Tony was surprised that he didn't hear what he expected to. Nearing Richter, there was usually some Kevin-related commotion that he could hear from outside, but it was eerily quiet. Granted, it was Spring Break and most of the normal antagonists, like Brad or Biff, were elsewhere, but it was still an unsettling feeling not to hear Kevin yelling for help or random things crashing around.
When he got up to his third floor room, he found Kevin sleeping the day away. Already 3 p.m. and the lazy cat hadn't even woken up for the day.
Tony sighed. While it was only Monday of the week-long break, he was already a bit bored. Except for the football award dinner tonight, he had nothing planned for the week. Perhaps he should try to organize at least a trip to the beach on Wednesday or Thursday. Maybe just him and Cindy. He shook his head and abandoned that particular line of thought.
Kevin stirred slightly. Apparently, Tony closing the door had created just enough noise to awaken the feline. Kevin stretched in his bed and slowly sat up. He noticed the bull standing by the door.
"Oh, good morning, Tony," the groggy feline said.
"Um, afternoon, Kevin," Tony corrected.
Kevin looked at the clock. "Why, yes it is."
An awkward silence passed as Tony dropped his gym bag on the floor. Kevin, whose reactions were still dulled a little by sleep, watched the bag fall before he finally spoke.
"Had your gym fix, huh? Did you remember to properly convey my message to those muscle-bound morons there?"
Tony sighed. "No, Kevin. I'm not your messenger. Why don't you tell them yourself?"
Kevin stretched again before hopping out of bed. "That would require me to reenter that torture parlor."
Tony ignored most of the barbs on the statement and changed the subject.
"So, any particular reason you need more than 12 hours of sleep?"
Kevin looked perplexed. "12 hours? More like 8."
Tony quick did the math on his fingers. "Late night playing games, I take it?"
"Yep. 6:30 in the morning when I finally decided to boot everyone off my server."
A few hours later, Tony started changing back into plain clothes. The football dinner had been mostly uneventful, which was a good thing considering that he had expected to be hounded by the team to rejoin. But, there was no such incident. In fact, the only incident involved Biff, but that incident was just too weird. Of course any incident involving any three of the following: a drunken Biff, women's clothing, gelatin, stilts and knives; could and should be classified as weird. Thus, when all five are combined, it's often a sight that one wants to put out of their head as quickly as possible, which is what Tony was attempting to do.
Luckily, Kevin arrived just then and provided Tony the help he needed to rid his memory of the scenes flashing in his head.
"Hey there, Tony. Good dinner?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah, a bit better than anticipated," Tony replied, as he finished dressing. "Yours?"
Kevin had gone out to a nice restaurant with Scott, Lisa and Cindy. Lisa had tried to drag Mikey along, but halfway there, he managed to escape her grasp and headed back to campus. Tony could hear the muffled protests of Mikey from down the hall as Lisa obviously had his throat in a very tight bear hug.
"It was a good dinner, really."
There was a knock on the door. Tony went over and opened it.
"Hello, Anthony," Cindy said as he opened the door. "I just wanted to come over and thank Kevin for paying for my dinner this evening."
Kevin bowed slightly as Tony's eyes widened slightly, staring at his roommate.
"My pleasure, Cindy," Kevin replied. "Just remember to bring enough cash next time."
Tony let out a light breath of relief.
Cindy thanked Kevin again. Then a thought seemed to strike her.
"Mind if I ask you a question, Kevin?"
"Sure, Cindy."
Tony invited her into the room so that she and Kevin could chat in more comfort. She sat in Tony's chair while Tony spread out on his bed.
"What did you think of those three we chatted with this evening?" Cindy asked Kevin.
"Oh, you mean those three in the lobby we talked with while we were waiting?" Kevin picked up his letter opener from his desk. He started juggling it idly.
Cindy nodded.
Kevin replied, "An interesting trio. I still think that I've met them somewhere before, but I don't know where."
"Well, I knew Sharon from my chemistry classes, but the other two I didn't know at all," Cindy said. "But, I got the same feeling that I knew them already. Maybe Tony knows them from somewhere?"
Tony sat up and looked at the pair, confused. "What people?"
"Well, there were three other students that we accidentally met at the restaurant. Cindy recognized her colleague Sharon from the chemistry department," Kevin started to explain.
Tony asked Cindy, "Is that the same Sharon I had as my TA in my chemistry class?"
"Probably. Petite ferret? Colorful pair of earrings?"
"Yeah, that was her."
Kevin continued, "So, there was Sharon and two of her friends. One was a tall cougar. Rich was his name, if I recall. Then there was Rachel, or Crystal is what she wanted us to call her, the tall wolf. She wore this necklace with a light blue crystal on it, which is where she got the nickname."
Tony thought about the descriptions Kevin had given him. There was a nagging suspicion that he should know them, but he couldn't place why. He really didn't recall ever meeting those other two.
"Nope, I don't know them," he answered. "But, like you two, I think that I should know them. But, I honestly don't."
"Oh well," Cindy replied. "We chatted with them for a while. They sat at the table next to us. It was a fun conversation."
Kevin nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it was." Changing subjects after a moment's thought, "Well, anyway, just pay me back when you can, okay, Cindy?"
Cindy replied, "Sure, no problem. I better go save Mikey from Lisa again, so I'll leave you two to your plans for the night."
"Okay, have fun prying Lisa off Mikey." Kevin stopped juggling the letter opener and waved slightly toward the retreating form of Cindy. He resumed tossing the dull blade nonchalantly.
"Have a good night, Cindy," Tony interjected.
"Thanks. Good night, you two gentlemen," she said, closing the door behind her.
Tony yawned slightly. He was already tired. He watched Kevin's juggling hypnotically before an odd thought struck him. "Since when are you coordinated enough to do that?"
The cat looked confused for a moment before he followed Tony's eyes to his right hand which was still flipping the letter opener casually. Kevin watched himself doing this for a while, as if his hand was doing it without his knowledge. "I don't know. But it is a neat trick." He caught the blade safely once again, placing it carefully back on his desk.
Tony laid down on his bed. "Weird."
Kevin sat down to check his e-mail. As he read his messages, one in particular struck him as strange. His puzzled expression soon prompted Tony to ask what was wrong.
"I just got this weird e-mail from someone I don't think I know. You know who this might be?"
Tony stood up and walked behind Kevin.
"pauldanure@arapatta.com?" Tony said aloud. "Haven't the faintest. What's the message say?"
Kevin replied, "All it says is, 'Thanks.'"
Tony shrugged. "I don't know, Kevin. Sorry."
Kevin hit the delete button. "Oh well. It doesn't make any sense, so it gets deleted." He finished reading his e-mail, clicking the mouse frantically.
"Time to play online a bit more tonight," he said, booting up his favorite game.
"Well, don't stay up too late again tonight," Tony replied, as he pulled out a book he had been working on recently.
Kevin looked at Tony, replying sarcastically, "Yes, mother."
Tony rolled his eyes.
"Well, at least it's going to be a relaxing break," he thought before delving heavily into his book.