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snippetsTitle: A Series of What Ifs
Fandom: Original
Rating: PG13
Genre: Fluff, College Talk
Wordcount: 1,753
Author's Note: The inspiration for this series came from one of my long-standing friends. She asked me to write her a story and when I asked for clarification, she said, “A what if story.” This is what I managed to come up with.
----> That was written in 2005 when I first started writing this. I took a long hiatus because life got busy and then I got lazy. This was finished during nano2008 and combined with my lack of experience back in 2005, may contain some gross errors as it remains largely unedited after it's original posting.
Summary: Two college kids meet under unexpected circumstances and part ways, wondering, just maybe, what would have happened if life hadn't called them apart. This, was their first what if.
A Series of What Ifs
Chapter 1: A Bump on the Head
By
Parsnip
The afternoon sunshine was bright today and the trees that dotted the lawn provided a welcome relief to the mass of students traveling back and forth across the well worn paths on their way to classes. Life was going on as usual and the majority of the young students showed either a ferocious concentration or a lackadaisical approach to life. The latter were more inclined to sunbath as well. Games were also played as Frisbees were tossed and shirts were removed from the more sweaty individuals, all of which was watched under hooded eyes and open stares. All in all, it was a perfect fall day with gentle breezes, warm sunshine, and the slow pace of men and women at leisure. But for one student, it was a day whose idle reflections were making her late, and extremely late at that.
Running around in circles, Selendra could not believe she had fallen asleep at her desk reading a case study on euthanasia for her Biomedical Philosophy class she was required to take as a premed student. It was important to her chosen field, and she fell asleep! Who would want a doctor without the moral fortitude to diligently study? No one, that was who.
Shaking her head, Selendra grabbed her backpack and stuffed her casebook and a notebook into it. Snagging a pen off the desk, she stuck it into the back pocket of her jeans before scrunching her feet into her sneakers. Not bothering to tie the errant shoelaces, she dashed out the door without locking it. It would take to long to find her keys in the first place, and in the second, her roommate was on her way home from her last class of the day.
Sprinting down the hallway to the elevators, she skidded around the corner and punched the down arrow key. ‘C’mon,’ she thought tapping her fingers against her thigh as she bounced from one foot to the other. ‘What’s taking it so long?’
Gnawing at her bottom lip, she nearly broke out in a cold sweat before the metal doors opened at last to reveal a packed elevator filled with students most likely returning from class. “Up or down?” she gritted out hoping it was traveling down rather then up. A preppy looking student pushed her way from the back to the front as another girl snapped, “Up.”
Rolling her eyes, Selendra watched the elevator door close and the preppy student turn down a different hall from the one Selendra had come running down moments before. People really didn’t mix with those on the other side of the building. It was a shame too. Reining her thoughts back from the sidetrack, she heard the elevator ping again as it settled on her floor. A smile adorning her lips, she rushed into the now empty elevator and punched the ground floor button.
Dropping her eyes to the floor, she gazed at the loose ends of her shoelaces before reality kicked in. Letting the force of gravity weigh her down, she sank to the floor and quickly tied first one foot and then the other, executing a complicated two-step shuffle as she shifted her weight back and forth. Barely finished, she heard the door open again to the loud chatter of more students waiting to return to the welcome air-conditioning of their rooms. Blushing, Selendra crawled out of the elevator as hordes of female students rushed in. Regaining her feet, she shoved her back-pack firmly back onto her shoulder before sprinting out the dorm.
Walking at a fast clip down the street, she again berated herself for allowing herself to sink into a food coma, especially since the dorm food tasted like sawdust and to much watered down sauce. She hated being late for class. Everyone looked at you weirdly, and the professor gave you the evil eye. It almost made it worthwhile to just skip the class if one was more then a few minutes late. Glancing at her watch, she calculated the distance and the time it normally took her to walk that far. If she was lucky, she’d only be late by about fifteen minutes, one fourth of the class gone.
Focusing on the street ahead of her, she gauged the speed of on-coming cars and lumbering buses before taking a deep breath and lurching her way across the street. Slowing down a little after making it safely to the other side, she threaded her way between buildings, traveling towards the quad. If only she had taken her reading out there she might not have been late! Her class was just on the other side of it, after all.
Coming up onto the quad, she gazed around at the happily oblivious crowd and mentally stuck her tongue out at them. It just wasn’t fair! She began to weave her way in-between sprawled sorority chicks, hippie wannabes playing guitar, romantic lovers smooching on blankets providing visual smut for those interested, and computer geeks typing away on PDA’s and laptops. Unnoticed by the blonde-haired, brown-eyed girl threading her way through a sea of loafers, a tiny and insignificant round ball was heading straight for her bobbing head.
Feeling a thud strike the back of her head, Selendra crashed to the pavement nose first. Wincing as the sting of prickly blades of grass bit into her palm and pressing into her cheek, Selendra bitterly wondered just what else could go wrong that afternoon. Trying to focus her clouded vision, she heard the concerned shout of someone calling nearby.
Snorting derisively, she rolled onto her back as one hand reached up to inspect the damage of the as yet unidentified flying object. Moaning at the tender flesh as her fingers prodded the egg-sized lump adorning the left side of her head, she frowned. Life just couldn’t get much worse.
“Are you alright?” panted someone as a young face hovered over her own. Sliding to his knees, he pulled the injured lady’s hand away from her head and gently ran calloused fingers over the wound. Relieved that the injury didn’t feel to extensive despite her flinching as his fingers brushed a particularly sensitive area, he turned his focus onto the woman, herself.
Gazing into a slightly round face lightly tanned and lightly speckled with freckles, he held up two fingers. “How many fingers do you see?” he slowly asked hoping that concussion wasn’t on the list of things for him to feel guilty about. It was his baseball that hit her in the head. If only the ball hadn’t slipped out of his hands, he might have avoided the accident. Instead, the ball fell far short of its chosen destination to knock out the girl in front of him.
Swatting the hand away from her face where it was making her cross-eyed just trying to look at it, she snapped “Two” in reply.
The young man’s shoulders drooped in relief. She was fine albeit a bit testy at his lack of throwing skills. “Good,” he smiled standing to his feet. Extending one hand, he waited patiently to see if she would allow him to help her up.
Selendra gazed testily at the proffered hand. Glaring daggers at the brown-eyed boy dressed in black t-shirt and blue-jeans, typical fair of the everyday college student, she grabbed his hand and pulled on it as she struggled to her feet. Caught off guard, he felt his body jerk forward as his free hand clasped her wrist as an anchor and pulled. Making sure the cute-looking girl was steady on her feet, he bent down and retrieved his ball.
“I hope there’s no hard feelings,” he said as he wiped the dirt off the worn baseball attempting to avoid her eyes. He didn’t want to see the contempt he was certain was shining in them when he felt guilty enough, already.
“I’m fine,” she said as she straightened her clothing and resettled her bag over her shoulder. Mentally running a catalog of checks through her head, she inspected her arms, legs, and stretched her back and neck looking for signs of pain. Concluding nothing out of the ordinary, she raised her eyes and gazed curiously at the fidgeting boy.
He looked to be about her age, but then most college students did. That put him somewhere between eighteen and twenty-two, although she thought he was most likely an upperclassmen like herself. Maybe a third or a fourth year to her third year. He was clean shaven allowing his strong chin to jut forward a little while his eyes crinkled naturally as laugh lines began to settle in to stay. It was a clean face, darkly tanned from time spent in the sun. ‘He’s kind of cute,’ she thought allowing a small smile to grace her lips as her eyes quickly dipped to note his lean build.
The abrupt peeling of bells cut through her thoughts ringing the quarter hour. “Shit!” Turning her body away from the still shyly shuffling man, she began to walk towards her class which was about forty yards away from herself.
“Hey! Where are you going?” shouted the boy as he strode n after the retreating female. He wanted to make sure she was really okay before letting her go. Besides, he wanted to find out what her name was before she disappeared for good.
“Cal!”
Cal hesitated between answering his friend or rushing after the injured girl. Turning briefly to look over his shoulder, he watched Gary running towards him.
“So what’s up with the girl?” he asked within normal hearing range.
“She says she’s fine.” Cal grimaced as he turned back to look for the girl. Scanning the crowd, he cursed softly. She was gone for good.
“Aw man,” said the short, compact blonde man. “She looked kind of pretty. Anyways, let’s play some more catch.”
Cal frowned as he followed his friend back to their chosen turf. He didn’t like Gary thinking of the girl at all. He wanted to get to know her and him alone, not his friend. Sighing heavily, he stored the memory under ‘what if.’
______________________________________________________
Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
Back to Fic Archive
______________________________________________________
Fandom: Original
Rating: PG13
Genre: Fluff, College Talk
Wordcount: 1,753
Author's Note: The inspiration for this series came from one of my long-standing friends. She asked me to write her a story and when I asked for clarification, she said, “A what if story.” This is what I managed to come up with.
----> That was written in 2005 when I first started writing this. I took a long hiatus because life got busy and then I got lazy. This was finished during nano2008 and combined with my lack of experience back in 2005, may contain some gross errors as it remains largely unedited after it's original posting.
Summary: Two college kids meet under unexpected circumstances and part ways, wondering, just maybe, what would have happened if life hadn't called them apart. This, was their first what if.
Chapter 1: A Bump on the Head
By
Parsnip
The afternoon sunshine was bright today and the trees that dotted the lawn provided a welcome relief to the mass of students traveling back and forth across the well worn paths on their way to classes. Life was going on as usual and the majority of the young students showed either a ferocious concentration or a lackadaisical approach to life. The latter were more inclined to sunbath as well. Games were also played as Frisbees were tossed and shirts were removed from the more sweaty individuals, all of which was watched under hooded eyes and open stares. All in all, it was a perfect fall day with gentle breezes, warm sunshine, and the slow pace of men and women at leisure. But for one student, it was a day whose idle reflections were making her late, and extremely late at that.
Running around in circles, Selendra could not believe she had fallen asleep at her desk reading a case study on euthanasia for her Biomedical Philosophy class she was required to take as a premed student. It was important to her chosen field, and she fell asleep! Who would want a doctor without the moral fortitude to diligently study? No one, that was who.
Shaking her head, Selendra grabbed her backpack and stuffed her casebook and a notebook into it. Snagging a pen off the desk, she stuck it into the back pocket of her jeans before scrunching her feet into her sneakers. Not bothering to tie the errant shoelaces, she dashed out the door without locking it. It would take to long to find her keys in the first place, and in the second, her roommate was on her way home from her last class of the day.
Sprinting down the hallway to the elevators, she skidded around the corner and punched the down arrow key. ‘C’mon,’ she thought tapping her fingers against her thigh as she bounced from one foot to the other. ‘What’s taking it so long?’
Gnawing at her bottom lip, she nearly broke out in a cold sweat before the metal doors opened at last to reveal a packed elevator filled with students most likely returning from class. “Up or down?” she gritted out hoping it was traveling down rather then up. A preppy looking student pushed her way from the back to the front as another girl snapped, “Up.”
Rolling her eyes, Selendra watched the elevator door close and the preppy student turn down a different hall from the one Selendra had come running down moments before. People really didn’t mix with those on the other side of the building. It was a shame too. Reining her thoughts back from the sidetrack, she heard the elevator ping again as it settled on her floor. A smile adorning her lips, she rushed into the now empty elevator and punched the ground floor button.
Dropping her eyes to the floor, she gazed at the loose ends of her shoelaces before reality kicked in. Letting the force of gravity weigh her down, she sank to the floor and quickly tied first one foot and then the other, executing a complicated two-step shuffle as she shifted her weight back and forth. Barely finished, she heard the door open again to the loud chatter of more students waiting to return to the welcome air-conditioning of their rooms. Blushing, Selendra crawled out of the elevator as hordes of female students rushed in. Regaining her feet, she shoved her back-pack firmly back onto her shoulder before sprinting out the dorm.
Walking at a fast clip down the street, she again berated herself for allowing herself to sink into a food coma, especially since the dorm food tasted like sawdust and to much watered down sauce. She hated being late for class. Everyone looked at you weirdly, and the professor gave you the evil eye. It almost made it worthwhile to just skip the class if one was more then a few minutes late. Glancing at her watch, she calculated the distance and the time it normally took her to walk that far. If she was lucky, she’d only be late by about fifteen minutes, one fourth of the class gone.
Focusing on the street ahead of her, she gauged the speed of on-coming cars and lumbering buses before taking a deep breath and lurching her way across the street. Slowing down a little after making it safely to the other side, she threaded her way between buildings, traveling towards the quad. If only she had taken her reading out there she might not have been late! Her class was just on the other side of it, after all.
Coming up onto the quad, she gazed around at the happily oblivious crowd and mentally stuck her tongue out at them. It just wasn’t fair! She began to weave her way in-between sprawled sorority chicks, hippie wannabes playing guitar, romantic lovers smooching on blankets providing visual smut for those interested, and computer geeks typing away on PDA’s and laptops. Unnoticed by the blonde-haired, brown-eyed girl threading her way through a sea of loafers, a tiny and insignificant round ball was heading straight for her bobbing head.
Feeling a thud strike the back of her head, Selendra crashed to the pavement nose first. Wincing as the sting of prickly blades of grass bit into her palm and pressing into her cheek, Selendra bitterly wondered just what else could go wrong that afternoon. Trying to focus her clouded vision, she heard the concerned shout of someone calling nearby.
Snorting derisively, she rolled onto her back as one hand reached up to inspect the damage of the as yet unidentified flying object. Moaning at the tender flesh as her fingers prodded the egg-sized lump adorning the left side of her head, she frowned. Life just couldn’t get much worse.
“Are you alright?” panted someone as a young face hovered over her own. Sliding to his knees, he pulled the injured lady’s hand away from her head and gently ran calloused fingers over the wound. Relieved that the injury didn’t feel to extensive despite her flinching as his fingers brushed a particularly sensitive area, he turned his focus onto the woman, herself.
Gazing into a slightly round face lightly tanned and lightly speckled with freckles, he held up two fingers. “How many fingers do you see?” he slowly asked hoping that concussion wasn’t on the list of things for him to feel guilty about. It was his baseball that hit her in the head. If only the ball hadn’t slipped out of his hands, he might have avoided the accident. Instead, the ball fell far short of its chosen destination to knock out the girl in front of him.
Swatting the hand away from her face where it was making her cross-eyed just trying to look at it, she snapped “Two” in reply.
The young man’s shoulders drooped in relief. She was fine albeit a bit testy at his lack of throwing skills. “Good,” he smiled standing to his feet. Extending one hand, he waited patiently to see if she would allow him to help her up.
Selendra gazed testily at the proffered hand. Glaring daggers at the brown-eyed boy dressed in black t-shirt and blue-jeans, typical fair of the everyday college student, she grabbed his hand and pulled on it as she struggled to her feet. Caught off guard, he felt his body jerk forward as his free hand clasped her wrist as an anchor and pulled. Making sure the cute-looking girl was steady on her feet, he bent down and retrieved his ball.
“I hope there’s no hard feelings,” he said as he wiped the dirt off the worn baseball attempting to avoid her eyes. He didn’t want to see the contempt he was certain was shining in them when he felt guilty enough, already.
“I’m fine,” she said as she straightened her clothing and resettled her bag over her shoulder. Mentally running a catalog of checks through her head, she inspected her arms, legs, and stretched her back and neck looking for signs of pain. Concluding nothing out of the ordinary, she raised her eyes and gazed curiously at the fidgeting boy.
He looked to be about her age, but then most college students did. That put him somewhere between eighteen and twenty-two, although she thought he was most likely an upperclassmen like herself. Maybe a third or a fourth year to her third year. He was clean shaven allowing his strong chin to jut forward a little while his eyes crinkled naturally as laugh lines began to settle in to stay. It was a clean face, darkly tanned from time spent in the sun. ‘He’s kind of cute,’ she thought allowing a small smile to grace her lips as her eyes quickly dipped to note his lean build.
The abrupt peeling of bells cut through her thoughts ringing the quarter hour. “Shit!” Turning her body away from the still shyly shuffling man, she began to walk towards her class which was about forty yards away from herself.
“Hey! Where are you going?” shouted the boy as he strode n after the retreating female. He wanted to make sure she was really okay before letting her go. Besides, he wanted to find out what her name was before she disappeared for good.
“Cal!”
Cal hesitated between answering his friend or rushing after the injured girl. Turning briefly to look over his shoulder, he watched Gary running towards him.
“So what’s up with the girl?” he asked within normal hearing range.
“She says she’s fine.” Cal grimaced as he turned back to look for the girl. Scanning the crowd, he cursed softly. She was gone for good.
“Aw man,” said the short, compact blonde man. “She looked kind of pretty. Anyways, let’s play some more catch.”
Cal frowned as he followed his friend back to their chosen turf. He didn’t like Gary thinking of the girl at all. He wanted to get to know her and him alone, not his friend. Sighing heavily, he stored the memory under ‘what if.’
Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
Back to Fic Archive
______________________________________________________
