Chapter Text
Caleb let out a relieved sigh as he stumbled his way through the front door of his dorm building, the warmth of the air settling into his shivering form. As he made his way towards the safety of his room, he mulled over the difference between the winters here and the winters back home. Not quite as harsh, snow-wise, but the wind could be brutal. He reached for his key, only to find that his door wasn’t latched. Odd. He didn’t leave it that way. He pushed the door open hesitantly, his nerves starting to flare up, when he was greeted with the sight of Beauregard sprawled out on his bed, one hand in a bag of chips, the other typing furiously on her phone.
He should’ve known.
“You forgot your book earlier,” was her only acknowledgement of his entry. He frowned and began shrugging off his wet outerwear, glancing at the book she had returned to his desk. She looked at him, finally, and noticed his growing confusion.
“The door was unlocked when I got here, so I figured I’d eat some of your food as payment. Y’know, for bringing it back.”
Caleb was unimpressed, but also not surprised. He was pretty sure the chips were stale anyways.
“What class did you just have?”
“ The History of Dunamis , with Professor Kryn. The one I unfortunately needed that book for. I ended up having to share with someone.”
Beau stared at him, unmoving, for what felt like ages. Caleb was starting to squirm under her gaze when she finally asked, very slowly, “That’s the class with the hot TA, right?”
The ensuing silence spoke volumes, and combined with the redness rising up his ears and creeping down his neck, Beau couldn’t just not continue.
“Who’d you share your book with, then?” Her tone was so suspicious it was almost playful.
“...I’m not going to answer a question that you already know the answer to.”
She flashed a victorious grin, and he felt compelled to turn away and start rifling through his bag. He didn’t quite know what he was looking for, but it was keeping his face turned away from that evil glint in her eye, and that’s all that mattered. Before she could resume her interrogation, he managed to speak, feeling braver now that he couldn’t see her.
“His name is Essek, and he is much more interesting than I had thought.”
Beau sat up further on the bed, social media and stale chips long forgotten. “You spoke to him? Like, really spoke to him? Like an actual, honest-to-gods conversa—”
“ Ja, Beau, we talked.”
“Well, details, Widogast!” Caleb sighed.
“It was mostly about dunamancy and the classwork. But we also talked a little bit about other things, likes and dislikes. We both like magic. I have a cat. Those sorts of things,” Caleb was very careful to not sound too excited. Beau could still tell that he was, because it was Beau and she had a gift for noticing these things, but he still tried.
“Adorable,” Beau said, flatly. “And that’s it? You didn’t ask him out, didn’t flirt, nothing? Fuck’s sake, dude.”
At that, Caleb’s mouth twitched down. He finally turned back to look her in the eye. “And what progress have you made with Jester?”
Beau blushed at that, and avoided his gaze. But she said nothing. Caleb felt a prickle of pride. Got you.
“Exactly. No complaining about my love life until you deal with yours.”
Beau went to open her mouth to defend herself, but her attention was drawn to rapid knocking at the door. Before Caleb could get up to answer it, already knowing who would be there, the door swung open.
“ Hellooooo, Caleb— oh! Hi Beau!”
Beauregard let out a soft, strangled noise before she managed to recover, schooling her features into something more nonchalant. It only lasted a moment, however, because Jester was then descending upon her for a big hug.
“ Hallo, Jester. Please tell me you did not forget your book this time.” Caleb gave Beau a sly, smug look as he watched the panic momentarily take her over. She caught his look and flipped him off in response. Caleb’s expression was neutral once again as Jester emerged from her hug, the bag of chips in hand.
“I didn’t! And I remembered my laptop, too! And I brought this reeeaaaally cool book I found. It’s about this pirate that falls in— wait,” She shoved a handful of chips into her mouth, “ wasf I innerupping? ”
Caleb said “no” as Beauregard said “yes,” a wicked grin spreading over her face.
“You were, actually,” she continued, “because Caleb was just telling me all about how he finally managed to talk to that hot TA. Weren’t you, Caleb?”
Jester gasped, and she was on him in a second.
“ Ohmygods, Cayyyleb, what did you guys talk about? Are you dating now? Did you make out? He looks like he’d be good at—”
“ Nein, Jester, we are not dating. We just talked, because I had to share a book with him. I only just learned his name today.”
“Oooooooh, what’s his name? I bet it’s sexy~! ”
Caleb sighed, finally resigning himself to his fate, and simply said, “Essek.”
Jester’s face lit up, and she whipped out her phone. “Essek Thelyss! He is really hot. He’s my math tutor! That’s so crazy, I’m going to text him.”
Caleb’s stomach turned to lead as Beau cackled. “ Nein, no no no, Jester, you don’t need to…” But he trailed off in horror as he watched her already-typing fingers finish and send the text.
“Great,” he said weakly, “now he will think I’m crazy. Or a pervert. And he will never speak to me again.”
The two girls ignored his moment of melodrama, instead deigning to read and reread the text that had just been sent. A moment later there was a ding! and the two both froze, reading the response. Caleb buried his face in his hands, the dread rising in him with every passing second. Beau’s eyebrows shot up as Jester squealed and began typing again. Neither paid any attention to Caleb.
As he sat there on the floor, mapping out the floor plans to the hole he was going to live the rest of his life in, his pocket buzzed. He pulled out his phone, preparing to toss it away, when he suddenly froze at the text that had appeared. His phone buzzed again as another text came through.
Hey Caleb, this is Essek. Jester gave me your number.
I’m sorry if I’m being too forward, but I enjoyed talking to you, and I’m not sure I can wait until Monday to do it again. So… lunch, tomorrow?