Eddie unfocused his gaze enough to notice a tiny white spider dangling three feet or so just above his outstretched legs. His brain drifted from the problem at hand to the small creature. The little eight legged killer was one of those motes of an arachnid no bigger than a pencil tip, swaying on an invisible string. He blinked until verdant green eyes sharpened and wondered if spiders were capable of hanging there for the fuck of it, to feel their body sway in the air currents with some sort of thrill in mind. Or was it part of the spider's nature, its duty, a rote act that imitated a human's joy ride.
"Oh geez." Fingers skimmed across the surface of one eyebrow and he blearily looked at the time. 2:13 in the morning and it was still raining outside. That's all it seemed to do here in England. Which wasn't all that bad as long as he was inside listening to it soothingly patter against time worn stone. Running around in it on campus however was frustrating. He didn't enjoy having to sit sodden through every class. He rubbed at his jaw line and the light stubble. Trying to grow a beard was often the first action of every man once he gained left home. He peered at the dregs of tea. Hell he should get to bed and stop tooling around with this silly cipher. This whole thing was a joke thesis after all; Professor Atherton's proof that even mathematics could be as superstitious and subjective as anything else.
With a creak of chair Eddie leaned back and focused on the screen as more letters were being pulled out of the string of pi torturing his computer at the moment. It had been a bitch and a half to come up first with the coding to list pi out in such a way that didn't make the meager processor twitch. Then he had to custom make a program to take slices of it and translate it via cipher. Even finding a code breaker hadn't been easy, at least one to help illustrate this devil's number legend. Sure the idea that the universal constant the real world was based on was actually something infernal wasn't a new one. Superstition had been around since before the first stone of this damp manor had been laid and would remain long after it was dust. A few conspiracy theorists had even claimed the whole of human history, including the 'end times', was listed within this value that never ended. To Eddie it was another clear reason why science and religion should never mix.
Out went a long breath and he gave the last of warm tea a swirl then pulled back up to sit properly. Outside the rain struck harder against glass and stone in a mad rush to join all the water that had come before it. Yeah it was definitely time for bed, this cipher he'd come across by chance in the family library wasn't getting him anything more than gibberish. It was best to just let it run its course overnight and mock superstition in the morning. There was a knock at his pitted door. Eddie made a light sound and stretched tall.
"Yeah?" As he shifted in the rolling chair Eddie shot a glance to the strip of empty pasta cans with forks sticking out that sat on top of a bookshelf near the door. Eyes moved to the clothes scattered here and there, the stacks of books and notes everywhere and he realized that it looked like a typical guy's room of his age. That was embarrassing. At least he hadn't hung the bikini calendars he'd bought, yet. Those really were as close to any action that the young mathematician was going to get it felt – college or not- along with the stash of porn under his bed. The person knocked again. "Come in. I'm up."
When the door opened Abby's sweet and currently moistened curves were backlit by poor electric lights in the hall. The whole place needed to be rewired which was why Eddie had his computer plugged in a rather hefty UPS. She took a moment to just stand there and drip and he took the same moment to look over his distant cousin's frame. There was a reason why other guys on campus turned their head when ever Abby walked by and it started with a fine set of hips and the apple shape rump attached but didn't stop there. Wet blouse was plastered to her bosom, clinging perfectly under their cleft below and down into the crevasse of warm toned skin up top. Self conscious and perhaps aware that it wasn't an entirely familial cast to the eyes on her Abby picked at the shirt stuck to her soft stomach before pushing chocolate hair from aristocratic features highlighted with an exotic brush.
"Eddie? What are you still doing up?" Her voice held the local accent with a pleasant spicy undertone. Slick hair was settled behind studded ears which in turned caused small rivulets of water to slither down her neck, dip toward breastbone.
"Ah!" Eddie leaned forward and turned the screen lightly in her direction, mostly to prove he wasn't watching streamed porn – again. A light grin slid across her sharper features and made her face all the more lovely. Her father had met her mother while on a business trip to India. Eddie tilted back and self- consciously picked at his own dark brown mop of hair which probably needed to be trimmed. "Just doing homework, Abby. Forget you umbrella?"
Her sneeze made a cute noise as the Englishwoman brushed rain water from her nose and found herself musing over his sturdy shoulders. Really she'd have to sculpt him one of these days. Fingers moved down to push at the side of her jeans, over hips every man wanted to rest in. "Some wanker must have swiped it when they left the studio earlier than I did. Oh you should have seen the model tonight. Eddie." A laugh bubbled from her throat. "One of those women who just knows how to sit in the right way to make curves enthrall. I think she said she's in your literature class."
He gave her a dim blink and a shrug before leaning back in his chair once more. Bare toes were wiggled and he angled the better part of his 'bearded' face to her. "Who was she?"
"Ah." She sucked in wet and dark hued lips. Subconsciously Abby had always envied such women for their feminine ease, never realizing that even now she was striking quite a becoming poise.
"Martha maybe?"
"Marti?" He turned the screen back as more gooble-de-gook slipped into place. He closed a few programs in the background before setting mouse into its charger further along on smoked glass desktop. "Really short blonde hair?"
"Yes." Abby slowly peeled the front of her shirt away from her skin, giving it a wiggle and leaving more of her dampness on his doorstep. "Been checking her out then? I don't blame you."
"Abby." He scowled her rather than admitting the truth.
In response she thrummed a giggle before slipping out. "Well I need a warm bath and a good night's sleep. Don't stay up too late, Eddie."
"I won't." They shared a hushed look around the edge of the door before it was shut and she was gone. Eddie wished he had more tea to help wash away the dryness of his mouth now. Yes he'd checked Marti out but Abby too, and far more frequently. Why'd she have to throw in the bit about taking a bath? With a sniff the American tilted deeper in his chair and kicked back up his feet. Outdoors the rain turned it up another notch. He just closed his eyes and listened to the steady rhythm and his computer chugging along.
