Roundabout || Prinxiety

Chapter One: And They're Off

  In the grand scheme of things, something as trivial as an alarm clock shouldn't be the cause for both wild optimism and instant dread so early in the morning.

  Actually, nothing should cause emotions so early in the morning, according to Virgil. Especially when that thing was shouting for him to get out of bed before the sun was really out. In the haze of his half asleep mind he nearly considered forgoing his first day at work in favor of a few more hours of sleep. But once he'd stretched and rubbed the grogginess away from his eyes, he'd come to his senses enough to crawl out of bed and start his morning routine. Partly because it was dumb to sacrifice a well paying job for three extra hours of sleep, but also due to the fact that he noticed he'd already hit the snooze button several times and if he didn't get up right then, he would miss his bus.

  That sure as hell wasn't happening, so in a matter of minutes he was dressed and running out the door while gnawing haphazardly on a granola bar. When he was finally able to stop running and catch his breath, he took his seat on the bench in front of the bus stop, just in time for his morning panic. It started as a mental checklist to make sure he'd done all the activities necessary to begin his day, but of course that spiraled down to:

  Did I make sure I locked the door? Did I turn off all the lights before I left? Oh god, my electric bill's gonna be insane if I left the lights on-

  The consistent testing questions were not an uncommon occurrence for Virgil Maloret. Way too often he would pile on inquiries that seemed harmless in the moment but if he did not have an immediate answer it would continue to eat at him throughout the day until he returned home. It was a curse, but he was quite content with the uneasiness. It got his blood pumping, and for his first day working with a myriad of exhausted, grumpy, or way too energetic teenagers he'd rather be anxious all day than half asleep.

  In his haze of worry he didn't hear the low rumble of wheels on concrete or the warning to watch out. What he did hear was the sound of something hard colliding with the edge of the bench and suddenly his shirt was dampened with the strong scent of coffee. He barely had the compatible brain cells to register what had just happened in a timely fashion, but thankfully the stranger was the opposite.

  "Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry! I'm not usually clumsy like this, I'm just in a rush to get to work this morning. Are you alright?"

  Virgil mumbled a halfhearted reply as he stood to try and swipe some of the excess coffee from his incredibly stained shirt. Though it really was a lost cause, and he would have picked up on sooner had it not been for the fact that he'd finally looked up and froze in place at the sight of an incredibly attractive stranger looking absolutely horrified by the situation at hand. "Uh- yeah. I'm alright." He cleared his throat and looked back down to the dark stain in the middle of his once pristine gray top. "Can't say the same for this though." Great. His first chance to make a good first impression with the rest of his coworkers and he was going to look like such an idiot. The thought of running back home to quickly change crossed his mind, but just as it did the sight of the bus at the end of the street caught his eye and he let out an inaudible sigh.

  Just as he began to resign himself to the fact that he'd most likely be branded as the "Coffee Stain Secretary" by the rest of the faculty in a matter of hours, the stranger proceeded to rummage around in his messenger bag at his side. It was then that Virgil noticed he was wearing rollerblades, which was most definitely the reason for the collision that had just taken place. A sudden flash of dark red came into view, and he looked up to see the other holding a shirt out in front of him. "Here. I always keep an extra, just in case."

  "...In case what? You crash into a random stranger and spill coffee all over them?" Virgil asked sarcastically, an amused smile just barely poking through.