after class (sam griffin)

[Colin Greene]

The rain seemed to pour down from the sky above; dark clouds covered the horizon which made everything dark and gloomy looking. So far, this weekend was shaping up to be terrible. Colin sighed with relief when the class had been dismissed. He had exchanged a few words with the professor before leaving. The bag he carried over his shoulder seemed to weigh a tonne today. There were only a couple of hardcover books, his laptop and maybe a granola bar. He was walking downstairs towards the student parking lot. Of course, the professors had their own little spaces right by the entrance of the building. For some reason, this seemed unfair. It didn’t take too long to reach the desired parking lot, and when Colin had come into view with his car, he ran towards it. His hands fumbled with the keys as he tried to unlock the little red car. After it was opened, he placed his heavy bag onto the car seat beside him. Colin was tired this afternoon, possibly because of the weather. I guess a coffee wouldn’t hurt... he thought, as he backed out of his parking space.

The red Honda drove down the campus, traveling at an unusually slow pace. He wasn’t very familiar with the campus roads yet. It took longer than it should have to exit, but once he was out he knew where he was going. After all, Lexington had been his home for around 12 years now.
Colin fixed his eyes on the road, looking for the turn off for the ever popular coffee shop, Starbucks. When it came time to turn he switched lanes and turned into a parking lot, cutting off another driver in the process. The horn of the other car blasted, but he didn’t pay any attention to it. Good thing the cops weren’t around. He put the car in park before turning off the engine. His passenger (the bag), was now hung over his shoulder. He lifted his foot to shut the door before he walked over towards the inviting warmth of the coffee shop.

“Grande Caffè Americano,” he said to the barista, pulling out a twenty dollar bill. His eyes wandered from the drink menu to a refrigerated display case, which had been showing of various baked goods and a few sandwiches. “And that sandwich please.” It was getting close to dinner time anyway. He handed over his money, and the cashier had given him back his change and the sandwich. As usual, he was asked to stand at the end of the counter where another employee would make the drink, and place it down on the counter. “Thanks,” he said, before heading over to an empty seat.

Wi-Fi was free for customers, so why not take advantage of the store’s generosity? Colin placed his food on the table, and brought out a silver Macbook. It had been a gift from his family, a reward for being accepted into Rowanoak. He sipped on his espresso while he waited for the machine to start up. Welcoming him on the screen was a picture of Quiet Water at their last show. The mare’s ears had been forward, and her expression had been energetic looking. She was jumping over a simple vertical, Colin upon her back looking onwards to the next jump.
He smiled, that show had been a very good memory of what he once was before University. His finger led the cursor over towards Safari, where he would then log onto Facebook. No one was online, well no one that he wanted to talk to. Colin sighed, and looked down at his bag, exchanging the computer for a book. Soft music played in the background, it wasn’t loud enough to distract him any. A sticky note poked out where he was to read as an assignment. Before he got too into his book, he took a bite of the sandwich.

[Samantha Griffin]

Samantha was sick and tired of the rain, it was messing with her system and less than inspiring to say the least. While things were going well and according to most of her plans Sami wasn’t exactly certain she was achieving in every way possible. She felt as though there were portions and gaps missing from her day to day but she could quite place them. Almost as though she was missing out on something but far from sure as to what it was. She had run earlier that morning long before the rain had managed to start pounding down in the method it seemed to be falling now. The hot shower had proceeded in warming her up and making her feel much more relaxed and while it was wonderful to feel warm and snugly it wasn’t helping her studying habits. Sitting at the desk in her room was making her tired; the rain on the windows was a methodical lullaby lulling her to sleep and it wasn’t exactly helping her remember what they were learning in her classes, the text book before her seemed to be blurring together. Slamming it shut she rolled her eyes and inhaled a deep breath of air; it escaped her slowly in a long sigh. She really needed a pick me up of some sort, her classical outing was very much part of her routine so it shouldn’t have been a surprise to any when she grabbed her book, bag and keys.

The windshield wipers on her car were hard at work, a representation of the rain as it continued to fall down with few signs of quitting. Singing along to the radio as she went the car ride didn’t last long, but seemed to let her mind re set a little for she was feeling more refreshed even before she stepped out into the rain. It was raining cats and dogs was something her father would say and the thought of him made her chuckle, she missed the man and her family on a whole. While living away from home was nice, she made her own choices and boundaries she wasn’t going to deny missing everyone. Even her little sister and her often annoying mannerisms, the kid was pretty good as far as younger siblings went. Her horses back home were in her thoughts as well, Indie was an interesting animal to work with. His flat work was wonderful, he was really a good boy all in all a little green but certainly pushing the girl to use all of her skill – especially over the fences they were schooling. While they weren’t exactly up to Samantha’s normal height or difficulty staying with Indie through his jump was a whole new challenge she hadn’t really faced before. She would be lying if she had said her first few jumps weren’t that bad, while they were set up great and her equitation had looked wonderfully coming up to them no amount of heads up on the horses jumping style would have helped her stay with the motion. It was something she was starting to get the feel for, something that had forced her to strengthen her whole two point and body really. It was good, and it was one reason she wasn’t complaining about anything. Sure there were other horses in the barn, but none would push her in the same way. Samantha had gotten more used to his power in the past few rides, she wasn’t perfect or anything but they had their moments and the girl even managed to sneak in a few equitation ring quality fences on her part.

Starbucks was busy and the AC made her shiver under her light sweater as she came in damp from the rain, while the line was only a few people Samantha looked around to see only a few tables open. Without anything but her textbook and bag she didn’t want to leave the line to reserve a table and risk losing the book that was worth a pretty penny or two – she didn’t think anyone would want the thing but she had heard of stranger tales so decided to risk having to share a table with someone. Eyes looked to the board, the girl frequented starbucks so it wasn’t a foreign concept to her it was more of a “what do I feel like today?” question. While the answer wasn’t totally instantaneous but by the time she made it to the counter she managed to spit out an order with a smile on,

“Grande, Sugar-Free Vanilla, Caramel Macchiato and a cheese bagel toasted with plain cream cheese. Thanks.”

Smile wore her features as she paid her bill and headed to wait for the beverage, when it came her bagel followed shortly. For a moment she figured out how to carry everything in her arms without wearing her hot coffee drink, after a few seconds of planning she was off and ready to go – like a herd of freaking turtles. Smirking to herself she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, she ignored it as it was likely someone from her family and it was only a text so hardly urgent. Scoping out the place she was a bit upset to realize that the restaurant had filled up almost totally. Next she looked for familiar faces, no close friends – not that she had a best friend or anything yet but at least someone from the stables, from a class from anything. Then she spotted him oh what was his name, Greene ugh. Something Greene. Shit. She couldn’t sit down with him, and call him by his last name. They had shared a lesson together at the least – who knows what classes they shared. Sami didn’t care if he knew her name or not, she wouldn’t ask him to join him if she couldn’t figure his name out. Then in a moment of awe it came to her – Colin. Colin Greene, for some reason she was pretty certain they were similar in age and class as far as showing went. She strode over, smiling and juggling her coffee, bagel books and bag. Her voice hit the air in an endearing and polite tone.

“Hey Colin, I’m Sami, we’ve lessoned together before. Um just wondering if that seat is taken...”

ooc:
done. so so sorry - work is killing me.

[Colin Greene]

Colin eventually got bored of reading the book. He placed it back in his bag, and pulled out his laptop again. This time when he logged onto Facebook, there was a message in his inbox. It was from his younger sister, Noelle.

”Hey Colin, I just wanted to ask you how you’re first week of University was.” He laughed at his sister’s grammar mistake. She wasn’t very good in English class, unlike her big brother.
”You kinda logged off before I could type you a message, but I’ll forgive you. You’re probably busy with homework or something. Dad and I are going out for dinner, so I’ll ttyl.” He read over the message a couple of times before he replied.

My week went by slow. I had a riding lesson the other day. Nothing too interesting. How are you doing in English class? It was a brief message, and maybe his sister would notice her mistake. He had made a promise not to miss his family. And what reason would he have to? They still lived in Lexington, so he could always go back to visit them whenever he wanted. The drive back home would only take half an hour or so. It wouldn’t cost him any money to call, nor would it cost him any money to send e-mails or messages over the internet.
He glanced out a near-by window. It seemed that it had been raining even harder out. Maybe the city was in for a thunder storm tonight.

When Colin looked up away from his computer, he noticed that the small lounge area had been filling up quickly with customers. There was a fair sized line up, and people who weren’t able to scout out a table just ended up leaving the place. And it wasn’t like they could all go outside and sit on the beautiful patio sets. They were all wet, and the weather outside was damp and miserable. Colin gazed out the window once more, looking at the droplets of rain that had stuck to the piece of glass. It reminded him of when he used to live on that little hobby farm in Louisville. When it rained Colin and his mother used to stare out the nearest window, gazing at the fields that surrounded the little farm house. Rain had the ability to make one’s mind wander; or at least that’s what his mother had told him.

In the room around him, all he could hear was the light chatter of people talking amongst themselves. They were so quiet that you could still hear the light music that played in the background. It was kind of nice. Colin kept checking his Facebook inbox for a reply from his sister, but there was none. He took another few sips of his espresso, which perked him up.. The sandwich he had purchased was a turkey and Swiss cheese on whole grain bread. Although Colin wasn’t a huge fan of turkey, the combination of the lunchmeat and the cheese was nice. He took a big bite of the sandwich, chewing the food in his mouth and then swallowing.
Then, he heard someone talk. He looked up, and he had recognized the familiar face. They had been in a group lesson not too long ago, but he hadn’t been formally introduced to her. Well, at least not until now. Colin knew her name, but that was because he had been eavesdropping on Damian Lancing during the lesson. Sami had asked him if the seat was taken. He nodded no, and got up to pull out the chair for her. She was balancing a bag, some books, a coffee and what looked like a bagel.
”Hi Sami, go ahead and take a seat.” he encouraged, smiling.

ooc; that's ok, no need to be sorry =]

[Samantha Griffin]

She stood there in the few moments of silent that followed her question balancing all her stuff and wearing a warm smile, for a brief second she was worried she had misplaced his face and perhaps she didn’t know the guy at all. Slightly unnerved and now bordering embarrassed she drew in a breath slowly as she waiting on slight pins and needles for “Colin’s” response. How embarrassing would it be if she had approached a total stranger, well almost as embarrassing as if she had called the guy by the wrong name or misplaced his face with Colin’s. Samantha was almost certain she had been correct in this guess, then again she had felt the same way about lots of questions in the past and been slightly miffed and upset to find her conclusions incorrect. Her most recent moment of forgetfulness had been in her math class – well calc actually. She had solved for x after 10 minutes of work and managed to forget the negative sign in her final answer that she had circled. Going through her corrections it took the girl a ridiculous amount of time to realize why exactly her answer had been wrong. Though without further ado Colin’s voice broke the air, his smile warmed the icy worry she was overcome by and she nodded to him.

“Thanks, this place is totally packed – apparently I’m not the only one who studies better with coffee.”

Samantha smiled and bent over the table; she put her hot coffee down first then plunked her plate down gently. The scent of the cheese bagel was soothing as she hung her bag over the back of her chair and let her fine frame sit down gingerly across from Colin. Her legs crossed instinctively and she propped her textbook up between them, not that she would be reading the thing within the next few minutes or so she forced herself to open it to the next chapter on equine nutrition. Exploring different diet options and possibilities interested the girl but until she finished her coffee and bagel – Samantha was aware her study attempts would be futile. So she let herself lean back into the chair for a moment, still smiling she sipped her coffee carefully as it was warm of course; well hot actually. Taking a bite of the bagel made her smile grow, it was ironic that she loved food this much as she was shaped very much like a bean pole. It wasn’t that she was immune to weight gain, just that it took a lot of effort for her to gain weight in increments more than a pound here and a pound there.

The look she wore was pleasant, she was relaxed and smiling sitting across from the fellow classmate. He was kind and well mannered, the tone of his voice was easy to listen to and commanded her attention with ease. She wasn’t exactly studying yet though, as she was quite capable of getting in her own little world. While she appears, calm cool and collected on the outside the truth inside her always running mind was something along the lines of expressing her frustration of the place being so slow. Call her antisocial or focused she had been looking forward to being alone and really hitting the book as the recent section on low energy grains was dragging on a little too much for her likings. No matter the case, here she was sipping her coffee and enjoying a bagel in the company of a classmate, a handsome polite one at that. While the girl wasn’t like a mare in heat Samantha did have eyes, quite observative ones actually. She did notice Colin’s ease of existence and assumed it was what he felt through and through no matter what the ordeal. More warm coffee and the weight of the book in her arms helped her stay grounded and relaxed, her voice spoke out in another question slightly awkward but good natured and an attempt at being social none the less.

“Hey Colin, so what classes are you taking this semester?”

ooc:
work = death. i am better now, i promise.

[Colin Greene]

Starbucks had always smelled good. Usually they were baking things, and of course brewing coffee. On day like this, the delicious smells were more than welcome. It was common for Colin to come in to the shop, but he rarely ever sat himself down to drink his coffee. But today was different. He was too annoyed by the weather to even bother going back to the Honda; and besides he was feeling a bit wiped out after a whole afternoon of classes. For some reason, Colin was kind of surprised that he had company about to sit at his table. It wasn’t that he was going to keep to himself; he was more or less surprised by the fact that someone had recognized him and asked to take a seat. “Thanks, this place is totally packed – apparently I’m not the only who studies better with coffee.” Samantha had said, smiling as she took her seat across from him.

”No problem,” he said, with a very cheerful grin on his face. ”Personally, I’d rather be studying the rain right now.”

At that time, he had thought it was much more interesting to watch the rain outside than to read his assignment. Weather like this usually brought back memories of when he used to live in Louisville. When he was young, Colin and his mother would sit down by a window and spend hours watching the rain. He remembered that he would sit on her lap, and how his mother had held him in her arms. It was a pleasant feeling, even if the two had been sitting together in absolute silence. After it rained, they would both go outside and romp through all the puddles, splashing around like a pair of ducks. This memory always seemed to bring a smile to his face.

Suddenly, he snapped back to the present when he had been asked what classes he had this semester. Immediately, he went into his backpack. He was searching for a paper that he had written all of his classes and their location on campus. In all honesty, he felt a little bit embarrassed that he hadn’t learnt which classes he had been taking by heart. After digging around, he managed to pull out that paper and place it on the table. The white paper was slightly crumpled, but that’s what happened when you left papers in backpacks. In somewhat neat, but legible writing the paper had all of his courses for the current semester.


Horse Management 101
English
Consumer Mathematics
Nutrition
Biology


“Here, feel to take a look Sam.” He said, pushing the crumpled paper towards her.

Colin picked up the one half of the sandwich and took a bite out of it. It was a very hearty type of sandwich, one that would have been paired well with a nice hot soup or something of the sort. Very recently, Colin had been eating out a lot. Of course, people who lived in the dorms had the option of eating what the dining halls were serving. But the food... Well it wasn’t always that great. It looked like it tasted good, but it would always end up disappointing in the sense that it didn’t taste as good as it looked.
At the time, the idea of a full sized kitchen in every dorm seemed wonderful; even if Colin couldn’t cook very well. On second thought, maybe he’d just stick with the dorm food.

[Samantha Griffin]

The rain was a pleasant sound now that the girl was sat indoors and enjoying the warmth and cover of the building. The rain did stir memories from her past as well, all horseshows seemed to take place during the hottest or rainiest days of the week. It was generally a toss up of which was worse but the girl couldn’t lie and was open to admitting that the sound of rain on the tent stalls they often stayed in was more than music to her ears. Sami was the young girl who pranced in puddles and aimed her ponies through them when riding at home, at shows she knew better than to get anything show ring required dirty – pony included but it didn’t prevent her from turning up to the camper covered in mud or dirt with a big smile on her face. While the rain was soothing and memorable in some ways she wasn’t going to lie and pretend she was always a fan of the stuff, it made footing sloppy and things wet. Samantha wasn’t usually a complainer but the weather was something she didn’t mind beating on every now and then, though Colin made her chuckle lightly she did have to admit the rain was easier to comprehend and enjoy than the section they were covering in Calculus. While math wasn’t always her strongest subject the girl had actually been getting decent marks on her homework and her first test had come back graded with a respectable B.

"Haha, yah tell me about it this calc class is already more work than I thought it was going to be.”

While she was doing good in most of her classes the time consumed by homework and studying was unreal, she was almost glad that she didn’t have Coop or Billy here to distract her. She got along well with Indie yes but the horse was far from her soul mate and she didn’t feel the need to spend every waking moment with him like she did Billy or Coop. It was another reason she was glad she was far from home, the temptation of barn work was too great. If she was going to a local school the girl would for sure be working her two plus a couple of horses a day and her marks wouldn’t be up to her current standard in any way. While things at the school weren’t perfect she wasn’t about to complain so she sipped her coffee took a bite of her bagel and smiled. She looked down to her text book enjoying the busy background noises more than she knew was possible. Though the numbers just stuck together, it was unrealistic to think she was going to accomplish much in this moment or much math at all today – it was one of those days that numbers just fell from her head. She pulled the English notes she had taken today from her bag instead and skimmed them once before looking up to Colin. He was offering her a class list, she smiled and took it gently, reading what he was taking over quickly she smiled and nodded. He was taking a fifth class, how the hell did he fit riding in too? Four classes was more than enough for her, she might have even benefited from taking just three but Samantha didn’t want to waste time at school or spend more money than needed. Four classes was a full class load, she nodded to him and ran her own classes over in her mind. Returning the paper to his direction she spoke out again smiling still.

“Wow, five classes that’s a lot, how do you have time to ride and do anything that isn’t school work?”

She smirked, the girl often forgot that the whole world wasn’t as slow as she was and she shared a few classes with Colin. They had Horse Management and English together, they were in different bio classes but probably learning the same thing. Perhaps they could study together or something. Samantha could only keep herself focused for so long – before her brain starts talking to people without her permission. While sometimes locking herself up in a room worked great to get things done other she just liked to talk through the work and questions and have the security of those around her. Unfolding the schedule she had pulled out from the front of her book she placed it on the table in the view of Colin, her words hit the air again smiling still.

“Sorry you probably manage just fine, I forget sometimes that not everyone is as slow as I am to pick things up.
As for classes I think we have a few together, you can take a peak if you like.”

ooc:
ooc - sorry slow and bad,
class list - Horse Management 101
English
Biology
English
Calculus 1000

[Colin Greene]

“I think it’s just math in general, but that’s just me.” Colin said to Sam, grinning.
Some people may have found Colin smart, and usually they were right. He was smart when it came to school and to horses. Street smarts weren’t something he had down pat yet. Colin thought that numbers were absolutely boring, and he felt that he didn’t need to take Calculus or Applied. The counsellors always told him, ‘You’re closing doors without this math or that math.’ From the way he thought of it, he wasn’t closing any doors. If he needed to take one of those maths, why not take it at University? This of course had only made sense in Colin’s head.

It was still a great mystery to Colin himself as to how he was able to have a full course load and be a rider. He seemed to have not much of an issue doing it in High School; even when he was still considered a bit of an addict back then. For Colin, it was very easy to focus on school and then riding the next. Eventually all of this deep focusing would become a wonderful habit. Maybe he was more versatile than he had thought.

“All out of habit, I suppose,” he said, as he watched Sam unfold her very own schedule. Colin took a look at Sam’s classes and had noticed that they had shared three classes together. They were both in Horse Management one-oh-one and English. There was a Biology class on there as well, but he had never ever seen her in the same class room. ‘Looks like there is more than one Bio class,’ he thought as he had finished up the first half of his sandwich.

“How has everything been going?” he inquired, his voice not sounding right. Colin cleared his throat, and then picked up the now warm Grande coffee.

OOC;
gasp, another dinky post. Sorry for the wait!