The Taste of Addiction (Loch)

Lochlann barely looked up as a cute girl sat down next to him. It was his first day of classes and he was trying to figure out if he could get through them sober.

He wasn't sure he could. He already had a headache, and he felt like he hadn't slept for days, although if he was being honest, he was kind of excited to start the day.

He finally looked up at the girl next to him and tried to burry the flash of interest that surged through him.

"Hey," Lochlann said. "Do you know anything about the proff for this class? This is my first one."

"Damn," Lochlann said. His elbow was on the desk and Lochlann was resting his head on his hand, creating a small triangle for light to stream past towards her face.

"I'm supposed to look for a..." he glanced down at the strip of white paper that had been passed to half the students as they entered the classroom. "Emily Kirkpatrick?"

There was the faintest lilt of an accent when he pronounced her name, and there was the smallest undercurrent of homesickness, though this wasn't indicated in his face, voice, or even body language. He didn't know Emily could pick up on it.

Lochlann sighed. "I'm supposed to interview her, and have her interview me, as some kind of...ice breaker? to practice interviewing skills? I don't know. But the teacher left and I don't know who this is."

He put his face on the desk, unwilling to get up and go look for this Emily.

"You don't know her, do you?" Lochlann said, his voice muffled.

Her stammering was starting to frustrated him, but only because he had to concentrate really hard to figure out what she was saying and that was a challenge with this headache.

"I'm Lochlann," he said, and then a moment later Lochlann offered his hand to her. "Well I guess that was lucky then. I don't have the energy to try and deal with more people than I have to today."

He offered her a tired smile and was confused when she mentioned needing something. Lochlann shook his head.

"No, I've got all my books and pencils and stuff like that, I should be okay, but I appreciate the offer,' he said. He flipped open his notebook and then looked at the blank page and then up at Emily. "I guess I should start asking you questions about yourself. So uhh....why did you decide to take this class?"

He rubbed his face with his hand and then resumed propping it up, resting his elbow on the corner of the table. He had a notebook and a black ink pen pulled out, and he chewed on the back of it while he considered her answer.

"That's very interesting," he said.

His voice may have founded a bit flat, but Lochlann was genuinely interested. It was just hard to get himself under control right now. He wondered if he could get his flask out of his bag without anyone noticing.

"I am not," he said. "I am studying agricultural management, but I needed this course to fill a general requirement, so here I am."

He gestured with his hands, like he was opening and closing a book, as he spoke.

"Anyway, what made you want to pursue a career in psychology? What are your plans?"

"That's a good reason to be a therapist," Lochlann said. "It's nice to want to help people. Where did you live before you were here to the island?"

He was going to ask if her father was a therapist on the Manta Carlos, but when she said thatshe was new to the islands he changed his line of questioning.

To her questions, Lochlann shook his head. His feelings were sharp and quick: pain, angst, and fear. They were quickly replaced by a strong need to get a drink or some painkillers, because this damn headache was persistent.

Lochlann was a little slower writing than she was, so it took him a moment to answer.

"It's okay here," he said. "I've met a lot of interesting people. I have a few close friends; my best-friend is named Addy and we eat a lot of pizza and go to a lot of festivals together."

There was genuine affection when he spoke about Addy, and a little bit of lust and anguish, too.

"My relationship status is complicated right now. I don't really have a girlfriend, but I'm not really...lacking female companionship, I guess?"

He shook his head and then, surprisingly, he actually laughed.

"That sounds pretty sleazy when I say it like that. So how are you liking your stay on the island so far? Do you have any siblings you had to leave behind when you moved here?"