by Tara Wimble
“What the heck is plan B?” Laurel winces covering her stomach.
Janice slyly peeks around the corner, Officer Sorenson has stopped glancing in her direction but she’s still wandering from car to car looking for passes. She looks at Laurel. “I want you to punch me really really hard in the face.”
Laurel looks to her fist, to Janice’s face, to her fist again. Then she starts off walking in the opposite direction.
“Santos!”
“Go to class Janice!”
“Santos!” Janice starts to walk out after her but dives back when Sorenson comes into view. “Santos get back here and punch me!”
***
LEXIE should have known something was up when she arrived to World Politics at 10.22, and no Janice in sight, just a pair of sunglasses on top of a notepad abandoned on her desk. Instead of looking around for her friend, she passes Janice’s seat and sits in the one next to it.
She has chain grease all over her from where she’d been working on her bike earlier and it’s just not coming out. Lexie has a second to curse the world over that before a body sets itself down in the chair next to her and a tanned arm nudges into her shoulder. “Lexie? Hey.”
A blinding smile and a shirt that says...Jesus is my Homeboy.
“I’m Robin. Janice’s roommate?”
Lexie is going to kill her.
“Lexie.” Shit she has grease all over her hands.
Robin seems to expect her to make some sort of gesture towards her and considering the amount she’s heard about Janice’s roommate she’s tempted to hug her or something but Robin really doesn’t need her dirty hands all over her body.
“Oh, hey- I’ve got some water for your hands-” Robin notices the black marks and dabs a tissue in water before handing it to her.
On second thought, Robin apparently wants her hands over her body.
“Thanks,” Lexie manages to wipe most of the marks off her hand.
“Looks like you were busy this morning?” Robin grins like this isn’t the first time they’ve met. She puts up her hand up for a high five.
Lexie quickly makes contact, feeling the coolness of Robin’s palm against hers, to avoid just staring at her blankly and awkwardly. What the hell is going on? “Yeah.”
“Janice said it was bikes?” Robin presses. She unpacks a pen and a beat up looking iPhone before she expects Lexie to answer. “Right?”
She’s stumbling because Janice, for all her pushing, failed to mention that Robin was this- this wave of cool personified, making her feel suddenly unprepared for this ambush. Janice also didn’t mention that Robin looked like this. Tan and lean and giving her an expectant smile because she still hasn’t answered her question.
“Um, yeah. I haven’t had a chance to really touch things up since I moved in.” Lexie admits. Usually she was always fluttering around her hardware. In all honesty, she misses it. “So I thought I’d work on it before class but I didn’t expect the mess.”
“It sounds like you know what you’re doing.” Robin hums under her breath. “But, you do know there’s a bike workshop on campus right? Total shop set up that they let you use.”
Lexie didn’t know that. “Really?”
There’s a clap from the front of the lecture hall as their teacher signals for them to start paying attention. The projector screen lights up and Lexie’s attention is already starting to wane.
Robin taps her arm and it feels like sparks shooting up her veins. “I could show you where it is sometime? If you want.”
She really wanted to get some sort of revenge on Janice for this surprise. She has grease on her hands and her hair is a mess of flyaways from trying to get here on time and Robin probably rolled out of bed looking as good as she does right now. And now her hand is lingering over Lexie’s arm like they’ve known each other a lot longer than they have and damn-
That’s a killer smile.
“That’d be perfect.”
***
“LOOK, all you need to do is let me run off with your bag in front of her.” is the sentence Lexie walks into King’s on between Janice and Laurel.
Laurel is hunched over one of her sociology books trying to concentrate but pointing a straw in Janice’s direction threateningly. “I am not staging your Mean Girls moment just so you can get tackled by a cop.”
“Not -a- cop. THE cop.” Janice emphasizes. There’s no sign of any books for her because she didn’t turn up to her lecture.
Lexie dumps her bag in the seat next to Laurel. “What’s going on?”
“Lexie, talk Janice out of trying to get arrested.”
“I’m not going to get arrested.” Janice points out. “When she catches me you’ll explain you were testing a theory about law enforcement.”
Laurel looks back at her book. “I will walk away from you.” A pause. “Again.”
“You suck as a friend.” Janice pokes at her fries.
“Why are you stealing from Laurel?”
Laurel snorts over her chapter on European criminal justice systems. “Because Hottie McJustice is giving people parking tickets in the lot and Janice wants her to bend her over the hood of the-”
“YES!” Janice interrupts. A couple of students turn at the sound. Sexual frustration must have a radio frequency. “I do, but that’s not the point!”
“Actually, it kind of is.” Lexie points out. She needs some sort of food to get through this as well as Janice springing Robin on her without warning.
Janice whirls around as she goes to the counter. “Not until the third date. What kind of girl do you think I am, Lexie!”
Lexie is too busy asking Jasmine for cheese fries to roll her eyes until she sits back down, but she knows what kind of girl Janice is. There’s video evidence. “Speaking about sucking as a friend-” She says with a slight tinge of annoyance. “Where was my warning?”
Laurel looks up at her frown with interest. “Warning?”
“My heads up?”
“Heads up?” Laurel repeats.
Janice’s attempt to ignore what she’s saying is invalidated by the stupid, freckly, smiling face she’s pulling. “I’m sure I have no idea what you mean.” The smile, somehow, grows stupider.
Lexie would throw these fries at her, but they taste awesome.
“You ditched World Politics for shakes at King’s-” Lexie leans forward. “And asked Robin to take your freaking notes?”
“Was that a question or a statement?” Laurel voices.
“And you didn’t tell me?” Lexie finishes to appease her friend.
“Wait, are you pissed that I didn’t tell you I was ditching, or that Robin was gonna be there?” Janice stares her down. “Because you don’t seem pissed at all actually.”
Lexie flushes despite her promise to herself not to. “You could have warned me and I would have like saved her a seat or something.”
“She says she sat next to you.” Janice lifts her hand to magically reveal her phone. She flicks against buttons and Lexie panics.
“She- is she texting you now?”
“No. She was during the class though before she fell asleep due to boredom” Janice leans back in the booth. “Apparently you’re suuuper awesome, suupperrr helpful and she really wants to you to come and go wakeboarding with us-”
Lexie, who was ready to snatch the phone out as soon as Janice started, pauses. “Wait, she said that?”
“Uh huh, and apparently you have the cutest little concentration face ever.”
“She did not say that.”
Janice swipes the message off her screen. “And now, you will never know.”
Lexie’s face must fall because Janice stops laughing. “What? I thought you’d be thrilled. The only time I can get Robin to do something is if someone’s life is on the line-”
“You were dying before World Politics?” Lexie accuses.
Laurel goes say something but Janice silences her with a thud that sounds like someone’s foot kicked at someone’s shin. �
��Ow!”
“I had several symptoms that could have led to death.” Janice lays it on thick. “Chest pains for one. And that was before Laurel punched me.”
“I did not!”
“I will if you ever do that again.” Lexie groans and starts eating. She has another class in an hour and this time Janice will be coming with her.
Janice gives her a knowing smirk. “Please. You two hit it off, I can tell by the faint rose coloring in thy cheeks.” Lexie studies her cheese fries but knows Janice can still tell. She hasn’t exactly come out and said that she’s into girls but her embarrassment over Janice’s flirting in the first couple of days told her all she needed to know. “Don’t worry, Robin has that effect on everyone.”
They settle into themselves momentarily. Janice drifts off into her own thoughts, probably involving the hoods of police cars and handcuffs, while Laurel looks relieved to be getting some work done.
“Shit.” Janice announces after a few seconds. “Did Robin take notes?”
Lexie beams as she slides a single piece of paper towards Janice’s anxious face.
‘SYKE’ is scribbled in Robin’s handwriting. Janice’s cheeks puff out in the face of Lexie’s smug look. Revenge is sweet.
***
JANICE has to go and beg her professor into giving her the rundown of what she missed and after a few days Lexie’s relents and lends her the notes she took while Robin slept. She’s still copying them out by the time Robin drags them into the common area to watch the Lakers vs the Clippers.
“You’re missing it.” Robin points out after Janice hears the crowd cheer loudly. “Clippers are getting their asses handed to them.”
Janice grumbles. “I’d be finished if someone held up their end of the bargain.”
Robin laughs and kicks her foot. “You said turn up and make sure Lexie doesn’t miss you. There wasn’t anything about paying attention.”
Technically Janice knows Robin was paying attention to something. When she came back in the evening, Robin was sprawled out on her bed juggling a tiny soccer ball while she was on the phone to someone. She heard the words campus bike shop before Robin hung up and mentioned that the game was on.
She’d been skeptical after finding out Robin was a Lakers fan but they’ve got a little bet set up involving beer so it keeps it interesting. Especially if she wins.
Robin likes to spread out on the couch in the common area, with her feet out on the table if no one else is around, looking comfy. Sometimes when it’s late and they’re both tired from their classes, or whatever they do during the day (Robin), Janice shoves Robin’s shoulder up and over hers just to cuddle into her side. Robin is pretty cool, because unlike Laurel, she doesn’t push her away after a few minutes.
She wishes she could do that now. Robin isn’t resting on her knees as she gets into the game but Janice can tell she’s excited about it. She’d wrapped herself in an old red hoodie and snapped on another wristband before coming down with her.
The Lakers must still be winning at half time when Janice finally gets to the last page of Lexie’s notes. She knew they’d be detailed because Lexie spends half the time bobbing her head from the desk to the board like she’s one of those dashboard toys you put in cars. That’s when Robin leans forward to pick up her soda and clicks something into place.
“She seems cool.”
Janice pauses thoughtfully. “Who?”
Robin traces her finger around the top of the can. “Lexie.”
“She is.”
“Yeah.”
One word responses? Janice wobbles her pen between her fingers, letting Robin take the lead of the conversation. Saying something now would scare the flow. Like watching animals in the wild or something. Robin was one of those animals that scared really easy. She was probably one of the fluffy ones. No wait-!
Robin stutters something that sounds like a word into the air that tells Janice that Robin doesn’t have control of this conversation at all. Rescue 101.
“She seemed into the wakeboarding idea.”
Robin recovers from her blank stare. Janice tones down her enthusiasm for a second. Don’t scare the lion, Janice. “Yeah? She done it before?”
“She lives here.” Janice points out. “And if not, you can be her first teacher.”
Robin bites the inside of her lip before grinning at the idea. “Does she skateboard?”
Janice beams as Robin starts to edge out of her thoughts. The game plays on, forgotten in the background. “You should ask her.”
Robin makes a shrugging gesture, eye roll combination that Janice shakes her head at. “Seriously, she thought you were really sweet and dude, if you fuck up our living arrangement next year I will break your board or puncture your ball or whatever.”
Janice’s intimidation attempt deflates as Robin starts laughing uncontrollably.
Her face is red and Janice was unaware that her smile could stretch that further when it really hits her. She feigns defeat and turns back to her paper, just watching Robin out of the corner of her eye as she settles into quiet once again. The small tweak in the corner of her mouth that stays there for a while afterwards. Her fingers playing with her wristbands. The way she freezes when Janice speaks again, to disguise how attentively she took in the comment.
“She’s really into bikes.” Janice throws over her shoulder. “You should like, bond, or whatever you do with girls.”
Robin tossing a cushion at her head confirms it.
Dude. Head over freaking heels.
Chapter 2
“So I was thinking about buying a bike.” Robin drops into conversation when she finds Lexie laying on the grass in the quad.
Lexie shoots up, smoothing out her shirt and pulling out her headphones before she thinks to respond. “Really?”
Robin doesn’t seem to notice how quickly Lexie fidgets in front of her. “I have one back home but I didn’t think about bringing it with me.” Instead she plays with the bands on her wrists as she talks. Her words are soft and light but her fingers are flickering. Nerves.
“Janice says you have a skateboard and a surfboard in your room?” Lexie voices. “If you’d brought your bike I doubt you’d have the room.”
She’s not doing too well either. Her own roommate rolls her eyes every time Lexie brings her bike in to prop against the bottom of her bed. She’d chain it somewhere on campus but she’s spent too long fixing it up to just leave it out in the cold.
“Yeah, yeah.” Robin admits. “I figure it’d be easier to get around without having people complaining about the skating on the sidewalk.”
“You love that board.” Lexie smiles. She’s pretty sure she’s seen Robin skating in buildings. Just a rush of a purple hoodie and beanie before she’s disappeared. It’s really cool to watch, as long as you’re not the one jumping out the way as she manuals faster than she should.
“So, I thought I’d get your take on it?” Robin leans forward, resting her arms on her knees. “Since you’re really into bikes.”
The double dutch competition that starts in her stomach at Robin’s lingering smile is enough to make her forget her promise to her dad about not buying another bike or working on a bike during the semester. There’s this place she’s been meaning to check out.
“How desperately do you need this bike?” Lexie inquires.
Robin hums in thought. “Before Christmas? At least. Because I have some classes and not a lot of time to get to them.”
If she slept in as much as Janice said. Lexie smiles.
“Because I have some parts at my parent’s house that I haven’t found a use for yet, and if you just bought some wheels, and bars,” Lexie can see Robin’s expression brighten in surprise as she goes on. “I could like, build it for you? Or with you.”
“Seriously? You’d do that for me?” Robin touches her knee. “That sounds awesome.”
“Yeah I mean, I’m really into-” The sun totally gets in her eyes and stalls her. “Bikes.”
&nb
sp; Robin gives a little fist pump in front of her before jumping up to her feet. “Dude, I’d like pay you for setting it up and everything. And I’d be down to help as well.”
Lexie blinks up at Robin’s figure. “You don’t have to-”
“I want to. It’d be a cool experience to actually build my own bike and if anything goes wrong I’ll know whose fault it is too.” Robin grabs her water bottle. “And besides, we’re being set up together next year, so I figure we should probably hang out before then.”
Lexie feels the weight of the words hit her and the idea of being set up doesn’t sound as odd as it would have coming from anyone else. “You sure?”
“Fo’ sure.” Robin jokes.
Well then, Lexie beams, she had some bike parts to collect.
***
JANICE watches Robin poke her hands through the spokes on one of the wheels in front of her. She doesn’t do anything other than assess the wheel for a good five minutes. Janice considers coughing but there seems to be some sort of zen thing going on between them and heaven forbid Janice disrupts that and ruins the whole bike.
Robin spins the wheel and hums. “This one.”
“Are you sure?” Janice asks. “Like really sure.”
“Yeah.”
“You said that about the other three.”
“Yeah.”
“What’s different with this one?”
Robin stops the wheel from spinning and looks Janice in the eye. “Dude, it’s like $30 cheaper than the last three.”
Janice just shakes her head at being played while Robin waves to one of the boys who work at Cycle Track to come over and jot down the wheels she wants. He’s been tallying up what she’s getting all afternoon.
“How the hell are we carrying all of this again?” Janice asks, picking up some sort of skin tight cycling pants and wondering if she’d look good or great in them.
Robin shakes her phone in Janice’s face. It’s strange seeing her with a phone for once considering Robin spends half her time sleeping or chilling out on the grass in the quad disconnected from the world. She wishes she could do that, but she loves twitter too much.
“Laurel’s coming after her date to help us haul all of this.”