Untitled (scene from a larger work in progress)—by Jill with Jennifer's photo prompt

Okay, I'm cheating... Jennifer gave me this photo as my prompt on November 14, 2021. It immediately reminded me of the below piece that is set in 1991. And I thought I would be able to write something new using this as my prompt, but every time I tried, I kept just thinking about the below piece, and I couldn't seem to come up with anything new. And since I'm already a prompt behind, I figured I would just pull this below scene from a longer piece I've been working on and call it a day! Yes, I'm cheating! We made the rules; we can break them! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Untitled (scene from a larger work in progress)

They walked around the city for a little bit longer then headed back to the dorm. “So, are you coming with me to meet some people?”

Mae shrugged. “I guess. I mean, I don’t really have anything else better to do.”

“No phone calls you’re waiting on from Max?” He kept saying Max with a quick flourish of disdain.

“Hey, what do you have against my boyfriend? He’s kind of a great guy,” Mae said as they got on the elevator and Van pressed 14.

“I’m sure he is. Nothing really. I’m just messing with you.” Van reached up and adjusted his hat.

“Okay. I was just picking up on that tone you just used for his name.”

“You mean like this? Mae.” He said her name the same way he had been saying Max.

“Yep. Just like that.”

Then he said in the same tone, “Van.” Then he paused. “Max and Mae. Mae and Max. And Van.”

“You are a weirdo.” Mae laughed.

“I know.” They got off on Van’s floor and walked to his room. 

The door was opened and Van walked in with Mae behind him. A guy with long shaggy blond hair was sitting on the floor leaning against a bed holding a guitar. A tiny girl with black hair was sitting on the other bed. They looked up at Van and Mae as they entered the room.

The girl said, “Hi, guys. Van, I stole your bed.”

“I can see that because I’m in the room with you and my eyes are open, Chastity.” He said Chastity the same way he had just been saying the other names, and Mae laughed.

Van looked at Mae. “You liked that, huh?”

Mae rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I guess I’m an easy giggle.”

Van raised his eyebrows. “Okay, so introductions. Chastity, Brad, this is Mae. She just moved in. Mae, Chastity and Brad. Brad lives here, and Chastity’s just a mooch. She basically never leaves the room.”

Chastity laughed. “I just like you two better than my roommate. She’s so,” and the three of them said, “boring!” at the same time.

Mae laughed. Brad moved his feet so that Mae could get past him. “Have a seat,” he said and nodded toward the bed he was leaning against. And Mae hopped up on it.

“What are you playing?” Mae said. 

“I dunno. Beatles, R.E.M., Extreme. Just messing around.” He said and started playing the intro to “More Than Words.”

“Aw, I love that song,” Mae said.

“Just wait until you’ve heard him play the intro about 20 more times,” Chastity said then added, “in the next 10 minutes.”

“Then not so much,” Van said sitting on his bed beside Chastity. He looked at her. “Can you move over and give me some space?”

She made a face at him and slid a little away from him. Then she looked at Mae. “So, where are you from?” Chastity said. “Let’s get all this out of the way. I’m from Chicago. Brad’s from Pittsburgh. Van’s from the suburbs.” She reached her arm out and pushed Van and laughed.

“Me too. Monroeville,” Mae said.

“So, I’m the oddball again.” Chastity said. “Go figure!” She flipped around, lying on her back, and put her feet up on the wall. Then she looked at Van. “Hey, isn’t there a mall there that we rode the bus to last semester?”

“Yes, we did,” Van said. “For shoelaces.”

Chastity laughed. “That’s right. They were nice shoelaces too.” She looked at Mae, “So maybe we’ve already met,” Chastity said. “Did you hang out at the mall much last spring?”

“Not a lot. But some, I guess,” Mae said. “Maybe not so much in the shoe stores.”

Brad had started the intro to “More Than Words” again. Chastity laughed. “See what I mean? You’ll hear that at least 10 more times in the next two minutes.” She picked up a pillow and tossed it at him.

He reached out and batted it away. “You know the rules, Chaz. If you wanna stay in the room, you respect the rules.”

“Blah, blah, blah,” Chastity said. She put her hands up over her head, slid back until she was touching the floor, and then did a back walkover off the bed. 

“Wow,” Mae said.

Chastity laughed. “Recovering gymnast," she said to Mae then slapped Van's shoe. "Okay, I’m leaving. My mom said she was going to call me in about,” she looked at the digital clock on the desk by Van’s bed and counted on her fingers, “five minutes. See you guys in class.” She kicked the bottom of Brad’s foot. “Jenkins, do not forget to stop for me before our 11 o’clock. You promised.”

Brad nodded. “Do I ever?”

“Maybe once, but I guess you’re pretty good like that. You had the summer to get out of routine though. Do I have to remind you in the morning?”

Brad laughed. “No. Go!” he said as he started the intro to “More Than Words” again.

“My God, Brad! Learn a new song!” 

Brad looked at Chastity and laughed and then glanced back at Mae and shrugged as he kept playing.

—Written by Jill Cullen sometime in 2019