"you totally chickened out." wesley picks on mason.

"na-ah." mason argues. "i was just conserving energy is all. timing is crucial." mason explains taking a bite of food.

"sure." wesley snickers rolling his eyes.

after unpacking i'd spent the rest of my weekend in lazy pants studying. it was monday when i'd finally unlocked myself from my dorm with clean disentangled hair. 

wesley and kira had ambushed me into spending lunch with them outside the cafeteria. i'd only agreed because, well, i couldn't exactly say no to kira. she was a scary force of 5 feet one inches.

"mmm. these are really good." mason grabs another sugar biscuit from the vintage tin can. 

i was not surprised to find mason in the library waiting for us. he stuck to wesley like super fix adhesive. he must have been hungry because from what i could tell mason was eating the majority of grandmas biscuits.

i brought the biscuits with me to feed them. we were in the library on the second floor and the furthest away from the students who actually came to study.

i look up distracted by wesley gasping. 

"you pig." wesley lifts the empty carton in the air leaving me speechless. "i cant believe you didn't save any for us." wesley condemns mason for his courtesy. or rather, lack thereof.

"you ever try eating tofurky with powdered eggs?" mason asks wesley physically shivering. "that stuff's not natural." he was referring to what they'd served for breakfast. a healthy serving of wheat pancakes, a scoopful of eggs and two sausages. the syrup and butter on the side was a surprise.

"rebecca's your roomate?" mason asks me.

i squirm uncomfortably. i wasn't sure how rebecca came up for discussion but it was out there already.

wesley snorts. "who's the pervert now?" he comments dryly.

i ignore him and turn my head to mason. nodding, I say "yeah she is. you know her?" i ask mason. he had a lot of connections so i wasn't all that surprised if he did.

"hardly." mason brushes crumbs off his sweatshirt to fall on the carpet. "only what i've been told."

kira smacks him. "that was privileged information." she narrows her kohl rimmed eyes.

"i'm more than willing to renegotiate terms." he says unruffled by her abusive temperament.

kira snorts un-ladylike. "as if i would lower my standards with the likes of you." she looks at him in disgust.

"suit yourself." her grins. "never say i didn't offer."

i wave my hand in front of them to gain their attention. "hello. remember me?" i say sarcastically.

kira crosses her arms ignoring all three of us. 

mason smiles at me. "like i was saying before girlfriend interrupted...." mason sat up and leaned his forearms on his knee. he looked right at me dead int he eye. "Rebecca's last roommate died suddenly." and just like that he drops a mother bomb on me.

i was not a gullible person who could be swayed easily by gossip. I preferred to hear it straight from the source. "yeah right." i snort. "what really happened?" i ask mason whose facial expression didn't change and that's when i glanced at kira but she was more interested in removing lint from her pockets than lecturing us.

i lean forward. "how did she die?" i didn't know why i was whispering all of a sudden.

"it was a freak thing." mason talks softly like he could feel the change in the air too. "one day she's alive and talking, and the next thing we know, Rebecca finds her cold limp body." he says as a matter of fact.

i whistle. "wow. that's crazy." poor rebecca. everything about her suddenly made a lot of sense. finding a dead body could make a person turn hostile against others.

kira smacks mason hard.

"ouch." mason complains. "what was that for?"

"that's the last time i tell you anything." kira stomps off clearly upset.

i stay in my chair and keep tabs on her storming past the library until i could no longer see her spiky hair.

"i'm sorry." i apologize to mason feeling guilty. "i shouldn't have asked."

"don't worry yourself about it." i was surprised that mason wasn't bothered one bit. "kira has a short temper." he tells me.

true kira had her moments. fortunately i never experienced the short end of that stick.

"yeah." wesley laughs at him. "when it comes to you." he taunts.

mason rolls his eyes. "that was a long time ago man. she needs to get over it." mason sits up and looks around but kira was long gone.

wesley punches him in the arm. "you scared of a girl."

for as long as i knew mason i never saw him blush before. i thought it was cute. to bad all wesley did was make fun of it.

mason clears his throat. "no i'm not." 

i watch mason shake his leg anxiously. 

"you know what? uh. i think i forgot something in class." he gets up and grabs his stuff. "don't do anything i wouldn't." mason winks at his friend before leaving.

"what was that about?" i ask wesley. i could never tell where they stood because mason always ticked kira off. I wasn't even sure if kira liked him as a person.

"sadly i'm not sure." weseley says watching mason leave.

i look at wesley skeptically when he gets up and moves out of his seat. "now that we're alone come with me."

i gather my stuff and skeptically follow wesley past shelves with books. 

wesley suddenly takes a turn and i make a left walking through the aisle that had ancient and medieval literature anthologies to one side and fiction and literature classics on the next. 

not knowing where i was going I wandered past a wide array of books that if I were alone, I would have stopped and fingered over. I came to a stop and saw Wesley lying down on the floor propped up in front of a wall.

"what do you think you're doing?" i hiss frantically looking around in case somebody saw us. 

nobody there. it was just me and wesley in the empty aisle.

"come here." wesley pats the space next to him. "don't be shy." he taunts me.

i look at him doubtful. "you sure i'm not gonna take up all your time?" i ask. 

i didn't want him spending time with me if he had things to do. i lift an eyebrow at his nonchalant body movement.

"i've got nowhere else to be." he says matter of fact patting the floor space next to him.

despite all rational thinking i accept his invitation gracefully.

with much reluctance i put my backpack down and lay beside wesley. i rest the back of my head on my bended arm and cross my ankles to get in a more comfy position.

for a private school they sure didn't spare any funds for a new ceiling. i grimace looking at the green spores marked along the armstrong tiles ever sporadically which resembled that of molded cheese. yuck.

i turn my head once i hear noise of a wrapper. "are those yogurt raisins?" the bag was over sized and brand new.

i tried to suppress the growl in my stomach that reminded me that i hadn't eaten since this morning. 

grinning, Wesley waves the open bag without a care of being caught. "they're addicting." he offers me some.

"i know." i grab a healthy amount roughly the size of my palm.

wesley puts a finger on his lips. "shh. don't tell mason." he whispers, winking.

i laugh bringing my guard down. "no problem." i say. 

it was easy being around wesley because i didn't have to worry about him acting in a manner that would feel uncomfortable. on a whole he was sweet and kind and didn't push me into things. 

Wesley thrusts a hand inside the bag, his forearm opening it wider as he gripped on to a fistful of the raisin candy. clearly at ease with his minor rule breaking offense Wesley chews on the yogurt morsels.

chewing, i reach my arm into the bag for more. "is this what you normally do come lunch time?" no wonder i never saw him in the dining hall.

Wesley smiles at ease. "sometimes." he turns quiet for a moment and stares at the ceiling.

nothing to say we turn quiet.

Wesley turns to look at me. "i know your struggling. give it time." he gives me a soft smile but his eyes looked worlds away as if he were remembering something he couldn't forget.

i catch a nugget with my mouth unsure that i could speak without embarrassing myself. 

"the great thing about life is the ability to start over and learn past mistakes." wesley lays back down and chews on a small number of raisins.

"when did you become such a positive thinker?" i ask unable to focus on figuring out if I actually had any secrets. 

besides I was pretty much an open book, mostly what you see is what you get person- well, except for emotions. I rarely went around showing those off. 

my gift, channeling spirit was a detailed piece of information that I never felt the need to label myself as in front of other people who didn't need to know. why tell somebody a part of me when that person didn't earn it?

wesley re-positions his body to lay on his side, facing me. "it may not seem like it now but there was a time when i made not so great choices." he says putting the bag on the floor closer to me.

i look up at the ceiling and count each broken light fixture. "don't we all." i sigh with regret.

~~~