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"Are you serious?"
"What?"
"The bowtie?"
"Yeah! Bowties are cool." The man with the floppy brown hair proudly tugged on his bright purple bowtie, much to the distaste of the man beside him in the pinstripe suit.
"Who are you trying to impress? The mirror?"
"Oi, you don't see me asking where you lost your mind when you picked out that suit."
"What!" Exclaimed the guy in the converse shoes, "this suit is fashionable! It's 2025, who wears tweed?!"
The man lifted the tweed jacket, which the other man shoved out of his hands.
"Enough whining," he peaked at his wrist watch, "classes start in 30 minutes."
The other guy huffed a laugh, "when do we ever get there on time?"
The other returned it with a cheeky smile, "oh you're so right, baby brother."
"Never call me that."
"Noted."
Two girls were sat at a standard lunch table, the brunette was swirling her straw around in her drink as the blonde was checking her phone.
"Ugh, where is John?" The brunette exclaimed, "he has a watch, you would think he would use it."
The blonde snickered, "yeah right. Those two brothers may act like they know what time it is but stay in the clouds too long to notice they're late."
The other woman smiled at the thought, "yeah, sounds about right."
The blonde caught the dreamy look in the others eye as she lost herself in her own thoughts.
"You like the bloke, dontcha?"
"What??" She locked eyes with the blonde immediately, face red, "like him? In that way? What, no, definitely not. Plus even if I did, which I don't, he doesn't so it doesn't matter."
"Clara," the blonde spoke up to quiet the girl from rambling, "secret is safe with me, alright? He's a looker, I get why. A bit ditzy though."
Clara chuckled, "yeah, he trips over his own feet."
"You ever gonna make a move, just wondering. You can't stare your way into his heart afterall."
"What? No, why ruin a good thing with something as stupid as feelings."
She shrugged, "if you say so."
Clara felt this was way too one sided, "well, what about James?"
She rose her attention to the brunette, "whaddya mean, what about James?"
"You like him!"
"Clara!" The blonde squealed, "don't say it so loud!"
"You can't deny it Rose, you LOVE James."
Rose slapped a hand over her mouth, "I said shush! The whole food court doesn't have to know!" The woman slowly moved her hand from her friend but she kept that same smirk. Rose hated that smirk because she knew Clara was up to something.
Before the brunette had a chance to reply the man in question appeared,
"Rose Tyler!" James announced, as if it was some great discovery.
Rose turned to him and smiled brightly, "James!" She stood up and threw her arms around him, a gesture he returned happily.
"Hey James," Clara spoke up, knowing the two forgot anybody else existed.
"Ah! Clara!" James put Rose down and strolled over, "always good to see you."
"I'm sure. Where's John? I thought you two shared the same science class?" Clara inquired and saw the annoyance come over his face, "there was a particularly interesting butterfly outside of building D and said he would catch up. I doubt that, so you'll probably find him there."
Rose and Clara both chuckled and smiled at one another by how annoyed the brothers were by each other sometimes.
"Thanks James! Have fun with Rose!" Clara said, jumping up to go find that silly boy.
"Why does she always say it like that?" James questioned, mostly to himself. Rose lightly tapped his arm with her elbow, gaining his attention. She gave him a determined stare, "operation cupid."
"What, now? On who?"
"Clara and John."
"My brother? And Clara? Are you sure, Rose? I don't think that's a great idea, I mean, him?"
Rose chuckled, "yeah, him. Don't you see how Clara looks at him? And I know you've see the way he stares at her."
James thought for a moment, to be fair, he spent most of his time looking at Rose so he didn't notice most of the time - not that he would tell her that.
"I suppose.. alright, what do we do?"
Rose ushered him closer and whispered to him.
"We gotta get Rose and James together"
John stopped in his tracks, looking over his shoulder at Clara, "what?"
Clara rolled her eyes, strolling over to him and his adventure of finding out what butterfly this was.
"I said, we need to get Rose and James together, like dating! We need to set something up!"
John thought for a moment, "like a meet cute?"
"Yeah! Well sorta, they already know each other but you got the spirit."
He took off his glasses that he was using to look at the butterfly, "when did you get so invested in their relationship?"
Clara blushed slightly, just enough for color to dust her cheeks, "no reasons really, just Rose is my best friend and she's always falling all over him like a love sick puppy."
John began to nod his head, "yes, James does pay a lot of attention towards her," he smiled, "just last night he was swooning over her to his dormmate actually."
"How do you know about that?"
"Donna and I have the same business class, she is quite chatty."
Clara couldn't help but laugh, "you? Calling someone chatty?"
"Oi!" He exclaimed in fake offense.
"Okay okay, so what should we do?"
John contemplated for a moment, "he likes picnics."
Clara's eyes widened, "oh! Good idea! We can invite them and then flake on them so it's just them!"
"See? Clever." John pointed to his temple with a proud smile.
Clara jabbed him in the arm, "don't get a bigger head than you have now."
None of their plans worked, at least, not how they liked.
Rose and James' picnic would've worked until James had to investigate a noise in the woods and lead both of them to be chased by some rabid raccoons that left them stuck in James' car. They spent the evening in his car, recounting stories to one another, laughing and enjoying each other's company. James was first to kiss her, he couldn't help it when she looked so pretty even after having fought off a pack of raccoons with him. The kiss lead them to stay with each other the entire time in the car, holding each other and being together, making themselves late for class in the morning; but already decided missing morning classes was worth it.
Rose and James' plan for Clara and John went better than expected. Rose decided to make a reservation at a restaurant for them and told John to wear something nice. Clara was suspicious and ultimately made John confess that Rose made this happen. Clara was actually enjoying her evening so she decided to stay and have dinner with John. John never disappointed, pointing out different people in the building and making up scenarios about their lives, making Clara laugh, his ultimate goal. Clara was the one who started trouble when a couple beside them was being too rowdy and she had to say something. This lead to them running into the kitchen, pass the staff and out the back, not paying or anything. John did snag a bottle of wine so they stayed out back, taking turns sipping the wine, sharing stories between each other. Clara got tipsy and John decided it was time to take her home so he did so, at his doorstep she thanked him for a good night and kissed him goodnight. Which lead to a second kiss. Then a third. And more afterwards, they didn't keep count.
Now Clara is having breakfast in his kitchen, both recounting the night before the front door swung open.
"Oh, that must be James." He stood, "good morning! How did your time with-" and thats when James and Rose came into view, both with ripped clothes and messy hair.
Clara started uncontrollably laughing, unable to keep looking at them. John couldn't help but chuckle himself, "so, good night?"
Clara laughed harder.
