This is Eden

"Oookay. You just looked a tad... stressed." Emily slowly returned to her normal sitting position and sipped some of her drink thoughtfully. Yay, she's crazy too. Nice going there, Romano...

"It's fine. The usual campus coffee, so it's only fresh if you get in first thing." Em gave a slight smile trying to make her breakfast companion feel more at ease. Despite being more than capable of taking care of herself, the slightly crazed behavior Julietta was showing made Em wish her man would return, like, really soon.

This Is Eden

"Stressed? Um, yeah. I am stressed. I have to write a ten-page paper tonight and I really, really hate writing." That was, of course, not the reason she was panicking, but it was true, and it was a good enough excuse. She glanced at the girl across from her and her brain suddenly went blank, making her panic a little more. Emily was her name, right? She couldn't remember in her deluge of Romano thoughts. At any rate, this girl, whatever her name was, probably thought that Julietta was crazy.

Well, maybe she was. After all, she'd applied for med school and gotten drenched in coffee and fallen in love.

All in the space of two weeks.

"Ah, yes. Well, I'm not too picky with my coffee so as long as it's hot and black I don't mind," she said with a nervous giggle. A tiny bit of tension drained out of her muscles. At last! She was calming down.

...Really, really slowly.

This is Eden

"Woah. That's a heavy assignment. Which class is that in? Sounds like something Dr. Crane would assign." Emily could easily guess that there was something else bothering the girl, Romano probably, but for now it was best just to play along.

"I could never drink my coffee black. Too bitter." Em grimaced at the thought then smiled ever so slightly as Julietta seemed to be calming down.

You're still an odd one, miss Julietta. Still VERY odd. With that thought, Emily took another long sip of her drink.

This Is Eden

"Yeah, it's Dr. Crane's class." Each sentence Julietta managed to eke out brought more relief, and this one was no different. She managed a more natural smile this time. "Are you in it too? I don't think I've seen you before."

"I like my coffee black... before I add lots of cream and sugar to it." She narrowly avoided doing a facepalm at her stupidity.

Her cheeks flushed bright red and with that, she turned back to her cinnamon roll. No wonder she liked food more than people.

This is Eden

"I was. Had him for American Lit last semester. Nice chap, but didn't seem to realize we poor college students have social lives." Emily genuinely smiled at the recollection of her first semester in Crane's class, which was also when she met Romano for the first time. Well, the first time on campus at least.

The fond memories were interrupted by Julietta's rather ditzy comment about her coffee.

"Riiight..." Em rolled her eyes once the other girl had looked away and let out a soft sigh of annoyance before returning to her own coffee. Romano, if she sticks around, I'm going to strangle you...

This is Eden

Kiev and Romano made their way back over by the ladies, Kiev stopping to snag his drink.

"What? You forgot about me so quickly you left my drink out by its poor lonesome self?" he teased the girls, sitting down and tipping his chair backward. "Here's to no more spills today!"

"Hear, hear," Romano said, grinning and sitting down himself. "Though I hope you will forgive us for abandoning you two."

This is Eden

"You got a drink, Kiev?" Emily said with a tilt of her head to the side. "Oh well, I'm not your mother, so you should have gotten it yourself." a wry smile came across Em's face as Kiev and Romano sat down. Despite her snarkiness to her boyfriends friend, she really did like Kiev.

"Aye!" Em raised her cup in a non-salute salute to no more coffee spills. I don't think I could handle another Julietta.

"We'll think about it..." Emily said with a wink.

This is Eden

"But I asked so nicely..." Kiev did his best bedraggled puppy imitation.

Romano shook his head.

"So! What's your plan for today, Em?"

This is Eden

"Well, I have World History and Theater today along with Intro to Science. If I can survive those, then after classes I have to work at the store till 5." Emily paused long enough to take a sip of coffee. "Sooo, that's my plans for the day. Pretty much trying to survive until I can get to the store."

Em glanced over at Julietta to see if the local ginger had realized the boys were back.

This Is Eden

"Social lives. Yes." Julietta said absent-mindedly, clearing her throat. Not that I have much of a social life.

The moments ticked by awkwardly until Kiev and Romano returned to the table. Julietta cast a furtive glance in the latter's direction, and then dropped her gaze to her half-eaten cinnamon roll. I can't look at him. He's a taken man.

Kiev made his untimely comment about spills, which Julietta knew was directed right at her. She was tempted to glare at him, but instead she put up a hand to shade her eyes and swallowed hard, trying not to cry. Her hair was still sticky with caffeine and her fingers were sticky from the cinnamon roll. I'm a mess.

She listened to the chatty banter of the other three and fought back tears as she stared at the marble-top table. Emily glanced at her, which Julietta caught in the corner of her eye. It occurred to her that she was being ridiculously antisocial, so she took her hand away from her forehead and folded her arms, giving a shaky breath. "Welcome back, Kiev." She glanced quickly at Romano and then looked away, her voice lowering to a murmur against her will. "And Romano."

This is Eden

Romano made a mental note of when Em got off of work.

"So you have a pretty good line up for today. And you know where you can go if you ever need any help for intro," Romano winked and then turned serious. "Of course, by sitting here, I'm missing Professor Dinkling's lab, but that's okay. If I have to see another video of a dissection, I'm gonna scream. In a very manly manner, of course. But I should probably try to make second hour."

He smiled as Julietta welcomed them back.

"Thanks," both guys said simultaneously, then gave each other the we-did-not-just-do-that look.

This Is Eden

A small smile quirked her lips at Kiev and Romano's simultaneous gratitude, a moment which surprisingly helped ease some of her awkward embarrassment. "You're welcome," she said, loosening up a little bit and allowing herself to glance at Romano instead of averting her gaze. She felt a little better, so she took another small sip of her warm, creamy coffee and a small nibble of her cinnamon roll, enjoying the sweetness of them both.

This is Eden

Emily did her best not to laugh with a mouth full of coffee at the thought of Romano "screaming in a manly manner".

"Yeah, History starts up in about seven minutes. Fortunately Dr. Young is usually five minutes late, so I'm good." Em glanced between Julietta and the boys, noting that the other young woman seemed to be loosening up a bit more.

This is Eden

Romano grinned as Em refrained from doing a spit-take. He nodded as she mentioned History.

"Ah, you'll need to get going, then. Care for an official escort to class?" he asked, ignoring Julietta just the slightest bit.

This is Eden

"Why, I do declare that would be most kind of you, Mr. Romano!" Emily said in a thick, Southern belle accent. Almost as an afterthought she added a fanning motion for added comically cute effect.

As she got her things together to leave, Em said her goodbyes to Kiev and Julietta. "It was... nice meeting you." she added to her farewell to the red haired girl. Try not to look too smug, Em. Try not to look too smug....