The Tribuo - 50. Part V, chapter 4

- IV -

I wasn’t even remotely sleepy when I finally got into my room. After brushing my teeth and washing off all the makeup, I decided to finish the paper that I was going to turn in on Friday. I pulled on my pajamas and plopped in front of my computer. After ten or so minutes of typing, I got so into it that I forgot all about sleep. It was weird. I felt like I was on fire, and the previously boring topic of the paper somehow became so insanely interesting and captivating, that I couldn’t think about anything else. When my alarm clock went off at six in the morning, the paper was finished.

…I was driving to school and marveled at the fact that I still didn’t feel sleepy or tired. Well, tiredness caught up with me several hours later, when I was sitting in one of my classes. By the end of the day, I felt like murdering someone. All I wanted to do was to get home, get in my bed, and sleep for the next decade or so. That’s it, I thought gloomily. Last night was the last time I went out during the week. There is a reason people do partying on the weekends. This way, they can sleep it off.

The last straw for me was when the history professor told me that no, I may not turn the paper in on Monday.

“Jessica,” he said without even looking at me, his fingers flying all over his keyboard. “I am aware of the fact that you have a lot on your plate, but I am sorry, I can’t stretch the deadline anymore…” he finally looked at me. “The paper was supposed to be done by Wednesday. Today is Thursday. I will accept it from you tomorrow by five o’clock, but if it’s not on my desk by then…” He shrugged. “I am sorry.”

“You’ll fail me,” I said incredulously, dark anger raising its ugly head deep inside my chest.

“No,” he said patiently. “But don’t expect anything better than a C, no matter how well your paper is written.”

I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t afford a freaking C. I needed at least an A-minus.

“Fine,” I said as calmly as I could. “I’ll turn it in tomorrow.”

He was saying something else, but I just stormed out of that room. I was seething the entire way home.

“Son of a bitch,” I kept muttering while I was driving. “Bastard! I can’t believe it…”

I pulled into my parking space by the apartment and blinked when I saw Lex’s car parked on the curb. Lex is here? Huh, he never said anything about coming over today. Then again, he didn’t have to tell me when he was coming over. I mean, it’s Lex. He could come over any time he felt like it. But I couldn’t help but feel an angry splash of annoyance. I just wanted to take a nap right now, because thanks to professor Dickweed-Patterson, I would have to stay up all night again just so I could turn the bloody paper in tomorrow.

I walked inside, threw my keys on the little table next to the phone, kicked off my shoes, and marched into the kitchen. I could smell coffee. It made my mouth water. Sure enough, Lex was in the kitchen. Along with Russell, who didn’t look horrified this time. In fact, he looked like someone who was about to win the lottery. I narrowed my eyes. Wonder what his deal was.

“Hey, Jess,” Lex smiled at me when I walked in.

“Hey,” I grumbled and walked to the cupboard.

“You okay?” he frowned.

“I will be,” I muttered and pulled a mug off the shelf. “I stayed up all night, writing the damn paper…”

I filled my mug with coffee and leaned on the counter.

“And get this,” I said after I drank some caffeinated goodness. “Remember, how I told you that history project could wait until Monday?”

“Yeah,” Lex said carefully.

“Apparently, it can’t,” I said poisonously. “That asshole Patterson told me that if I didn't turn it in by five tomorrow, I was screwed! That means that I have to do the whole damn thing today… Dammit!” I spilled some coffee on my white shirt. “Shit!!”

“Calm down,” he took the mug away from me. “Go take a nap, rest a little, and start on your paper. You’ll probably sleep for the entire weekend, but at least all your stuff will be done!”

I took a deep breath. Yeah, he was right.

“What are you guys doing?” I asked gloomily, desperately trying to get rid of the dark spot on my shirt with a paper towel. No luck. Well, crap…

“I gave Russell a ride home,” Lex said indifferently, and that made me forget all about the shirt.

I knew Lex well enough. When he sounded this indifferent, it meant he was feeling completely the opposite. Oh dear God… Don’t tell me that he is falling for my roommate! I wasn’t even sure why it made me annoyed again. “Lack of sleep,” I thought.

“Okay, well…” I yawned. Jesus, I really was tired. “I’m gonna go take a nap. Don’t wake me up unless you want to die young. That means both of you.”

“Turn your phone off,” Lex smirked. “You know that it’ll start ringing the minute you pass out.”

True. I turned off the phone, briefly wondering why Paul hasn’t called yet. Ah, who cares. I didn’t want to talk to him or anyone else at the moment anyway. I went into my room, set up my alarm for eight in the evening, and collapsed into bed without taking off my clothes. I heard laughter from the kitchen, thought that I should probably ask Lex what was going on with him and Russell, and then I fell asleep without even finishing my thought.

*****

When my alarm went off, all I wanted to do was to throw it out of the window. I peeled my eyes open and couldn’t understand why the hell it was so dark in the room. Then I remembered that it was Thursday night, and that I had to get my ass out of bed, and start on the damn project. I almost cried.

I got out of bed, shuffled into the bathroom, and splashed some cold water on my face. I felt somewhat better now that I had almost four hours of sleep. Damn you, Patterson, I thought gloomily. Damn you, your wife, your kids, your relatives, and all your neighbors! I looked in the mirror and shuddered. 'Pillow face' was a great understatement. I looked like crap. If I wanted to make a quick run to Starbucks (which was number one priority right now), I’d better make myself look like someone semi-normal.

I went into the kitchen where I left my backpack. The whole apartment was dark. I almost turned on the lights, but then thought that I'd better make sure that nobody was here. I really didn’t want to walk in on Lex and Russell, in case if they were making out or something. For some strange reason, I believed that was entirely possible.

“Lex?” I called. “Russell...?”

No answer. I turned on the lights. The place was empty. Huh, okay. I pulled my makeup bag out of my backpack and went back into the bathroom. I was about to powder my nose, when I saw the cigarette Paul gave me last night; it was partially hidden underneath my eyeliner. Oh yeah, I completely forgot about it. I put on my makeup, while thinking if I should indeed use 'Dr. Paul’s special' right now. Finally, I decided eh, what the hell. It’s not like I could get addicted or anything. I mean, after this one I am not going to smoke anything at all, and one cigarette is hardly a lethal dosage.

After I finished with my makeup, I went outside, sat on the bench, and lit that cigarette. I smoked it all the way to the filter, and five minutes later, I felt like I was reborn. Then I started thinking about Russell’s best friend, the one that apparently, looked like Lex. And then I was thinking that I needed to find out how big of a resemblance there really was. I don’t know why, but that thought consumed me. I knew that if I didn't do something about it, I’d go nuts. Finally, I had a plan.

I went back inside and knocked on the door of his room, even though I knew there would be no answer -- better safe than sorry, right? Finally, I opened the door, walked inside, and turned on the lights. I made sure that I locked the front door -- I didn’t want him to walk in on me while I was going through his stuff. I don’t even know what came over me. I mean, I would never in a million years snoop through someone’s private things, but I had this feeling that if I didn't do it right now, I’d go crazy. I was being careful though. I made sure that I put everything back the exact same way.

I looked through his drawers, some of his books, CD-s, and even under his pillow. I didn’t find anything. I was about to give up and go to Starbucks, when I picked up one of the heavy computer books and mindlessly flipped the pages. And of course, sure enough -- there it was. A photograph. I looked at it and almost dropped the book. Holy Christ, he wasn’t lying when he said the resemblance was uncanny! It was a picture of him and the other guy. Looked like it was taken not too long ago -- Russell looked almost the same, except his hair was shorter in the photograph. He was leaning on the shoulder of the other guy, whose arm was around Russell’s neck. They were both smiling in an eerily similar way.

I stared at the guy. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was Lex. Sure, Lex’s hair was longer, and his mouth was shaped differently, but other than that, they looked almost the same. I shook my head. Wow, unreal! I carefully put the photograph back inside the book, returned the volume on the desk, turned off the lights, and walked out of his room.

I was on my way back from Starbucks, my coffee mug filled to the brim, when I remembered that my phone was still off. I turned it on and almost dropped it on the floor when it rang immediately.

“Hello?” I said carefully.

“Are you alive?”

“Oh,” I smiled. “Hey, Paul. Yeah, I had to take a nap, so I turned off my phone. What’s up?”

“Whatcha doing tonight? I was thinking that maybe we could hang out for a couple of hours?”

“I can’t,” I sighed. “I have to do a bear of a project tonight. But I’ll be free this weekend!”

“Okay,” he sounded somewhat disappointed. “Friday night?”

“Sure,” I said slowly. I’ll get some sleep until then. I think…

“Okay,” he said again. “I’ll call you tomorrow then!”

“Bye, Paul.”

“Later, Jess.”

…I finished my paper at 7:30 in the morning, and to my enormous surprise, I didn’t hate the entire process as much as I thought I would. In fact, I enjoyed it. I printed everything off, shut down the computer, and went into the kitchen. I didn’t have anything until 10:40 today, so I was planning on just relaxing for an hour or so with a cup of coffee and maybe a bagel. Hmm, do we even have bagels?

Russell was making coffee when I walked into the kitchen.

“Morning,” he glanced at me.

“Morning,” I yawned. “God, I hope I survive until Christmas break…”

“Not gonna get twenty-two credits in the spring?” he laughed.

“Ugh,” I shuddered. “No! This is killing me…”

I reached for the mug.

“So, tell me… Thanks,” I smiled after he filled my mug with coffee. “You transferred, right?”

“Yup,” he nodded.

“Why now? I mean, why in the middle of the semester? Why didn’t you wait 'till spring?”

He shrugged.

“Couldn’t stand being in that place anymore,” he said simply. “Transferring in the middle of the semester was a lesser evil.”

“I see,” I nodded. “Oh, hey… I just realized that you don’t have a car, do you?”

“I do,” he sighed. “My friend is going to drive it here in three weeks. Well… Nineteen days, to be exact. She’ll be on her way to Pennsylvania, so she said she’d drive it here, and then take a plane there.”

“Oh, I see… Do you need a ride to school or something? Unless you love walking…”

“Walking is all right,” he shrugged again. “I don’t mind it. Lex said he would get me today though.”

I looked at him thoughtfully.

“He did, huh…”

Russell glanced at me, his eyes suddenly tense.

“You guys are not involved, right?”

“We are just friends,” I said, and noticed that he relaxed almost immediately. “Why?”

“No reason,” he said quickly.

Right. No reason my ass! I was about to ask him in my usual blunt manner about why the hell was he so damn interested in Lex, when my phone rang. I felt another angry jolt of annoyance. Jesus, what is wrong with me?! I guess it’s the same lack of sleep. I should be fine by Monday.

“Yeah,” I said into the phone.

“Awake?”

“Hey, Paul,” I watched Russell walk out of the kitchen. “Yeah, I am awake.”

“What time is your first class?”

“Ten-forty.”

“Excellent. Let’s go hit Starbucks. We have enough time.”

I looked at my coffee mug that was still quite full.

“Sure,” I said finally. “Meet me there at nine.”

“Nine?! It’s seven-thirty right now!”

“Yeah, well,” I hemmed. “I need to take a shower and get dressed. Things like that take time, you know.”

“Bah! Fine, see you at nine.”

“Okay,” I smiled and hung up the phone.

…It was 8:15 when I was done with my shower and makeup. Now I just had to get dressed. I was pulling on my sweater, when the doorbell rang. I made sure that my jeans were zipped, and went to the front door.

“Oh, hey, Jess!”

It was Lex.

“Hey,” I said, thinking that I would need to talk to him in private as soon as possible. I had to tell him about the photograph. “What are you doing tonight?”

“Not sure,” he shrugged. “Why?”

“Wanna hang out, that’s all,” I said lightly.

“Okay…” he frowned thoughtfully for a second. “What time?”

“Come at seven or so,” I said quickly. “Let’s go for a walk or something.”

“Sounds good,” he nodded and glanced above my shoulder. “Hey!”

I swear to God, he was almost blushing. I didn’t even have to look behind me to know why.

“Hey,” Russell brushed by me. “Thanks again for this!”

“No problem… See you tonight, Jess!”

“Buh-bye,” I said cheerfully, even though I didn’t feel cheerful at all.