College Days

It had been so long that Remus Lupin had wondered whether or not he would ever set foot in the halls of a school again. But here he was, back after what had to have been the longest two years of his life, getting lost in a new school trying to make his way to his first class. The maps they’d handed out at orientation were completely useless. He might as well make his own, do some other freshman a favor and spare them the torture of trying to decipher the mess he now held in his hands.
Other students paid him no mind as he wandered the hall, cane clicking against the tile ground with each step, easing the amount of weight put on his right leg. Most days he doesn’t need it, but he toured the campus for hours yesterday, trying to get his bearings before classes started. He was too nervous about being back in school to take much in, though, and all that resulted from his efforts was an aching leg.
His gaze flicks from the map to the classroom doors as he searched for his next class. It was a 101 class, which he was still pissed about, even after months since registration to get over it. He’d already learned everything on the syllabus about twice over. What was the point of taking all of those college level courses in high school if he couldn’t skip out of a few courses now? But no, of course the credits didn’t transfer, and now he’d be stuck in a room with a bunch of 18 and 19 year-olds going over the same shit he already knew by heart.
Now, Remus knows that he’s not that much older then them. He’s only 21. He doesn’t stand out or look too old to be a freshman. But he certainly feels too old. The jump between 18 and 21 is physically not much of a change, but mentally, a whole lot of growth is packed into those three years between the two ages.
Finally, he finds his classroom, the door open to reveal a group of students impatiently waiting for the arrival of their professor. He finds a seat in the back. While he’s always been a good student, he’s never been a vocal one. Not one of the front-row kids whose hand is always in the air, willing to contribute to any and every discussion. No, he’s content to sit in the back and soak everything in silently, not speaking unless prompted directly by the professor. He’s content to disappear.
He pulls out his textbook—he’s one of three students among thirty who have an actual physical copy—and begins to read while he waits for the professor.
Oh, how he’s glad to be back.

Lily: When am I seeing you again?
Remus smiles down at his phone and opens his messages to reply.
Remus: Never. I have devoted myself to the life of a monk and will not be leaving my monastery for the foreseeable future. Please delete my number.
The reply comes near instantly
Lily: Hardy har. Seriously. I don’t think I’ve seen you since the semester started
Remus: Weird. Almost like I’m trying to graduate at the same time as you
Lily: Want my opinion?
Remus: No, but I’m sure I’ll get it anyway
Lily: Stop trying so hard
Remus: No
Lily: Yes
Lily: You don’t need to graduate at the same time as me. Just go your own pace.
Remus: I refuse to be left here alone without you.
Lily: Well seeing as how I haven’t seen you in a month, you already are. You’d survive two years without me, I promise.
Remus: Touche
Lily: So…
Remus: So you win
Lily: Like always
Remus: On one condition
Lily: Shoot
Remus: No drinking. Ice cream and a movie in your dorm or nothing. I don’t rlly want to combine a hangover and homework
Lily: Fuck I missed you
Remus: Love you too
Lily: <3
Remus sets his phone down face down beside his laptop, smiling despite himself. He’s known Lily since grade school. They’ve been pretty much inseparable since they were eight years old, even when they went to different highschools. After those trying four years apart, though, they decided that whatever schools they went to afterwards, they’d be together. Of course, now Remus realizes how naive that was. After all, Lily is a nursing student, and Remus sure as hell isn’t following her to medical school. But it was a nice thought, and it led to them going to Uni together, even if he has fallen a few years behind thanks to his absolutely shit health.
He’s glad to be back at it, and loath as he is to admit it, he’s glad Lily is there to pull him up from the depths when he sinks too deep into his own head, into his own determination to finish school in what he has deemed “good time” even though he knows, logically, that there is no such thing.
So he’ll eat ice cream with her, and he’ll pretend as though he didn’t desperately want to in the first place.

Lily looks a fright when she opens her door to let Remus in. Deep purple bags are carved beneath her eyes, her red hair pulled back with a claw clip, frizzy wisps escaping and flying every which way. She’s paler then usual, as if she hasn’t seen the sun in days, and Remus gets the impression that she needed this just as much as he did.
He holds up a grocery bag, which contains for whole pints of a variety of Ben and Jerry’s flavors, as well as a couple of plastic spoons. Lily snatches the bag from him, tugging it open and gazing lovingly at the contents.
“You, Remus Lupin, are a saint.” She says as she pulls him into the room. Her dorm is technically shared with another student, but Remus isn’t sure Lily has met her more then once, as she spends all her time at her boyfriends apartment. Why she is still paying for the dorm, Remus doesn’t know. He assumes her parents are involved on that front, though. So Lily as the dorm to herself, and has pushed both their beds together for her own use. She separates them during dorm inspections so no one finds out about her absent roommate, but other then that, she has full control over the small dorm room.
Lily plops down on her large bed, tugging the lid off of a pint of Half-Baked at tossing it aside. Remus knows she won’t be needing it again, so he throws it away for her before it can drip onto her sheets.
Sitting down beside her, Remus opens up his own pint.
“Whens the last time you got some sun?” Remus asks Lily. Despite saying the words casually, there’s real concern behind them. As much as she tears into him for working too hard, she’s at least twice as guilty of doing the same thing. Lily just sticks her ice-cream covered tongue out at him and ignores the question, grabbing for her remote instead.
“What are we watching?” She asks, but she doesn’t wait for him to answer before turning on the Walking Dead. They’ve both seen it about a dozen times, but that doesn’t matter. They still watch as though they’ve never seen it before, yelling at the characters for being idiots and making fun of Rick’s southern accent and the way you might think, without subtitles, that his sons name is “Coral” rather then “Carl”.
“How’s history treating you?” Lily asks as Rick navigates his way through a decrepit hospital.
“Same old, same old. Literally.”
“You’re hilarious.” She deadpans.
“I try. What about you? Nursing still kicking your ass?”
“Oh, absolutely. I think it’s actually killing me slowly.”
“You could always, I don’t know, switch majors?”
“I’d rather die.”
Remus raises his hands in surrender. After another few moments of watching in blissful silence, watching Rick stumble through a walker-filled world, he nudges Lily in the side.
“Made any progress?” He asks, raising an eyebrow suggestively. Lily groans, not needing any more then that to understand.
“Remus, when I said that nursing was killing me, I lied. Mary is killing me. I’ve been throwing hints at her for what, two whole semesters? And she’s still not catching on? She’s definitely into girls, I know that for a fact that she’s into girls, I saw her snogging Marlene outside of main hall. I don’t know what to do anymore!” Lily is out of breath after this tirade, and stuffs a furious mouthful of half-baked down her throat, stewing as she chews. Remus fights back a laugh.
“Well, there’s always—”
“No, please no. Never.”
“I mean, he’s clearly interested… And maybe this Marlene person is it for Mary, what about that?”
Lily scoffs. “Never. I know enough about Marlene to know that she doesn’t really do commitment. We’re… I don’t know, not friends but also not… not friends, know what I mean? She’s not interested in anything serious, I promise.”
“Well, like I said, there’s alway—”
“Would you shut up already!” Lily shouts, giving him a playful shove, which results in a spoonful of ice cream making it’s way onto her sheets. Remus wipes it up with a napkin before it can do too much damage. “He’s too desperate, it’s obnoxious. And his friends are even worse. I… couldn’t possibly. Never. Ever.” Remus rolls his eyes. Lily’s secret admirer has been trying to pull her since freshman year, and for some reason, even after being turned away at every single advance, still won’t leave her alone. Remus would be concerned about his determination if Lily wasn’t completely unthreatened by him. And, even with her insistence that she hates him, Remus sees a little bit of reluctant enjoyment somewhere behind her eyes. She doesn’t mind him as much as she might say, although she’d die before admitting that. She won’t even tell Remus his name. Hasn’t even lowered herself to giving him a codename like they would do for their crushes in middle school. Always a fruit for some reason. Her most intense crush will forever be known in Remus’ head as “Pineapple”.
“Alright, alright. But you should maybe, just maybe, consider that Mary might be a lost cause.”
Lily shakes her head. “I refuse. She’s my white wale, and I will catch her.”
“Maybe don’t call her that to her face.”
Lily turns on him in a flash, eyes hardened. If Remus didn’t know her as well as he did, he’d be terrified. “Is that a fat joke?” She demands. “So someone can’t be fat and desirable at the same time, huh, is that it?” She manages to maintain that stiff, furious expression until they simultaneously dissolve into laughter.
“Okay, okay, fine, keep chasing down your white wale. Don’t say I didn’t warn you though.”
Lily rolls her eys. “What about you then? Anyone… catch your eye?”
“As if I have the time. Like I said, trying to graduate on time.”
Lily raises a brow at him. “I’m a nursing major, my guy. And I still make time to woo my woman. Plus, there’s no such thing as “on time” and you know it.”
“Your woman?”
“She will be someday.” She says, staring wistfully off into the distance.
“Whatever you say.”
“My question still stands.”
“And so does my answer. No, I haven’t spared any time for… anything like that.”
“You’re no fun.”
Remus just shrugs, not denying it, and scoops up more of his icecream.