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Allura sighed and twiddled her pencil. She was bored. And from the looks of it, she wasn’t alone in her boredom. 5 days into the first semester of her freshman year of college- where was the fun? The booze, the boys? It was too boring. Allura needed some sort of change.
She took a pen out of her bag and snuck a bright pink sticky note from her neighbor’s stack. In her most fancy, loopy handwriting, Allura wrote the first thing she could think of and stuck the note under the desk, “I’m bored-A.” She smiled as the bell rang and left the lecture hall.
To be fair, any expectations Allura may have had went out the window when she realized she wouldn’t have Astronomy again for another day. Distraught, but not dejected though. So come Friday, she practically sprinted to class.
Allura wasn’t disappointed by her new sticky-note buddy. Pro: Who ever wrote back used bright blue notes and wrote in dark green sharpie, easy to spot. Con: Their handwriting was horrible. Slanty and in all caps, ew. Pro: They liked the class. Con: They had no idea what was actually going on.
It was a weird thing to have to explain to her friends and weirder to explain to the janitors why they absolutely couldn’t ever touch the notes. But it was all worth it when they started getting more personal in the notes. A few weeks after the notes began, she asked their name.
Her pen/sharpie pal said his name was Lance. He was a sophomore who had no idea what to major in. He liked cats, pop songs, and stars. He had a girlfriend, Nyma- she reminded him of a cat. He lived with a roommate, Hunk- he liked listening to pop music to study.
Allura used the notes almost like a diary. She shared some of her past. Her parents had died when she was young and left her with a relative. She later wrote to Lance about this relative, her uncle Coran and her best friend, Shiro. He was an astronaut currently on the ISS. That’s why she liked stars.
“Why do you like the stars?” Allura once wrote.
“Stars move, but they take a long time to change. I am a star,” was Lance’s response.
It neared the end of the first quarter when one day, the notes stopped. Allura wasn’t worried at first, but after 3 classes of no notes, she grew concerned. After the fifth consistent class without the comforting blue notes under the desk, she decided to ask the professor.
“Professor Honerva?” Allura said, approaching her after class.
“Ah, yes. Give me a second with this student, please,” Professor Honerva responded before turning back to the boy in front of her. “So Lance, you haven’t been showing up to class recently… Is everything alright? Is there anything...”
Allura’s mind froze for the moment. Lance? Not showing up to class? Could this be the mysterious, sticky-note leaving sophomore she’d grown to feel invested in? If so, why was he so much hotter than she’d pictured?? The last question wasn’t relevant to any matter at hand, but it was still on her mind.
“On second thought, I’ll just see you next class. Sorry for intruding!” Allura smiled and quickly ran out of the room. She stood outside the door, waiting for Lance to leave. As he did, she practically sprinted behind him, trying to catch up with him.
“Lance! Wait!” Allura shouted, out of breath.
Lance turned his head and stopped, puzzled.
“Do I know you?”
Allura caught up to him, saying, “I’m Allura, the one with the pink notes..?” She paused and waited for him to connect the dots. “You weren’t in class… The notes... I was kinda worried… I went to the teacher to try and find out something...”
Lance chuckled and lightly shook his head. Allura took the chance to get a better look at him. He was tall and thin. Lanky was the word that came to mind. He wore an old grayish green jacket over a blue baseball tee and jeans. His hair was a sort of deep chestnut color, with loose waves and tangles. His face was soft, but with a defined jawline. And his eyes looked like they could be the color of an evening sky, but were murky and dull. It was obvious he had been crying recently.
Lance spoke again, “Sorry. I’ve been feeling a bit... down.”
Allura nodded and gestured him to sit down on a nearby bench.
“I don’t really like telling strangers stuff… but I feel closer to you than a stranger,” Lance hesitated a second, "Remember Nyma?”
“Yeah, your girlfriend, right?” She inquired.
“Ex. She ended it a little over a week ago.” He looked down and his breath hitched a bit.
Allura held out her arms and he fell into her. He smelled like cinnamon and warmth. Lance cried for a few minutes before pulling away.
“I’m so… Sorry… I swear I don’t… usually do this,” He apologized between small hiccups and pauses.
Allura and him talked for a while longer. Lance talked about his horrible breakup with Nyma and how she left him for someone else. Allura talked about her friend Pidge and how the three of them could find some way to ruin her life. Lance laughed at the idea. Worth a shot, she thought.
“I should probably be getting back to my dorm...” Lance smiled as he wiped away the last of his tears. “Hunk’s probably worried sick.”
Allura agreed.
“But if it’s not too much to ask… can I get your number?” Lance asked nervously. Allura was stunned. Lance stumbled on.
“I missed a lot of class, I might need some help with some of the concepts… It might be nice to have some help?”
“Oh, uh, sure! Of course! That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Allura said, despite that clearly not being what she was thinking. “No, w-wait… Do you wanna get coffee sometime? I mean, as friends, obviously. But I’d like to get to know you better. If you want...”
“I think I’d like that,” Lance said as he finished putting his contact in her phone.
“Star Boy?” Allura asked, glancing at the contact.
“Just in case you forget something like ‘Blue Notes Boy’ or ‘Lance’,” he shrugged.
Allura giggled and pivoted towards the exit and began walking away, turning back to call over her shoulder.
“See you later, Starboy.”