Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

last week, so why wasn't he there for his first class? That wasn't a good sign.
    Mallory and Tania would work with me. We could handle two non-contributors if we had to. But three?
    "Professor, we ran out!" Mallory called from the back. "Alan didn't get one." She shifted aside and I saw him, leaning over his desk with his head on his hand. The guy from the library, Alan Lacroix. Eyeliner and eye shadow, lip gloss, streaked hair, and gold-painted fingernails. In my group, and I needed him if we were going to get a decent grade.
    Crap.
    Alan Lacroix didn't hang around after class. Mallory said he had to "scoot" to his next one, but she had his email address for me, and said he didn't have anything scheduled Tuesdays after four and neither did she.
    Tania complained about getting stuck with the new guy, but Tuesdays and Thursdays were fine.
    Matt was pretty packed this week, but let him know when we'd figured out a time and place, and he'd try to swing by.
    Darren promised he and his girlfriend were rock-solid now and this time he'd make every meeting. Any night but Friday, that was date night and all that—
    Yeah, okay, I told him, and promised them all I'd work out a time and a location and everyone should be sure to make that first meeting.
    My work schedule had me four-to-close on weeknights, but I traded a co-worker four hours of my Tuesday shift for an extra four hours on Saturday. I set up a project wiki and uploaded my calendar to it, then emailed everyone the link and a request to meet Tuesday night at the Mug Shot, the local answer to those fancy coffee shops on every street corner in the country.
    I got there early despite the rain, ordered the cheapest coffee they had to help with the unseasonal chill, and grabbed the only big table in the back. Sat where I could see the whole room, and pulled out my laptop to catch up on some reading for Film History.
    Before long, though, I was wondering if the barista had slipped me espresso instead of decaf. I couldn't focus on my reading, kept looking at the door, at the clock, at the line—
    Tania showed up. She set her stuff down while she scanned the menu board.
    "Nothing Fair Trade," she sniffed. "I'll bet they don't have soy creamer either."
    "Sorry, Tania," I said. She handed me her laptop cord and I plugged it into my surge protector. At the front of the shop, Mallory pulled the door open and she and Alan Lacroix came in laughing. As he stepped inside, Alan jumped to his left, fluttering his hands in an arc over his head, and Mallory did it too. Then both stuck their legs out a couple times before taking a big step back to their right. Tania shook her head as the dance number went on with some pelvic thrusts.
    "Aww, they're bonding. With the Time Warp. Of course."
    "The Time Warp?"
    Her sour gaze fell on me. "Lukas Blake, you've been in college for two years— in film school for two years— and you haven't seen Rocky Horror ? That's just…sad." She walked away, slipped into line as Mallory waved at me. She pointed me out to Alan and shoved her hobo bag at him. Alan rolled his eyes and took it, and she handed him her laptop bag too.
    "I'm gay," he grumbled as he set her stuff on the table. "Why am I still carrying women's bags?"
    "Because Mallory is good at drafting assistants." I took the laptop bag, pulled Mallory's MacBook out and plugged it in. The man was wearing white jeans. White jeans! And a shirt with a rainbow, and another blazer, and a fluffy blue scarf. Half the gold streaks in his hair were now blue and all of his hair glittered. I held out my hand.
    "Hi. I'm—"
    "The amazing Lukas Blake. I heard." He thumped the hobo bag down and stuck his hands in his pockets, leaned back and looked me over. "You're the guy who's going to get us the best grade in the class. Nice plaid. Is that farm fashion?"
    Crap. "I'm the guy who's one part of the best group in the class."
    "Mal tried to bet me five bucks that Thing One and Thing Two wouldn't even show up. That's a hell of a handicap for the best group in the class."
    "Then we'll have to work harder."
    "Oh goodie," he said, and dropped into a chair. He didn't have a laptop. Didn't even have a notebook, or anything else bigger than would fit in his blazer pockets. I knew he didn't have anything in his jeans pockets because I would have seen it, they were that tight.
    He saw me looking, raised an eyebrow. One eyebrow, like Spock. Like I'd never managed to do despite a good bit of trying. His eye shadow was