That Freaking Marcus Baker

So, Marcus

The University of Wellsbury loomed in front of me as a huge newfangled building full of panoramic windows and designer staircases. I was not eager to study here at all, but my parents adhered to the position that a change in the environment, especially related to a new university would slightly correct my brain and make me more serious. I think it makes no sense to tell the story of my confrontation with them because right now I am standing in front of the main entrance to the university administration building and watching in frustration as my taxi moves farther and farther away in the direction I came from.

I scanned the area skeptically. A huge cloth flag hung over the archway of the entrance said "Welcome to Wellsbury!" The university doors kindly invited me to enter, but my feet remained firmly on the ground. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't have left my hometown, university, and friends, as if nothing had happened, to spend a year in an unknown place on the other side of the country.

Now, I think, is the time to get acquainted. My name is Alice Brooks and I'm a 19-year-old idiot, who let all my fuckups float out, giving my parents a perfect reason to send me here to Wellsbury. I felt how somewhere in my solar plexus something began to burn unpleasantly. Homesickness was already creeping through my veins, and my hands were sweating in anticipation of the new environment.

All my insides agreed that I urgently needed to smoke. Having not dared to enter the administration building, I first wanted to find an inconspicuous place in which neither I nor my cigarettes would attract attention. So I hurriedly walked away from the hospitable doors and walked along the stone path along with the building, examining the grounds of my new university with imaginary curiosity. The beginning of autumn had not yet had time to reflect on the green lawns, and the smell of recently mown grass seemed like summer.

Moving away from the main building, I stood at the edge of the road. Then all my movements were purely automatic: jacket pocket – pack – cigarette – jeans pocket –lighter – click. But the last one let me down for some reason and the click did not work. I tried again, definitely angry. Of course, I was angry at the fucking lighter, which ran out of gas at the most inopportune moment, but more I felt contempt for myself because I had driven myself into such a stupid situation.

Probably, I clacked the lighter too zealously in the hope that at least a spark would fall on me, that I did not even notice the shock of black hair that appeared nearby. I shivered as I felt the rush of warmth near my face. The stranger's click worked, and I, lighting my cigarette, finally looked up.

The first thing that caught my eye was brown eyes with the deep color of whiskey & cola. Those were some kind of detached, framed by very long eyelashes. Then – the cheekbones, sharper than the blades with which I loved to play as a child. And plump, half-open lips without a single hint of a smile. The brunet appeared in front of me for a short moment, waited for my cigarette to light up, and, smoothly taking his eyes away from me, left.

Either a moment of surprise, or heightened interest made me follow him with my gaze until the moment when his dark coat disappeared behind one of the buildings. My cigarette slowly smoldered, and I didn't even notice if I exhaled smoke after the first puff. The face of a stranger stood still in my mind. He appeared out of nowhere and rescued me with his working lighter. With no words, with no greeting, and without my gratitude. If everyone in Wellsbury is so weird but friendly, I guess I'll get used to it.

After finishing the rest of my cigarette, I managed to remember that I needed to register, but now this action didn't make me panic. I should've thanked this attractive brunet for being the red herring. A few minutes later, I was again standing in front of a huge cloth sign "Welcome to Wellsbury!" Assuming the fate of my suitcase, I finally decided to go inside the building to officially become a part of this university.