RP: Campus Sketch

[garth_winters]

Date: January 24, 2011, Monday
Characters: Garth Winters, Stephen Ross
Location: TCU campus
Status: Private
Summary: Garth is, well, being Garth on campus.
Completion: Incomplete

Comments

[thepressson]

Stephen was finished for the day and, as usual, was feeling restless. It was a Monday though, which meant there was next to nothing happening. Well, he was sure he could find someone to go to a bar with but, admittedly, he was a senior now and wanted to at least exhibit some mode of responsibility. So instead he meandered around the quad, on his way back to the frat. There wouldn't be much to do since there wasn't a game and Chuck was out with his girlfriend.

He paused suddenly, looking to his left as he spotted a familiar face on a bench on the next sidewalk over. Stephen adjusted the strap of his bag and walked across the grass to where Garth sat on a bench and dropped down abruptly beside him. "Hey," he greeted, peering at Garth's face curiously. "Garth, right?"

[garth_winters]

"Friggin culture," Garth muttered, hunched over his miasma of thoughts. Culture was like love: one of those words everyone knew and no one ever got confused about, until they had to define it.

A few seconds later he stopped drawing. "Jeez, I'm sorry," he said, looking up. He recognized the person sitting next to him but couldn't remember his name or where he'd seen him. "I did that to a waitress yesterday, too. I just get engrossed. Yeah, I'm Garth. I, uh, I don't remember your name."

[thepressson]

Stephen furrowed his brow when he was sure he heard Garth mutter something and he glanced at him in confusion. A second later, Garth came out of his trance of sketching (or whatever it was he had been doing). He smiled slightly and shook his head. Stephen always remembered people's names and faces and had long grown used to dealing with people who didn't.

"It's Stephen Ross," he said. "I think we've had a few classes here together but hell if I remember which." Classes and the people in them Stephen had a harder time with. "Haven't seen you for a while so I figured I'd say hello."

[garth_winters]

"Stephen. Okay, yeah, that sounds familiar." Now that he had a name, Garth thought maybe he remembered. "We had Dr. Hendricksen together, I think, like two terms ago?"

[thepressson]

Stephen nodded. "Yeah," he said, remembering Dr. Hendricksen and the class very well now. He slouched down against the bench, squinting to look out across the quad. "How've you been?" He glanced back at Garth curiously.

[garth_winters]

"Doing okay." Garth shrugged, twirling his pencil in his hand. "Better now that I'm not working with Dr. Heck, know what I mean?" He grinned. Dr. Hendricksen had been known for his unreasonable grading policies and occasional favoritism.

"How about you? Football been keeping you busy?"

[thepressson]

Stephen snorted in amused agreement, grin tugging at his mouth. "Yeah, I am so glad to be done with that asshole," he replied, remembering how the prick had treated any of the athletic students especially. Stephen knew he wasn't at TCU due to his smarts but it didn't mean he was stupid.

"Well, football season's over, man," he answered, amused that Garth didn't know. "Just coasting until graduation. Mostly busy worrying about other stuff like the big, post-grad 'what now.'" His tone turned dramatic and ominous towards the end but then he snorted and smiled after, clearly joking.

[garth_winters]

"Oh." Garth laughed at himself. "Shows how much I know about football. There's something called a touchdown, right?

"Coasting!" Garth shook his pencil in Stephen's direction, still grinning. "Shame on you, not taking your academic life seriously!" He chuckled and twirled his pencil around his fingers. "My big 'what now' isn't all that big; come back to school, study more. What're you planning?"

[thepressson]

"There is something called a touchdown, but I expect you'll need more than that for our exams, Mr. Winters," Stephen replied snottily, obviously making an accurate impression of Dr. Heck. He grinned after, it had pretty much been they way they'd met anyway. Stephen had been doing one with Chuck when Garth had passed by and so had Dr. Heck. It had been quite a scene, after all.

At Garth's admonishments, Stephen looked snorted again. "I've got--what's it called?" he paused before grinning when he remembered. "Senioritis," he said with a small laugh. "As for my big future plans, I'm gonna go for athletic trainer. Maybe get a job in a local gym until I can catch an opening with some sports team." He shrugged, it probably sounded boring to Garth but he was actually pretty excited.

[garth_winters]

Garth snorted. "Yeah, it's a good thing I'm not taking any classes on sports. Especially from him--not that he'd teach any."

He shook his head. "I'd really like to have senioritis, but I end up studying anyway." He shrugged. "I envy the people who seem to just get it; I have to work for every piece of information I can cram into my skull.

"Sounds cool," Garth commented. "Not my cup of tea, obviously, but it's good that you're following your passions. Do what you love kinda thing."

[thepressson]

Stephen made a face at the idea of Dr. Heck teaching a sports related class. "I think he'd rather jump off a building," Stephen said but then smirked. "Although that'd be a bit of good news for us, wouldn't it?"

"I don't know about just getting it," he admitted, running a hand through his hair. It was getting a little shaggy lately, always tickling his forehead. "My major is just one that's mostly stuff I already learned from...experience, I guess." He patted Garth on the shoulder and smiled at him. "Hey, man, you're way smarter than I am. I can barely stand studying."

Stephen nodded thoughtfully. Following his passions was definitely what he was doing. Especially since his father thought that he should be trying to go pro with football. He loved the game but hated the idea of being in it for the rest of his life.

[garth_winters]

"Good student, yeah," Garth admitted. "But smart I'm not so sure of. I'm not stupid--neither are you, for the record--but I don't think I'm smart either. I'm one of those head-in-the-clouds artistic types." He grinned. "As you learned at the beginning of this conversation." He pitched his voice sideways. "'Garth, right?'" He pitched it upward, and added a singsong inflection. "'Here I am, head in the clouds, just a-sketchin away, I don't even notice when people talk to me.'"

[thepressson]

Stephen ducked his head when Garth told him he wasn't stupid, rubbing the back of his neck and feeling oddly sheepish. "Still, I don't have the patience for any studying," he said and then laughed when Garth made fun of himself in a sing-song voice. "All right, sure. I daydream plenty too just don't do it on benches--mostly because it's likely my frat brothers will come with a fuckin' water gallon and dump it on me." It wasn't the first time something like that had happened and had instilled a deep paranoia in Stephen ever since.

[garth_winters]

Garth laughed. "In this weather? You'd catch pneumonia."

He sighed. "It does take a lot of patience. And time, and I imagine you spend a lot of time on things that are more important to you. Like being a member of a fraternity, and an athlete." He looked back down at his sketchbook. "I don't do much besides school and art, so it's not exactly difficult to make time."

[thepressson]

Stephen laughed with Garth, giving his head a slow shake. "Yes, even in this weather," he said with a sigh. "I think they'd find me getting the pneumonia from it even more hilarious."

He paused, listening to Garth and considering what he had said before nodding once. "I suppose that's true," he admitted. "Sometimes I forget to account in that football is considered work, it comes so easy." He shrugged with a roll of his shoulders and slouched back against the bench. "I'd rather have an artistic talent like you or--like my big brother." He snorted softly and smiled slightly, feeling wistful.