In the Club - Part 27

Start from the beginning
                                    

"It's all yours," he said, gesturing to the dark space and giving my arm a little tug to follow behind him.

After I'd had a few more drinks, I ran into Jill coming out of the girls' bathroom while I was going in.

"You having a good time?" Jill asked, smiling at me.

Clearly, the alcohol was working wonders for her tonight. She had been avoiding me since she and Lark had their mediated conversation. "It's okay," I said, thinking about the ball of worry in my stomach. "How are you doing?"

She shrugged. "Okay, I guess. That stupid mediated discussion was a joke. Lark just railroaded all of them. It was ridiculous." Jill shook her head and crossed her arms, still a little wound up by it all.

"Oh," I said. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry about Cal being in Tom's room, too."

"Lark gets what Lark wants," Jill said, rolling her eyes. "We're sleeping in my room tonight, though, so she's not getting everything she wants."

"Ah, do you think it's a good idea to stir it up with her?" I asked. I knew the answer was no, but it didn't appear that Jill or Tom did.

Jill grinned. "We have the trump card, Liz. She says anything and we tell Cal that she's a cheating whore."

"I know I probably have no right to ask this, but can you leave Rob out of it all?" I asked. I couldn't seem to shake the anxiety blooming in my stomach.

Jill looked at me for a long time. "You mean like you did by asking him to keep Cal in his room?"

Heat crept into my cheeks, but I wasn't sure if it was from anger, alcohol or embarrassment.

"You're right," Jill said. "You don't have any right to ask that. Also, Rob's a big boy; he can take care of himself. Even if I think his choices are a bit questionable lately." With that, she turned on her heel and wandered back to the dancefloor.

It appeared that drunk Jill had developed a backbone of steel. I wondered how long that would last once we got back to the residence, and Lark started railing against them sleeping in her room.

On the way back to our residence after the bar had closed, we shared a cab with Tricia, Lark, and Cal. The entire cab ride, I kept having to kiss Rob to distract him from saying something to Cal. It felt as though he was constantly on the cusp of bringing down the whole house of cards.

Jill and Tom had cut out of the club early, and as we climbed the stairs, I made sure to mention that I thought I'd heard Jill say something about sleeping in her own room tonight.

"Of course she is," Lark said, rolling her eyes. "Why would she let me have the room tonight after I haven't seen my boyfriend in months?" She squeezed Cal's hand tighter and gave him a moody look.

"Maybe you can convince her to go to Tom's room," Cal said, giving her a quick kiss. "She can't be unreasonable all the time."

I paused with my foot on the top stair, mulling over Cal's words. He thought that Jill was the unreasonable one. Of course, he did; why would Lark tell him anything other than that? Rob gave me a questioning look, and I shook my head and continued to follow him up the stairs.

Tricia unlocked our door and looked at me and Rob. "Where are you sleeping tonight Roberino?"

"If you stay with us," I started and then continued, "Lark and Cal can sleep on the floor in your room. Then, everyone is happy."

Tricia raised her hand. "I'm not sure you'd call me 'happy' so much as not willing to put up with any more shit tonight." She gave Rob a pointed look.

"Blimey, alright then," Rob said, turning to Cal and Lark. "You two take my room." He jiggled his keys and dropped my hand. "I'll grab my kit and get you two settled." He looked at me. "Yeah?"

I nodded, relieved. "Yeah." As he started to walk away, I grabbed his hand and laced my fingers with his before letting him go. "Thank you," I said, searching his face for the usual humor.

He gave me a half smile. "No worries, mate." He winked at me and headed down the hall with Lark and Cal.

I turned to Tricia. "Thank you. I know it's super awkward to have us sleeping in the same bed."

She grinned. "No sex – no moaning – no loud kissing noises. I'm going to put on ear muffs and the solitudes CD, but if I hear anything over that, you're in trouble."

I laughed. "Got it. I really hope the first time I have sex with him, you're not in the room."

"Oh my God. I better not be – you'd be dead to me." She grinned and wrapped her arm around my shoulders as we watched Rob walk back down the corridor. "He's acting a bit weird though isn't he?"

I sighed. "I was hoping it was just me."

"Sadly, no. What's up with that?"

"I think it has something to do with Lark and Cal. But, I don't know. It might be whatever happened with Rachel the other night. I'm just really hoping it's not me; that he's not changing his mind about me." I looked over at Tricia and her green eyes were kind.

"It's one hundred percent not you. He still looks at you like you're the only girl in the room. It's quite a thing to see – that much love shining out of someone."

"Do you think?" I asked, just before he reached us.

"What are you two birds chatting about?" Rob asked, stopping in front of us.

"Just laying down the bedroom ground rules." Tricia looked at Rob for a beat before saying. "You alright, mate?" She used her best British accent.

Rob's grin didn't quite meet his eyes. "Right as rain. I'm knackered, though." I stepped away from Tricia, and he gathered me into his arms, kissing my temple.

"Let's go to bed and hope that tomorrow when we wake up, everything looks better," I said, turning to follow Tricia into the room.

"Let's go to bed and hope that tomorrow when we wake up, everything looks better," I said, turning to follow Tricia into the room

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Second LanarkWhere stories live. Discover now