InsaneJournal

Who: Rose and Anna
When: Recently
Where: Class at UCI
What: Catching up
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete!


Rose had known that University was going to be busier than high school had been, though she was still a little surprised at the amount of work she was supposed to do. It had been a rough start to the semester with Cal being around, and then Jack getting shot. He had been healed magically, which had been a relief, and things seemed to be going back to relatively normal.

She had been thankful that she had done a lot of her readings before the semester had even started, and she was almost caught up with everything, and feeling like she could actually take some time to breath again she sat down next to Anna in the class that they shared. “Good morning, Anna. How are you this morning?”

Anna was so thankful to have a friend in her Art History class. She broke into a grin when she saw Rose come in and sit down next to her. Anna liked Rose. There was a gentleness, a calmness, about the other girl that was comforting. Besides, those redheads had to stay together.

“I’m good.” She’d been spending so much time thinking about Ezra lately that Anna was a little distracted. Though, not from her studies, of course. “Really good. How are you?”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Rose said, smiling. “Cal is finally gone. I feel as though I can breathe a little easier now. I’m glad I haven’t fallen behind yet.”

“I could definitely help you catch up, you know!” Anna beamed. She’d been a lot brighter and cheerier for the past couple of weeks, and it probably showed. “I love studying this kind of thing. I went to the Bowers Art Museum over the weekend and it was amazing.” Or, maybe that was the company.

“I’m glad Cal is gone. Finally. Ugh. That must have been so stressful to have your ex around.” Anna frowned a little, but it didn’t last long. “How are things at Baxters?”

“That would be wonderful,” Rose said, smiling. The help would be appreciated, but more than that the idea of studying with friends was an appealing one. “And oh, that must have been wonderful. Did you just go by yourself?” she asked.

“It really was quite stressful. It’s nice knowing he won’t be bothering me anymore.” Even if Cal managed to buy his way out of prison, obtaining a restraining order hadn’t been difficult. “Baxter’s is wonderful, of course. I had never thought I could have as much fun working part-time as a barista.” Sometimes the customers were rude, but Caroline had become a dear friend of hers and Audrey was an amazing boss.

“Oh, no, I went with… um…” Anna wasn’t sure about how much she was supposed to tell. Who she was allowed to tell. She and Ezra hadn’t put a definition on what they were, but it involved feels. And kissing. Anna really liked the kissing. “I went with a friend.” The blush on her cheeks probably gave everything away, but Anna was blissfully ignorant of her flush.

“I’m so glad that you’re having a good time at Baxter’s! I mean, I love that place. I love the caramel sparkling lattes.” Anna’s smile couldn’t get much brighter.

“A friend, hm?” Rose teased lightly. Anna was a sweet girl, and absolutely adorable. She was pleased with how happy her friend seemed to be. She seemed a little uncertain of how to refer to this friend of hers, so Rose wasn’t about to pry, but she did say, “I hope I’ll be able to meet this friend soon.”

She gave a small laugh. “Oh, I can’t get enough of those sparkling lattes. And Izzy’s baking is simply delicious. I’m half surprised I haven’t gained ten pounds just from working there.”

“Maybe.” Anna said. The fact that he was older than she was, and he was a professor, hadn’t escaped her. She knew what they were heading toward was probably illicit, but she didn’t care. She was trying not to care. She wanted him in a way that made her feel alive. She was warm inside whenever they were together. And she wasn’t about to give that up anytime soon. “Probably,” she admitted, then gave a laugh. “When things aren’t so… fresh.”

The redhead nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, absolutely! I’m surprised I haven’t gained ten pounds just by being a customer!”

Anna seemed happy enough with her ‘friend,’ so Rose wouldn’t pry. Rose herself kept her love life fairly private, and while most of her friends knew she was seeing someone named Jack, she hadn’t exactly introduced him to many of them.

“Oh, the place would be absolutely dreadful to work at if I was trying to diet. Luckily, I’ve been trying to keep active outside of work as well.” The self defense lessons she was taking with Rose was probably helping burn off the extra calories.

“Hey, being active is awesome.” Anna smiled brightly. “I really should do more things. I’ve been spending so much time studying and stuff, the only activity I get some weeks is when I take my friend’s dog for walks. I do that a lot, though. So I guess that’s good? What are you doing to stay active?”

“Oh, I wish I had a dog,” Rose said. Something tiny and cute, like a Shih Tzu. “I don’t think I have the time to take care of one all on my lonesome. Though I do have a friend with a dog who said I could take care of him sometime.” She hadn’t seen Eggsy in sometime though. When Cal had been in town, she had taken to avoiding most of her male friends. “I’ve been taking some self-defense lessons.” They’d certainly come in handy when it had come to fending off Cal’s undertaker of a bodyguard.

“I think friends with dogs are the best. Because you get all the benefits of having a dog, without having all the deficits.” Anna had been walking Eggsy’s dog for quite some time now. Funny that they knew the same guy, but didn’t know it. “Ooh! Self Defense sounds wonderful! I really should get back into it. I took a couple classes almost a year ago, but I wish I’d kept up with it.”

“It’s turned out to be very useful,” Rose said, smiling. There’d been a time when she would have never considered taking on Lovejoy, and even if most of the fight had been mace and cheap shots, she was pretty proud of herself.

“I’ll look into it.” Anna gave a little sigh. “With schoolwork and family and friends and Ezra, I’m not sure how I’m going to find the time for it, but--” Her face paled just a little when she realized she’d let his name slip. Anna wasn’t supposed to be talking about Ezra. They were keeping things quiet. Damn. She’d have to work on that.

“Um, I’ll look into it,” she finished lamely.

Ezra wasn’t a terribly common name, though Rose knew it was picking up popularity. The only Ezra she personally knew was her English professor, but she knew that couldn’t be Anna’s “friend.”

“Trying to find the time to do anything is more difficult than I had thought it would be,” Rose said. Rose had always had good time management skills, through between her two jobs, University, and Jack, there was only so much free time she could have. Perhaps if she was better at managing her finances, she wouldn’t need two jobs, though she was rather fond of both of them and didn’t want to give one up.

Oh, if only Rose knew. Anna would be both relieved and a little nervous. Her relationship with her professor hadn’t gone to intimate lengths, but they were definitely more than a teacher and a professor. Definitely more than friends, too.

“You and me both,” Anna said, a little glad that Rose hadn’t harped on her use of Ezra’s name. Maybe they could talk about it… another time. When they were studying for Art History, or something. Anna could ease into that conversation. “...I’m learning to multi-task, though. Which is great.”

“Multi-tasking is an underappreciated skill, in my opinion,” Rose said. If it wasn’t for multi-tasking, Rose was sure that she would never have enough time in the day for anything. She started to say something else, when the professor walked into the room. “We’ll talk more after class,” she promised.

“Yes!” Anna said, nodding enthusiastically, then turned to face the front of the room. She tugged her notebook out and prepared to be a diligent student, as always.