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Ian's Interview: Absolution - Part 3

I breathed deeply for a second, sitting in my car. "What's the point of even showing up?" I said aloud, heartbroken.

I thought for a few seconds, "At least I have London to go home to..."

I reached into my outer pocket of my backpack, pulling out my keys.

I inserted them into the car, bringing it to life.

I looked over my shoulder, pulling out of my spot.

I drove up to the exit.

Right to go back to the hotel. Left to go to the school.

Although I had already decided to go back to the hotel, something in the back of my head made me pause.

Without thinking, I turned left, pulling into the north bound lane. It was still relatively early, but there was now much more cars on the road than before.

"I guess I could at least explain myself," I said, deciding that would be the most respectful thing to do. Not to mention it might put me in better standings when I apply next year.

I took the main road which was vertical to the Whitestone River northward for 5 minutes. Across the calm river was several restored brick buildings, one after another, separated by small patches of verdant, lush trees.

I passed by several bridges, crossing the river to the east side of the city.

When I got to mine, I turned right. My eyes focused on the main ASDA building. It really wasn't too impressive. I mean, it was just a medium sized brick building with a black tiled roof. But what the building lacked in aesthetics, it made up in its quality teachers, programs and challenging courses.

The college had other buildings, but they were scattered throughout the East Side which was basically a large hill which climbed several hundred feet in a very small area. Though the bottom of the hill was basically a mix of businesses and shopping complexes, the middle to the top of the ridge was occupied by upscale housing between 500,000 to 2 million dollars.

I gazed up the hill at the gorgeous houses as I pulled into the relatively small parking lot beside the building.

I had been inside several times, so I had a basic idea of where I was supposed to go, but I still decided to go to the desk first.

I walked out of my car and almost immediately was assaulted by two furs with large, expensive looking cameras.

"Are you Ian Providence?" a tall, female mink asked. She had crazy looking bangs and a red headband on.

"Um, yes," I said stupidly.

"Oh good! How did it feel to get that invitation to give a presentation in front of the Council?" she rattled off.

"Uh," I said, "Nerve-raking, I guess..."

The mink looked confused at my comment.

She opened her mouth but I put my hand up, "Sorry, I'm kind of in a hurry."

I walked away. They followed, still rattling off questions which I ignored. I honestly wasn't in the mood.

I opened the door, making sure to slam it in the mink and camerafur's faces. I wasn't trying to be a jerk or anything. They were just kind of getting on my nerves. You understand how it is.

I walked into the modern looking building.

I walked down this slanted ramp with art pieces on either side.

I didn't look at them, though if it was a different day, I could have spent hours observing every minute detail on each piece.

I took a right and walked through another door. I could hear the reporters behind me.

I walked strait for the desk which was set dramatically in the middle of a large and empty room.

A solitary fur sat, looking bored.

"Ian Providence," I said quickly, not wanting to give the reporters a second to catch up.

"Oh. Yes, the Council is waiting for you down that hall," he said, pointing down a hall to his right.

"Thank you," I said, walking off quickly.

"Second door on your right!" the desk fur called out loudly.

I speedwalked down the hall, wishing to get this embarrassing moment over with as soon as possible.

At the second door on my right, I flung it open and walked in. I quickly looked backwards to see if there was a lock, but there wasn't.

I sighed as I walked into the room.

To my right was a set of 7 chairs up against a wall, behind a counter which ran the length of the seven chairs.

In front of it was a raised, half circle stage.

I peered at the chairs. 3 of them were filled with mid age looking furs.

One of them noticed me and smiled, "Ah! Welcome. I wait with bated breath to see your work!"

This fur, a male red panda, was slightly younger looking, maybe 40.

I smiled weakly, "It's nice to meet you," I said, walking up to him, shaking his paw. I was self conscious that my paw might still be slightly sticky, though I did furiously attempt to dry it as much as possible.

He smiled at me warmly.

I walked over to the other two and shook their paws.

Just then the two reporters walked in out of breath, "You're quick!" the lady mink said.

"And you're annoying," I quipped back to them.

"We're sorry, It's just very uncommon for the Council to want to see a student's work."

"I'm not a student yet," I replied back.

The mink gave me that confused look again, like I had said something weird. She was the one that kept on mistaking things.

Just then, another door opened in the back of the room.

The rest of the Council walked in one by one, "Sorry," one of the younger Council members said to me as he took his seat, "We just had to finalize some things."

I smiled weakly, walking over and shaking the rest of their paws.

At this point I began to perspire, getting much more nervous now that everyone was there.

"If you need to hook up anything, I'll show you were we do it," the younger man said, smiling warmly.

"Um," I began.

Suddenly, I heard a commotion above me.

I backed up nearer the stage and was suddenly shocked to see a small crowd materialize on a balcony above me.

"What the fuck!?" I exclaimed quietly, my cheeks turning bright red.

I wasn't too fond of attention. Especially in front of so many people, some who were pretty well known in the city.

"Don't mind them or the reporters. Just pretend they're not there," the same fur said, seeing I was quite nervous.

"Um. I don't mean to disappoint you all," I said at first slightly quietly, "But I don't have my presentation..."

A murmur broke out amongst the crowd upstairs.

"What do you mean," the same fur asked. Apparently he was the most vocal or something.

"I don't want to make any excuses. But I had an accident that involved my laptop earlier today."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Somefur accidentally knocked over a coffee onto it..." I said meekly, ashamed that I didn't have a back up plan.

"Do you not have a back-up?" he asked, slightly disappointed.

"Well, I had the presentation saved to my phone... but I seemed to have forgotten that at my hotel. I didn't have enough time to go back and get it."

Suddenly, I heard some one clear their throat from above me. I thought it sounded vaguely familiar.

I looked up, and suddenly my face was awash with the widest grin.

There, standing all cocky up on the balcony was my London, holding my phone out in his paw.

"I think you forgot something!" he called down to me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Saving your ass," he replied, clearly making it known that I owed him one later.

"Get down here!" I said, gesturing with my paw.

With my mood once more established, I looked back at the Council who was slightly confused.

"Looks like you're going to get your presentation after all," I said.

"Good. I was looking forward to seeing our most promising newest student's work."

I took a step back, "What do you mean? People keep on saying that. Isn't this presentation to see if I get in?"

The young fur laughed boisterously.

A few others snickered.

"No, Ian. You were the first to get accepted into this year's class."

"But. But. I got declined the last three times. Why would you pick me first this time?" I asked, baffled and relieved.

"We were actually very interested in your art, we just wanted to see some more as well as to test your determination."

"Oh..." I said, feeling foolish.

Suddenly I heard the door open up and saw London smugly walk up to me, "Here you go, Foxy!" he said, passing my phone to me.

"How'd you find out?" I asked honestly, thinking I had kept this pretty hidden.

"Dude," London said with an eyebrow raised, "There's no way you all of a sudden just decided to book a hotel 30 minutes from home for no reason. And it didn't help you that YOU WERE ON THE NEWS," he said grabbing onto my shoulders and playfully shaking me.

I gritted my teeth, "Sorry. You mad?"

"Of course not. You wanted me to have a stress free weekend. But that just means you had double the stress. Don't do that to yourself. It's not healthy."

Pointing at the phone which I was still firmly grasping, he said, "But you do owe me for finding that in your pants and taking a cab over here. That cab cost me like 10 bucks!"

I snickered, "Ok. Fine. Oh, and we're going to have a lot to talk about later, but right now, I got to give a presentation."

"Kill it," he said, standing off to the side.

The young Council fur got up and walked me over to a wall with several chords jutting from it. He helped me find the one that plugged into my phone.

"So, who's that?" he asked casually as I pulled up my presentation.

"My inspiration," I said simply.

He smiled, passing me a clicker.

"Click that when you want to get to the next slide."

"Ok. Thank you."

I walked over to the stage and climbed up the two steps.

The back wall suddenly lit up with a crystal clear projection of my first slide.

All of the Council looked on at the face of my London, reading a book. He was completely at peace, yet at the same time focused. It took him a lot of energy to read books in English, but he attempted it every day just before bed.

I smiled and began.

~~~

I won't bore you with the details, but I think it went over pretty well.

At the end, everybody gave a round of applause.

I grinned, no longer nervous.

The Council members smiled at me.

After filling out some paperwork, I was allowed to leave.

I grabbed my phone and walked out hand in hand with London.

"How'd it go?" I asked, knowing London wouldn't lie to me.

"Really good. It's just there was a lot of me..."

"Well, you're very photogenic."

"Some how I don't think that's the whole story."

In response I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him.

I pulled away, repeating my question, "So, how'd it go, again?"

"Amazing!" he replied, pulling me back in for another kiss.

Let's just say I payed him back royally once we got back to the hotel.

~~~

Hope you enjoyed! I think I'm going to start releasing short, localized scenes of London and Ian 'doing things' together. Some may just be romantic. Others will be 'romantic,' if you catch my drift.

Sincerely, IanWolf

~~~