2 comments/ 15141 views/ 0 favorites Smart People Ch. 01 By: Storydwarf Colin was a smart guy. He was taking his Master's degree in physics during the time in which this story is set. He had dark brown hair that was thick and tickled his emerald eyes from underneath his black-rimmed glasses. He did not have a particularly muscular build, yet he was not fat. Sort of, average, in a way. He lived in a two-bedroom apartment building with his best friend and colleague, Martin. Across the corridor from their room lived their friend, Ella. Ella had deep blue eyes and dark ginger hair, which usually hung down a little past her shoulders. Colin never really thought of Ella as a potential lover, just a close friend. Maybe a metaphorical sister. She wasn't overly smart, anyways. She was a talented musician, being able to play piano, flute and violin. Obviously not simultaneously, but she was very talented in all three. As far as he knew, she was still a virgin. As was he and Martin. Colin was, by definition, a nerd. A geek, dweeb, boffin, whatever you may want to call him. Martin shared that personality. Colin had a Star Wars bedspread and pyjamas with rockets on them. He had a healthy fictional sword collection, including Orcrist from The Hobbit, the Master Sword from the Legend of Zelda, and countless others. He had the Razer Blade, the world's best gaming laptop. On his desk he had a plethora of figurines. Some from Star Trek, others from Godzilla or Pokemon. He had a Dungeons and Dragons board game in one of his drawers. Colin possessed an array of crap that only his kind would appreciate. As you can imagine, girls did not find this massively attractive. Neither Colin nor Martin have ever had a girlfriend, or even been on a date for that matter. Ella has had a couple of shots throughout her lifetime. She was 23, turning 24 in July. Colin and Martin were both 26, Martin older by a couple of months. Colin's mother died to cancer in 2001, and Colin's father is working hard as a cold storage worker. Colin has two sisters, Anna and Danielle, Anna being 24 and Danielle four years older. Colin also has a younger brother, who is in his penultimate year of high school. None of his family turned out as successful as Colin. It was a normal British day. Sun's out, but the temperature doesn't agree. Martin drove Colin to Oxford University, where they both are studying. Colin doesn't drive. And he's not planning to learn how to any time soon, either. Anyways, Martin's silver Lexus rolled down several roads. Then Colin struck up conversation. And it wasn't for the best. "Do you like Ella?" he asked, rather unsensitively. The car jerked slightly as Martin took in the question. "What kind of a question is that?" Martin asked. "A good one." "No, I don't. I've never really considered her that way," Martin replied, knowing there was no point in arguing with Colin, for he would simply end up getting a lecture about why men have nipples or something. Colin always ends up teaching him something. As they pulled into Martin's designated space, the pair saw floods of students pouring into the university doors, with bags on and books in hand. Colin caught a glimpse of Ella, carrying her violin case. She looked straight back, smiled, waved, until she was swept away with the crowd. Colin and Martin caught up with Steven, their good friend. Everyone knows that Steven has the hots for Ella. It's common knowledge. The only person that doesn't know is Ella herself. "What up, dudes?" Steven said, making an odd 'U' shape with his hands. "Fine thank you, Steven. And don't do that," Colin replied, making the stupid grin on Steven's face shrink ever so slightly. Steven was 24 and was a very serious chemistry student. Outside the classroom, however, he was a bit of a dickhead. He thinks he is just the coolest guy in history and all the 'chicks' 'dig' him, quote unquote. Instead, he is a colossal pervert. Plus he thinks he has got it in with Ella. After class, Colin and his classmates were told that next week were the exams. Colin and Martin both knew they had the Master's in the bag. As they got in the car to go home, Ella came running up. Colin could see Steven staring wide-eyed at Ella's ass as she ran. Colin just rolled his eyes and paid attention to what Ella had to say. "Guys, can I get a lift home, please? I really, really can't be arsed to walk home from here," she pleaded. "Do you hum?" Colin asked. "No." Do you make any kind of annoying noise?" "No." "Do you make radio requests?" "Nope." "Then welcome aboard, shipmate!" Colin smiled as Ella clambered into the car. Once they were back at the apartment, Colin and Martin immediately grabbed their laptops and logged into Star Wars: Old Republic. They Skyped Steven and he played, too. They were playing for four hours when Ella opened the door. She saw them gaming and approached Martin, for Colin would probably break her neck with something if she interrupted him. Smart People Ch. 02 "Martin?" Ella whispered, gently shaking his shoulder, "Martin!" "What is it?" Martin answered, his headphones still on and eyes fixated on the laptop screen. "I need help. My printer is... fucked up," she said. "Language!" Colin piped up quickly, then shrank back down into the game. Fuck off, Ella thought. "Yes, fine, I'll be over in... about an hour," Martin told her with no emotion in his voice whatsoever, ushering Ella out of the door. When Ella got back into her apartment room, she immediately thought of what she could possibly do in an hour. Read? Eat? Play music? She got up and went over to her kitchen partition, thinking of what to cook as a light snack. She had her hair tied up, how she liked it. She seemed to think that having it down past her shoulders was boring. She hadn't had it like that in over ten years, excluding during sleep. She quickly whipped up a small omelet with tomatoes and ham pieces. She ate that and took a look at the clock. Half past nine. Martin should arrive at any minute. Martin kept a close eye on the time on his laptop. Half past nine. You had better get off your arse and sort out Ella's printer, he thought to himself. So he logged out of Star Wars, and said bye to Steven and Colin over Skype, even though Colin was five metres away. He put his laptop away on his desk and left the room. He crossed the hallway and knocked on Ella's door. "It's open!" came a voice from inside, obviously Ella's. As Martin entered Ella's apartment, it occurred to him that he had never been in there before. He looked around and saw beanbags and colourful sofas. She had a faint pink lightshade and she left her bedroom door open allowing Martin's eyes to view her spotty bedspread with different shades of pink and soft toys lined up along the bed. Ella pointed to a rather well-dismantled printer. Several circuits were showing and other invisible problems were evidently inside. Martin took a quick look at it and began working, twisting screws and rewiring circuit boards to ensure the best results. Ella was sat on the large sofa, staring softly at Martin as he worked, twizzling her hair between her fingers. "You shouldn't have your hair like that," Martin announced out of the blue, making Ella jump. He didn't even look at her as he said it. "What do you mean?" Ella replied. Martin sighed quietly and put down whatever it was he was holding. He paced over to Ella and kneeled down at her side. He was still very slightly taller than her. He leaned slightly forward and removed Ella's hairband. Her glossy, dark ginger hair fell smoothly down past her shoulders bouncing very slightly as it reached its full length. It was not curly, nor was it straight, but almost wavy, how it had been since birth. Martin smiled ever so lightly and Ella went a little red upon her face. "Your printer's done," Martin said, unknowingly breaking 'the moment', of which he was obviously not familiar with. "Thanks." Martin stood up and left the room. Once he had shut the door and Ella had heard him get back to his own apartment, she sighed loudly. Her body temperature had raised and her chest was a little flustered. She had never felt this before. Her last boyfriend was in the first year of high school, and she didn't feel like this with him. I suppose back then, it was a game, she thought. But could she really have feelings for Martin? The next morning, Colin woke up early as usual to maximise his time allowed in the bathroom. He had it until 8:00. Martin, until 10:00. After that it was open for use under no schedule. Martin drove Colin to Uni, as per usual. When they arrived and got into class, Professor Grant introduced a new student. She was about average size for a woman of 25, maybe slightly slimmer Her name was Olivia Davis and she had sleek dark brown (almost black) hair which ran down just past her shoulders similar to Ella's, except it was completely straight. She had black-rimmed glasses similar to Colin's and she had hazelnut brown eyes. She looked around the classroom nervously and sat down nine or ten places away from Colin's desk. During class she raised her hand for every question asked, and Colin could see a potential threat to his fame. He battled for the right to answer questions with Olivia. After the day had gone, and it was time to head back to the apartment, Olivia approached Colin, offering her hand for him to shake politely. She had a great big smile on her face as she spoke to Colin. "Greetings, Colin!" "Well, hello Olivia. You certainly put up noticeable resistance against my mind power during class today," Colin replied, shaking Olivia's hand firmly. "You may call me Via, I liked the name and nobody got to call me Via in secondary or primary school, for my only real friend was the frog I let escape that was due for dissection." "Well met, Via," Colin said. Via squeaked slightly as he said it. She left the scene and caught a bus home. "What a friendly girl," Colin said on the drive home. Smart People Ch. 03 -Thanks to everyone who have read my first submissions, sorry for the non-sexual, will be well on it's way! Storydwarf :) - Colin woke up the next morning to a massively unfamiliar sight. Martin was stood in the kitchen preparing breakfast for the two of them. "What the hell are you doing?" Colin asked, scaring the living shit out of Martin and almost making him scald his face with a flying fried egg. "I'm making us breakfast. What's wrong with that?" "We make our own breakfasts here. You are simply going to mess up mine." After reluctantly eating breakfast, Colin got ready for the day ahead of him. He checked his clock: 10:34, Saturday 30th October. It was Halloween the next day. Colin and Martin alike were both equally excited, as was Steven. At about 11 o'clock, there was a higly unexpected knock at the door, causing both Colin and Martin to swivel their heads round and glare at the door. Colin stood and answered it and as the door swung open, Via was stood there with a great big grin on her face. Colin almost screamed and took a crap, but managed to hold both in successfully. "Hello, Colin!" beamed Via. "Um, hello Via," Colin groaned, rubbing his eyes to make it look like he just woke up, "How do you know where I live?" "It's a little thing called social networking. It just so happens that Ella is my bestest bestie in the universe, as of yesterday afternoon." "Well, what do you want?" Colin asked, scratching his forehead. "I wanted to say hello. Is there a problem?" "No." "Then bye!" Via said, still smiling as she grabbed the door handle and closed the door on herself. Colin walked away from the door with a puzzled look on his face and paced into his bedroom and played with his miniature train set. Martin was watching Doctor Who whilst sat comfortably in his chair. Then, through the letterbox came a slip of card. It read: You are invited to Ella's Halloween party! Bring booze and food! Martin called Steven and told Colin about the party. Colin replied with a little smile and a 'yippee'. Steven said "Hot chicks in costumes?" then stayed silent for the rest of the call. The next day, the three grown men spent the afternoon putting on clothes and make-up. Colin was going as Data from Star Trek, Steven was going as Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, and Martin was going as Link from The Legend of Zelda. "I bet that one of us is going to win first prize at the costume parade!" Colin announced eagerly. Martin and Steven both agreed. That night, at the party, Colin's first thought was 'we are definitely going to win this parade'. Everyone there was dressed up in feeble costumes, such as Scream masks that the wearers didn't even keep on through the duration of the night. Ella moved over to them and said "Hey! Glad you guys could come!" "We wouldn't have missed it- I mean, we thought..." Martin trailed off, then resorted to looking down and picking at his nails. "So when is the costume parade?" Colin asked over the pumping music. "There isn't one!" Ella almost screamed, competing with the sheer volume of the room. Colin walked away, disappointed, and sat down on the sofa. Steven was to busy staring at half naked women in cat costumes to notice anything that went on. Martin sat down next to Colin for the most part of the night, until a colossal tanned drunk man collapsed onto his lap. He then momentarily regained consciousness and grabbed Martin by his collar. "You want some, little man?" the man growled, alcohol emanating from his breath. Martin was caught off guard here and had nothing to defend himself with when the drunk swung his head forwards, crunching into Martin's nose. There was a loud crack and blood started streaming from Martin's nose. Ella rushed in and threw the guy off of Martin as he and Colin got up and headed back to the apartment. Colin slumped into his bed and was asleep within half an hour, while Martin was holding a large paper towel to his nose, soaking up the crimson liquid. After all the blood had cleared, there was a light knock at the door. Ella opened it and peeked round, to see Martin on the sofa, a bloody tissue next to him. "It's not broken," Martin said to Ella as she walked in. She closed the door behind her and walked over to Martin, sitting next to him on the sofa. She pulled a tissue out of her pocket and wiped the last bit of blood from his nose. "I am so sorry about that," Ella said, almost crying. "No, it's okay," Martin assured her. Ella looked Martin in the eyes. She leant forward and kissed him deeply on the lips. Her lips were warm against his, but this was totally new to Martin. He didn't know where to put his hands or anything. So he remembered Tony Stark kissing Pepper Potts and put one hand round Ella's waist and the other running through her dark ginger hair. They kissed for about 25 seconds, when Ella slowly broke the kiss, drawing back with her eyes still closed.