Scene 2 - October 14th

Interior Vituccio Hall, Continuous

Quinn Kaufmann

“What was that about?” Todd asked we left the room - he seemed to have been waiting for me, as he fell into step with me when I passed through the door.

I wasn’t sure why - we had worked together on a group project the previous day, it was true, but I didn’t exactly consider him a friend. Maybe my nod had given him the wrong idea. Still, I didn’t see any reason to be rude, so I answered, “She was asking about my dad - he’s in the hospital.”

“Oh damn, I’m sorry about that. Is he gonna be okay?”

I sighed. Honestly. “Yeah, he’ll be fine. It’s just a chronic thing that flares up every now and then.”

“Still. How did she know, though?” he asked.

“He’s a professor here as well,” I said. “He teaches poetry and literary analysis, most years. I think he started around the same time as Marigold?”

“Oh, neat,” Todd said, although from his tone I didn’t think he actually thought poetry was cool. “I guess you must be from around here, then?”

“Yeah, we’ve lived in New Venice since I was... seven, I think? We moved not long after mom...” I paused, unsure how to explain that my mother had been missing for most of my life. “Well, dad couldn’t support us just by raising me,” I eventually said.

“I guess you’re probably not staying in a dorm, then?” Todd asked. He tactfully didn’t press on the subject of my mother, for which I was grateful.

“Yeah, I’m still living at home. No sense spending money on a dorm when you don’t have to, after all.” It might have contributed to me not having many close friends at college, I supposed, but on the other hand it wasn’t as though I had a huge amount of time on my hands. I was handling it fine, but biology was a demanding major, particularly as I was planning to get a medical degree as well.

“Must be a bummer to have your old man around all the time, huh?”

“Nah, dad’s cool. We get along pretty well.”

“He doesn’t get upset when you bring guys home?” Todd joked.

“I’m single right now, actually. But no, he’s never minded me bringing boyfriends or girlfriends home. He likes to try and embarrass me when I do, though.” What was Todd getting at?

“What, you’re single? How could a girl as gorgeous as you be single?” he asked.

I blinked in surprise, then narrowed my eyes at him. So that was what he was getting at. “I’m not a girl, Todd,” I informed him - I was very open about the fact that I was nonbinary, and while it wasn’t always worth correcting the assumptions people made in one direction or the other, in this case I thought it was. “And yes, I’m single, but that doesn’t mean I’m interested in you.”

It was blunt, but sometimes that was the only way.

Todd grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, Quinn. Can’t blame me for trying, right?”

“I suppose not,” I admitted, “but the answer is no.”