Trepidation [Book 1]

Chapter 05: midnight necessities

Cuddled up on the couch, wearing sweats and watching Bridget Jones' Diary with my friends is the most perfect way to end our first day back to college, but an interrogation about a certain interaction earlier is not.

Matt starts to chuckle to himself, "I just can't believe that you sat and tolerated speaking to a guy that isn't me, Jack or Wes to be honest with you."

"Okay, fuck you, guys, I'm not that horrible," I say, utterly offended, "I've just met him and I don't even know him, so I'm just keeping him at a distance for now."

"For now, you say?" Lauren teases and I shake my head, "What will your wedding dress be like?"

"You're insane!"

"Sweetheart neckline?" She starts and I whack a pillow at her head before she can carry on.

Deflecting the conversation onto something else, I turn to Matt, "In fact, we haven't spoken about your mysterious rendezvous. I'm not one to talk, but I've seen you coming home at strange times lately."

"I hate you," he mutters.

"This is brand new information!" Lauren yells.

"Probably because you're too busy getting railed by Ty," Hanna snorts, smiling sweetly over at her.

Lauren becomes defensive, "Look, he's good in bed, at least I'm getting some!"

"I'm an independent woman, thank you very much. I don't need a man to pleasure me," Hanna says, reaching for the cookie I may have just eaten. She feels around for it before she looks up and pouts at me, "Bitch, I made those."

"And they were really good," I assure her.

Lauren stands up, grabbing the bottle of white wine, "Okay, we're getting off track here, the train has literally derailed. Originally we were talking about Fran's boy troubles-"

"That I don't have," I say loud and clear.

"Which she definitely has," she ignores me, "Then I found out that Matt, you've been having secret rendezvous, I need more information."

"We met at a party; we have sex, it's out of this world, there you go," Matt says as he scrolls through Netflix.

"So, you're dating?" she asks.

"No, we simply use each other for our sexual advantages. It's a win-win situation. It's kind of like you and Ty, but Kieran is nicer than him and he actually sticks around when we are done."

"This is not about me and Ty!" she sighs.

"And I'm single. It's a happy, easy life." Hanna chortles to herself, standing up from the sofa.

"Where are you going? Movie night can't be over yet," Matt frowns with the remote in his hand.

"I'm getting ice cream, bitch, calm your tits!"

We have weekly movie nights and it's simply the best night of the whole week. It used to be on Fridays but that's now reserved for parties or studying, so we moved it to Monday because it's usually the worst day of the week, so this way we have something to look forward to.

Matt groans, putting the remote down in a defeated huff, "Why hasn't Netflix put Harry Potter on yet? I've written to them three times but to no avail."

Eventually, he finds a movie that none of us have watched before, and we tuck into the ice cream as the opening credits roll. Our conversation simmers down, but my mind is occupied, thinking about today. Seeing Ethan again was nice, his company is strangely comforting; something I'm not used to. I'm always on edge around men unless I really know them, and the thing is I don't know Ethan at all. I don't even know his surname.