A Lesson Due (Riley)

[François Laffont]

François rarely spent time in the student lounge. It was often too crowded for him. But since he was slowly getting control over his ability, and because Frank dragged him, here he was, sitting on the couch where his friend and him had been playing a bit of video games before he gave up, not being so great and watched her instead.

She was gone now. She had yet another thing to do or perhaps a random, funny thought came through her mind and she forgot she was the one who had him come here in the first place. Not like he minded. He excused the girl for running off. She probably went for some food or whatever she may choose to nibble on since anything was food to her. Anyway, he could find his way out of her and back to town with no problem at all. Just because he was not coming here a lot didn’t mean he had no idea where the lounge was located.

People had started to gather but it was still quieter than what he expected. He supposed most people were still busy with either a class or training. Still, he stood up and walked towards the pool table to watch a game at hand. It was nice and François was doing his best not to read anything he’d wish not to. Instead, he tried to focus on the game, even if he never found it all that interesting.

There were many emotions around. Some were tired and wanted rest, some were excited, others frustrated. He picked up a few vibes of attraction but of course he had no idea what the joy, anger or infatuation was directed towards of. He stopped staring at the pool balls more at the people gathered around. He saw a guy looking at him and not an ugly one at that. He smiled but tried to control himself. He didn’t know the guy and he probably was straight. Not wanting to show too much that he was actually flirting a bit, he lowered his head and turned around to walk back to a seat, only to bump onto someone. “Sorry,” he apologized, looking again in the direction of where the guy first was. He wasn’t there anymore. Probably left to meet with some friends. He sighed and figured he should sit down before hitting anyone again.