The Trophy Student - RK1000

The Living Tavern

The next morning, he was surprised to wake up with a murderous headache and light nausea. Nowadays, he rarely got hungover; not only was his resistance high as a roof, but he consumed alcohol so often he was almost certain it would take a week of sobriety for it all to disappear from his system. Alas, the mixture of many glasses of whiskey and beer seemed to be an exception.

With less than half an hour until his first lecture would start, Connor all but fell from his bed and dragged himself to the tiny bathroom connected to his dorm room. The cabinets were stuffed with various hair products and deodorants, but none of the painkillers he wanted. With a groan, he instead started to rummage through his wardrobe in search of anything that could halt his growing unease. Triumphantly, he held up a bottle of tequila as if it were a holy item granted by the lords themselves.

He wasted no time pouring it in an enclosed coffee mug, and gratefully took a few sips before getting ready to head out. When it hurt him to sit down, his body rather than himself remembered the previous night, and he grit his teeth at the realisation he would have to sit down all day with a sore bottom. Thank you, yesterday's Connor, Connor thought bitterly to his past self. Although, he wasn't so regretful in earnest. It had been a satisfactory lay, and it had managed to make him forget about the painful reality in which he existed, which was his only objective most of the time.

After having returned to the table, he remembered little of what had happened last night. It was a blurry mess of faceless people, too many cigarettes, some argument he had had with someone, and a fight. Groaning, he looked down to find a few bruises on his knees and palms. Drunk Connor would never stop believing he was invincible, and had most likely been thrown on the pavement by whoever he had insulted with little effort. How he had managed to get back to campus and into his dormitory was a mystery he lacked the energy to investigate.

Even though it was a rather small lecture hall, barely a third of the seats were occupied, and Connor slumped down at random in the far back. The juniors studying law enforcement were few, and the criminology majors beside himself were barely a handful. At times, it was a relief to avoid the large crowds some classes consisted of, whereas other times it was quite bothersome.

As soon as he took the first sip from his inconspicuous mug, Gavin Reed turned his head some seats beside him to sneer condecendingly, and Connor categorised this as part of the bothersome. He fought the urge to flip him off, and tried to pay attention to Lieutenant Anderson by the podium. It was decidedly not easy. Not only was he now begrudgingly reminded of Reed's haughty existence, but as his headache dispersed it was replaced with a blurriness weakening his senses. A few sips later, Lieutenant Anderson might as well have been behind a dirty glass.

By the time the lecture had finished, Connor had dozed off. A hard punch to the shoulder got him up and running in no time, though, and he looked up to meet the aggressor, not at all surprised by his face.

"What's the problem, twink? Already drunk?" Reed laughed at his own insolence, and Connor couldn't help but wonder if he was already showing signs of being a detective to figure out the contents of his mug, or if Connor just smelled so strongly of alcohol it was obvious.

"You didn't lose your virginity yesterday either, I take it." Connor was only barely enjoying provoking Reed, which was as good a sign as any that he was either too drunk or too sober to function. Deciding it was already too late to humour option one, he took another large gulp from the mug.

Reed's cheeks flushed slightly as he tried to grab the mug, but Connor was protective of it and held it behind his back. If only his reflexes always were as good as when there was alcohol involved, he mused.

"Whatever. You fucking smell like a living tavern." Reed strode off, and Connor contemplated whether or not he should return to his bed and sleep for half an hour until the next lecture began.