and then kept walking. Teri felt a chill on her neck and let
her
hair down as she turned her attention away.
She chanted Stana's name over and over in her head while trying to look
comfortable and nonchalant, and waited. Usually she was late for
everything,
but had managed, for once in her life, to arrive early at the admissions
center. "C'mon stana...."
A tall girl with wavy chestnut hair in a pony-tail rounded the edge of
the
building and waved. "Teri?" she said hesitantly, with a smile.
"Stana?" How could it not be-the Speed Racer shirt and the Racer X hat
were dead giveaways. Not to mention the teddy-bear under the crook of
her
arm.
"Yeah! Good to see you!" They hugged, Stana took Teri's sleeping bag,
and they
made their way down the path, Teri following Stana's lead.
"I dunno why I told you to meet me here." Stana admitted. "It seemed
like
a good idea at the time. We're to meet Paul at University Place, called
UP,
and
Spiffy will catch up with us later. Class or work I'm not sure."
"Where's your stuff?" Teri asked.
"Left it in Chancey-- my car. I'll spend the night up here" she
indicated
the Old Main building with a nod."so it's silly to drag it all down.
Besides-- I'm dragging your stuff down so we'll both look like we
haven't a
clue."
"And Paul is meeting us?"
"Supposed to-- he's a guy though. Might be out doing manly things."
Teri giggled "you mean like breastbeating?"
She nodded with a grin "Or practicing his mating call...."
"Or dancing around a citronella candle at dusk, in only his
boxer-shorts?"
Stana paused and gave Teri a look, before adding, "Or roasting sliced
turkey,on a stick, over the flame..."
"Or-"
"Things better left unsaid," Stana finished, winking.
Teri chuckled and dropped her keys into her leather jacket. "You've
walked in
on those moments, too, I see."
"I think we're going to get along just fine!" They grinned.
Teri's stomach rumbled... loudly. Her eyes instantly snapped wide and
she
flashed an embarrassed and self-amused smile at Stana. "My stomach--
it..
always rumbles like that."
Stana nodded and grinned. "hungry?" they rounded a corner, and Teri
could
swear she smelled french fries.
"Not really, no." Her stomach growled again, and she tapped it,
commanding
silence. "Tho I think my tummy's telling me differently. I dont' want to
eat
right now, though."
"Well as soon as we meet up with Paul, we'll get something to eat, k?"
"Yup!"
"Ok, this is UP.." Stana said with mock-grandeur in her voice as she
waved her
arm at the dorm.
Teri looked it over with approval. "I think I had a conversation with
Paul
about this place once.."
Stana just shrugged and dropped the sleeping bag lightly on the grass.
Sitting
down with her back against a tree, she looked up at Teri, who was still
standing, looking around, holding her bag and her pillow.
"You certainly don't pack light, do you?" Teri was roused from her
reverie.
"Huh?"
"Knowing Paul, we'll probably be here awhile.. you might want to put
your
stuff down or something."
Teri grinned and dropped her bag. "Well.. I can relate. I'm at least
four
minutes late to everything. I'm planning on being late to my own
funeral."
Stana blinked.
"It's an.. old.. saying. Nevermind, it wasn't funny."
Stana grinned.
Teri gave one of those "Heh, heh, I just made a fool out of myself"
grins back
and lounged on the ground, playing with the grass under her fingers. She
liked
the smell of this place-- warm with spring, but still light and sharp.
****
Teri was absent-mindedly ripping the grass around her to shreds when
Stana
looked at her watch and said, "What time were we supposed to meet him?"
"I don't know-- I only talked to you about times."
"Never mind. He's not coming."
"What?" Teri looked up in disbelief, "We've been sitting here for what
seems like days, and he's not coming to get us?"
"Looks like a negative on that one." Stana picked herself off the ground
and looked quickly around again. Teri made a VERY vexed sound.
"He stood us up!" She was fuming. Stana's eyes widened a little with
humor.
"It's not a date..."
"BUT STILL!"
"Could be I just got the times screwed up. Maybe we are supposed to meet
him
at five, instead..." She smirked while Teri brushed the piles of torn
grass
off her pants and violently shouldered her bag.
Grumbling under her breath she turned bright eyes at the other woman and
said,
"Let's go get some coffee."
***
"I can't believe he stood us up.." Teri was talking to her coffee now,
glaring
at the curls of steam that rose from the cup.
Stana sat, lounging with a cup of hot chocolate, watching amusedly as
the
younger girl continued to persecute her beverage. "Get over it. Like I
said--
it's probably a simple mistake. If not, we'll just flay him later."
Teri looked up and smiled slyly. "Ooooooh yes.... we'll flay him..."
The two giggled.
Taking a sip of her coffee, Teri thought briefly on the many methods of
punishment she might be able to inflict on Paul, relishing the fantasy
before
dispelling it into the realms of the, sadly, impossible. Back to
practicality. "So where am I staying? I want to dump this stuff
somewhere--
It's not very cool to be walking around carrying shitloads of overnight
stuff..."
Stana blinked and put down her mug. "I don't know why I didn't think of
it
earlier-- we could go to Sharon's room and dump your stuff. THat's where
we'd
be staying anyway. I'm sorry, I didn't think.."
"No problem. Sharon?" Teri sipped the last of her coffee, tucked the
multitude
of
empty sugar packets into a neat, curled bundle inside the empty cream
container, and set everything neatly for the waitress to collect. Stana
watched all this
with a smile and nodded.
"My former roomate. I call her UnMonk."
"Like you're called CuMonk"
"Exactly"
"See? I pick up on these things pretty quickly." Teri winked and
shouldered,
yet again, her many belongings. "However, I have never learned from my
mistakes when it comes to packing-- I always bring too much shit."
Suddenly the sweet aroma of french vanilla cappuccino wafted over to
Teri, and
her eyes widened, her mouth went slack. Turning sharply, drawn by the
heat in
her blood, she walked towards the counter...
"Teri? I thought we were leaving... Teri.. Teri come back here..." Stana
put
down the sleeping bag and followed the girl, who was digging through her
pockets for change..
"Coffee... " she mumbled almost inaudibly, unconsciously under her
breath. She
simpered at the coffee-attendent while she fumbled around in her pants
for
money, and the attendent grinned back. "Stana? Do you have a buck? I
have it
in my bag.. somewhere..." her eyes were glassy with anticipation, "but I
dont'
want to dig through it right.. .. hey...hey..hey what are you doing?"
Stana had grabbed her arm, and was dragging Teri towards the door before
she
knew it. She picked up the sleeping bag from the floor and pulled the
struggling caffeine addict out of the store..
"STana... hey.. stana.. coffee.. c'mon.. one more... stana..." Teri
protested
until they were out of the shop, the glass keeping the tantalizing aroma
of
various caffeinated beverages at bay.
Straightening her jacket she gave Stana a perturbed, pouting glare and
followed the older girl down the street back towards campus.
Stana grinned and then stopped. Teri just managed to avoid ramming into
her and grumbled.
"Ohmigosh!" Cu (stana) exclaimed in a panic, patting down her pockets.
"Woodstock!"
"What?"
"Stay right there! I'll be back in a sec." She went back into the Coffee
shop hastily.
Stana went directly to the table she had just occupied and spied-
Nothing! Woodstock was gone!
::Ok...don't panic...who would steal a patchwork bear...maybe a neurotic
brat
who likes to blow up toys...WAAAAAhhhhhhhhhh!!!::
"Excuse me." asked a voice behind her. Stana twirled and saw a waitress
holding out Woodstock and her Bible. "You left these"
"YES!" she swiped her teddy and hugged it protectively, daring anyone to
snicker with a glare. "Thank you so much!"
She turned, suddenly remembering she had left Teri standing out there
alone
and headed back out.
Then she blinked, looked up the hill, and down...no one.
With a knowing drop to her stomach Stana waded grimly back into the
coffee
shop
and emerged moments later dragging a protesting High schooler along.
"So what happened?" Teri inquired, sipping her cafe au lait with smiling
eyes
and rosey cheeks. When Stana handed her a Teddy bear, ragged and in
desperate
need of repair she shook her head in confusion.
"It was my dad's teddy. He gave it to me." she took the patchwork back
and looked into it's single button eye. "I call him woodstock." a
serious
tone replaced the amusement "my father died August 30th 1991. My
stepmother sent us a box full of junk and broken articles as
"souvenirs."
this is one of the few things I have left of my dad."
"Sorry."
"Not a biggie. Happened a long time ago. Besides she's eating sour
grapes
not me. C'mon let's go hassle Unmonk for some floor space!"
*****
Paul stood there looking into his closet, trying to decide what to wear.
:Brown or Black?: He was pondering thoughtfully; he had waited a long
time to meet Teri and wanted to make a good impression. ::I can't
believe
she's actually going to be here in..: Paul looked at the clock "Shit,
five minutes ago!!"
Paul hurridley chose his Black jeans and red cotton dockers button down
shirt and threw on a black leather vest over it. Then he ran into the
bathroom checked his hair for the umpteenth time and brushed his teeth,
then jogging out of his suite and out along the cat walk. Entering
the front building, he jumped down the first flight of stairs to the
landing then made the turn and jumped down the next flight to the next
landing. Hopping down the last three steps, he nodded to the guy
sitting behind the desk and went out the front door.
As Paul stepped outside the building, he looked around with scanning
eyes: he saw Stana sitting in the grass and started to take a few
steps toward her. His eyes continued to wander, and he saw, sitting on
the
opposite side of Stana, Teri....He knew it was Teri. ::Oh my...:: Paul
stopped in his tracks and just took a moment to take in her beauty.
::Much MUCH better than the Picture, and the picture is quite nice.::
Paul finished closing the distance between him and Stana and just stood
there for a second until Stana noticed that a pair of feet had stopped
next to her. She looked up, and said, "Oh, hi Paul", and began standing
up.
Teri looked up from where she was ripping grass and filling her
now-empty
coffee cup with the broken blades. Her eyes flashed.
She likewise stood up, taking her time, and met eyes with Paul. For a
moment
time seemed to stop for Paul-- just the two of them were there. Then
Paul
smiled
charmingly, "Hello Teri, It's great to finally meet you"
"You too." Teri said and they continued to look at each other, a
flirtatious-
half-smirk playing on Teri's lips.
Stana played with the fur of her teddy bear and coughed politely. "We
dropped
our stuff off already--"
"Yeah," Teri interrupted, crossing her arms, "Where've you been? We've
been
waiting here for over a half hour..."
"Not to mention the fifteen minutes in the coffee shop--"
"Weren't we supposed to meet around three?" Teri looked at Stana for
confirmation. "Three, right?" Stana nodded hesitantly.
"Three?" Paul blinked. "I thought it was four--"
"I'm pretty sure I said three," Stana said.
"No, it was definitely four, because I had--"
There was a loud rumble which cut Paul off. Teri's face was beat red,
her arms
instantly curled over her stomach. Stana giggled.
"I've had to put up with this for nearly an hour!" the older girl jibed.
Teri, still blushing, retorted with, "Yeah well if I'd been told the
right
TIME to get here, I might have had some time to get something to eat!"
THe two grinned. Paul blinked.
"My stomach... likes.. to talk a lot." Teri said and flashed a smile.
Paul
grinned back.
"Well, let's get some food then, shall we?"
"Oh Yeah...food is a good thing." She smiled.
Paul nodded, "Yes, indeed....follow me"
***
The Caf.
Stana gazed in fascination at the nine plates that seemed to have
multiplied like rabbits. She didn't recall Paul's having taken that many
but the evidence was right beneath her nose. Teri to gazed in awe at the
massive amount of food Paul had graciously bought her, and pushed her
barely
touched food away with her left had while reaching for a napkin with her
right. Making a big production over the napkin, and such things, Teri
attempted to hold Paul's attention. The diversion worked, Stana was able
to
hide the food without Paul
noticing. She flashed Teri an "I told you so" grin and indicated her own
choice of meal. A small bowl of Orange Sherbert.
"So." Teri began.
"So" contined Stana
"So." stated Paul.
"So?" Teri prompted more forcefully "what does a gal have to do around
here to
have some fun?"
"Define fun." Stana inquired "Computer spodding, razzing the Freshmen,
Bible Fellowhip, Drink and duck parties-"
"Drink and duck?"
"A coined phrase." the older girl explined pushing her glasses back up
her nose "you watch others get drunk and duck when a) the cops come or
B)
they reach the vomiting stage of drunkeness."
"PAh. So." Teri understood
"So." Paul agreed.
"SO." the freckled one expressed "what were you thinking-and no,
Caffeine
is not one of the options."
"Spoilsport."
"Flattery will get you everywhere except the Coffee shop."
Teri stuck out her tongue and smiled dazzlingly at Paul.
"I have moutain Dew in mine and Spiffy's Fridge." he said shrugging.
"Along with some Girls Scout cookies and more Ramen than you could
imagine."
"He does." Stana agreed "I've seen it-I think they are breeding Ramen
noodles-everytime I go there, more packages are visible."
"We could watch some movies?" Paul suggested "Slayers?"
"I have my Orange Road vids in the car...?" Stana added "and the
Princess
Bride."
"Hallo" Paul mimicked in a Spanish accent "My name is Inigo Montoya-you
killed my father-prepare to DIE!" and at that last word he vaulted to
his
feet with his tray.
"Never argue with a Sicilian when death is on the line." Informed Stana
solomnly.
"so." Teri agreed blinking.
***
"Anime-- how typical of us," Teri said as they walked to the parking lot
after
dinner. Stana was going to get her movies from the car (the Princess
Bride was
an all time classic that any person who claims to know movies at all
must have
nearly, if not completely, memorized), as was Teri.
"What does your car look like?" Asked Paul, taking charge in the search
for
her vehicle. Pretty sure she could find it herself, Teri nonetheless
responded.
"Green civic.... but you have to stay at least fifty-feet away from it."
Stana and Paul blinked in confusion.
"One of those car-alarms?" Paul made his voice soft "Please step away
from the
car-- I repeat, step away from the car."
Stana smirked, "At fifty feet?"
Teri giggled while Paul shrugged in defense. "Actually-- i just don't
want you
guys to see what a sty my car is."
"Oh, dont' worry about that," Cu quipped, "Paul's used to that sort of
thing--
you should see his ROOM."
He coughed. "For your information, my room is spotless. THank you VERY
much."
"ooooh, I'm impressed!" Stana veered off to her right, towards Chance.
"I had a kick-ass station wagon a while ago--" Teri remarked, looking
around
for her car.
"You? In a station wagon?" Paul started laughing, and Teri gave him a
not-
amused glance.
"Don't make fun of my station-wagon. It happened to be very cool--"
"I bet."
Teri mock-glared at him, in silence, before continuing. "I couldn't
decide
between Harold or Maude as a name-- it was definitely female--"
"Of course"
Another pause. "Fine. Nevermind."
"I was just kidding--"
"Nope, no, that's just fine--"
"Teri--"
Teri broke into a grin, "I'm teasing you-- don't get so stressed! Now
stay
here." Paul, smiling a little hesitantly, stood in the middle of the
lane
while the girl walked a ways to her car. Stana came up behind him with
her
movies.
"Where'd she go?" Stana handed the tapes to Paul, who nodded in Teri's
general
direction. She could be seen bobbing in and out of her car.
"hey-- what's taking so long!" Stana yelled with a grin, as the other
girl
shut her door and staggered from behind the other cars-- completely
hidden by
the amount of tapes she was carrying.
Paul dropped The Princess Bride. Stana shut her mouth with an audible
snap,
and tapped Paul's chin to remind him to do the same.
"Don't just stand there-- help me with these!" came a muffled rebuke
from
Teri.
"what-- how many did you BRING?!" Paul managed to get out as he started
pulling tapes from Teri's arms.
"All 13 volumes of Fushigi Yuugi, plus the two OAV's, and.. let's see...
The
first coupla Marmalade Boys, Tokyo Revelation, and Please Save my
Earth."
Paul and Stana exchanged a look as Teri launched into a detailed
plot-synopsis
of the 20-volume Marmalade Boy Series, as well as Fushigi Yuugi. And
they had
thought THEY were into anime...
***
Paul opened the door to his room and proceeded inside, setting the tapes
down on the floor in front of his dresser next to the tv and vcr. Teri
and
Stana followed his lead and relieved their burdens to the floor.
Stana looked around, "Wow, Paul, it IS clean....what did ya do?"
Paul looked back, and seeing a perfect oportunity to paraphrase from one
of his favorite movies said, "Well, I can give 2 reasons: either one
conclusive. First, the room was a deplorable mess, and the dust and
grime
was not very well conducive to the general well being of my health,
being
that it is Spring and my allergies can act up..."
"And the second?" Stana prompted
"And the second," Paul echoed, "Well, that's my secret." (Name that
movie)
Teri and Stana gave each other a look and shrugged it off.
Paul continued, "Now, Ladies, if you would take your seats, what shall
we
watch first?"
Stana sat over by her friend, the Macintosh computer. "I don't know,
What
do you want to watch Teri?"
Teri sat in the cushiony chair by the beds and, bouncing up and down a
little,
said, "Hmmm, well, I'm not sure, so many things to choose from...What do
you
think, Paul?"
Paul stood there looking back at the 2 girls who where waiting for him
to
make a decision, ::How typical:: he thought, ::Sure, make ME choose
something.::
"Well," Paul said aloud, "How about 'The Princess Bride' to start, since
I know we all like that one."
After recieving nods, Paul popped the tape in and prodeeded to sit on
the
bottom bed of the bunk-bed set up with the remote controls.
***
Teri was getting bored. Sure, she knew that The Princess Bride was an
all-time
classic... and she liked it, she really did. She knew some (not all) of
the
words... but it just got BORING sometimes. And her e-mail was calling
her.
But she didn't want to check it-- how utterly tasteless to check your
email
while visiting with friends. But.. But.. she was bored, and she wanted
to see
if her friends had written her back-- and if she checked her e-mail, she
wouldn't be disturbing Paul and Stana while they enjoyed the movie...
"Paul? Can I check my e-mail real quick?" Paul nodded absently, still
totally
engrossed in mumbling all the dialogue to the movie, under his breath.
Teri
blinked, shrugged, then went over to the Mac, where Stana was-- she too,
engrossed, glassy-eyed, with the movie, mumbling the words softly.
Teri leaned towards the computer, twisted a little so that she didn't
bump
stana, who was occupying the chair. As you know, it's always a little
difficult using a mouse when you're not right infront of the computer,
and as
it was, Teri was having a bit of trouble searching for America Online.
She
knew that Paul had had the program a while ago-- though some sort of
strange
bug had eaten up his account, so he no longer used it. But she didn't
think he
would have deleted the program so quickly-- after all, spiffy had AOL,
or
instant messenger, or something like that..
"Ah-- ok," she whispered as she found the program and clicked it up--
Mac's
weren't nearly as user-friendly as PC's ( =P ).
The program was taking awhile to load, that stupid little
circle-mouse-icon
thing was turning round and round. Teri tried clicking a
couple-of-times, as
if that would make the machine remember what it was trying to do, and
work
faster.
"C'mon--" she hit the monitor lightly, as Stana suddenly cried, "You
blocked!"
and Paul countered with, "of course!"
Teri shot a glance at the two while the program opened, then typed her
login-
stuff and connected. Mail! Great! She opened a file from some strange
address-- usually she just deleted anything she didn't recognize, but
this one
said "Hi Teri, It's me" in the subject heading... so she must know the
person,
right?
Reading the body, she saw that it contained an attached file of a
Fushigi
Yuugi picture-- so she immediately forwarded it to her friend Estella,
from
home. (Estella was another avid FY fan)... and then started downloading
the
file.
Suddenly the screen started flickering. Narrowing her eyes, Teri tapped
the
monitor again-- maybe there was smething wrong with it. The one at her
school's computer center turned pink randomly...
But the hit only made the screen flash a brilliant white that caused her
to
squeeze her eyes shut-- she cried out from the pain-- and fell
backwards,
knocking stana and her chair over in the process--- everything went
white--
then black-- and then cleared, leaving Paul's room completely empty of
people-- Princess Bride still playing in the background.