Late nights

VIII

Emily woke up earlier than usual. She wasn't sure why, but her mind didn't let her sleep for a minute longer. While leaving her dorm, she saw Violet in the hallway:

- Hey, good morning, - Emily wanted to be a good classmate.

- Well, it's a morning for sure.

- How'd you sleep?

- Good, - Violet opened her dorm door, - I wish I hadn't woken up at all. I'm kidding...For legal reasons, at least.

- Jesus, alright. - Emily said when Violet was already inside her room.

She locked her door and headed out to meet up with Tom for another day. His front and garage doors were both locked, so Emily knocked on the backdoor. After more walking around the house, Tom came home from a completely different direction. 

- Someones eager. - Tom unlocked the garage.

- Where were you?

- Needed a walk.

- I just realized you have a garage, but you keep the car outside in the driveway.

- Well that's because the garage is full. Also, that's my mom's car, not mine. I made something yesterday, come take a look. - He invited her inside.

- Alright, show me.

- Here they are, - Tom pulled out small suspenders from a drawer, - they're mini suspenders. How they work is that you attach one end to your pants and the other end is attached to the bottom of your bra. There are four in a set, but you can use however much you want.

- Hmm, - Emily took them, - you know, this just might work. 

Emily went to the other room and put them on just to try. They got on with their work. It turned out that not many people wanted to invest in an unfinished product. That out of the way, they continued stirring up ideas and doing other random stuff in the garage for the whole day.

- What does Harry value most? - Tom asked.

- He likes respect, money, and girls...that's plural. - She was staring at the wall.

- So the perfect revenge plan would be to take all that away, right?

- Of course. Have any ideas?

- Yeah, I might have some, but we'll talk about them later. 

- Okay. I'm getting tired, - she stood up, - can I smoke in here?

- Of course not, I have all kinds of non-smoking friendly stuff. I don't recommend you smoke at all, but if you have to, go outside. 

Emily went to the backyard just in case any neighbors would be watching. After the smoke she saw that Tom had cleaned everything up - he was done for the day.

- Finished early today?

- Yeah, I have to go somewhere, so I just thought I'd finish early. I'm positive you also have things to do.

- Yep, I sure do. - Emily said, knowing she had absolutely nothing to do once she gets home.

Emily was walking home, walked to the store just right before locking herself into her room for the night. She saw Harry walk into the store. Emily was dodging him with her best efforts, she didn't even buy everything she wanted to. She felt her heart c***k again - how fast can someone go from lovers to strangers. 

While Emily was laying in her bed alone in her dorm room, Tom was going to a dorm room on the other side of campus, to Lola.

Lola was in the same year as Tom and Emily, she was just in another class. Tom and Lola had met at the library a few months back. He was looking around when he was Lola playing chess against herself. Tom felt obligated to join her for at least one game - he had played chess for a little, but he hadn't put too many hours into it. They played ten games - Lola didn't lose a single one. 

Tom was fascinated and also humiliated at the same time. They made a deal to play and learn chess in the summer and that's exactly why Tom was there.

- Ready to get your ass handed to you? - Lola laughed.

- I'm afraid that's exactly how it'll go. I'm here to learn though.

- Good, in that case, I'm here to teach. 

- Let's begin.