Poured hot water over the sticky instant coffee in two cups. Added a slosh of sugar from a paper sack and milk to mine. Rennel sipped loudly at the hot stuff, looked around for cake and cookies. I found him really disgusting. He wore his pants too tight. He lay on the beds in other people’s houses. He slurped again and eyed me significantly.

“Do you know anything about her?” he asked.

“Just dormitory drivel. She’s a freshman from someplace in California. Modeled bathing suits while she was still in high school. Somebody told me she’d ‘screwed everybody there ever was,’ whatever that means.”

He smirked over the cup, nodded sagely. “I would have thought that she was out of Omar’s class.”

“Why? What’s Sam’s class? Clancy?” I said it just to be nasty. Sometimes I just feel like being nasty. But he didn’t flinch or fumble. Didn’t even notice, probably.

“I’ve seen her a few times with that big guy with the beard,” he said. “He can press three hundred fifty pounds. And he’s very good at handball.”

“Yeah. I think she was kind of living with him. I’ve seen them drift through Commons together.”

She always looked happy with her long braids swinging slowly and her eyes wide and bright. She had a big, slow smile on her face, like she was always stoned. She walked very slowly, following the big guy with the beard. She wore some kind of beaded black shawl.

“Why don’t you open a window? You smoke too much,” Rennel said. He waved a hand at my thick cloud of smoke.

“That’s all right, you have to go now anyway.”

“Oh? Oh, okay.” He sat up and put the cup down on the floor, zipped his jacket. He smirked. “You’re sure you’re all right here, alone?”

“Oh, get the hell out of here. What an asshole.”

He wagged aggressively toward the door and paused. “You’re sure?”

I started to get up to slam the door but he backed out quickly and slammed it himself.

The restless creeping of the worm