The Prince and the Plant Whisperer

The Stand-Off (Another View)

[~Posted 6/28/21]

In the distance, lightning flashes purple in the sky. From their speakers, Lilly's puts on some classic 90s songs. A Yo La Tengo song: "Autumn Sweater."

The song seems to cast a trance over the room. But still, Kai has a million questions.

The first:

How friggin long does it take someone to sober up!?

And:

When do you take someone to urgent care for alcohol poisoning?

The more complicated one:

Why is Lukas here too?

As she's lost in thought—and searching "alcohol poisoning" on her phone—the guys have started talking. They all seem to know each other.

Of course.

All upperclassmen, they all seem to be part of a elite crowd that runs the school. It's a crowd that exists far, far removed from Kai and Lilly's lives as nobodies—as forgettable freshmen. It's a crowd that Lilly's read about on campus forums.

But now, for some reason, a huge number of players in this power network.... had all ended up splayed out on their cheap, tiny, Ikea furniture.

"How's the business going?" Taeyong asks Lukas across the room.

"Good. Jungwoo's coming on board. You know him?"

"My man Jungwoo!" Taeyong grins. "We went to Andover together."

"Of course."

"You went to Exeter, no?"

Lukas nods.

Just as Kai decides they're speaking an alien language, Lukas pauses to explain to the two girls:

"These were boarding schools we went to. Sort of cousin schools."

Taeyong grins at the whole room. "Stuffy old boarding schools with stupid rules." He looked at Lukas. "Like did you guys also have the same rule we did? Where, if you bring a girl back to your room, both you and the girl need to keep one foot on the floor at all times?"

From the couch, Tom stirs."Whaaaa-a-a-ttt!?" Tom laughs softly to himself, tucking his chin down in his neck. "Was that supposed to keep kids from hooking up?"

"Yup."

Tom snickers: "Your school administrators never figured out that dirty deeds can be done standing up?"

Taeyong rolls his eyes, "Probably just a rule to make parents feel like their kids weren't running wild." Then he grins at Lukas. "D'you all have that rule too?" he asks.

Lukas shrugs. "No idea."

"No idea?"

Lukas responds, simply, "Never had a girl over to my room. Or a guy for that matter. Other than my roommate."

His response has snagged the full attention of Lilly, who swivels her head to stare at Lukas. Her mouth hangs open.

Yeah, Kai thinks. It's surprising.

Wouldn't someone like Lukas, at least've had a high-school girlfriend? Or fling?

Lilly just comes right out and asks: "You never had a girl over? Why not?"

To herself, Kai chuckles. Lilly 2.0, my fearless roommate. She realizes Lilly's put her psychologist hat on. She's trying to figure the guy out.

Lukas's gaze flickers over to them, nonchalant. "I'd just never met the right person." His voice catches a bit.

He looks over at Kai.

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What led to all this?

One hour earlier, just as the sky started turned dark, Lukas had been up in his fourth-floor dorm room. His roommates too, at their desks.

Suddenly they heard a commotion—shouting, from outside in the street. Ed Okoye tossed aside his econ textbook, jumped up and looked out the window.

"Dude vomited all over the street! And whoa—that limo's driving fast."

Tires screeched as he spoke.

Vien joined him. "Gross—why's that puke, like, lime green? Did he drink Mountain Dew?"

"That's Tom Levay, isn't it?!" Ed mused. "That debate whiz? He won last year's poli-sci essay award."

Silent, Lukas stood up to stand next to his roommate.

And then his jaw clenched.

Kai was there on the sidewalk, next to Tom.

The dance!

She was in a dress—not the revealing thing from the Tyvek package Lukas tore open. Another dress. More like what he'd imagined she'd choose to wear. Even in the amber light of streetlamps, her arms looked graceful—healthy and tan against her cream-colored dress.

Her hair was pulled back, revealing glimpses of her neck. She was on her phone.

A moment later, Tom's little brother joined the crowd.

And then: animated discussion. Hand-waving. Gesticulating.

Which finally led to Kai and Tom's friend each putting an arm under Tom's armpit, and hauling him over to the front gate, as Tom stumbled along.

Like he was under a spell, Lukas headed downstairs, bounding down the steps, two at a time.

. . * * * * . . . . . .
. . . . * * * * . . . .
. . . . . . * * * * . .

Down in the courtyard, the air was cool. Lukas's hair was ruffled; he hadn't looked in the mirror before heading downstairs. From a bench about three meters away, he watched as Kai and her friends wrangled with Tom.

Then Lukas understood: They were trying to get Tom over toward their entryway.

The hairs on Lukas's neck stood up.

Kai'd been bent over the whole time, consumed by her task. Her face was obscured. He couldn't read her expression. He needed to see her.

And then he got his chance. She briefly glanced up, looking past him.

Suddenly he understood, with crystal clarity:

She didn't like Tom!

He'd seen Kai's face, her expressions. That day they did the psych experiment together, he'd seen her turn animated as she reacted to things strongly. He watched her face glow with inward thoughts, and excitement, and feeling.

Not a trace of that intensity was there when she was around Tom. Just the killer-mode intense focus—which came on like a light switch, when she tried to solve a problem.

Still—this Tom Levay. Heading up to Kai's room! Getting himself an invite, by being a sloppy mess.

That was no good.

His fist clenched, Lukas decided to make a move.

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🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

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