Chapter Text
Eric wanted to scream. He was painstakingly scrawling words in a notebook, trying to analyze Othello. Thank god his pen was erasable. He had read the whole play for once, and he still didn’t understand the significance of Shakespeare’s diction. He didn’t even know which passages to select. In high school, Feeny helped him out with that part, but this wasn’t high school.
“Ughh,” he tapped his pen rapidly against the page, “Who cares about this dumb play?”
He picked up the copy of the play from the nightstand next to him and started flipping through it. He had written a few annotations as he was reading when he occasionally had a thought. Maybe those could help.
He found a short passage from the character Iago.
“How am I then a villain
To counsel Cassio to this parallel course
Directly to his good? Divinity of hell!
When devils will the blackest sins put on
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows
As I do now.”
In the margins, Eric had written: “He’s a bad guy, but he thinks his cruelty is what lets him win.”
Eric dropped the play onto the bed. What a random thing to write. It wasn’t analytical or particularly intelligent. His past self had nothing to offer. At this rate, he’d spend the whole night looking for quotes.
He grit his teeth and picked it back up, flipping through. Before he could settle on a page, there was a knock at the door.
“What up?” he said.
“Hey,” Jack said, “Wanna watch Temple of Doom with me?”
Eric grinned. “Ah, I don’t know, man. I have to work on this essay.”
“Come on, you love that movie. It’s only two hours.”
“I really should stay focused,” Eric said as he threw his notebook on the nightstand.
“Tell you what,” Jack said, “If you watch Indiana Jones with me I’ll help you with the essay for as long as you need after.”
Eric jumped out of bed and threw the door open.
“Fine,” he said, “If you insist.”
Jack laughed as he turned on the DVD player. Eric hopped on the coach and laid his feet on the coffee table. Jack was still meddling with the buttons. Finally, the DVD slid in. He faced Eric.
“Hey! Feet off the table.”
Eric grinned and rolled his eyes. He dragged his feet off.
“Should I play it?” Jack said.
Eric had no idea why Jack always did that before he started movies. Maybe he wanted to make sure Eric was paying attention, but they had both seen this movie ten times. What did it matter if Eric missed the first thirty seconds? Still, it was considerate of him.
“Yeah go for it,” Eric said with a thumbs-up.
Jack hit play on the remote and switched the light off. He jumped on the left side of the couch, leaving a seat between him and Eric.
Since they had seen the movie so many times, they spent most of it talking. Jack was worried about his calculus quiz tomorrow and Eric was complaining about the Othello essay.
“It’s just so boring,” Eric said, “Who cares about word choice when most of those words went out of style three hundred years ago?”
“I feel you, man,” Jack said, “These gen eds are killing me. I have Professor Shroder for my writing class and she spends the whole time talking in circles about the most random subjects. Once she spent thirty minutes talking about dolphin communication.”
Eric grinned. “Aw, I’d love to talk about that! Dolphins are way cooler than Shakespeare.”
“I guess that’s true.”
They paused the conversation to watch Harrison Ford beat up some guys.
“So,” Eric said when it switched back to a dialogue scene, “Any plans for the weekend?”
“Huh?” Jack said.
“I said: Any plans for the weekend?”
Jack cocked his head.
Eric cupped a hand around his mouth and yelled “I said-”
Jack laughed and scooched closer. “No need to yell, man. I don’t know why I always sit so far away from you. We’re closer than that now.”
Eric tried not to smile as he repeated his question.
“No, not yet.” Jack said, “Probably gonna hit up a couple parties, or maybe just try to actually understand calculus.”
Eric laughed. “Those are two very different plans.”
“Yeah but that’s college for ya. You got anything going on?”
“Probably gonna hang out with some of the guys from my enviro class.”
“Sounds fun.”
“Not as fun as Calculus, I’m afraid.”
Jack laughed loudly and slapped Eric knee. “That’s funny. Seriously though, hope you have fun.”
Eric felt his face flush. That was weird. He sprung out of his seat.
“I’m gonna make us popcorn.” Eric said as he walked to the kitchen.
“There’s only twenty minutes left in the movie, dude.”
“We can eat it while we work on the essay.”
Jack shrugged. “Okay whatever.”
Eric threw the popcorn in the microwave and stared at it as it turned. If he just watched the kernels, he couldn’t accidentally look at Jack. The microwave beeped. Eric took the bag out and threw another one in. Slowly they popped, not quite loud enough to drown out Jack’s laugh.
“I forgot how funny this movie is,” Jack said.
“Uh huh,” Eric said without turning around.
The microwave beeped. Eric reached for a third bag.
“Hey,” Jack said, “We don’t need three bags. Come sit.”
Eric picked up the popcorn and inched to the couch. Jack was still right next to Eric’s seat. Eric handed him a bag. He said thanks and put it on the table. Then he slowly reached an arm across the couch behind Eric.
Eric took a deep breath. Jack was relaxed, he could relax too. There was nothing to worry about. Eric leaned back, but sat up straight when he felt his neck touch Jack’s arm. He started tapping his foot.
Jack paused the movie. “What’s wrong? he said, “You seem on edge.”
Eric turned to Jack, he saw genuine concern in his friend’s eyes. His soft, light brown eyes.
“Nothing,” Eric said as he stood up, “I just really need to start that essay.”
He started running to his room. Jack followed him. Before he could get to the room Jack grabbed his shoulder.
“I told you, we’ll work on the essay. Just come finish the movie.”
Eric shrugged out of his friend’s grip. “I don’t want to watch the damn movie,” he said, “And don’t touch me.”
He shut the door and threw himself across his bed. He picked up his pen and stared at his notebook. He still didn’t understand Shakespeare.