String of Many Colors

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Faina was already meditating in the early morning by the time she heard Else stir, and she couldn't help but think the movement disturbed her concentration. She'd been meditating and doing her sun salutation yoga in the room less and less lately, since she wanted to chant softly during meditation and the room was a little cramped for yoga; this morning she powered through. To keep her concentration, Faina had set up crystals in the four corners of a diamond surrounding herself and hoped that these would capture the negative energy in her head. It was worth a shot.

After about 10 minutes Faina knew she wouldn't benefit any longer so she whispered a greeting to Else of "Morning."

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Reece woke as soon as he heard voices and footsteps in the house, which just so happened to be right when they were coming in. He stood by the door to his room and peeked out, wondering what kind of party they'd been at, but didn't want to ask since he didn't want to share his night.
 
"Hey." Else replied in the same tone. She didn't feel like talking or faking being okay yet and just hoped that Faina didn't care or didn't notice. After another moment she sat up and hunched over in bed. "I think I'm going home next weekend." She decided, looking up. "so you can have people over or throw a party... Whatever you want to do."

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All Alec wanted to do was sleep, but he knew he had to call a meeting. After two hours he woke up and sent everyone a text to meet in the basement in an hour before heading down himself.
 
"You're quitting?" Faina asked incredulously. That news had her standing, and she picked up her mat and stones to be put away, her back turned from Else. She didn't want to look at her in case her face betrayed her emotions, despite having just meditated, even though not for very long. Then as she faced the door Faina commented, "I'm not going to celebrate quitting," and walked out the door so Else wouldn't see how disgusted she was.

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For once, Reece probably had more sleep than pretty much all of the other guys. He didn't know what invoked the meeting, but he'd find out soon enough. Walking down to the basement his eyes met an exhausted and tense Alec that nearly scared him, having such a stark difference from his usual light and friendly demeanor. This must be serious.
 
"Faina, I'm not quitting." Else called out, slowly standing. "I'm just going home for the weekend." She said, frowning slightly. It was odd that she had jumped to that conclusion. "I just wanted you to know you would have the room for the weekend." She explained, leaning against the doorway. Obviously she hadnt done a good job hiding her sadness if Faina had thought she was quitting.

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When everyone was there Alec finally looked up. "As most of you know by now one of our own had to be taken to the hospital last night. He could have died from the amount of alcohol in his system. Thankfully they were able to pump his stomach and he will be back here within a few days. This behavior though... All this drinking to the point of sickness, it has to stop. I've decided to enforce the no alcohol policy. That means if I catch you drinking in the house you're out. You can go out other places, but please bring another with you. I won't have anyone dying on my watch. That's all I have to say. If there are questions ask, if not leave."
 
Faina ignored Else's excuses and fled to a quaint coffee shop she'd found hidden away in a corner. She just wanted to be alone. Ordering herself some chai tea, Faina checked her phone messages to find more updates from Jepsen about how the family was doing without her. At first, he tried not to tell her how much they needed her, but the longer she was gone, it was obvious the worse the situation was getting. She knew she was needed at home. Yet here she was, drinking tea and trying to relax without them. She messaged Jepsen to hang in there and about how she missed him, and messaged Martín to go and check up on them, again, even though she hated asking him.

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Reece was amazed at how bold and straightforward Alec could be. It was a brave statement and he knew it wouldn't be taken lightly by anyone. He heard someone comment on how one guy had to ruin it for them, and one guy spoke up, "I don't think the rest of us are gonna be that stupid, why push strict rules on us, man? We can take care of ourselves." A few others agreed and Reece found himself agreeing with them, even though he personally went to bars to drink and wouldn't really be affected by the new rules.
 
Else sighed and went back to her bed, sitting down once again. She tried to believe that what her roommate thought didn't matter. It wasnt true, but it made her feel bad for some reason. Else knew going home was the right thing though, she had to visit the grave.

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He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and responding calmly. "It's in our by laws that if we have a house no drinking is allowed. Every president has let it slide, but I'm deciding to stick with what is actually stated. I won't take away your alcohol, but go out and drink it, or do it where I can't see. No more crazy parties where people can get hurt. We need to be the men that we signed up to be."
 
Neither Jepsen nor Martín answered her. So once she finished her tea Faina decided to take out her upsetness not by making a dress or new clothes but by exercising, hardcore. She already had on light and loose clothes she could work out in from morning meditation and sun salutations, so she bypassed the room and headed straight for the gym. Since it was still early there were very few people there, and she didn't know hardly anyone since she wasn't a real regular, but she decided to warm up with cardio and got on an elliptical. Lucky for her she kept her music player in her purse so she put on some fast paced music and got lost in the repetitive fake running.

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Alec was obviously not budging on the issue, so eventually the rest of the group just relented. Reece, and probably most of the group thought it wouldn't last two weeks, but while Alec was on this war path, well who wants to get in his way? Nobody'd had much sleep and Alec, despite appearing calm, was probably sizzling like a firecracker about to explode on the inside. Everyone else seemed to come to the same conclusions, and soon there was little left to discuss. Alec got his way for now, but who knows for how long? Reece had a feeling the frat would be on edge for a while and he didn't want to have a whole lot to do with it.
 
Alec watched as everyone left before starting to straighten up the room. Every week or so he would so it, making sure that nothing happened to it.

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She looked through her phone, going through all of the pictures she had of him. Else missed him so much sometimes, she couldn't control it.
 
After two hours Faina cooled down in the locker room and checked her phone. Still no messages or missed calls. Frustrated she leaned against the wall and slid down until her butt was on the cold hard floor. Here she was at college surrounded by thousands of people and she couldn't feel more alone. She let her head fall down onto the top of her knees and she cried silently; never had she wanted to go back home so much in her life. Even if it meant giving up any future she could have.

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Reece wanted nothing to do with the people around him when the tension hung like dark clouds that refused to storm. Who knew if it would blow over? Well he sure didn't want to stick around and find out. He snuck out the door past the groggy inhabitants of the dorm and quietly shut the door behind him. Getting out his phone he texted the one person that, despite all he went through last night, would make him feel better. I'm taking a walk, want to join me? he wrote to Else, not bothering with the hey greetings and having to wait. If she really didn't like him she'd just ignore it, but he was hoping she'd answer, otherwise he'd just have to walk around the park or the city people watching on his own, getting lost deep within his own mind.
 
Else was blinking back tears when she received the text. Knowing she needed some sort of distraction she wrote back sure, meet me by the fountain before standing and slipping on proper clothing. Hopefully she would be able to forget about him for awhile and just enjoy the day.
 
Her text made Reece smile and his eyes lit up hopeful. Maybe that girl was wrong, maybe Else does like me, he thought to himself. God, he had to stop thinking about her. She was just some creep who wanted sex in exchange for something that he didn't really have a right to give. She was just like those people after Else, except she didn't have the kind of resources they did.

Since he'd already been outside, he reached the fountain first. Despite the fountain having intricate designs on it, he thought of it more like a communal bird bath than anything. It was located in the middle of the mini park a club had built as part of a project to improve the school, though really the school was fine and it was just there to show that they did something. Reece stood by the fountain watching groups of people talking, waiting for Else.
 
She tried to walk quickly, but ended up behind some people who walked pretty slow. About fifteen minutes late Else finally made it. "Hey." Else said softly, giving him a slight smile. "Sorry for the hold up, hope you weren't waiting long."
 
Reece smiled at the pretty girl in front of him. "Not at all," he lied, already starting to walk with her; he wanted to get out of all the people around. "So, how are you?" he started, not entirely sure of what he should say, and he didn't want to talk about what happened to him, especially with last night. Hopefully she'd talk a lot about herself and he wouldn't have to make something up.
 
Else shrugged. "I... I've seen better days. I'm going back home this weekend though, maybe it will help." She told him, starting to walk with him.

She honestly didn't know why he asked for her to go on the walk with him, but she was happy to be outside and not alone.
 
"Most freshman get a little homesick in the beginning, I went home every day the first year! Though, I was a commuter, but, it's the same kind of thing right? I'd have missed them oh so very much if I would've been away!" he joked, trying to lighten the mood, then he thought of something. What if the lady from the other night was right? "Unless you just miss your boyfriend too much…" he said with the sly smile, still obviously joking, the seriousness not at all entering his voice. They were just friends, right?
 
Tears came to her eyes when she talked about a boyfriend. He knew that she had a husband that was dead. "No, no boyfriend." Else whispered, whipping away her tears that spilled. "Just my parents and a grave to go home to."

She kept her gaze off of him, wishing he hadnt said anything like that.
 
"But the girl last night said you had a boyfriend!" Reece blurted out, stunned that she'd lie to him about it and try to make him feel bad that he asked. He deserved to know! Yeah so she had a dead husband and that's sad, but she has other people in her life too and all Reece wanted was to be part of it more than anything. Was that so bad?
 
Else frowned. "What girl from last night? I have no boyfriend, just a dead husband. Was it someone from those people that messed you up? They said they would leave you alone, they only want me to help them."

She sniffed and tried to control her tears.
 
"The girl…was…" Reece started trying to think up something believable. He didn't want her to think he was a drunk or player who had a bunch of one-night stands! "She was a girl that one of the guys brought to the party last night. Probably sorority girl, she said she knew you from school, maybe a couple grades above, and said that I shouldn't bother trying to get with you because you had a boyfriend." Reece kept talking, not wanting her to question him. "What did she say he was like? She said he was…ah here it is important. And dangerous, and exciting, and I didn't have a chance." Reece finished, not knowing why he said all of that. What was he thinking blurting out his whole feelings business? Now she'd think he was pathetic. And it would take a lot of slack lining stunts and other spontaneousness to impress her back and forgetting about this moment of weakness.
 
"Try to get with me?" Else whispered, shaking her head. "Reece. It's been almost a year. A few more days and it's the anniversary of my husbands death. Before that we were together for almost four years... I'm not ready to be in a relationship with another man. I'm not over what I had with him. In a way I guess I do have a boyfriend, he just isn't living." She was starting to realize that Reece might have just been nice to her because he wanted to get with her.
 
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