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.