Vinyl & Octavia: University Days

Chapter 2

-----

{[UNKNOWN NUMBER]}

>Yo it's Vinyl, how are we gonna do this?

Octavia sighed and reluctantly added the number to her contacts, having forgotten to do so the day before.

>Pistols at dawn?

The cellist smirked at her own joke.

{[VINYL]}

>Name a bar and a time, smartass.

Rolling her eyes, she replied quickly.

>Blues' Tavern, 7 PM

---

And so, as the Manehattan bell rang for the seventh time, Octavia found herself sitting in a corner booth watching the unicorn she despised approach wearing an equally disgusted expression behind dark purple shades.

The sounds of a lively bar wafted around them, but the two mares were cold to the happiness of others. Both were expecting nothing more than a few hours of tiring arguments that gradually grew less intelligible as the drinks piled up.

But of course, nothing turns out the way we expect.

"So," said Vinyl as she sat on the opposite side of the booth, putting the table between them. The situation was more than a bit awkward so she defaulted to her typical conversation starter. "What's up?"

"Absolutely nothing of concern to you," was the short reply.

Rolling her eyes behind her glasses, the DJ floated an untouched drink over from a table with a stallion passed out on it. "Drink this. Maybe it will help you pull that stick out your flank."

Octavia shook her head and didn't touch it. "I have yet to reach the legal drinking age."

"You're joking, right? How did you get in here?"

"They didn't ask, I didn't tell. Besides," she folded her hooves, "You can't be much older than me. We both came to university straight from high school, yes?"

"Actually... I kinda dropped out a year early." Vinyl seemed oddly reluctant to reveal that information.

"That makes sense," smirked the cellist.

"Hey! I didn't insult you when you refused a drink because you're underage, which is incredibly lame by the way, so why don't you try to be less of a snob in return?"

"Very well," she conceded. "How did you get into university if you didn't complete the last year of high school then?"

"I spent all of last year doing this scholarship program thingy. I don't regret dropping out, but I knew I had to do something else or I would just become one of those ponies who waste their lives living off welfare."

Octavia raised an eyebrow. "Why drop out in the first place if you knew it could jeopardise your future?"

Shifting uncomfortably, Vinyl looked away. "It was just... stuff, okay? Let's talk about something else."

"Alright then..."

"So when's your birthday?"

"In a couple of weeks."

"Cool."

"Indeed."

An awkward silence arose like a brick wall between them. DJ's were made to smash awkward silences.

"This is such a stupid homework assignment," muttered Vinyl. To her surprise, Octavia giggled in agreement. "Hey, I didn't know you could laugh!"

"Oh, how funny. I'm not as boring as you seem to think."