ReACTing

Scene 1: Meeting

So this was college. It was big. Crowded. Sunny.

Somehow, the cheerful people passing him did nothing to improve his mood, dark and riddled with guilt as it was.

He knew he couldn't face Al after what he'd done. Hell, he'd practically murdered her. And the best he could do was leave white flowers at her doorstep. She hadn't contacted him since, and he didn't blame her.

Everything seemed different. The smell of any woman's perfume reminded him of her, the way girls twirled a strand of hair around a finger, anyone blonde. Even ash blondes reminded him of Al. It was torment thinking about her without being able to tell her he was.

She wouldn't be near him anymore. She wouldn't curl up in his lap, or hold his hand, or tell him jokes only he understood. Morpheus had won. It was over. The taste of guilt mixed with anger rose in his throat.

And now it was time to find out what poor roommate would have this cloud of sadness descend upon him.

~~~

His roommate seemed worse than him. In terms of attitude, at least. He'd set his feet up against the left bed's short foot and was chewing a stick of gum lazily. A paper plane hung on the wall next to him. When Jeb entered, he automatically curled his shoulders inward and looked away.

"It's Jeb, then?"

Jeb closed the door behind him with his foot.

"Yeah. Raine?"

The boy's eyes narrowed, and he swung his legs off the bed.

"I really prefer R."

Great.

~~~

"Rinnie!"

Jeb jumped from where he was arranging pencils on the table before him. Several shades of red fell off. He cursed, but picked them up slowly, turning to take in the intruder.

Wow.

She was blonde, but not Alyssa blonde. This was the same blonde as Raine, bright yellow and shocking. It had a natural air, to it, though, and it waved around her head in light strands that flew free of her long ponytail as she leaned in towards Raine to hug him.

"...Hi, Lenka." Raine didn't seem at all affected by the tall, extremely attractive girl who was currently practically suffocating him. Not even when she leaned down to rub noses with him playfully and kiss his cheek.

So, they were twins? Interesting.

"Now, where in 'Alexandra' do you find Lenka?" The girl (Alexandra?) broke apart from Raine to take out a camera and began snapping shots of everything.

"You know, that really messes up my hair..." Raine completely ignored her.

Raine's hair seemed to be in some kind of identity crisis. He had it short, with bangs hanging into his eyes. White pins kept the strands at the sides from obscuring his startlingly blue eyes. With the muss that Alexandra had created in her caresses, it was going insane.

"Ah, whatever. Don't pretend you don't like it when I do that. View from the window, pencils on the table, Raine's roommate... Wait." Raine's finder stopped on Jeb, and she stood straight, letting her rumpled bangs fall back into her eyes. "Um... Jebediah?"

"Jeb," he corrected, suddenly not knowing what to do or say.

"You owe me five." Raine spoke up from the corner, now pulling CDs out of a box.

Alexandra groaned. "We made a bet on how you liked your name said. I don't know why," she explained.

Jeb stuck out his hand awkwardly, and she shook it. He suddenly felt vaguely intimidated.

"Al Magan," she said, taking a quick picture of him. "That bandage for fashion or just to pick up chicks?"

Jeb fingered the tape at his neck nervously. "Neither." Al?

Al's eyes widened slightly, and her voice dropped. "I'm sorry."

"It's nothing... Technically my fault I have it." Jeb managed a small smile, and Al laughed.

"Right, skateboarding or something stupid, I bet. I guess you're pretty lucky, then. I'm dating R over there, so we'll probably be seeing a lot of each other." She jerked a thumb back at her lookalike.

Jeb gaped at her, now entirely nonplussed. "But isn't he your...?"

Al cut him off with a quick shake of the head. "Brother? Nope. We look like it, though, don't we?"

She stepped back to lean one elbow on her boyfriend and grin lopsidedly. Raine mirrored the gesture instantly, smirk tainted with a bit of possessive pride, and the message was clear:

She's mine.