Book One, Chapter 14: At St. Andrews (Part One of Two)
Title: At St. Andrews (1 of 2)
Authors: kiltsandlollies and escribo
Characters: Billy, Dominic, Kylie, Sophie
Rating: PG
Word count: 5170
Summary: At the Arché conference, learning more than what's on the agenda.
Index
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction; the recognizable people in the story belong to themselves and have never performed the actions portrayed here. I do not know the actors nor am I associated with them in any way. If you are underage, please do not read this story. I am not making any profit from these stories, nor do I mean any harm.
Billy’s thoughts are coming to him easily for once, rushing to his mind as he stands before a group of almost sixty students from several different universities. It’s been a long time since Billy’s stood in this room, one of the midlevel lecture halls in Edgecliffe Hall, and along with all the other attendant reasons for Billy to feel a certain tightness in his stomach at the idea of being back on the campus of St. Andrews, he’s been given the dubious honour of following three graduate presentations, all of which had been far better than Billy’s own so many years ago. His audience now is tired from a long day of seminars at this year's Arché Conference, and though three of his own students--Sophie Winters, Kylie Morrison, and Dominic Monaghan--are among the group here, Billy knows everyone in the room, including himself, is eager to wrap things up and head out for dinner, and so he makes a concerted effort to keep things short now.
“From what you’ve seen and heard in this afternoon’s presentations,” Billy says, leaning forward slightly on the podium and casting his eyes from one side of the room to the other, “Deleuze’s belief that philosophy should center more on the creation of concepts themselves, as opposed to the application of those concepts as tools in argument and theory, is now in the decade since his death finding more and more adherents. This surge of popularity in Deleuze is telling; we can gather from it that students of philosophy, and even those with only a passing interest in it, are eager to--” Billy’s smile widens into a grin, something that he knows from experience is an uncommon sight in these halls. “Have a bit of fun, perhaps, in their learning or dabbling, and acknowledge that there is an art to deconstructing the ways we think of ourselves and everything that affects us, from academics to politics, from the media to religion.”
Billy shifts his few notes on the podium before he returns to his speech. “I’m inclined to agree with the modern philosophers eager to stress how much we are at play in the fields of thought. Yes, we have a responsibility to the past, and we must respect those who have come before us. But our responsibility to the future is greater. Those of you considering philosophy as a career, whether you intend to--” Billy tilts his head and laughs. “Come after my or my colleagues’ jobs or take our places in the publishing queue ... I urge you to remember that philosophy is not and should never be covered in the dust of the ages. As long as humans have the power to think, they have the power to think twice--and the power to do so creatively and instructively and well.”
Billy takes a breath as he steps back from the podium, and then he raises his hand slightly as he does often in his classroom, releasing his audience as he does his students. “You’ve been more than patient, and I thank you. I’m told there’ll be a short reception downstairs now, so please--enjoy your evenings, and tomorrow’s panel discussions.”
Billy smiles one last time, in thanks for the polite applause as he steps down from the slightly raised platform to make his way back to the little group of students waiting for him in the third row of chairs. Sophie and Dominic both stand at the same time, Kylie following their lead after a moment, and Billy smiles at their interested faces, hopeful that their expressions stem from having learned something over the course of this very long day, and not from tired gratitude that the day is for the most part done.
“I think it’s about time I fed you,” he grins, his eyes moving to Dominic’s first, then toward the young women’s. “You can tell me at dinner about your early panels. There’s a café I know only a few minutes’ walk from here, if you can stand being around a professor for another little while, but if you’d rather just go and find some place yourselves, please don’t let me stop you.”
“We’ll go with you,” Sophie says, deciding for the group, and Kylie smiles in agreement, already reaching below her chair for her bag. “Professor, can we meet you in a minute out in front of the building?”
Billy nods, watching them leave, and then shoves his hands in his pockets and turns back to Dominic happily. “Not too much of a bore, was it, Dom? I tried to keep it shorter than the summaries themselves; I’ve no idea whether it worked. How’s the day gone for you?”
"It's been good. Different than what I expected." Dominic wonders how Billy could think his lecture might have been boring. It had been very much the opposite, actually. Dominic had only come to St. Andrews to please Billy; that he's found the sessions interesting has come as a surprise. Dominic had felt inspired by his words; not an uncommon occurrence, but it always seems to be somewhat of a shock to Billy when Dominic says so. He's not sure how to convey that without sounding twee, and so just shrugs as he gives it a go. "To be honest, I didn't think I would like it very much, but I really have."
Billy tilts his head and rocks back on his heels, acknowledging Dominic's words. He'd hoped Dominic would enjoy at least a few of the presentations, if not all of the lectures, and feel comfortable in the setting. It's been on Billy's lips several times during the day to point out things about the rooms and halls to Dominic, but the timing has never been right, and there's still a part of Billy that knows it wouldn't be exactly appropriate to tell Dominic too much about Billy's own adventures, academic and otherwise, in this place. As it is, Billy's grateful that he's yet to come across many of his own professors-some of whom have longer memories than even Billy.
Billy's about to ask Dominic what he'd thought of the short panel discussion on poetry in Aristotle when he hears the polite cough behind him, and he turns and extends his hand almost automatically to the graduate student he now faces. After a quiet greeting and introduction, the young man launches into a quick, nervous ramble on the academic step he's thinking of taking-shifting concentrations from creative writing to philosophy. Billy raises his eyebrows and swallows, considering his response carefully, and then folds his arms across his chest and meets the student's eyes.
"I'd be remiss if I didn't first call your attention to tomorrow's discussion on Kafka and Sartre, Charles," he says. "Clearly there's precedent for the marriage of your disciplines. How far along are you, did you say? Second year?" When the young man nods, Billy nods too, a kind of gentle excitement making its way into his voice. "Have you begun any serious work on Kant? On the Romantics? You're going t'find your place there, I tell you. At a time when philosophy had been boxed in by mathematic and scientific theory, Kant and his contemporaries--forgive me the textbook phrase; 's what I teach--they asked scholars to remember the arts, and for artists to remember ideas.
"Think of it," Billy continues, leaning forward and grinning. "I read only two or three days ago a fantastic essay on the Romantic argument that artists--painters, sculptors, writers, poets, all of them--those who create worlds and people and images and thought from out of the air it seems sometimes ... they are the ones who will teach us human nature, not those who want to confine us to equations and formulas, or atoms and molecules. There's room for you, Charles, as as a writer and a philosopher. And should you find there's not, well." Billy's grin turns up at one corner. "You're to make room."
The young man laughs, and Billy extends his hand again, wishing him well before he turns back to Dominic, whose attention seems more than a little piqued by the conversation. Billy's quick to press a hand to Dominic's back, leading them out of the room and to the front of the building, but he does so gently, still smiling.
"That's an argument for you as well, Dom," Billy says quietly as they wait for Sophie and Kylie to reappear. "You'll hear it said better tomorrow. But 's one of the reasons I wanted you here."
"They go along together, don't they? Writing and philosophy." Dominic keeps pace with Billy as they leave the hall and head outside. It's darker than he expected, and colder, too. Now that the reality of a Scottish winter's hit him, he wishes he'd packed better. "I find myself thinking about my poetry more than I did a year ago, finding ways to expand my meanings, I guess. One of my tutors said he could really tell the difference. That it was," Dominic pauses as he fumbles around for the word he wants. "More mature, I guess is how it would translate."
Dominic frowns as he thinks of his wording. There really isn't a good translation for what his tutor had said, but he thinks mature might do. Before, his poetry had dealt superficially with love--directly and frequently used that word love that clearly is so hard to define. He has more now confidence to express concretely his experiences of being gay rather than just being ambiguous in his poetry. He finds himself suddenly rather eager to express this to Billy. "Everything's rather changed since--oh. There's Sophie and Kylie."
The girls wave as they move down the stairs towards them. Dominic feels frustrated at the sight of them, already feels his speech tumble away from his thoughts. He pulls his thin jacket tighter around his body and waits for them, quiet now, his thoughts turned inside.
"Dominic!" Kylie's voice is light and lilting, sunshine to the dark night of Dominic's thoughts. He recognizes that she's imitating Sophie as much as her Welsh accent will allow and it makes his lips twist a bit in distaste. She tugs at his jacket, laughing lightly as she pulls at his zipper. "You must have a better coat than this. It's freezing! Professor, maybe we should stop by the hotel so that Dominic can change."
"I'm fine, Kylie." Dominic takes a step back but Kylie follows him until he relents to her fussing. "It's all I brought. I'm hungry, anyway. It's not that far, right?" Dominic turns pleading eyes on Billy, looking to be rescued from this suddenly eager Kylie.
“Not far at all,” Billy nods, a small smile just beginning to crease his face. He shrugs inside his own longer, battered coat in sympathy. “They usually hold these things in the summer, so I promise you, we're not the only ones suffering. Some arts festival's taken the week we'd typically be here. As long as we all suffer together, yeah? And at least it’s not raining.”
His students nod as if Billy’s said something utterly profound, but their attentions are elsewhere, Billy knows: specifically all over each other. Sophie’s watching Kylie appraisingly while Kylie’s fixed on Dominic, who’s removing Kylie’s hand from his jacket gently, shoving his own hand in his pocket immediately afterward--working, Billy supposes, to not offend Kylie but also not to encourage her. Billy’s smile tightens--again, in sympathy--and he claps his hands together and clears his throat, waiting for the students to look up from their little dance. “If you’ll follow me.”
It is indeed not very far from the university to the warm, darkened café in which Billy’s chosen to unwind. On the way there, he revels a bit in memory, peering up at the buildings around him and aching suddenly for a smoke--just one sweet, hand-rolled little number. Behind him Billy can hear the clack of Sophie’s boots and the murmurs of Kylie’s gentle accent mixed with the burr of Dominic’s. It seems the courteous thing to do to leave them to their conversation, but before long Dominic’s quickened his pace to match Billy, and Billy’s not terribly unhappy to be pulled from his memories back to the here and now.
“You were saying,” he smiles at Dominic. “Your writing’s changed. Of course it has, Dom; everything changes, everything matures, given a chance. Not that everything matures well, mind you, but it matures nonetheless. You’ll have to show me some of your work once we’re back on campus. Provided,” Billy laughs, “that it’s in English.”
“Professor,” Sophie calls from behind them, and Billy pivots first, then walks for a few seconds backwards, listening to her. “How long did you teach here? The speaker in my first forum this morning recognized your name on my papers, she said--”
Billy’s jaw clenches, but he recovers with a low run of laughter, turning to face forward just before he collides with a lamppost. “Long enough,” he says, sliding around the post and throwing the words over his shoulder. “I hold my doctorate from St. Andrews, Sophie, but I only taught here for a short while. Your speaker might have been one of my professors.”
“Well, she certainly seemed old enough,” Sophie grins, and Kylie giggles beside her. “Honestly, professor, some of her views are from the dark ages compared to yours. Her name was Anne Fara--”
“Annie Faraday,” Billy nods, picturing the keen-eyed and brilliant girl who’d debated with him relentlessly over the course of a year and a half in class, and imagining her gaze happily boring holes into the same generation of students Billy works hard not to intimidate and manages to do so nonetheless. Billy clears his throat again, grateful they’ve reached their destination, and turns to face his group of students coming to a stop behind him. “She finished the semester before I did. Perhaps,” he sighs and forces his smile polite as he gestures them toward the door of the restaurant. “I’m older than you imagine. And I could use a beer, I think. Shall we?”
Inside the small café, Dominic finds himself tucked into the far end of a booth with Kylie's thigh pressed tightly against his own. He waits for a few minutes before unzipping his jacket and leaning forward on the table to study the menu, and Kylie raises her eyebrows to Sophie while nodding her head subtly towards Billy. Sophie smiles in understanding and turns to engage Billy in conversation.
"You were talking to Professor Boyd about your writing," Kylie says abruptly and Dominic looks up, startled almost--surprised to find Sophie and Billy in conversation and himself alone, as it were, with Kylie. Her words sound more like an accusation than he supposes she's meant if the twist of her lips says anything, and he sits back against the bench, waiting her out. "I mean, I'd like to read some of your work, too. I think it's lovely that you write poems. I've never known anyone who has."
"They're not much, not very good." Dominic's answer sounds dismissive and he isn't sure why he said that other than he doesn't want to let her read them. Doesn't want to talk about his writing now, not in front of Sophie who had paused in her speech to cast a glance towards him. He suddenly feels very young, that what he'd said to Billy--about his writing being more mature--is rubbish.
Billy takes the pause in conversation to make an attempt to attract the attention of a passing waiter when Sophie nudges against him again, drawing him back into their conversation. It's a polite enough nudge, but Billy turns and smiles tightly at her, holding up one hand to ask for her patience while he attempts to order, but the gesture's in vain--the waiter's disappeared again, and Billy sighs before he leans back into his side of the booth, nodding at Sophie to go on.
"You must be tired, Professor," Sophie laughs, her usually bell-like voice lower now as the evening's come upon them. "We'll have to send you off upstairs after dinner."
Billy raises his eyebrows at this, but smiles. "'s possible, that."
"Did you speak to Charles?" Sophie asks, growing more animated. "I met him in the first lectures this morning. He said he was considering changing his concentration--"
"You suggested he speak to me?"
"Well. Yes." Sophie laughs again. "You're apparently very persuasive when it comes to throwing nets. I mean--" Sophie's smile widens and she tilts her head slightly at Dominic before she lowers her voice again. "I don't think some of us would be bothered if you weren't so convincing--"
"I beg your pardon?" Billy's forehead knits, and his eyes flicker to Dominic, who looks ready to crawl under the table. "Some of your fellow students are more interested in philosophy than you might be aware, Sophie."
"I didn't mean--"
"I don't suggest you mean anything inappropriate," Billy sighs, and leans forward on the table. "Look, I don't talk about other students with their peers. Ever. So tell me instead how you fared today, other than with Professor Faraday."
Sophie fidgets slightly, peering at Kylie and Dominic before she turns back to Billy. "I spent most of the morning with her--so did Kylie--she was just very ... traditional, I suppose. It was like a proper lecture. Very little discussion. It felt--"
Billy waits, then turns his hand on the table, as encouragingly as he can. "Different? Challenging?"
"Stifling." Sophie's voice is sharp. "I don't think I'd enjoy her classes day to day."
"No, I don't suppose you would." Billy tries very hard not to grin. "She hasn't much time for discussion, considering she's teaching an advanced series of lectures this term here. I think we always knew she'd end up doing so."
"You teach advanced lectures, Professor," Sophie says, and Billy brushes the words from the air with a quick swipe of his hand.
"Not like hers. Not like here. Right, finally." Billy coughs, and the runaway waiter is suddenly at their table, listening for their drink requests as Billy exhales and looks across the table at Dominic from under his eyelashes.
"Have something good and warm, yeah?" he says quickly, and quietly, too, smiling and murmuring to keep their conversation from being heard over Sophie and Kylie's laughter at the waiter's expressive description of some of the restaurant's specialties. "I think we might need it, Dom."
Dominic grins, ducks his head, and nods slightly in agreement. He knows the night would seem even longer if Billy wasn't there to stave off Sophie, even if Dominic can't help but think that perhaps he could enjoy the evening even more if Sophie--and Kylie, too, for that matter, though he can tolerate her better--hadn't been invited along.
Their orders placed, Dominic slides out of his jacket and balls it up, tucking it next to him, before he leans his elbows back on the table. An uncomfortable silence has descended as they each cast about for a topic of conversation. Out of the corner of his eye, Dominic can see Kylie turn toward him, her face lifted with expectation, and it makes him quail a bit. He raises his eyebrows in a silent plea to Billy and is surprised to hear the man speak as if he had understood completely. "Tell me, Dominic. What's been your favorite lecture? Beyond my own, of course."
Dominic's shoulders drop a fraction of an inch in relief and leans in a little further--away from Kylie and closer to Billy across the table. "I liked Professor Faraday's lecture this morning. That was really interesting. Intense. I got to talk to her for a minute afterwards. She said Professor Evans will present a paper on 19th century German Nihilism. Suggested I should go. Do you know him, Evans?"
“I don’t,” Billy smiles. “All the more reason for you to go, then. You can tell me about it afterward, Dom; you know how I feel about nihilism.” And Dominic does or at least should, Billy thinks; they’ve discussed it in their meetings and occasionally in class, though Billy’s more careful--or rather, more impartial--in his opinions in that more public setting. That thought reminds him that he should not be quite so quick to show his displeasure with or indifference to philosophical theories in front of a student still finding his way around those theories. Billy had had to work not to allow his professors’ likes and dislikes to influence his own, and he will have to be conscious of that now as he works with Dominic--and other students, too.
“You enjoyed that lecture?” Sophie leans into the conversation as well, amusement high in her voice as she peers at Dominic before tilting her head back at Billy. “I’m sorry, Professor, but there aren’t horses high enough for that woman to have been riding on. And she wasn’t much for discussion, either. I mean, Dominic was able to get a word in once--"
“Good,” Billy grins across the table at Dominic. “Very good.”
“But she wasn’t interested in answering proper questions,” Sophie finishes with a gesture of annoyance, and again Billy sits back and sighs.
“I’m sure your question would have been appropriate and good, Sophie, but it was indeed a lecture Annie was teaching, not a discussion class. She’s holding a forum tomorrow afternoon on the same topics she covered, according to the schedule. You could write up some questions tonight if you wanted to follow up with her. No?” Billy laughs when Sophie almost imperceptibly wrinkles her nose. “I can understand. Oh, here we are.”
Their drinks have arrived, and Billy drums his fingers impatiently, waiting until everyone at the table’s been served before he lifts his glass. “To questions and answers,” he murmurs, and takes care to just sip at his beer before putting it back down and winking at Dominic while Sophie and Kylie lock determined eyes over their own glasses. “Kylie,” Billy says brightly, then, as their waiter flips open his tablet. “Go on, you first. Remember, this is getting expensed, so I expect you to do your reasonable worst. Anything you choose to eat or drink after this, you’re on your own, but now …”
Dominic’s staring down at his menu, the calculations in his eyes scary things to Billy’s mind. While Kylie and Sophie order, Billy lowers his voice again and says simply, “I can recommend the steak, Dom; I don’t often eat it, but here it’s absolutely worth it. Have a go, and I will, too.”
Still unsure when it's his turn to order, Dominic stares at the description of the steak dinner. Even the cheapest selection--a meat pie--is out of his budget for meals on this trip, and he finds that he wants to accept Billy's offer but he's afraid of seeming greedy. Even through all the noise in the restaurant, Dominic thinks he can hear the waiter's pen tapping on his tablet in annoyance. He glances up at Billy again, meeting his eyes to find reassurance and not impatience.
"Go on, lad," Billy says, encouraging him again though his voice is barely heard, and so Dominic finally orders at Billy's suggestion, pushing aside the sound of his father's voice in his ears about accepting things he has no way of repaying. By the time his misplaced and over-exaggerated embarrassment subsides and he feels able to meet his companions' eyes, the waiter is gone and Sophie once again has Billy locked in conversation.
"I'm glad you came on this trip, Dom." Kylie doesn't turn to face Dominic but sits quietly shredding her napkin. "I never know how to talk to professors, you know? Outside of class. I'm glad you're here because I think he likes you."
"Excuse me?" Dominic turns sharply towards Kylie, his cheeks growing warm, and is thankful for the lighting that leaves him mostly in shadows. It's a moment before his brain processes what she's actually said. Knowing that his secret is still safe, Dominic eases back against the booth bench.
"Professor Boyd. I think he likes you." Kylie, thinking that maybe Dominic hasn't heard her over the noise, leans into to talk against his ear. "He doesn't like me so much, I don't think."
"Oh! I'm sure he does, Kylie. He wouldn't have suggested you to come along if he didn't."
"That was just because I won the prize with my paper. Part of it was that I come here to present. No one has taken really such an effort with me though. Not like he has with you. You're really lucky."
"I am," Dominic agrees, smiling now that he understands her meaning. "I am lucky. But that doesn't mean he doesn't like you. He's really great, you know? He wants you to find your own way. You've always had things figured out, kind of. I think maybe I just needed more help, you know? He really does want to see us all do well."
"He's hard, to read I mean. I never know if I'm saying the right things. Or like today with Professor Faraday. I would have died if I had to come up with something to say to her, and you just went up and talked to her. I could never do that."
"Sure you could."
Kylie's smile turns demure--flirtatious now that she has Dominic's full attention--and she shakes her head as if suddenly shy so that her hair covers her cheek. She looks up at Dominic then with her eyes bright, and Dominic’s suddenly afraid again of her misunderstanding and of his having to explain. He glances back to Billy, trying to catch his eye as he speaks to Sophie, wishing that he could escape.
Billy's buying time again, drinking slowly from his glass as Sophie leans closer to him and smiles a brilliant, brittle smile Billy supposes he's meant to find alluring in some way. She's asked him about his plans for the evening, but not in a nosy way, and Billy decides to give her the benefit of the doubt before he answers.
"No real plans. I thought I might have a walk around. It's been a year since I was last at St. Andrews."
"Things can't possibly change that much in a year."
"I don't know," Billy muses, his gaze moving half consciously to Dominic across the table. "I imagine they can. Whatever difficulties I had here while I was in school, I loved the town."
"Then you can tell us somewhere to go after dinner," Sophie says brightly. "Where did you--well, where did most of the students go in the evenings here?"
Billy's neither surprised nor displeased to hear Sophie's imagined distinction between Billy and his fellow students. "Some things do change, Sophie," he laughs. "I couldn't begin to suggest--"
"I'm sure you could, Professor--"
"I'm sure I couldn't. John!" Billy's already half out of the booth as an older man with thick white hair and thicker framed glasses approaches their table. Billy embraces the man warmly before he takes his hand to shake it for several seconds. "Professor John Helden," Billy explains to his students offhandedly. "Sophie Winters, Kylie Morrison, Dom Monaghan--my students."
"Poor unfortunate souls," Helden laughs as he shakes their hands in turn.
"Ah, shut it," Billy laughs, too. "Let me buy you a drink, John, yeah?" Turning back to the table, Billy nods specifically at Dominic, aware that he alone would recognize the professor with whom Billy stands as one of the reasons Billy's still teaching at all. "I'll just be a few minutes."
"Lovely," Sophie says as soon as Billy's out of earshot. "Abandoned for an old man. Let's hope he’s back in time to pay the bill."
"Sophie, go on," Kylie murmurs. "I don't mind, actually. It's like I can relax now a little."
"Don't relax too much," Sophie shrugs. "We're still going out tonight."
"Oh, yeah," Kylie nods, and bumps her shoulder against Dominic's. "You're in, aren't you?"
"In?" Dominic asks, watching Billy's animated conversation with the older professor at the bar before he turns his attention to Kylie's hopeful face. "Oh. No. I don't think--"
"It'll be fun. Especially after spending all day listening to lectures." Kylie turns towards him on the bench and grabs his arm with both her hands. "C'mon Dominic. Just for a couple of hours?"
"I can't, Kylie. I--"
"Dominic," Sophie picks up her glass of wine and swirls the contents, leaning across the table. "You can't honestly tell me that you'd rather go back to your room or spend the night listening to Professor Boyd talking about philosophy or presentations or whatever it is he rambles about."
I wouldn't mind at all is the answer that immediately pops into Dominic's head, but he doesn't say it. His main thought is of how much--or rather, how little--he has in his wallet. Definitely not enough to go out if he wants to eat tomorrow. "It's not that. I just--"
He's saved when Billy returns to the table, and Dominic smiles up at him gratefully until Sophie pipes up. "Professor, Dominic should go out with us, shouldn't he?"
"Hmm?" Billy looks up as he settles back into their booth. "What, tonight? Of course." When he catches Dominic's eyes, however, almost dilating with an odd plea no, Billy understands immediately and nods again. "Well, if he's not knackered from the lectures and such today. I wouldn't blame you for wanting t'just crash, Dom."
"You're in the middle of a new city, Dom," Sophie says, exasperated. "And it's got to be better at night, right?"
"It's alright in the day--" Kylie says nervously, her eyes flitting to Billy, but Sophie’s still going, leaning a bit now across the table.
"Besides, you can crash anytime. We're just going dancing, Dom; I know you can dance. I saw you once at one of those warehouse parties behind campus."
Dominic flushes scarlet and pushes at his water glass. "I'm just not feeling it tonight, yeah? Maybe some other time."
"But this is the best time," Kylie says, more urgency in her voice, and again she curls her arm again around Dominic's. "Come on, Dom, it'll be great." She lowers her voice then, biting her lip as if making a decision. "Look, I'll front you if it's--"
"Fantastic," Billy interrupts them, loudly, as their meals arrive at the table. "No one's going anywhere at the moment, so no point in deciding now." The firmness of his own words surprises Billy a little, but he's irritated now for Dominic's sake, and he can't be arsed not to show it. "That looks brilliant, Kylie, whatever you've got there, and Dom, on my life I swear you're going t'love that plate in front of you." The moment the waiter disappears again, Billy lifts his glass quickly. "To the pursuit of whatever education you lot plan to find later."
continued here
Authors: kiltsandlollies and escribo
Characters: Billy, Dominic, Kylie, Sophie
Rating: PG
Word count: 5170
Summary: At the Arché conference, learning more than what's on the agenda.
Index
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction; the recognizable people in the story belong to themselves and have never performed the actions portrayed here. I do not know the actors nor am I associated with them in any way. If you are underage, please do not read this story. I am not making any profit from these stories, nor do I mean any harm.
Billy’s thoughts are coming to him easily for once, rushing to his mind as he stands before a group of almost sixty students from several different universities. It’s been a long time since Billy’s stood in this room, one of the midlevel lecture halls in Edgecliffe Hall, and along with all the other attendant reasons for Billy to feel a certain tightness in his stomach at the idea of being back on the campus of St. Andrews, he’s been given the dubious honour of following three graduate presentations, all of which had been far better than Billy’s own so many years ago. His audience now is tired from a long day of seminars at this year's Arché Conference, and though three of his own students--Sophie Winters, Kylie Morrison, and Dominic Monaghan--are among the group here, Billy knows everyone in the room, including himself, is eager to wrap things up and head out for dinner, and so he makes a concerted effort to keep things short now.
“From what you’ve seen and heard in this afternoon’s presentations,” Billy says, leaning forward slightly on the podium and casting his eyes from one side of the room to the other, “Deleuze’s belief that philosophy should center more on the creation of concepts themselves, as opposed to the application of those concepts as tools in argument and theory, is now in the decade since his death finding more and more adherents. This surge of popularity in Deleuze is telling; we can gather from it that students of philosophy, and even those with only a passing interest in it, are eager to--” Billy’s smile widens into a grin, something that he knows from experience is an uncommon sight in these halls. “Have a bit of fun, perhaps, in their learning or dabbling, and acknowledge that there is an art to deconstructing the ways we think of ourselves and everything that affects us, from academics to politics, from the media to religion.”
Billy shifts his few notes on the podium before he returns to his speech. “I’m inclined to agree with the modern philosophers eager to stress how much we are at play in the fields of thought. Yes, we have a responsibility to the past, and we must respect those who have come before us. But our responsibility to the future is greater. Those of you considering philosophy as a career, whether you intend to--” Billy tilts his head and laughs. “Come after my or my colleagues’ jobs or take our places in the publishing queue ... I urge you to remember that philosophy is not and should never be covered in the dust of the ages. As long as humans have the power to think, they have the power to think twice--and the power to do so creatively and instructively and well.”
Billy takes a breath as he steps back from the podium, and then he raises his hand slightly as he does often in his classroom, releasing his audience as he does his students. “You’ve been more than patient, and I thank you. I’m told there’ll be a short reception downstairs now, so please--enjoy your evenings, and tomorrow’s panel discussions.”
Billy smiles one last time, in thanks for the polite applause as he steps down from the slightly raised platform to make his way back to the little group of students waiting for him in the third row of chairs. Sophie and Dominic both stand at the same time, Kylie following their lead after a moment, and Billy smiles at their interested faces, hopeful that their expressions stem from having learned something over the course of this very long day, and not from tired gratitude that the day is for the most part done.
“I think it’s about time I fed you,” he grins, his eyes moving to Dominic’s first, then toward the young women’s. “You can tell me at dinner about your early panels. There’s a café I know only a few minutes’ walk from here, if you can stand being around a professor for another little while, but if you’d rather just go and find some place yourselves, please don’t let me stop you.”
“We’ll go with you,” Sophie says, deciding for the group, and Kylie smiles in agreement, already reaching below her chair for her bag. “Professor, can we meet you in a minute out in front of the building?”
Billy nods, watching them leave, and then shoves his hands in his pockets and turns back to Dominic happily. “Not too much of a bore, was it, Dom? I tried to keep it shorter than the summaries themselves; I’ve no idea whether it worked. How’s the day gone for you?”
"It's been good. Different than what I expected." Dominic wonders how Billy could think his lecture might have been boring. It had been very much the opposite, actually. Dominic had only come to St. Andrews to please Billy; that he's found the sessions interesting has come as a surprise. Dominic had felt inspired by his words; not an uncommon occurrence, but it always seems to be somewhat of a shock to Billy when Dominic says so. He's not sure how to convey that without sounding twee, and so just shrugs as he gives it a go. "To be honest, I didn't think I would like it very much, but I really have."
Billy tilts his head and rocks back on his heels, acknowledging Dominic's words. He'd hoped Dominic would enjoy at least a few of the presentations, if not all of the lectures, and feel comfortable in the setting. It's been on Billy's lips several times during the day to point out things about the rooms and halls to Dominic, but the timing has never been right, and there's still a part of Billy that knows it wouldn't be exactly appropriate to tell Dominic too much about Billy's own adventures, academic and otherwise, in this place. As it is, Billy's grateful that he's yet to come across many of his own professors-some of whom have longer memories than even Billy.
Billy's about to ask Dominic what he'd thought of the short panel discussion on poetry in Aristotle when he hears the polite cough behind him, and he turns and extends his hand almost automatically to the graduate student he now faces. After a quiet greeting and introduction, the young man launches into a quick, nervous ramble on the academic step he's thinking of taking-shifting concentrations from creative writing to philosophy. Billy raises his eyebrows and swallows, considering his response carefully, and then folds his arms across his chest and meets the student's eyes.
"I'd be remiss if I didn't first call your attention to tomorrow's discussion on Kafka and Sartre, Charles," he says. "Clearly there's precedent for the marriage of your disciplines. How far along are you, did you say? Second year?" When the young man nods, Billy nods too, a kind of gentle excitement making its way into his voice. "Have you begun any serious work on Kant? On the Romantics? You're going t'find your place there, I tell you. At a time when philosophy had been boxed in by mathematic and scientific theory, Kant and his contemporaries--forgive me the textbook phrase; 's what I teach--they asked scholars to remember the arts, and for artists to remember ideas.
"Think of it," Billy continues, leaning forward and grinning. "I read only two or three days ago a fantastic essay on the Romantic argument that artists--painters, sculptors, writers, poets, all of them--those who create worlds and people and images and thought from out of the air it seems sometimes ... they are the ones who will teach us human nature, not those who want to confine us to equations and formulas, or atoms and molecules. There's room for you, Charles, as as a writer and a philosopher. And should you find there's not, well." Billy's grin turns up at one corner. "You're to make room."
The young man laughs, and Billy extends his hand again, wishing him well before he turns back to Dominic, whose attention seems more than a little piqued by the conversation. Billy's quick to press a hand to Dominic's back, leading them out of the room and to the front of the building, but he does so gently, still smiling.
"That's an argument for you as well, Dom," Billy says quietly as they wait for Sophie and Kylie to reappear. "You'll hear it said better tomorrow. But 's one of the reasons I wanted you here."
"They go along together, don't they? Writing and philosophy." Dominic keeps pace with Billy as they leave the hall and head outside. It's darker than he expected, and colder, too. Now that the reality of a Scottish winter's hit him, he wishes he'd packed better. "I find myself thinking about my poetry more than I did a year ago, finding ways to expand my meanings, I guess. One of my tutors said he could really tell the difference. That it was," Dominic pauses as he fumbles around for the word he wants. "More mature, I guess is how it would translate."
Dominic frowns as he thinks of his wording. There really isn't a good translation for what his tutor had said, but he thinks mature might do. Before, his poetry had dealt superficially with love--directly and frequently used that word love that clearly is so hard to define. He has more now confidence to express concretely his experiences of being gay rather than just being ambiguous in his poetry. He finds himself suddenly rather eager to express this to Billy. "Everything's rather changed since--oh. There's Sophie and Kylie."
The girls wave as they move down the stairs towards them. Dominic feels frustrated at the sight of them, already feels his speech tumble away from his thoughts. He pulls his thin jacket tighter around his body and waits for them, quiet now, his thoughts turned inside.
"Dominic!" Kylie's voice is light and lilting, sunshine to the dark night of Dominic's thoughts. He recognizes that she's imitating Sophie as much as her Welsh accent will allow and it makes his lips twist a bit in distaste. She tugs at his jacket, laughing lightly as she pulls at his zipper. "You must have a better coat than this. It's freezing! Professor, maybe we should stop by the hotel so that Dominic can change."
"I'm fine, Kylie." Dominic takes a step back but Kylie follows him until he relents to her fussing. "It's all I brought. I'm hungry, anyway. It's not that far, right?" Dominic turns pleading eyes on Billy, looking to be rescued from this suddenly eager Kylie.
“Not far at all,” Billy nods, a small smile just beginning to crease his face. He shrugs inside his own longer, battered coat in sympathy. “They usually hold these things in the summer, so I promise you, we're not the only ones suffering. Some arts festival's taken the week we'd typically be here. As long as we all suffer together, yeah? And at least it’s not raining.”
His students nod as if Billy’s said something utterly profound, but their attentions are elsewhere, Billy knows: specifically all over each other. Sophie’s watching Kylie appraisingly while Kylie’s fixed on Dominic, who’s removing Kylie’s hand from his jacket gently, shoving his own hand in his pocket immediately afterward--working, Billy supposes, to not offend Kylie but also not to encourage her. Billy’s smile tightens--again, in sympathy--and he claps his hands together and clears his throat, waiting for the students to look up from their little dance. “If you’ll follow me.”
It is indeed not very far from the university to the warm, darkened café in which Billy’s chosen to unwind. On the way there, he revels a bit in memory, peering up at the buildings around him and aching suddenly for a smoke--just one sweet, hand-rolled little number. Behind him Billy can hear the clack of Sophie’s boots and the murmurs of Kylie’s gentle accent mixed with the burr of Dominic’s. It seems the courteous thing to do to leave them to their conversation, but before long Dominic’s quickened his pace to match Billy, and Billy’s not terribly unhappy to be pulled from his memories back to the here and now.
“You were saying,” he smiles at Dominic. “Your writing’s changed. Of course it has, Dom; everything changes, everything matures, given a chance. Not that everything matures well, mind you, but it matures nonetheless. You’ll have to show me some of your work once we’re back on campus. Provided,” Billy laughs, “that it’s in English.”
“Professor,” Sophie calls from behind them, and Billy pivots first, then walks for a few seconds backwards, listening to her. “How long did you teach here? The speaker in my first forum this morning recognized your name on my papers, she said--”
Billy’s jaw clenches, but he recovers with a low run of laughter, turning to face forward just before he collides with a lamppost. “Long enough,” he says, sliding around the post and throwing the words over his shoulder. “I hold my doctorate from St. Andrews, Sophie, but I only taught here for a short while. Your speaker might have been one of my professors.”
“Well, she certainly seemed old enough,” Sophie grins, and Kylie giggles beside her. “Honestly, professor, some of her views are from the dark ages compared to yours. Her name was Anne Fara--”
“Annie Faraday,” Billy nods, picturing the keen-eyed and brilliant girl who’d debated with him relentlessly over the course of a year and a half in class, and imagining her gaze happily boring holes into the same generation of students Billy works hard not to intimidate and manages to do so nonetheless. Billy clears his throat again, grateful they’ve reached their destination, and turns to face his group of students coming to a stop behind him. “She finished the semester before I did. Perhaps,” he sighs and forces his smile polite as he gestures them toward the door of the restaurant. “I’m older than you imagine. And I could use a beer, I think. Shall we?”
Inside the small café, Dominic finds himself tucked into the far end of a booth with Kylie's thigh pressed tightly against his own. He waits for a few minutes before unzipping his jacket and leaning forward on the table to study the menu, and Kylie raises her eyebrows to Sophie while nodding her head subtly towards Billy. Sophie smiles in understanding and turns to engage Billy in conversation.
"You were talking to Professor Boyd about your writing," Kylie says abruptly and Dominic looks up, startled almost--surprised to find Sophie and Billy in conversation and himself alone, as it were, with Kylie. Her words sound more like an accusation than he supposes she's meant if the twist of her lips says anything, and he sits back against the bench, waiting her out. "I mean, I'd like to read some of your work, too. I think it's lovely that you write poems. I've never known anyone who has."
"They're not much, not very good." Dominic's answer sounds dismissive and he isn't sure why he said that other than he doesn't want to let her read them. Doesn't want to talk about his writing now, not in front of Sophie who had paused in her speech to cast a glance towards him. He suddenly feels very young, that what he'd said to Billy--about his writing being more mature--is rubbish.
Billy takes the pause in conversation to make an attempt to attract the attention of a passing waiter when Sophie nudges against him again, drawing him back into their conversation. It's a polite enough nudge, but Billy turns and smiles tightly at her, holding up one hand to ask for her patience while he attempts to order, but the gesture's in vain--the waiter's disappeared again, and Billy sighs before he leans back into his side of the booth, nodding at Sophie to go on.
"You must be tired, Professor," Sophie laughs, her usually bell-like voice lower now as the evening's come upon them. "We'll have to send you off upstairs after dinner."
Billy raises his eyebrows at this, but smiles. "'s possible, that."
"Did you speak to Charles?" Sophie asks, growing more animated. "I met him in the first lectures this morning. He said he was considering changing his concentration--"
"You suggested he speak to me?"
"Well. Yes." Sophie laughs again. "You're apparently very persuasive when it comes to throwing nets. I mean--" Sophie's smile widens and she tilts her head slightly at Dominic before she lowers her voice again. "I don't think some of us would be bothered if you weren't so convincing--"
"I beg your pardon?" Billy's forehead knits, and his eyes flicker to Dominic, who looks ready to crawl under the table. "Some of your fellow students are more interested in philosophy than you might be aware, Sophie."
"I didn't mean--"
"I don't suggest you mean anything inappropriate," Billy sighs, and leans forward on the table. "Look, I don't talk about other students with their peers. Ever. So tell me instead how you fared today, other than with Professor Faraday."
Sophie fidgets slightly, peering at Kylie and Dominic before she turns back to Billy. "I spent most of the morning with her--so did Kylie--she was just very ... traditional, I suppose. It was like a proper lecture. Very little discussion. It felt--"
Billy waits, then turns his hand on the table, as encouragingly as he can. "Different? Challenging?"
"Stifling." Sophie's voice is sharp. "I don't think I'd enjoy her classes day to day."
"No, I don't suppose you would." Billy tries very hard not to grin. "She hasn't much time for discussion, considering she's teaching an advanced series of lectures this term here. I think we always knew she'd end up doing so."
"You teach advanced lectures, Professor," Sophie says, and Billy brushes the words from the air with a quick swipe of his hand.
"Not like hers. Not like here. Right, finally." Billy coughs, and the runaway waiter is suddenly at their table, listening for their drink requests as Billy exhales and looks across the table at Dominic from under his eyelashes.
"Have something good and warm, yeah?" he says quickly, and quietly, too, smiling and murmuring to keep their conversation from being heard over Sophie and Kylie's laughter at the waiter's expressive description of some of the restaurant's specialties. "I think we might need it, Dom."
Dominic grins, ducks his head, and nods slightly in agreement. He knows the night would seem even longer if Billy wasn't there to stave off Sophie, even if Dominic can't help but think that perhaps he could enjoy the evening even more if Sophie--and Kylie, too, for that matter, though he can tolerate her better--hadn't been invited along.
Their orders placed, Dominic slides out of his jacket and balls it up, tucking it next to him, before he leans his elbows back on the table. An uncomfortable silence has descended as they each cast about for a topic of conversation. Out of the corner of his eye, Dominic can see Kylie turn toward him, her face lifted with expectation, and it makes him quail a bit. He raises his eyebrows in a silent plea to Billy and is surprised to hear the man speak as if he had understood completely. "Tell me, Dominic. What's been your favorite lecture? Beyond my own, of course."
Dominic's shoulders drop a fraction of an inch in relief and leans in a little further--away from Kylie and closer to Billy across the table. "I liked Professor Faraday's lecture this morning. That was really interesting. Intense. I got to talk to her for a minute afterwards. She said Professor Evans will present a paper on 19th century German Nihilism. Suggested I should go. Do you know him, Evans?"
“I don’t,” Billy smiles. “All the more reason for you to go, then. You can tell me about it afterward, Dom; you know how I feel about nihilism.” And Dominic does or at least should, Billy thinks; they’ve discussed it in their meetings and occasionally in class, though Billy’s more careful--or rather, more impartial--in his opinions in that more public setting. That thought reminds him that he should not be quite so quick to show his displeasure with or indifference to philosophical theories in front of a student still finding his way around those theories. Billy had had to work not to allow his professors’ likes and dislikes to influence his own, and he will have to be conscious of that now as he works with Dominic--and other students, too.
“You enjoyed that lecture?” Sophie leans into the conversation as well, amusement high in her voice as she peers at Dominic before tilting her head back at Billy. “I’m sorry, Professor, but there aren’t horses high enough for that woman to have been riding on. And she wasn’t much for discussion, either. I mean, Dominic was able to get a word in once--"
“Good,” Billy grins across the table at Dominic. “Very good.”
“But she wasn’t interested in answering proper questions,” Sophie finishes with a gesture of annoyance, and again Billy sits back and sighs.
“I’m sure your question would have been appropriate and good, Sophie, but it was indeed a lecture Annie was teaching, not a discussion class. She’s holding a forum tomorrow afternoon on the same topics she covered, according to the schedule. You could write up some questions tonight if you wanted to follow up with her. No?” Billy laughs when Sophie almost imperceptibly wrinkles her nose. “I can understand. Oh, here we are.”
Their drinks have arrived, and Billy drums his fingers impatiently, waiting until everyone at the table’s been served before he lifts his glass. “To questions and answers,” he murmurs, and takes care to just sip at his beer before putting it back down and winking at Dominic while Sophie and Kylie lock determined eyes over their own glasses. “Kylie,” Billy says brightly, then, as their waiter flips open his tablet. “Go on, you first. Remember, this is getting expensed, so I expect you to do your reasonable worst. Anything you choose to eat or drink after this, you’re on your own, but now …”
Dominic’s staring down at his menu, the calculations in his eyes scary things to Billy’s mind. While Kylie and Sophie order, Billy lowers his voice again and says simply, “I can recommend the steak, Dom; I don’t often eat it, but here it’s absolutely worth it. Have a go, and I will, too.”
Still unsure when it's his turn to order, Dominic stares at the description of the steak dinner. Even the cheapest selection--a meat pie--is out of his budget for meals on this trip, and he finds that he wants to accept Billy's offer but he's afraid of seeming greedy. Even through all the noise in the restaurant, Dominic thinks he can hear the waiter's pen tapping on his tablet in annoyance. He glances up at Billy again, meeting his eyes to find reassurance and not impatience.
"Go on, lad," Billy says, encouraging him again though his voice is barely heard, and so Dominic finally orders at Billy's suggestion, pushing aside the sound of his father's voice in his ears about accepting things he has no way of repaying. By the time his misplaced and over-exaggerated embarrassment subsides and he feels able to meet his companions' eyes, the waiter is gone and Sophie once again has Billy locked in conversation.
"I'm glad you came on this trip, Dom." Kylie doesn't turn to face Dominic but sits quietly shredding her napkin. "I never know how to talk to professors, you know? Outside of class. I'm glad you're here because I think he likes you."
"Excuse me?" Dominic turns sharply towards Kylie, his cheeks growing warm, and is thankful for the lighting that leaves him mostly in shadows. It's a moment before his brain processes what she's actually said. Knowing that his secret is still safe, Dominic eases back against the booth bench.
"Professor Boyd. I think he likes you." Kylie, thinking that maybe Dominic hasn't heard her over the noise, leans into to talk against his ear. "He doesn't like me so much, I don't think."
"Oh! I'm sure he does, Kylie. He wouldn't have suggested you to come along if he didn't."
"That was just because I won the prize with my paper. Part of it was that I come here to present. No one has taken really such an effort with me though. Not like he has with you. You're really lucky."
"I am," Dominic agrees, smiling now that he understands her meaning. "I am lucky. But that doesn't mean he doesn't like you. He's really great, you know? He wants you to find your own way. You've always had things figured out, kind of. I think maybe I just needed more help, you know? He really does want to see us all do well."
"He's hard, to read I mean. I never know if I'm saying the right things. Or like today with Professor Faraday. I would have died if I had to come up with something to say to her, and you just went up and talked to her. I could never do that."
"Sure you could."
Kylie's smile turns demure--flirtatious now that she has Dominic's full attention--and she shakes her head as if suddenly shy so that her hair covers her cheek. She looks up at Dominic then with her eyes bright, and Dominic’s suddenly afraid again of her misunderstanding and of his having to explain. He glances back to Billy, trying to catch his eye as he speaks to Sophie, wishing that he could escape.
Billy's buying time again, drinking slowly from his glass as Sophie leans closer to him and smiles a brilliant, brittle smile Billy supposes he's meant to find alluring in some way. She's asked him about his plans for the evening, but not in a nosy way, and Billy decides to give her the benefit of the doubt before he answers.
"No real plans. I thought I might have a walk around. It's been a year since I was last at St. Andrews."
"Things can't possibly change that much in a year."
"I don't know," Billy muses, his gaze moving half consciously to Dominic across the table. "I imagine they can. Whatever difficulties I had here while I was in school, I loved the town."
"Then you can tell us somewhere to go after dinner," Sophie says brightly. "Where did you--well, where did most of the students go in the evenings here?"
Billy's neither surprised nor displeased to hear Sophie's imagined distinction between Billy and his fellow students. "Some things do change, Sophie," he laughs. "I couldn't begin to suggest--"
"I'm sure you could, Professor--"
"I'm sure I couldn't. John!" Billy's already half out of the booth as an older man with thick white hair and thicker framed glasses approaches their table. Billy embraces the man warmly before he takes his hand to shake it for several seconds. "Professor John Helden," Billy explains to his students offhandedly. "Sophie Winters, Kylie Morrison, Dom Monaghan--my students."
"Poor unfortunate souls," Helden laughs as he shakes their hands in turn.
"Ah, shut it," Billy laughs, too. "Let me buy you a drink, John, yeah?" Turning back to the table, Billy nods specifically at Dominic, aware that he alone would recognize the professor with whom Billy stands as one of the reasons Billy's still teaching at all. "I'll just be a few minutes."
"Lovely," Sophie says as soon as Billy's out of earshot. "Abandoned for an old man. Let's hope he’s back in time to pay the bill."
"Sophie, go on," Kylie murmurs. "I don't mind, actually. It's like I can relax now a little."
"Don't relax too much," Sophie shrugs. "We're still going out tonight."
"Oh, yeah," Kylie nods, and bumps her shoulder against Dominic's. "You're in, aren't you?"
"In?" Dominic asks, watching Billy's animated conversation with the older professor at the bar before he turns his attention to Kylie's hopeful face. "Oh. No. I don't think--"
"It'll be fun. Especially after spending all day listening to lectures." Kylie turns towards him on the bench and grabs his arm with both her hands. "C'mon Dominic. Just for a couple of hours?"
"I can't, Kylie. I--"
"Dominic," Sophie picks up her glass of wine and swirls the contents, leaning across the table. "You can't honestly tell me that you'd rather go back to your room or spend the night listening to Professor Boyd talking about philosophy or presentations or whatever it is he rambles about."
I wouldn't mind at all is the answer that immediately pops into Dominic's head, but he doesn't say it. His main thought is of how much--or rather, how little--he has in his wallet. Definitely not enough to go out if he wants to eat tomorrow. "It's not that. I just--"
He's saved when Billy returns to the table, and Dominic smiles up at him gratefully until Sophie pipes up. "Professor, Dominic should go out with us, shouldn't he?"
"Hmm?" Billy looks up as he settles back into their booth. "What, tonight? Of course." When he catches Dominic's eyes, however, almost dilating with an odd plea no, Billy understands immediately and nods again. "Well, if he's not knackered from the lectures and such today. I wouldn't blame you for wanting t'just crash, Dom."
"You're in the middle of a new city, Dom," Sophie says, exasperated. "And it's got to be better at night, right?"
"It's alright in the day--" Kylie says nervously, her eyes flitting to Billy, but Sophie’s still going, leaning a bit now across the table.
"Besides, you can crash anytime. We're just going dancing, Dom; I know you can dance. I saw you once at one of those warehouse parties behind campus."
Dominic flushes scarlet and pushes at his water glass. "I'm just not feeling it tonight, yeah? Maybe some other time."
"But this is the best time," Kylie says, more urgency in her voice, and again she curls her arm again around Dominic's. "Come on, Dom, it'll be great." She lowers her voice then, biting her lip as if making a decision. "Look, I'll front you if it's--"
"Fantastic," Billy interrupts them, loudly, as their meals arrive at the table. "No one's going anywhere at the moment, so no point in deciding now." The firmness of his own words surprises Billy a little, but he's irritated now for Dominic's sake, and he can't be arsed not to show it. "That looks brilliant, Kylie, whatever you've got there, and Dom, on my life I swear you're going t'love that plate in front of you." The moment the waiter disappears again, Billy lifts his glass quickly. "To the pursuit of whatever education you lot plan to find later."
continued here