From: CyraLin Save Address Block Sender Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 13:49:29 EDT Subject: Our Pre=Post "Why did I tell her to meet me in Admin?" Stana asked herself for the fourth time, glaring at the red light that was holding her up. Ever since she had sworn off speeding as a hobby she could never seem to get anywhere on time... "Come on." she urged the light. "C'mon c'mon c'mon....Chance, why does this happen to me?" Chance was her car-- and although she WAS insane enough to ask-- Stana did draw the line at receiving an answer. The car ran contentedly and waited for the light to change with more patience than his driver. Yes...HIS driver. Chance was definitely a male. If a car could have a gender. Which hers did. Didn't everyone's? The light finally turned and Stana directed Chance into the parking lot tucked in behind Admin. Pulling her pocket bible out and stuffing it into her pants' pockets. She grabbed her patchwork bear Woodstock and headed for the door. **** Teri pulled into the smallish parking lot and yanked the emergency brakes on, the car into neutral. Leaving the car running to listen to the radio, she dug her little black bag out of her book bag and repositioned her rear- view mirror. Mumbling about the circles under her eyes, she unzipped the small shiny bag and dug through her make-up. Fingers running past deoderant, razor, toothbrush and toothpaste, floss, tweezers, a condom and some pina colada flavored lubricant (just for sentimental purposes; they were given as a gag gift during a musical she was in: she didn't like pina colada anyway), she grabbed her concealer and applied under her eyes. Debating whether to put on make-up or not (she didn't consider under-eye-concealer to be make-up: it was simply a fact of and necessity of life) she opted for a natural looking lipstick and some lip gloss. She didn't usually wear much-- she just liked to have it. And she didn't particularly care whether that old man a few cars away was watching her put on makeup with a humored expression. What did men know about primping, anyway? *** Paul flashed the mirror a dazzling smile, coughed into his hand, and tried again. "Hello, I'm Paul... I'm... Paul. Hi. I'm Paul." The reflection in the mirror, so absolutely charmed, nearly nodded in approval. Paul combed his hair back, grateful that, for today at least, it wasn't at all pouffy, and then returned his attention back to his bureau. Cologne, comb, floss, toothbrush.... *** Pulling out a hairbrush from her bag, Teri struggled with her abnormally thick hair before twisting it into a half-bun and throwing the hairbrush back where it came from. She leaned over and scooped all of the various necessary junk she needed for travelling and dumped those into her book bag, as well, before turning the car off, locking the door, and hopping around to the trunk. She grabbed her sleeping bag, pillow, and having completed the tedious, boring, but necessary task of grabbing all of her belongings, set off for new adventures on the Kutztown campus. She was supposed to meet Stana at the admissions building, that being the easiest to find from the parking lot, and tried to look cool toting her overstuffed book bag, sleeping bag, and pillow. She just couldn't go anywhere without her pillow. It takes many years to prepare or find a perfect pillow. The breeze was soft against her cheek, and she looked around with a critical eye as she walked the path to the admissions building. She paused, kicking the straps of her clogs over her heels so that she could climb the stairs without losing her shoes, and juggled her belongings to a more comfortable position...She looked up at the staircase and saw a young woman walking down towards her. Trying to wrack her brain for details, she hoped that this was Stana, and that she would be able to put down most of her stuff sometime soon. "Stana?" she asked as the woman neared her on the staircase. The girl looked up, blinked a few times, then continued on her way. "Guess not.." Teri mumbled and continued climbing. Panic threatened -- she didn't like being lost, not knowing where she was going, and she hated having to wait in a strange place, with strangers watching her. She put on a "I'm totally confident and LIKE carrying around lots of shit to a place I don't know how to get to" look, and finished the stairs, a little pink in the face. "Ok, the admissions building" she muttered, setting down her sleeping bag and sitting on it in front of the main doors. She debated taking out her book, or some paper to doodle on, but chose instead to watch the students walking or running around the campus. A tall boy with dark hair walked by, looked at her strangely, and then kept walking. Teri felt a chill on her neck and let her hair down as she turned her attention away. She chanted Stana's name over and over in her head while trying to look comfortable and nonchalant, and waited. Usually she was late for everything, but had managed, for once in her life, to arrive early at the admissions center. "C'mon stana...." A tall girl with wavy chestnut hair in a pony-tail rounded the edge of the building and waved. "Teri?" she said hesitantly, with a smile. "Stana?" How could it not be-the Speed Racer shirt and the Racer X hat were dead giveaways. Not to mention the teddy-bear under the crook of her arm. "Yeah! Good to see you!" They hugged, Stana took Teri's sleeping bag, and they made their way down the path, Teri following Stana's lead. "I dunno why I told you to meet me here." Stana admitted. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. We're to meet Paul at University Place, called UP, and Spiffy will catch up with us later. Class or work I'm not sure." "Where's your stuff?" Teri asked. "Left it in Chancey-- my car. I'll spend the night up here" she indicated the Old Main building with a nod."so it's silly to drag it all down. Besides-- I'm dragging your stuff down so we'll both look like we haven't a clue." "And Paul is meeting us?" "Supposed to-- he's a guy though. Might be out doing manly things." Teri giggled "you mean like breastbeating?" She nodded with a grin "Or practicing his mating call...." "Or dancing around a citronella candle at dusk, in only his boxer-shorts?" Stana paused and gave Teri a look, before adding, "Or roasting sliced turkey,on a stick, over the flame..." "Or-" "Things better left unsaid," Stana finished, winking. Teri chuckled and dropped her keys into her leather jacket. "You've walked in on those moments, too, I see." "I think we're going to get along just fine!" They grinned. Teri's stomach rumbled... loudly. Her eyes instantly snapped wide and she flashed an embarrassed and self-amused smile at Stana. "My stomach-- it.. always rumbles like that." Stana nodded and grinned. "hungry?" they rounded a corner, and Teri could swear she smelled french fries. "Not really, no." Her stomach growled again, and she tapped it, commanding silence. "Tho I think my tummy's telling me differently. I dont' want to eat right now, though." "Well as soon as we meet up with Paul, we'll get something to eat, k?" "Yup!" "Ok, this is UP.." Stana said with mock-grandeur in her voice as she waved her arm at the dorm. Teri looked it over with approval. "I think I had a conversation with Paul about this place once.." Stana just shrugged and dropped the sleeping bag lightly on the grass. Sitting down with her back against a tree, she looked up at Teri, who was still standing, looking around, holding her bag and her pillow. "You certainly don't pack light, do you?" Teri was roused from her reverie. "Huh?" "Knowing Paul, we'll probably be here awhile.. you might want to put your stuff down or something." Teri grinned and dropped her bag. "Well.. I can relate. I'm at least four minutes late to everything. I'm planning on being late to my own funeral." Stana blinked. "It's an.. old.. saying. Nevermind, it wasn't funny." Stana grinned. Teri gave one of those "Heh, heh, I just made a fool out of myself" grins back and lounged on the ground, playing with the grass under her fingers. She liked the smell of this place-- warm with spring, but still light and sharp. **** Teri was absent-mindedly ripping the grass around her to shreds when Stana looked at her watch and said, "What time were we supposed to meet him?" "I don't know-- I only talked to you about times." "Never mind. He's not coming." "What?" Teri looked up in disbelief, "We've been sitting here for what seems like days, and he's not coming to get us?" "Looks like a negative on that one." Stana picked herself off the ground and looked quickly around again. Teri made a VERY vexed sound. "He stood us up!" She was fuming. Stana's eyes widened a little with humor. "It's not a date..." "BUT STILL!" "Could be I just got the times screwed up. Maybe we are supposed to meet him at five, instead..." She smirked while Teri brushed the piles of torn grass off her pants and violently shouldered her bag. Grumbling under her breath she turned bright eyes at the other woman and said, "Let's go get some coffee." *** "I can't believe he stood us up.." Teri was talking to her coffee now, glaring at the curls of steam that rose from the cup. Stana sat, lounging with a cup of hot chocolate, watching amusedly as the younger girl continued to persecute her beverage. "Get over it. Like I said-- it's probably a simple mistake. If not, we'll just flay him later." Teri looked up and smiled slyly. "Ooooooh yes.... we'll flay him..." The two giggled. Taking a sip of her coffee, Teri thought briefly on the many methods of punishment she might be able to inflict on Paul, relishing the fantasy before dispelling it into the realms of the, sadly, impossible. Back to practicality. "So where am I staying? I want to dump this stuff somewhere-- It's not very cool to be walking around carrying shitloads of overnight stuff..." Stana blinked and put down her mug. "I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier-- we could go to Sharon's room and dump your stuff. THat's where we'd be staying anyway. I'm sorry, I didn't think.." "No problem. Sharon?" Teri sipped the last of her coffee, tucked the multitude of empty sugar packets into a neat, curled bundle inside the empty cream container, and set everything neatly for the waitress to collect. Stana watched all this with a smile and nodded. "My former roomate. I call her UnMonk." "Like you're called CuMonk" "Exactly" "See? I pick up on these things pretty quickly." Teri winked and shouldered, yet again, her many belongings. "However, I have never learned from my mistakes when it comes to packing-- I always bring too much shit." Suddenly the sweet aroma of french vanilla cappuccino wafted over to Teri, and her eyes widened, her mouth went slack. Turning sharply, drawn by the heat in her blood, she walked towards the counter... "Teri? I thought we were leaving... Teri.. Teri come back here..." Stana put down the sleeping bag and followed the girl, who was digging through her pockets for change.. "Coffee... " she mumbled almost inaudibly, unconsciously under her breath. She simpered at the coffee-attendent while she fumbled around in her pants for money, and the attendent grinned back. "Stana? Do you have a buck? I have it in my bag.. somewhere..." her eyes were glassy with anticipation, "but I dont' want to dig through it right.. .. hey...hey..hey what are you doing?" Stana had grabbed her arm, and was dragging Teri towards the door before she knew it. She picked up the sleeping bag from the floor and pulled the struggling caffeine addict out of the store.. "STana... hey.. stana.. coffee.. c'mon.. one more... stana..." Teri protested until they were out of the shop, the glass keeping the tantalizing aroma of various caffeinated beverages at bay. Straightening her jacket she gave Stana a perturbed, pouting glare and followed the older girl down the street back towards campus. Stana grinned and then stopped. Teri just managed to avoid ramming into her and grumbled. "Ohmigosh!" Cu (stana) exclaimed in a panic, patting down her pockets. "Woodstock!" "What?" "Stay right there! I'll be back in a sec." She went back into the Coffee shop hastily. Stana went directly to the table she had just occupied and spied- Nothing! Woodstock was gone! ::Ok...don't panic...who would steal a patchwork bear...maybe a neurotic brat who likes to blow up toys...WAAAAAhhhhhhhhhh!!!:: "Excuse me." asked a voice behind her. Stana twirled and saw a waitress holding out Woodstock and her Bible. "You left these" "YES!" she swiped her teddy and hugged it protectively, daring anyone to snicker with a glare. "Thank you so much!" She turned, suddenly remembering she had left Teri standing out there alone and headed back out. Then she blinked, looked up the hill, and down...no one. With a knowing drop to her stomach Stana waded grimly back into the coffee shop and emerged moments later dragging a protesting High schooler along. "So what happened?" Teri inquired, sipping her cafe au lait with smiling eyes and rosey cheeks. When Stana handed her a Teddy bear, ragged and in desperate need of repair she shook her head in confusion. "It was my dad's teddy. He gave it to me." she took the patchwork back and looked into it's single button eye. "I call him woodstock." a serious tone replaced the amusement "my father died August 30th 1991. My stepmother sent us a box full of junk and broken articles as "souvenirs." this is one of the few things I have left of my dad." "Sorry." "Not a biggie. Happened a long time ago. Besides she's eating sour grapes not me. C'mon let's go hassle Unmonk for some floor space!" ***** Paul stood there looking into his closet, trying to decide what to wear. :Brown or Black?: He was pondering thoughtfully; he had waited a long time to meet Teri and wanted to make a good impression. ::I can't believe she's actually going to be here in..: Paul looked at the clock "Shit, five minutes ago!!" Paul hurridley chose his Black jeans and red cotton dockers button down shirt and threw on a black leather vest over it. Then he ran into the bathroom checked his hair for the umpteenth time and brushed his teeth, then jogging out of his suite and out along the cat walk. Entering the front building, he jumped down the first flight of stairs to the landing then made the turn and jumped down the next flight to the next landing. Hopping down the last three steps, he nodded to the guy sitting behind the desk and went out the front door. As Paul stepped outside the building, he looked around with scanning eyes: he saw Stana sitting in the grass and started to take a few steps toward her. His eyes continued to wander, and he saw, sitting on the opposite side of Stana, Teri....He knew it was Teri. ::Oh my...:: Paul stopped in his tracks and just took a moment to take in her beauty. ::Much MUCH better than the Picture, and the picture is quite nice.:: Paul finished closing the distance between him and Stana and just stood there for a second until Stana noticed that a pair of feet had stopped next to her. She looked up, and said, "Oh, hi Paul", and began standing up. Teri looked up from where she was ripping grass and filling her now-empty coffee cup with the broken blades. Her eyes flashed. She likewise stood up, taking her time, and met eyes with Paul. For a moment time seemed to stop for Paul-- just the two of them were there. Then Paul smiled charmingly, "Hello Teri, It's great to finally meet you" "You too." Teri said and they continued to look at each other, a flirtatious- half-smirk playing on Teri's lips. Stana played with the fur of her teddy bear and coughed politely. "We dropped our stuff off already--" "Yeah," Teri interrupted, crossing her arms, "Where've you been? We've been waiting here for over a half hour..." "Not to mention the fifteen minutes in the coffee shop--" "Weren't we supposed to meet around three?" Teri looked at Stana for confirmation. "Three, right?" Stana nodded hesitantly. "Three?" Paul blinked. "I thought it was four--" "I'm pretty sure I said three," Stana said. "No, it was definitely four, because I had--" There was a loud rumble which cut Paul off. Teri's face was beat red, her arms instantly curled over her stomach. Stana giggled. "I've had to put up with this for nearly an hour!" the older girl jibed. Teri, still blushing, retorted with, "Yeah well if I'd been told the right TIME to get here, I might have had some time to get something to eat!" THe two grinned. Paul blinked. "My stomach... likes.. to talk a lot." Teri said and flashed a smile. Paul grinned back. "Well, let's get some food then, shall we?" "Oh Yeah...food is a good thing." She smiled. Paul nodded, "Yes, indeed....follow me" *** The Caf. Stana gazed in fascination at the nine plates that seemed to have multiplied like rabbits. She didn't recall Paul's having taken that many but the evidence was right beneath her nose. Teri to gazed in awe at the massive amount of food Paul had graciously bought her, and pushed her barely touched food away with her left had while reaching for a napkin with her right. Making a big production over the napkin, and such things, Teri attempted to hold Paul's attention. The diversion worked, Stana was able to hide the food without Paul noticing. She flashed Teri an "I told you so" grin and indicated her own choice of meal. A small bowl of Orange Sherbert. "So." Teri began. "So" contined Stana "So." stated Paul. "So?" Teri prompted more forcefully "what does a gal have to do around here to have some fun?" "Define fun." Stana inquired "Computer spodding, razzing the Freshmen, Bible Fellowhip, Drink and duck parties-" "Drink and duck?" "A coined phrase." the older girl explined pushing her glasses back up her nose "you watch others get drunk and duck when a) the cops come or B) they reach the vomiting stage of drunkeness." "PAh. So." Teri understood "So." Paul agreed. "SO." the freckled one expressed "what were you thinking-and no, Caffeine is not one of the options." "Spoilsport." "Flattery will get you everywhere except the Coffee shop." Teri stuck out her tongue and smiled dazzlingly at Paul. "I have moutain Dew in mine and Spiffy's Fridge." he said shrugging. "Along with some Girls Scout cookies and more Ramen than you could imagine." "He does." Stana agreed "I've seen it-I think they are breeding Ramen noodles-everytime I go there, more packages are visible." "We could watch some movies?" Paul suggested "Slayers?" "I have my Orange Road vids in the car...?" Stana added "and the Princess Bride." "Hallo" Paul mimicked in a Spanish accent "My name is Inigo Montoya-you killed my father-prepare to DIE!" and at that last word he vaulted to his feet with his tray. "Never argue with a Sicilian when death is on the line." Informed Stana solomnly. "so." Teri agreed blinking. *** "Anime-- how typical of us," Teri said as they walked to the parking lot after dinner. Stana was going to get her movies from the car (the Princess Bride was an all time classic that any person who claims to know movies at all must have nearly, if not completely, memorized), as was Teri. "What does your car look like?" Asked Paul, taking charge in the search for her vehicle. Pretty sure she could find it herself, Teri nonetheless responded. "Green civic.... but you have to stay at least fifty-feet away from it." Stana and Paul blinked in confusion. "One of those car-alarms?" Paul made his voice soft "Please step away from the car-- I repeat, step away from the car." Stana smirked, "At fifty feet?" Teri giggled while Paul shrugged in defense. "Actually-- i just don't want you guys to see what a sty my car is." "Oh, dont' worry about that," Cu quipped, "Paul's used to that sort of thing-- you should see his ROOM." He coughed. "For your information, my room is spotless. THank you VERY much." "ooooh, I'm impressed!" Stana veered off to her right, towards Chance. "I had a kick-ass station wagon a while ago--" Teri remarked, looking around for her car. "You? In a station wagon?" Paul started laughing, and Teri gave him a not- amused glance. "Don't make fun of my station-wagon. It happened to be very cool--" "I bet." Teri mock-glared at him, in silence, before continuing. "I couldn't decide between Harold or Maude as a name-- it was definitely female--" "Of course" Another pause. "Fine. Nevermind." "I was just kidding--" "Nope, no, that's just fine--" "Teri--" Teri broke into a grin, "I'm teasing you-- don't get so stressed! Now stay here." Paul, smiling a little hesitantly, stood in the middle of the lane while the girl walked a ways to her car. Stana came up behind him with her movies. "Where'd she go?" Stana handed the tapes to Paul, who nodded in Teri's general direction. She could be seen bobbing in and out of her car. "hey-- what's taking so long!" Stana yelled with a grin, as the other girl shut her door and staggered from behind the other cars-- completely hidden by the amount of tapes she was carrying. Paul dropped The Princess Bride. Stana shut her mouth with an audible snap, and tapped Paul's chin to remind him to do the same. "Don't just stand there-- help me with these!" came a muffled rebuke from Teri. "what-- how many did you BRING?!" Paul managed to get out as he started pulling tapes from Teri's arms. "All 13 volumes of Fushigi Yuugi, plus the two OAV's, and.. let's see... The first coupla Marmalade Boys, Tokyo Revelation, and Please Save my Earth." Paul and Stana exchanged a look as Teri launched into a detailed plot-synopsis of the 20-volume Marmalade Boy Series, as well as Fushigi Yuugi. And they had thought THEY were into anime... *** Paul opened the door to his room and proceeded inside, setting the tapes down on the floor in front of his dresser next to the tv and vcr. Teri and Stana followed his lead and relieved their burdens to the floor. Stana looked around, "Wow, Paul, it IS clean....what did ya do?" Paul looked back, and seeing a perfect oportunity to paraphrase from one of his favorite movies said, "Well, I can give 2 reasons: either one conclusive. First, the room was a deplorable mess, and the dust and grime was not very well conducive to the general well being of my health, being that it is Spring and my allergies can act up..." "And the second?" Stana prompted "And the second," Paul echoed, "Well, that's my secret." (Name that movie) Teri and Stana gave each other a look and shrugged it off. Paul continued, "Now, Ladies, if you would take your seats, what shall we watch first?" Stana sat over by her friend, the Macintosh computer. "I don't know, What do you want to watch Teri?" Teri sat in the cushiony chair by the beds and, bouncing up and down a little, said, "Hmmm, well, I'm not sure, so many things to choose from...What do you think, Paul?" Paul stood there looking back at the 2 girls who where waiting for him to make a decision, ::How typical:: he thought, ::Sure, make ME choose something.:: "Well," Paul said aloud, "How about 'The Princess Bride' to start, since I know we all like that one." After recieving nods, Paul popped the tape in and prodeeded to sit on the bottom bed of the bunk-bed set up with the remote controls. *** Teri was getting bored. Sure, she knew that The Princess Bride was an all-time classic... and she liked it, she really did. She knew some (not all) of the words... but it just got BORING sometimes. And her e-mail was calling her. But she didn't want to check it-- how utterly tasteless to check your email while visiting with friends. But.. But.. she was bored, and she wanted to see if her friends had written her back-- and if she checked her e-mail, she wouldn't be disturbing Paul and Stana while they enjoyed the movie... "Paul? Can I check my e-mail real quick?" Paul nodded absently, still totally engrossed in mumbling all the dialogue to the movie, under his breath. Teri blinked, shrugged, then went over to the Mac, where Stana was-- she too, engrossed, glassy-eyed, with the movie, mumbling the words softly. Teri leaned towards the computer, twisted a little so that she didn't bump stana, who was occupying the chair. As you know, it's always a little difficult using a mouse when you're not right infront of the computer, and as it was, Teri was having a bit of trouble searching for America Online. She knew that Paul had had the program a while ago-- though some sort of strange bug had eaten up his account, so he no longer used it. But she didn't think he would have deleted the program so quickly-- after all, spiffy had AOL, or instant messenger, or something like that.. "Ah-- ok," she whispered as she found the program and clicked it up-- Mac's weren't nearly as user-friendly as PC's ( =P ). The program was taking awhile to load, that stupid little circle-mouse-icon thing was turning round and round. Teri tried clicking a couple-of-times, as if that would make the machine remember what it was trying to do, and work faster. "C'mon--" she hit the monitor lightly, as Stana suddenly cried, "You blocked!" and Paul countered with, "of course!" Teri shot a glance at the two while the program opened, then typed her login- stuff and connected. Mail! Great! She opened a file from some strange address-- usually she just deleted anything she didn't recognize, but this one said "Hi Teri, It's me" in the subject heading... so she must know the person, right? Reading the body, she saw that it contained an attached file of a Fushigi Yuugi picture-- so she immediately forwarded it to her friend Estella, from home. (Estella was another avid FY fan)... and then started downloading the file. Suddenly the screen started flickering. Narrowing her eyes, Teri tapped the monitor again-- maybe there was smething wrong with it. The one at her school's computer center turned pink randomly... But the hit only made the screen flash a brilliant white that caused her to squeeze her eyes shut-- she cried out from the pain-- and fell backwards, knocking stana and her chair over in the process--- everything went white-- then black-- and then cleared, leaving Paul's room completely empty of people-- Princess Bride still playing in the background.