LAMBDA
I drove home, thinking about what William had said. Deliberating.
"He must be joking…I mean, all those girls?"
The idea that nothing physical could be happening between them was so stupid and unlikely and impossible to believe.
"So unbelievable that it must be true..." Elle said and Gabe, strangely enough, agreed. Brie was on the fence.
"He did say that's dangerous for a wizard to bond with a human," She mused. "And sex can be a powerful way of bonding..."
"...or so I heard." Elle said bitterly.
"It could also fit with his idea of superiority, I guess. He could just think that we human girls aren't good enough for him…In any case, I wonder what he does with them then. Is it some sort of strange kinky club?"
Gabe and Brie surely didn't want those images in their heads, so we decided to shift our thoughts to something that actually interested us. I remembered his recommendation during our fight.
"Wear something nice..."
Brie was opposed to the idea.
"You're thinking about the Chest of Shame, right? No way! That was a necessary sacrifice for getting the money to get our education. If Toby is as superficial as William, then there's no point in actually trying to hook up with him." Gabe was a bit more practical.
"We are nothing but mammals. In nature, the mating dance is always accompanied by showing off fertility cues and signals of interest and availability" she debated, "That might have been what we did wrong the first time."
I remembered that. The Meet-the-dorms party, I knew I couldn't afford a dorm but I wanted to see if they look like in the movies, silly though I know still...
I meet Glenda too that night; she was in a corner looking as bored as I was. I was feeling self-conscious holding my soda in a corner looking around. I spotted Toby and without noticing I stared at him a bit longer than my usual shy self allowed.
"Just my type."
"I feel it was a personal victory, we let go our shields, at least once..."
I decided to talk to the nearest girl to avoid having to see if he was interested or not.
"So what room do you like?" I said trying to sound casual.
"I already have a place nearby. I'm going to commute." That was comforting.
"Wow...me too" "Where?"
"Rancho Cucamonga...you?" "Claremont..."
"I used to live in Claremont."
By the time I had finished my soda we had interchanged phone numbers, Facebook names, and major's info. She was in Drama.
"My brother and his wife are taking me in and I will have the house to myself most of the time." She explained flashing a big toothpaste commercial smile. "They work for an airline and travel a lot. As long as I don't set it on fire, it will be pretty much like having my own place."
Glenda confessed that she was in the party looking for some action with a cute boy she talked to a couple of times. I imagined she wasn't going to leave disappointed being so pretty. She also told me that Toby was staring at me all night.
HI can't believe it; I mean is just weird getting noticed in this type of...environment."
She, kindly enough, left me alone to ease his approach and Toby did it. He started with a casual conversation, and ended up finding out