Marilyn
Chapter Two
Onyx hated Wednesdays- one lecture at 9am and one at 6pm with nothing to fill the time between. He had decided to camp in the canteen until his second lecture. Sipping his third cup of lukewarm strong black coffee, he was reading up for an essay. Well, the book was open on the table at least- mostly he was doodling in his notebook and writing snippets of song lyrics.
He saw a flash of purple and black out of the corner of his eye and turned to see Her sweep into the room. He watched Her as she queued up at the counter. She was dressed more simply than She had been at the club- EGL Mary Jane shoes, a purple gingham shirt under a floor-length black dungaree dress. The skirts swirled about her ankles as she moved. Her dreads were tied at the back of her neck and her make-up was simple and plain black. Onyx realised her was sketching her and quickly turned to a fresh page in his notebook.
She paid for her lunch then looked around for an empty table. She spotted him alone in his corner and wandered over.
“any of these seats free?”
“Uh yeah sure, take your pick.”
She settled Her tray on the table before dumping Her badge covered bag on the floor and sliding into one of the empty seats. He glanced at Her tray- vegetarian stir-fry, apple, fruit juice… vegan, maybe?
“you were at the club on Saturday, weren’t you? I’m Marilyn.” She extended Her hand palm side-down. Onyx kissed it and then laughed.
“Enchante cheri. I’m Onyx.”
“hmmmm what an…. interesting name,” she pulled a face. “so what is it really?”
“Oh come on now, you should know not to ask that question. So I take it your new around here?”
She flashed him that brilliant smile once more, “is it so obvious?” she laughed, her eyes glittering, “Yeah I’m new. Transferred down here, had to escape the same-old-same-old. I’m over at the Art’s Centre. What course you doing?”
“English, hence the Milton,” He waved to book at her. “Though I’m not getting very far with it at the moment.”
“So is the club the only source of entertainment in this town?”
“Not really, though its size does mean it’s the only club, there’s a lot of bars and coffee places. Plus some of the bigger shops are really just gathering places. Though of course there’s always the live bands…..” He smiled shyly.
“Ok I’ll take the bait, what’s your band called and when’s your next gig?”
Onyx grinned. “Evengrace. The next gig is at the battle of the bands in two weeks. You want a copy of our demo?”
“sure, why not? One can never have too many CDs. So what style are you? No wait, let me guess…” She looked him up and down a sly smile on Her face. “hmmm the hair suggests trad, the clothes- industrial or cyber….. oh, no wait I’ve got it! You’re a... oh what are they called?… a... Cruxshadows cover band!” She giggled.
Onyx stuck his tongue out at Her. “For your information I’ve had this look for much long than Rogue.”
“you’re in your thirties? You look younger.”
“Ok then maybe I haven’t, but we aren’t a Cruxshadows cover band!!”
“ok, ok calm down. So what do you play?”
“violin and I do vocals too. Plus I do all programming.”
“ahh hah!!! You are a covers band!!! Joking!!! Seriously, that’s really cool, I love musicians.”
“Then why are you with Xristofer?” Onyx cursed silently, he hadn’t intended to say that aloud.
She laughed again. “ ’With Xristofer’? Honey I’m not with anyone… yet.” She grinned. “Xris and I met on the net; I thought it would be nice to go out with the only person I knew around here, start networking a.s.a.p. We’re just friends, besides he’s as dull as hell in RL.” She glanced at Her watch. “I should get back to class. It was real nice meeting you- see again sometime?”
“I’m DJing at the club on Friday in the Vampire Room if you wanna come along... I can put your name on the guest list if you like?”
“Honey that would be great. See you there.” She grabbed her bag and hurried to the door where She turned and blew him a kiss.
Onyx sighed; he was never going to be able to concentrate now. He packed away his stuff and headed for the computer labs- a few hours of mindless chatter on the net might help him think straight again.
BACKFORWARD
