Will went straight from Gabriel’s house to the volleyball gym and worked out in borrowed sports clothes. Luckily Gabriel had shorts with the string-band on them that would fit him. If he’d had to go back home, he would have been late, or if he had to work out in his day clothes, he’d spend his day at college smelling like sweat. That wouldn’t be the desired impression he wanted to make on his project team. Tara had created a group chat, and they were meeting up to discuss the project at lunch.

“Looking good Will,” Nicolas clapped his back. “Do some serves, give Vinny a workout.”

“Yes sir.” Now that he was eighteen he played for the adult team, and he was the youngest among them. Will got the feeling Vinny was keeping a closer eye on him because of that. Will pushed hard, his scant breakfast of yogurt and strawberries fuelling his work-out. He was hungry enough for a second snack after this.

Vinny approached him in the locker room after Will had showered and offered a takeaway cup. Smoothie.

“Thanks,” Will accepted it. “You ready for Saturday?”

“We’re looking good,” Vinny answered. “It’s a strong team this year. Michael, the blond guy who was running laps, is a fantastic libero.”

Will hadn’t noticed anyone doing laps. “Why wasn’t he practicing with us?”

“Because,” A voice chirped up behind them, “My fitness has gone to shite the past month.”

Will looked over his shoulder to the blond guy, Michael. He was almost a full head shorter than Will, but he looked sturdy. Michael trot up to walk with them toward the front entrance. “Sprained my ankles, so coach had me restricted to just strengthening them. I’ll be playing Saturday though. And I’ll be practicing receiving those nasty serves of yours Friday.”

“Nasty?” Will repeated.

“Nasty.” Michael confirmed. “You can serve left-handed too can’t you?”

“Not with any precision.” Will told him. He left practicing with his left hand to where nobody can see him. “Nicolas makes sure I’m keeping it even with the exercises.”

“Easier to develop the muscles right the first time round than to go back and correct it later.” Vinny said.

“Exactly.” Will nodded. “Either of you guys you need a lift?” There was a light drizzle.

“I have coaching here, I’m good.” Vinny nodded. “See you tomorrow.”

Will looked toward Michael who was tapping at his phone. “Michael? I’m heading toward the north campus grounds.”

“That’ll be perfect, I can get the forty-five bus to my apartment from there.” Michael nodded.

Lucky enough the early morning trainings ended before the rush hour started. Will found it was easy progress through the city. “How did you sprain your ankles?”

“Trampoline,” Michael reported. “I was hopping with my little cousins and then was hopped off into the dirt. Knew the second I landed I’d fecked them both up. It was worth it though.”

Will found himself grinning. “And are you a college student as well?”

“Nope. I work for TG ceathair. I do translating and odd jobs, usually I’m in the radio division.”

“That’s pretty cool. Is it Irish translations?”

“Irish, French, Spanish and German.” Michael reported. “I’m working on adding Greek to the list at the moment.”

“Completely fluent?” Will asked in surprise.

“Sure am. I’m better at speaking them than spelling, getting better about it since I need to be writing down the translations though.”

Will pulled into campus. There was a parking space available in the main lot which was fantastic. If he had to go searching for a free lot, he’d have to comb the entire city first and be late to class.

“You good at languages?” Michael asked as they got out of the car into the drizzle.

“I can just about manage English.”

Michael snorted. He waved as he started off toward the bus stop. “Thanks for the lift, we’ll work on those nasty serves tomorrow!”

“Later.”

*

Will got to their group-project meeting late. Tara and Veronica were sipping on cups of coffee while Stephen was typing on his computer. The cafeteria was almost deserted, but given that it was in the middle of a class time he wasn’t surprised. Will weaved through the chairs arranged in the most difficult way possible and got to to them.

“Hi,” Veronica smiled.

“Hey guys, sorry I’m late.” Will put his folder down on the table. He dug through his pockets in search of a few euro to get a much needed coffee.

Tara must have noticed him eyeing her cup, because she popped the lid off it and wafted the smell up. “Delicious, right? If you want the real stuff go over to that side of the cafeteria. It’s more expensive but worth it.”

“You’ll actually get a buzz.” Veronica agreed. “And they’ll dump cream in on top.”

“I’ll try them out. You guys good for everything?”

Tara and Veronica nodded.

When Will got back, there were sheets laid out on the table. “Which option were you guys thinking?” He asked. “The runner-campaign looked good to me.” He’d looked through the list. It was a business module and the only thing sports-related was one of the options. Will watched them closely as they moved papers around. Both Tara and Veronica had option four circled. Option four wasn’t the runners.

“I thought the teacups?” Veronica ventured.

“Me too.” Tara agreed. “We could direct it toward all sorts of people, and then for the difficulty section we can focus on trying to market the product toward younger generations.”

Will couldn’t imagine the ad campaign that would make him buy a teacup. A mother’s day present, maybe? He glanced at Stephen, who gradually nodded.

“That works for me.” Stephen confirmed. “There are a lot of sports groups in our class, I’m guessing they’ll choose the sports option.”

Will shrugged when Stephen looked at him. “We pick what we know.”

“You okay with this Will?” Veronica asked, a lip between her teeth. “Is there a different one you’d prefer?”

“No, no. It’s grand. We’re focusing on the marketing work anyway, not the product. I’m sure you’re all just about as interested in teacups as I am.” Will reassured her. He sipped his black coffee and enjoyed the hot burn down his throat. He checked his phone and had to resist replying to the text sitting in his inbox from Gabriel. He could see from the line that showed up in notifications Gabriel wanted to know if Will was coming over for the night. Will was weighing up his options; visit Gabriel, or get some sleep? There was still his ab and leg exercises to do later, and Cassie had mentioned—

“Yu-hoo.” Tara called.

Will snapped back to himself. “Sorry, I’m listening.” He stuffed his phone into his pocket. Will knew they were assigning jobs. He scanned the list. “I can do this?” He pointed to the last line. Research.

“Okay, perfect.” Tara proceeded to circle a quarter of the page and scribbled ‘Will’ next to it. Will blinked. He looked and saw that they also had large portions sectioned off.

“That was easy to sort out,” Tara finished the last of her coffee and set it aside. “You guys free for the day now?”

“Drinks?” Stephen piped up.

“I can text Luke, see if he’s game.” Tara turned to face Will. “Is Dune free? Cassie?”

“They might be,” Will told her. “But I’ve got a meeting after this, so I need to get going pretty soon.”

“Football meeting?” Veronica asked, “Couldn’t be with a lecturer this late.”

“Yeah, it’s just a small thing,” Will deflected. He was meeting the therapy kid in an hour. Laragh insisted they do it somewhere ‘safe’ and casual. The decision had been a cafe where they could all get a cup of coffee. Will wondered about the logic of going for coffee after six. The school and work day was over by then, so why? It didn’t bother him anymore, Will frequently used caffeine as a means to getting through his work-out sessions, but when first he’d started drinking it coffee had kept him up hours into the night.

Will gathered up his things and said his goodbyes. He cast a second glance over the list that had been circled for him and then folded it up into his pocket. He left his car where it was parked on campus and walked to the cafe Laragh had given him the name for. It was a small place that was split into two business, with one half seeming to function as a computer suite and library, while the other half was a cafe. Will wondered about the combination of drinks and computers.

“Hi,” A passing waitress with a tray of coffee cups greeted him with a smile, “Take a seat and someone will pop down to take your order.”

“Thanks,” Will searched the cafe seats. It was mostly deserted, and the only person without someone already with them was a younger boy with a coke in front of him and headphones on. By chance Will spotted Laragh’s floral purse on the table next to him.

“Hi,” Will stood next to the table. The boy took off his headphones and gave Will a dark look.

“What?”

“Are you Kyle?”

The boy blinked up at him. Will forgot what age Kyle was meant to be, but the boy here couldn’t have been more than fourteen.

“You’re shitting me.” The boy said. “You’re the guy?”

“Will,” He introduced himself, and sat opposite him.

Kyle glared.

“Nice to meet you,” Will said. He studied him, rusty haired and freckled, and scrawny in that way guys were before they started filling in properly.

Kyle stared blankly.

The waitress came over. Will ordered a coffee on auto-pilot, and he wished he had the presence of mind to delay the waitress, make small-talk until Laragh returned from wherever she’d gone. “How old are you?” Will asked.

Kyle placed his phone on the table and put his headphones into a rucksack between his feet. His light green eyes were unnerving. “Sixteen,”

Will’s surprise must have been visible, because Kyle made a sudden broad gesture to himself. “I know. I look twelve. That’s because I don’t eat shit and don’t get the proper nutrition for my growing body. Doctor says I’ll probably never reach my full height cause I missed out on an important growing period.”

“You’re already pretty tall,” Will pointed out, the only light thing he could say after the sudden admission. Kyle didn’t seem to like that response, because his glare became more severe. “Is Laragh around?” Will asked.

“You’re a total fuck-boy, aren’t you?”

Will faltered over the suddenness of the question. “No.”

“You look like it,”

“I’m not.”

“You have sex before?”

Will just blinked in surprise.

“And what about a girlfriend? You have one, right? Bet she’s hot.”

“No, I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Ask out the waitress. She was checking you out when you came in.” Kyle looked toward the counter, and Will had followed his gaze without answering. The waitress was making a coffee at the machine. “And she’d been running food the entire time I’ve been here. She only came out to take your order.”

“She’s pretty,” Will said coolly, “But I’m gay.”

Kyle stumbled over something that Will didn’t catch and fell into silence. It was a grumpy silence.

“And I have a boyfriend,” Will added. “Before you ask me why don’t I ask out the waiter.”

The waiter was an older gentleman who was taking payment at the counter. Kyle’s lips twitched into a half smile, which immediately became a harsh scowl. He leapt to his feet suddenly.

“Kyle?” Will questioned alarmed.

Kyle stormed out of the cafe, leaving confused stares in his wake. Will watched him disappear down the sidewalk and turned back to his table. The waitress brought him his coffee. Under the spoon was a piece of paper with her name and number.

Will was sitting there for ten minutes when Laragh returned. She sat where Kyle had been and sighed.

“I’m sorry,” Will said. “He didn’t seem to like me.”

“Kyle pretends to hate the entire world,” Laragh remarked. There was vexation in her voice. She tucked her hair behind her ear and sighed. The usual bun was gone, and long curls spilled out over her shoulders. She looked much younger with her hair down.

“Were you meeting someone?” Will asked.

Laragh gave a violent start. “What?”

Will shifted uncomfortably. “Your hair is down. You always have it tied up at work.”

Laragh pulled at the hem of her shirt, red in her cheeks. She averted her gaze and cleared her throat. “Yes,” her voice was normal. “I was meeting someone.” She seemed to debate tying up her hair, then did it. “I’ll talk to Kyle.” She gathered up her purse. “And I’ll—is that coffee?”

Will swirled his almost-empty coffee cup around. Part of the dietary plan had strongly advised against caffeine after lunchtime. “This is a coffee shop,” he pointed out.

Laragh nodded. “Okay, here.” She put down a few euro on the table. “Kyle had a bad day, I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you came in, but we’ll reschedule.”

“Okay.”

Will wondered if Kyle’s behaviour was that of someone who’d had a bad day, or someone who was being forced to meet someone he really didn’t want to.