muggle

As with many days so far into this fall term, Michal had once again taken to lounging outside on the hill in front of his fraternity. With his sunglasses on and baseball hat pushed back, he could say he felt pretty cool. Chill. Lax, even, for someone who had yet again skipped class for the day. Instead, he found it completely necessary to practice his catching and throwing skills, which had been reduced to randomly tossed the ball up and catching it in the net of his lacrosse stick as he lay on the grass, looking up at the sky.

This week had been hectic, with endless pledge events, presidential duties constantly needing attending to, pre-season practice--- he would complain that he barely found time to do his work, but that would be a lie. Michal Conway Lynch never made it a point to do school work unless absolutely necessary.

A body crashed down next to him, and Michal dropped his lacrosse stick into the grass at the prospect of face-to-face entertainment.

"I hate class," Seth Wadcock let out, tossing book bag in hand to the ground. Michal sat up slightly, a vague recognition of greeting his best friend and roommate.

"Be like me and don't go," he responded, shrugging smugly under his shades. But Seth let out an impatient noise and turned his head to look out on the domain that was their fraternity's front yard.

It was undeniable, their house was the greatest on campus concerning location; sitting directly in front of the football field (which turned into the lacrosse field come spring) on a hill, there was no greek housing realty comparison. It rightfully reigned over the sports area of the campus, and while the house itself could have seen better days, the sheer iconic image of the house on the hill was more than enough to make up for it's general shabbiness.

Plus, dually, living atop a small hill made great fun of people watching down below. Speaking of---

Michal snapped to get Seth's attention, then directed his gaze down the hill and across the field towards the image of one of their pledges and a girl. Both Michal and Seth watched as Howell Williams held a small blonde close, towering over her as they kissed somewhat discreetly, and very intensely, behind a line of trees.

"She's not greek," Michal let out indignantly, pulling his shades down to get a better look. The couple eventually parted, and after what seemed like a verbal exchange, Michal and Seth watched Howell watch the girl walk away until she was completely out of sight. He then briefly ran his hand through his hair, hitched his bag over his shoulder again, and slowly turned to follow the path up to the house.

"GDI," Seth sighed, shaking his head heavily and dropping back down to the ground on his elbows.

"Who's a god damn independent?" Vinny Gudgeon called from behind, rolling out the grill onto the grass behind them. Friday afternoons ritually included a brother bonding event of eating meat and drinking beer.

"The girl Tree Trunks is apparently sucking face with," Seth responded casually. He picked at the grass as he spoke, a condescending grin on his face.

"And the girl you're currently dating is...?" Vinny asked nonchalantly, making Michal snort and Seth's face sour. It was a running joke to bring up their brother's rather obvious dry spell, for ever since his disastrous break-up with the none other Mirabelle Jasper, Seth hadn't been able to manage any kind of feminine interaction longer than an hour-long dinner date. Rumor had it Mira'd blacklisted Seth completely within the panhellenic community, something Michal hadn't believed until recently overhearing two pledges talking about how it was such a shame that no one was allowed to go near such a pretty body and face in the dining hall.

Michal figured it was for the best that Seth found out about none of that.

"Ha ha," Seth let out dryly, not even bothering to turn his head. Vinny laughed, and Michal would have too if he hadn't been so focused on the approaching figure slowly walking up the hill.

"Who was that, then?" he asked Howell promptly.

"Who?" Howell responded warily, tightening his grip on his bag.

"That girl," Seth demanded. With his free hand, he made a vague indication of long wavy hair. "We saw you down there."

When their pledge didn't immediately respond, Michal was quick to jump. "You have to tell us if you're dating someone." A rule only ever enforced to torture their pledges a bit further. What was brotherhood without divulging all personal information at the tip of a hat? He looked at Howell expectantly, as did Seth and Vinny, though Michal chose not to notice that they looked more amused than anything.

"I'm not," Howell spoke in a low tone, his face steadily turning red. And, after a couple of beats, carefully added, "just like everyone else here."

Vinny let out a stifled laugh, but it was soon quieted once Howell's words sank in. Michal went to open his mouth, and put their pledge in his place, when a sweetly feminine voice filled all eight of their ears.

"You look like a bunch of sun-obsessed airheads out here," Larkin Whitby almost appeared from nowhere, her hair bouncing freshly with each step. Michal's eyes briefly took in her long legs before raising his gaze up her entire body, once again feeling the ever-present desire to have her wrapped around him. He withdrew a sigh, and withheld his extreme annoyance at Howell, who was currently having his shoulder rested on by Larkin.

"What are you doing here?" Michal demanded instead, ignoring the subtle snickers behind him.

"Hello to you too, lovely," Larkin replied effortlessly, her shades falling slightly as she ducked her chin to look down at him. She stepped forward, and as she did, Howell quickly slid out of her grasp, mumbling something about Adrian Mattias asking him to bring a hot sub and a complex salad from the dining hall.

"Has the sun totally fried up your brain?" Michal frowned and pushed aside the thought that he enjoyed that green color of her dress on her skin. He did not reply, as he decided it would give her too much satisfaction.

"President's dinner? With the president. Remember?"

Oh.

Michal scrambled up to his feet, but as leisurely as possible. Perhaps he had forgotten about that small dinner the president of the college was hosting for its Greek presidents--- there were worser things. But nonetheless a completely mandatory event which even he could not skip out on.

"How could you forget about that?" Seth demanded, which earned a silencing glare. Michal brushed off his front.

"We have to be there in twenty minutes," Larkin said, and she began to follow Michal as he left his things, and his friends, behind to briskly walk back toward his room.

"I know!" he responded, waving his hand at her. It wasn't until he'd barged into his room that he realized she had followed him the whole way. "What?" he wondered aloud, watching in displeasure as she began to rifle through his closet unabashedly.

"You'll need help if you're going to at least attempt looking better and well-behaved than Caradoc and Archie," Larkin explained, not even bothering to look at him as she snapped through the hangers. Michal held his tongue, for she was right. Greek politics were only always heightened in the presence of adult faculty, and with the beginning of the new year, house rivalry was at its peak. He supposed he should be thanking Larkin for being helpful, but the entirely bitter and obsessed with her side of him knew she was only doing so because she practically majored in torturing him, and knew the social standing of his house did reflect hers, and vise versa.

He slumped to his bed, and let out a silent sigh as he realized this once again counted as a time that he had Larkin Whitby alone in his room and she not paying attention to him in the slightest. Wonderful. Another case of beer to Seth.

Michal fell back to his mattress, and covered his hands over his face. Several ties came flying at him at once, but he made no move to pick them up. This was just going to be so great. With his luck, he'd be seated between Archie and Larkin, who would spend the entire time fawning over each other and talking about their generally great and flawless selves.

He let out a disgruntled and gurgled noise, to which Larkin promptly stated was gross. What a great day this had started off as.

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