Chapter 18: Honey Café

Fittingly for a university whose mascot was the Honeybee, the on-campus café was themed like a beehive. Sam hadn’t bothered stopping by before now, so it was a bit of a surprise. It was like some braintrust had looked at a coffee shop and decided “you know what would really be cool? Make it a hexagon” and nobody had called him out on it. Combined with the tacky dark yellow wallpaper covered with bees and honeycomb, and Sam felt like she’d stepped foot in some bizarre theme park attraction for children and not a café serving an adult clientele.

Oh, well. At least there was hardly anyone who’d see her here, empty as the place was.

A bunch of couches and chairs were arranged around tables in the various “corners” of the room, where presumably students would come to work on their schoolwork or enjoy a nice snack. God knows why, that’s what the dorm rooms were for, right?

They split into two groups, with some people lining up behind the counter and others going over to stake out a spot to sit. Sam was lucky she was close to the front of the line, she was practically dying of thirst at this point.

“So Sammy, what are you thinking of getting? A late night snack?”

Unfortunately that was where her luck ended, because she’d gotten stuck with the most annoying jerk on campus waiting right behind her. She clenched her fists and stared straight ahead, resisting the urge to smack him upside the jaw.

She finally reached the front of the line, where a very nice girl who looked incredibly exhausted nevertheless greeted her with a smile.

“Hi, what can I get for you? Want to try one of our specialty honey cookies?”

“Ah… no, thanks. Am I reading that sign right? Iced milk is a drink option?”

“Oh, you bet! How much ice do you want in it?”

“Doesn’t matter. Just one of those please.”

“Sounds good! Anything else?”

“No.”

Sam slid her ID card through the scanner and got her milk, from a plastic cup. She licked her lips, ready to drain that thing in a single gulp.

“Wow, how adorable is that? Little Sammy and her milk,” Cain grinned, shooting her a smile. “I knew you were like a little kitten but that’s just perfect.”

God, what would it take to just shut that obnoxious mouth of his? She wanted to scream.

“I think I’ll get an iced milk too,” he added, turning to the cashier. “As much ice as you’re legally allowed to give me, please!”

Sam walked over to where the others were seated, tempted for a moment to go the other way. But she was already here, so even though she’d prefer to be by herself, she might as well… ugh… try her best to be sociable.

Her first problem with the evening: there weren’t any more chairs. Oh, there were still places to sit, of course, but they were couches. Which meant sitting next to other people. Ugh.

Luckily, one of them was still empty, so she sat down, relishing the fact that she could finally rest her legs.

“Hey there, Sammy, mind if I sit next to you?” Cain asked.

“Yes. Immensely.” She managed to get out without screaming.

“Ah, well, nothing to be done,” he shrugged, going over to sit next to Shannon instead. Sam was shocked. He’d actually done what she’d asked.

She leaned back in her seat and scanned the room, looking for a clock. The sign says they closed at 1:00 AM on Friday nights, but there was no way they’d be here that long, right? Nah, they’d probably head out at 10 or something. Her eyes landed on Mary, face practically smooshed up against the glass as she looked for what she wanted to eat. Daniel was pointing stuff out to her, and surprisingly, she was actually holding a conversation with him it seemed.

…Well, sort of. She was nodding at least, and for Mary that was practically a hosting an awards show.

“They’re pretty cute together, huh?”

She nearly jumped out of her seat in surprise. Carly sat down on a neighboring couch, a two-seater, food fresh in her hands.

“What are you talking about?” Sam asked, confused.

“Those two, Mary and Daniel? They’re pretty cute together, right? A big guy like that and a thin stick like her? It’s adorable!”

“You’re kidding.” Sam was no relationship expert (to put it mildly) but Carly was just talking crazy talk right now.

“No, for real, see how much she’s blushing? Freshman love for sure.”

“…No she’s just like that with everybody.”

Carly shrugged. “Hey, what can I say? I’ve got a feeling. Opposites attract, right? That’s how it was for me and my husband anyway.”

Sam practically choked on her milk. “Excuse me?! You’re married?”

A weary expression crossed Carly’s face and she flashed a dry smile. “Well… I was married…”

“Three weeks!” Mac concealed with his cough.

“You were married for only three weeks?” Sam couldn’t believe it, Carly was only a few years older than her and had already gotten married AND divorced?!

Carly glanced away, her face red with shame.

“No, no, she got married after only seeing the guy for three weeks,” Cain cheerfully clarified.

Sam’s jaw dropped.

“Hey, come on, he was a cool guy!”

Cain raised his eyebrow. “Didn’t he cheat on you with, like, half of the theater department?”

“I mean, yeah, but can you blame him though?” Carly flashed a coy smile. “Us drama students are hot, you know.”

“Yeah that doesn’t make it better,” Nick said, shaking his head. She pouted.

“Well, it could have been worse! I definitely learned my lesson from it though.”

“Get a prenup?”

“I swear Cain if you say one more word… no, don’t date within the theater department. Just don’t. Won’t turn out well, and all you’ll get is a really awkward opening night of Les Mis.”

She pointed across the room. “Besides, at least I’m not stuck up in that mess.”

Josh was chatting up the counter girl with a grin, while Jamie and Andy were watching from behind him with sullen scowls on their faces.

Sam rolled her eyes. She was glad she didn’t have to worry about this stupid relationship crap. It was like she was back in high school with all her friends talking about which boys were cutest and who they wanted to be asked to prom by and…

She scowled. Fuck. Why did she have to remember that?

“Anyway Sam, change of topic, what was up with you today?” Carly asked.

Sam’s heart sank. Yeah, figures she’d get chewed out for that… “Sorry, if this is about me going overboard trying to attack Cain, I-”

“Nah, fuck him. Wail away, I’m not gonna stop you.” She waved her hand dismissively. “I mean those throwing knives, girl!”

That was an odd topic. “…What about ‘em?”

“’What about ‘em’ she says, are you kidding?” Carly burst out laughing. “That shot you made on Mike from like halfway across the field?! Twice?! He’s still sulking about it, look!”

She pointed at Mike, who scowled back at her.

“And then there was the way you got me, that was… girl, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen! Cain’s been using those for years and you went and made him look like a total chump!”

Sam shrugged. Well, when she put it like that, it did make her feel pretty good.

“I dunno. Just aimed and threw, that’s all.”

“No, I’m telling you Sam, that was AMAZING. I’ve never seen aiming like that before in my four years of doing this!” Carly was really laying on the praise, and nobody was exactly lining up to argue, either. They were all nodding along.

Sam squirmed in her seat, basking in the praise a little. She normally didn’t like being the center of attention, but she had to admit, this felt kind of nice.

Carly grabbed her napkin and crumpled it up into a little ball. “Here, do it again, okay? I bet you can make the trash can!”

“Uh… seriously?” Sam glanced at the trash can, it was a good fifteen feet away. She picked up the napkin and lined up her shot, ignoring the cheers around her. She needed patience and focus to make it in.

With a flick of her wrist, the napkin sailed through the air and landed dead-center in the trash can. Everybody exploded.

“Told you! That was so frigging awesome!” Carly exclaimed. “You’ve totally gotta get some throwing knives of your own, you’d be a total BEAST out there! Just sniping people left and right, ‘ptchew ptchew! Take that! And that! And another one of these!’ Ah, that’d just be so cool!”

Okay it was starting to get a little much.

“It’s not a big deal, really.”

“Sure it is,” Cain said. “You’ve really got amazing coordination, Sammy. Have you thrown at targets before?”

Sam’s throat dried up. A tremor went through her right shoulder and she quickly shook her head. “Just forget it, it’s dumb.”

She sucked her milk dry and made a big show of walking over to the trash can and dropping it in. She wasn’t some animal performing tricks. How’d she even get roped into this in the first place?

Because you liked the attention, a tiny voice in the back of her head whispered. For the first time in forever people were applauding you like back in the good old days, and you wanted to show off, didn’t you?

Sam shook those horrid thoughts out of her head. She hated the fact that the voice was right, she’d slipped back into her old mindset again without even noticing.

I’m done with that. I don’t miss it! And even if I did, it doesn’t matter!

Even as she told herself that it sounded like a lie.

There was an awkward atmosphere hanging over the group when Sam returned to her seat. Nobody seemed in the mood to talk after that little display, which suited her just fine.

Her peace and quiet lasted all of two seconds before Josh flopped down beside her on the couch, flashing her a smile.

“Hey there, you’re Sam, right? I’m Josh,” he introduced herself.

“Hi, Josh, I’m not interested.”

He feigned a hurt expression, holding his hand over his chest. “Come on, don’t be like that, I’m just trying to get to know the first-years a little better. I’m a sophomore after all, I’ve been where you’re sitting. If you need any advice-”

“Oh, that’s what you were doing with the cashier then, giving her advice?” Sam icily replied, raising her eyebrow.

“Just being friendly,” he said, unfazed.

“Now nice. This is me being unfriendly.” Sam pointedly turned away from him, half-tempted to get up and change seats to the last free couch available when Jamie flopped down on the other side of him.

“You’re Sam, right? Hi, I’m Jamie!” The blue-haired girl was smiling with her lips, but Sam could see a warning look in her eye. It was a look she’d seen before on a lot of girls, one that said “back off my man, bitch, or I’ll cut you.”

Why did Sam have to get roped into this? She just wanted to relax in peace.

“Um… excuse me…”

Andy stood over the couch with a plate in hand. Her anxious eyes looked past Sam and over to Josh, then back to Sam again.

“Sorry, Andy,” Jamie said, hardly able to keep the glee out of her voice. “Couch’s full. You can sit over there, though!”

Yeah. Fuck this noise.

“Switch with me,” Sam grunted, getting out of Andy’s way. The goth practically threw herself into the empty spot as Sam went to go sit somewhere else.

“Sam! Come sit by me!” Carly said cheerily, patting the empty seat beside her. Sam ignored her to sit on the other empty couch, where she could enjoy what little space she had.

But of course Carly just had to get up and sit down next to her. Because of course she did.

“…Really?” Sam sighed, staring at the older girl.

“Oh, hush,” Carly shushed her. “This is important! Look!”

She was practically rocking in her seat as the last two stragglers came to join them, Daniel and Mary.

And what a coincidence, there were only two seats left.

Sam pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. This was just stupid.

Daniel sat down first, and Mary glanced warily at the open spot. She looked like she was going to be sick. She scanned the other seats hopefully, but there was nowhere else free.

“Come on, Mary, sit down and join us!” Carly urged her, barely able to keep the excitement out of her voice.

“O-Okay…”

Mary sat down next to Daniel, scootching as far into the armrest as she could. It was quite impressive (and understandable) how small she could make herself if she set her mind to it.

Carly let out a sigh. Good enough, she supposed. “So what did you guys get?”

“Mac and cheese,” Daniel said, gesturing to his plate. He had a sheepish look on his face. “I think, anyway.”

Sam raised her eyebrow as she looked at the off-color yellow lump. “…I didn’t know that came in brick form.”

Daniel tapped his fork against the surface and laughed. “Well, the food’s not the best here, but that’s fine.”

“I, um, I got… a honey cookie,” Mary said, holding up a cookie so big it was practically a plate itself. It was covered with a thick coat of honey.

“Can you really eat that whole thing?” Shannon gasped in disbelief.

“I, um, I worked really hard today, so… I mean… maybe…?” Mary’s voice got smaller and smaller the more people turned to look at her.

“You know that thing is like all sugar, right?” Sam asked. “We’re going to have to do an extra-hard work out in the morning to burn all that off.”

Mary gulped, going a little pale. Suddenly the honey-glazed cookie was looking less and less appealing.