Chapter 2: Roman

I'm pretty sure my scream just woke up the entire building just now. First of all, I only slept for about three hours because my mind was so focused on whatever was following me. Right now, I look like a mess. There are bags under my eyes, which I try to cover up with a bit of makeup, but my hair refuses to stay in place no matter what I do with it, so my black hair is tied in a terrible ponytail. Second of all, it is six in the morning and my body is lacking food and coffee, so I'm still not functioning like a proper human being. Third of all, as soon as I opened my door to leave for school, something was waiting for me right by my doorstep. Something small, black, furry, and has one red eye. 

"Loki." I glared at the cat, putting a hand over my heart. "You scared me. Again. Just like last night. Don't let that be a habit of yours." The feline flashed his sharp teeth at me, almost in a grinning manner, as he watched me lock my door. "Where's your dad? Hmm? Probably still sleeping since he doesn't have to go to work until eight." Must be nice. As I passed by Orion's apartment, I noticed that his door is partially opened. The cat must have opened the door, since Orion's door has a lever instead of knob, making it easier to open. "Well, I'm going to school, so I'll see you later cat. Go home." 

I gave the cat a scratch behind his ears before proceeding to the stairs. This building is great; it has a swimming pool, a nice small greenhouse, a peaceful and quiet environment, and mostly friendly neighbors. The one thing that sucks about it is the lack of elevator. I mean, sure, it only has three floors, but sometimes stairs are very tiring and an elevator would be lovely. I guess nothing really is perfect. 

Today feels much better than yesterday. The lingering creepy feeling is gone, though the thought is still in my mind and I still need to be wary of my surroundings. And speaking of my surroundings, I am very much aware that Loki had refused to go home and decided to follow me. I stopped in the middle of the second floor's stairs to turn around and caught the cat a few steps behind me. He stopped when I stopped. 

Violet and red eyes blinked at me before he sat down and began to lick his paws. 

"Loki." He didn't even pause at the sound of his name. "Stop following me." 

The black cat let out a meow, tilting his head. As if I could understand what that means. "Go upstairs. Don't follow me. Orion is going to start crying if he sees you missing, okay? Don't follow me." Narrowing my eyes, I carefully went down the stairs while still facing Loki, making sure that he didn't move. 

Once he was completely out of sight, I faced forward and ran out of the building. My black Leaf car is parked right behind Orion's silver Tesla, though he doesn't use it often. Either he takes the bus to Virgo, uses his bicycle, or catches a ride with me when I don't have a class. Going home, if he doesn't use his bike and our schedule lets us leave work at the same time, we usually go home together. Orion already graduated and got his Engineering Technology degree three years ago, while I'm still in school working my way to be a physicist. And if I don't get breakfast within ten minutes, I will fail at everything in life. And so, I turned on my car and drove as fast as I legally could, away from the apartment building. Though I'm pretty sure I caught a glimpse of Loki before I left. What a funny little cat.

I paused the music from my earphones as I felt a tap on my shoulder. Looking up, I see a pale boy with straight silver hair, covering his eyes and extending up to his ears. He has gray eyes, with a thin line of eyeliner on his waterline, and a few tattoos on his arms. He's wearing an all black casual clothing, which I think is a difficult thing to wear in this three-digit July weather, but he does look cool so I'm not going to comment on it. 

"Sorry to bother you." Low and husky voice. "But I was wondering if I could see your notes from the last lecture? I wasn't here on Monday." 

I can't believe I've never noticed him before. He is kind of cute. Then again, I never really pay attention to anyone in this class other than the girls who always participate in the class discussions and my professor who I'm certain is John Mulaney's equally funny long lost brother. I sit in the second row in the middle, so anyone who sit behind me are non-existent. 

"Yes, of course." I flipped my notebook a few papers back, going to Monday's lecture. "We just ended eating and mood disorders and started discussing about addictions." 

Thankfully, Abnormal Psychology is a fun class that I can easily follow up and pass without much studying, in comparison to my chemistry class. This morning, I spaced out when my professor was explaining what we'll be doing in lab, so I was pretty lost pretty much throughout the class. If it wasn't for my lab partner helping me, I'm sure I would have looked like a complete fool. Abnormal Psychology is one of the classes that I've taken for fun, just so my semester isn't all blood, sweat, and tears. Not that chemistry isn't fun. It's just different kind of fun. 

"That should be fun." He commented, taking pictures of my notes with his phone. "I'm Roman, by the way." 

"Astoria." I shook his hand, which was quite cold. Again, weird since it's hot as hell right now. He's one of those people then, like my mom. Always getting cold with just a few breezes. "That's a cool tattoo." I pointed to his right arm by this forearm. I don't know what it is exactly, but it looks like a symbol. Something I'd see from Supernatural. It's an eight-pointed star and some symbols inside it, most likely in another language. 

"Thanks. It's traditional." Roman replied, taking a seat on the chair to my right after handing me back my notebook. "How are you doing in this class?"

I leaned my back on my seat and relaxed. We have five minutes before the professor comes in. He's always five minutes late. "I think I'm doing well. I've gotten A's on the first two." We have three more coming up, and the topics only get more interesting, so the rest of the semester shouldn't be too bad. "What about you?"

The boy let out a small chuckle, scratching the back of his head. "Not as good. I got a D on the first test and barely a C on the last one." 

"It's okay. If you do really well on the last two and the final, you can still get an A. There's also an extra credit paper that Snow is putting out worth ten points. I think I'm going to do it." 

"An A-student does extra credit. Of course." I shot him a playful glare. "Maybe you can help me? If you don't mind." He added quickly. "We can study for the next test together." I can only give him a nod before Professor Snow walks into the classroom. Roman gave a quiet thanks before running to his seat at the very back of the class with the rest of the guys who only talked among themselves. 

"Even though drugs and alcohol are the most common substance addictions, there are other things that people can be addicted to. Whatever causes dopamine levels to increase. When you take stimulants such as cocaine and nicotine, your dopamine levels go up the same way your dopamine levels can go up when you're drinking alcohol, playing video games, or even shopping. Of course, whatever you're doing or taking affects the amount of dopamine inhibition. Let's just say dopamine is like, your happy hormones. If you're sexually aroused, dopamine levels go up, which is why some people are addicted to sex. There are lots of strange addictions out there -- if you've seen the TV show, My Strange Addiction, you know what I'm talking about." 

The class burst into laughter. "So, someone can be addicted to a person?" The girl on my left questioned. "Like I know some people say they're addicted to someone, but I always think they're exaggerating to express how much they love someone. But can another person really be an addiction like for real?" 

"Definitely." Professor Snow went back to a previous slide from his PowerPoint. "In order to be addicted to anything, one has to be psychologically and physiologically dependent. To be addicted to someone, your mind has to want to be with that person, like you can't stop thinking about them, being with them, as well as your physical body – and you can take that however way you want." The class laughed again. "But it really is unhealthy to be that way. As we all know, people who are highly addicted to anything, whether if it's drugs, alcohol, another person, or an activity, they will go in extreme ways just for satiety. It's like an itch, really uncomfortable, and the only way that you'll be comfortable again is if you scratch it. Same concept with addiction."

The professor showed us a clip from a TV show, where a man is obsessed with a girl. He ended up stalking her, going overboard with killing anyone that she became close with. There was an argument between two students after the clip. One student claimed that the man was just so in love with the girl, so he wasn't as bad as everyone says he is. Another student laughed at the dude and said that the man from the show is literally just a stalker and a psycho who needs to get professional help and go to jail. 

"So that was interesting," I said to Roman as class ended. "People are strange." 

He nodded in agreement. "Very." He walked beside me as I made my way to the campus cafeteria for lunch so that I'll have energy for work in a couple of hours. "Do you mind if I join you for a while? I have another class in an hour."

"Sure." I shrugged, taking out the lunch I bought this morning. Roman sat across from me, taking out a sandwich from his backpack. "So what's your major, Roman?" 

"Oh, um." He paused for a second. "Anthropology." 

"Cool!" 

"What about you?"

"Physics."

He made a surprised face. "Why would you do that to yourself?" I'm not even surprised by that reaction anymore. "You like math?" Followed by a disgusted expression. There it is. "You're crazy." And that. 

I could only nod as I ate my lunch. I studied him as he talked about how terrible he has been at math ever since high school. He seems pretty calm and collected, so far. When his gray eyes connected with mine, his cheeks flushed and he suddenly looked down at his food shyly. "W-what about you?"

Oh shit. I wasn't paying attention.

"What about me?" 

He chuckled quietly. "What do you do outside of school?"

"I work in Virgo Laboratory," I answered, feeling embarrassed that he pretty much just caught me staring at him. "I'm not a scientist or anything. Not yet. I'm just an assistant. One of the professors who used to teach chemistry here works at Virgo and I was lucky enough to be recommended by her. I'm her assistant." 

Roman smiled. "Good." He then blinked as if realizing what he said. "I mean - That's great! That's really cool, especially since you're a physics major. You'll have the experience and once you graduate, I'm sure they'll just give you a permanent position there!" 

"I really hope so." I sighed. I feel like I'm never going to get there. I'm twenty-two and I'm still in school while other people around my age are already working in their chosen careers. Orion and Nox, my boss, would always tell me that I shouldn't compare my progress with others because everyone is different, but I just can't help it sometimes. I feel like a loser still being in school while one of my friends in high school is already teaching kindergarten, which is what she's always wanted. "Anyway, where are you from? I can't help but notice that you have an English accent." 

"I'm from England." Roman shared. "I moved in California four years ago. I used to live in San Francisco, but moved to Jupiter since it got too expensive." 

"Oh, I understand." I groaned. "I used to live in Los Angeles. My parents are still there because they love the big city so much. My mom was born and raised in the Philippines, and she's got many friends in the city who are also from there so she doesn't want to leave them. My sister and I moved here to Jupiter just for Jupiter University. It's private and small, but it's affordable and it'll give us our degree, plus the town is really peaceful. It first gave me Twin Peaks vibes when I first arrived, but thankfully nothing crazy has ever happened." 

"So you live with your sister?"

I shook my head. "I used to. But she moved in with her wife in Nevada, so I'm by myself. It's not so bad. I told my sister, Celeste, that she should go hunt down the aliens in Area 51. She has yet to introduce me to The Doctor." Just then, my phone buzzed, making me look down at it. 

'Can you buy me some coffee on your way? Thanks.' Orion.

My eyes then checked the time and gasped as I realized I only have twenty five minutes before work. "Holy shit! I'll be late for work! Sorry Roman, I gotta go!" I quickly shoved everything in my bag, including my trash because the trash can is far away and I'm not about to leave it at the table because I am a decent human being. After gathering my belongings, I stood up and waved goodbye at my new friend, though he caught my hand before I could leave.

"Wait!" An unexpectedly tight grip. "Sorry. Do you mind if I get your number? I may need to ask you for help from time to time, and since we'll be studying together I figured - " I took his phone and punched in my numbers, rushing to get out of there. 

"Here you go!" I practically shoved his phone back to his chest. "Bye!"

I heard a quiet "Thanks" as I was running away. 

I may have been imagining it, but I think he remained his stare on me the entire time I was in sight. When I looked back before entering the parking structure of the campus, he was still looking at me. What a strange guy.