Patterns - An Academy Story

Whirlwinds And Introductions

"You choose what makes you happiest."

"Aaaahhh!" I pulled the hands away from my eyes and spun around. "Gabriel!" I whispered furiously, smacking at his hands. "You scared the you know what out of me!" I glared at both him and Luke, who was standing a few feet behind him trying to keep from laughing.

"Aww, don't be mad, sweetie, I didn't mean to scare you." His bright blue eyes danced with laughter. "But seriously, you're shopping for things without me? I'm wounded, Sang. How could you do this to me?" he asked, dramatically clasping his hands over his heart.

"I wasn't planning on shopping today," I huffed. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Lily, who was watching the exchange between me and Gabriel with amusement. "This is a spontaneous expedition prompted by a surprise visit," I told him as I selected the small lime green Dutch oven I had been looking at before he surprised me, and placed it in my basket.

"I was persuaded," I motioned towards Lily, "to tackle my decoration dilemma one room at a time, so I chose the kitchen as my first room."

"Lily, I'd like to introduce Gabriel Coleman and Luke Taylor. Gabriel, Luke, this is Lily Anderson."

Smiles lit up both Gabriel's and Luke's faces as they crossed to Lily with their hands extended. "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Luke told her as they all shook hands.

"Likewise," Lily responded. She fixed me with a look before turning back to face them with a smile on her face. "So tell me, gentlemen, how do y'all know Sang?"

Uh oh. Here comes the interrogation. "Lily," I sighed, shaking my head. "Luke was in the cooking class with me, and I met Gabriel at the track when I was qualifying last week. They're fine. They're both Academy."

"Well, that's good to know. I don't want my girl running around with just anyone."

I could feel my cheeks flush with embarrassment. "Lily, we aren't running around, we're... wait, why are you guys here?"

"We're here to check the class schedule. See if there's anything interesting coming up," Luke replied with a grin on his face. "We should get the whole group together to take a class. That would be fun, don't you think?"

I could feel several pairs of eyes on me. "What? Me, too?"

"Well, sweetheart, that sounds like that would be a fun activity to do with these boys, don't you think?"

Oh great, Lily is in a matchmaking mood again. And she doesn't even know that the two guys from the construction site are on the same team as Gabriel and Luke. I stifled the urge to roll my eyes at her. "Lily, we don't even know what's on the class calendar, let alone if my schedule will permit me to take another class."

"You won't find out just standin' there, either, darlin'. You go look at the schedule with these boys, and I'll take care of these," she said, gathering up my shopping basket. "Consider this your housewarming present. Now shoo! Shoo!"

"Okay, I'm shooing, I'm shooing," I chuckled, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, Lily."

"She seems really cool," Luke commented as we walked towards the classroom area.

"She is. Lily is great," I replied.

"Are you related?" Gabriel asked.

"No," I shook my head not wanting to say much about my background, "but she's like a mom to me." I was relieved that we'd arrive at the class bulletin board and didn't have to say anything else.

"What have we got. Hmm. 'How To Cook Without Burning Down Your Kitchen' sounds like the perfect class for you Gabe," Luke teased.

"Fuck you, Luke. I didn't burn it down. It was just the toaster that caught on fire."