saturday studying is cool {evander}

[juliette eliza bloom]

outfit!

Juliette had put her outfit together days in advance, but was putting forth a lot of effort to look as though she had just thrown it on and accidentally coordinated it perfectly. The part that really made this illogical was the fact that, not only was her outfit apple-themed with matching jewelry, but she had spent a very long time decorating her cupcakes to also be apples.

She was carrying plate of six cinnamon cupcakes, careful not to let the icing smudge. She hoped that Evander wasn't there yet--especially since she'd gotten there ten minutes early--so that she could sit down and look even more casual. He hadn't texted her or anything, so she assumed that he wasn't there and so staked out a table in a corner that was big enough for both of their books as well as the plate of cupcakes.

Since it was early on in the least crowded semester, the library was almost empty. No one bothered Juliette as she set up the table, trying to arrange the cupcakes in a way that suggested they had sort of just appeared there and not that she had worked very hard on them and making them look perfect and matchy. Once that was under control, she sat down and stacked her books next to her, opening her notebook so that she would be prepared to study. When everything was set up, she texted Evander to let him know she was there and where she was. Then, she started tapping her foot with anxiety.

[evander quincy rosemont]

All of this probably would have been a huge and unexpected pleasant surprise for Evander, who wasn't used to being brought cupcakes or really being treated like his presence was special at all. This wasn't something that he cared that much about, but it was still sort of nice that someone gave a shit about meeting up with him, even if she had tried not to make it look like there was much effort put in.

Of course, he was still touched by all this, but he also was completely amused watching her set this all up on the assumption that he wasn't sitting in an armchair watching her from his usual corner of the library, where he had been since about 5:00 that morning. He chuckled to himself as she artfully strew the cupcakes about the plate like their original setup wasn't good enough for her. He didn't want to interrupt her zen arranging of things until she was done, so he watched her with a little smirk until he felt his pocket vibrate, at which point he closed his book, took out his phone, and responded to her text while walking over to the table.

"You're early," he said, coming around and plopping into the seat across from her. "I'm usually the only one here until after lunch."

[juliette eliza bloom]

Juliette squeaked at Evander's arrival. She would have screamed, but it was a library, so she figured she really shouldn't be doing that. Still, it took effort to change the sounds and she had to press a hand to her now fluttering heart. She had been staring intently toward the direction of the door, expecting him to come from that way.

"Oh, hello," she said, trying to sound lofty. Instead, a string of nervous chuckles escaped and she was forced to press her lips together. Had he been watching her the whole time? She hoped not. "I wasn't sure how long it would take to get here carrying everything. Have you been here the whole time?" She looked up at him, giggles finally under control, but biting down on her cheek in case he said something alarming--like "yes."

[evander quincy rosemont]

Evander reached into his bag and pulled out a Red Bull to go with his cupcakes and studying. It was rare that Evander didn't have a Red Bull with him at all times, because of how little he tended to sleep. As a result, he was almost always a little bit fidgety, even if he was doing homework or focusing. He cracked it open and took a sip, and then flicked his eyes over at Juliette.

"Are those cupcakes shaped like apples?" Evander asked, peering down at the cupcakes and purposefully ignoring her question. "... They're adorable. And I don't use that word lightly, being a guy."

[juliette eliza bloom]

Juliette eyed his Red Bull with distaste, but said nothing. She knew from the experience of having the Most Ridiculous Brother in the World that boys had strange habits. To counteract this, she reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of water, setting it parallel to her book.

"Thank you!" She beamed, sitting up a little straighter. "I found the idea online and the only thing I really needed were leaves, but I figured out how to make them out of chocolate melts." She tucked some hair behind her ear, shifting so that her knees were pointed toward him under the table, feet crossed at her ankles. "It's very hard baking cute things in a dorm kitchen. I think I made more than a few people angry."

[evander quincy rosemont]

Evander laughed, between sips of Red Bull, then put down his can and picked up a cupcake.

"I'll have to sample one before we start, of course," he said. "Otherwise they'll distract me the entire time." He took a bite and looked as though he were taking in the flavor for a few seconds, and then nodded in approval. "You win. They're delicious. I bet the angry people in your dorm were just mad that they couldn't have any."

[juliette eliza bloom]

Juliette tried not to focus on the Red Bull. That might give him the idea that she was focusing on his mouth and that was not an idea she wished to perpetuate. To fix this, she picked a point on his forehead and, every time she had to look at him instead of an object, looked there.

"Oh, I'm glad you like them!" She reached for one herself, picking the leaf off and eating it first. "And really, all people would have had to do was ask." She flushed pink at the compliment, pulling the pretzel stem out of the center as well. Deciding the best way not to do something stupid was to focus on studying, she pulled over her psychology textbook and opened to a page that she had inserted.

"So, I made a study sheet for the test, but I figured I'd leave the information blank so that we could fill it in as we studied. That usually helps me. And I made you a copy just in case, but if that's not how you like to study, I won't be offended." She pulled the two sheets out of her book and handed him one. On it were a few blank charts and then a long list of key terms and people.

[evander quincy rosemont]

Evander watched her explain her study sheet, raising an impressed eyebrow at her organization. It wasn't often that Evander found someone as enthusiastic about studying as he was-- though, based on this meeting and their previous conversations, he had kind of come to the realization that there was being enthusiastic about studying, and then there was being Juliette about studying, which was an entirely different category altogether.

"Oh, cool," he said, reaching into his bag for a green folder from which he took a stack of papers that were scribbled on and torn from a notebook. "I made one too. Uh, sorry, it's kind of messy-- usually it's just for me. Instead of making the whole study guide in one night, I usually just write down whatever topics he mentions more than once on a piece of paper, and then by the time the test rolls around I have a whole list of topics that are important to study. It's worked pretty well for me so far."

[juliette eliza bloom]

Juliette couldn't help it--she flailed a little, resulting in a few mish-moshy splutter sounds and a squeak. Then, she dove into her bag and surfaced with a tiny notebook. It was more like a diary than a school notebook and the front was covered in french desserts.

"I do that, too!" she squeaked, plopping it onto the table and flipping through a bunch of word-darkened pages until she found a tab at the top of one labeled "Psychology" in purple gel pen. The page before, which was clearly for their history of Asia class, was covered in green writing.

"I color-code my notes," she explained, flipping the page to a large list written in the same purple gel. Her script was neat and swirly, with plenty of flourished accents and girly doodles. It was easy to tell when a particular subject was uninteresting, because the writing became much more artistic and some of the 'i's were dotted with hearts. Satisfied that she had found what she was looking for, she looked back at him and beamed. "We should compare!"

[evander quincy rosemont]

Evander watched Juliette flail around in her bag with an unreadable expression, waiting for her to come up for air. When she finally did, he watched her further flail and smirked a little. She was cute, in an insane way.

"That's..." he started as she flipped through the color-coded pages. "Wow. I don't. But that's probably helpful?" He offered, feeling like if he expressed anything other than enthusiasm for what she was showing him, she might deflate.

[juliette eliza bloom]

Satisfied by his response, Juliette beamed again and scooted closer to him so that they could easily see each other's notes. Realizing what she had done, however, she squeaked and toppled sideways in haste to scoot her chair back, just barely managing to keep herself from falling off.

Once she was back at her previous spot, she realized that she probably looked insane and so tried to cover it up with a shaky laugh, brushing her hair behind her ear. The laugh was not good enough as an excuse, though, so she looked at Evander, brain rushing a mile a minute trying to think of any excuse to give--spider, scary person, fly, general disturbance.

Though Juliette could recall information at the drop of a hat, she was not stellar at thinking on her feet when it came to social situations. Her brain rushed through more excuses--she dropped something, the chair got caught on her foot, she thought she saw a celebrity, her grandmother was on fire--and then the one that eventually came out was, "Kitten."

Realizing that this was ridiculous--and that the only reason she had thought of it was because Evander had mentioned his cat to her once--she pointed lamely over to a bookshelf that had nothing to do with cats and tried not to giggle. "I thought...that I saw one." Being a redhead, she flushed magenta and ducked her head so that some of her hair might cover her face as she turned to focus solely on her notebook, which was too inanimate to judge her.

[evander quincy rosemont]

Evander moved his notes toward Juliette when she scooted over, logically assuming that she was trying to get closer to share them like a logical person would logically assume. So, when she scooted back over in her flail, Evander had no idea what was going on. Maybe her chair had gotten stuck? He looked over to see if there was something he could do to help, but there clearly wasn't, so he just sort of sat back and tried not to be in the way as she toppled.

He looked at her sort of inquisitively, taking a sip from her Red Bull as he did so. When her explanation didn't really offer much in the way of an understanding, he frowned and looked around.

"In the library?" He asked skeptically.

[juliette eliza bloom]

He wasn't supposed to question her excuse--she had offered it and given a reasonableish explanation, so he should have been satisfied. Now, she had to think of more things to say about kittens, which she was already regretting saying in the first place.

"So you see why I was alarmed," she said, though this was more of a response to the things she had imagined he'd said than what he'd really said--not that it didn't work, but she probably should have said more than that. Still, she was proud that her brain had managed to come up with this relatively cool and suave phrase instead of something else useless.

[evander quincy rosemont]

Evander laughed. He didn't think that there had been kittens in the library, but he decided to throw her a bone because she was blushing and seemed embarrassed about the fact that he was questioning her kittens.

"Maybe it was my cat," he said. "He likes to read."

[juliette eliza bloom]

"Oh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. She was glad that he had changed the subject just enough that they didn't have to talk about her fail anymore and the redness in her cheeks receded. "Is he a researcher, too? Or does he like novels?"