Taking my invitation with such glee wasn't totally unexpected. So often did I live vicariously through the gents I called my housemates, that when I returned the favour they were eager as can be. Kenji had even yanked the orange crumb-dispenser I once called a corn chip packet from my grasp so I wouldn't get distracted. Or mumble into whatever tiny specks I'd left stray in the bag. Read: few.
Drinks poised and eyes wide, they scrambled back onto the couch while handing an iced tequila and squash my way. The little clinks of the ice settling chiming as the nerves in my stomach did too. Taking the perfectly prepped beverage from Jasper's hand I took a deep breath.
"So..." I drawled, unsure where to start.
"How about you start from getting drinks with Dixon? Think we can maybe fill in some blanks too." Miles offered.
"Blanks, what blanks?" I uttered having piqued my interest and earning myself a quirk of an eyebrow to match.
"Uh-uh. You first. So you went to get drinks in the kitchen with Hunter and..." Miles held his hand out for me to continue, the gesture a red carpet for my retelling.
"And we ran into a friend of his, not really a friend more of a friend. And I sort of expected it to piss me off, but it didn't. I felt relieved if anything." Pondering for a minute as I saw the knowing looks fill my friends faces; but I pushed on undeterred. "So I left them there chatting or courting or whatever and then found my way back to Iggy." Taking a sip as I recalled the encounter and reconciled my thoughts as each syllable touched my tongue.
"Back to Iggy hey?" Kenji offered with a smack of his lips.
"Back with the drinks I meant. I misspoke." A flush rising to my cheeks that I begged would subside. And when it didn't it earned a curious glare from the three dedicated listeners in the lounge room.
"Mmmhmm, sure you did. So you're with Vallis and then there's a punch. The fruit-free kind." Miles laughed to himself while the rest of us roll our eyes.
"I handed out the drinks and then I was talking to Iggy for a moment when Hunter came back apologising." I added, my sip shortly after taken as the ideal opportunity for commentary.
"So you were having a moment?" Jasper quipped.
"And Dixon ruined it. Ah shit this is good." Kenji's laughter bouncing off the walls as he shook his head.
"If you're finished... thank you. I was chatting to Iggy and Hunter comes in apologising about before, about Lucy."
"The girl he was friendly with?" Miles asked. Conjuring a fleeting image of little miss conscientious chemistry. I knew nothing of her really, just a chance encounter and poor timing whisking us together. I'm sure she did like Hunter, but her distaste for me wasn't so unrequited - having left a sour taste in my mouth too,
"Yeah," I shared jumping back in and shaking the wisps of blonde from my mind. "So he says this isn't how he planned tonight. He thought we could talk, he wanted to ask me out. Apparently. And then Iggy interjects and riles him up." Throwing a hand to the wind as I finished in the hopes it would stem further questioning. OK that was naive, but perhaps it halted it just a little.
"Oh shit. Dixon did it." Miles all but whispered.
"Well he tried sure, then Iggy started saying shit and Hunter was having none of it. And before I know it, he just hits him."
"Yeah well, we saw that part." Jasper noted.
"What the fuck did Vallis say to him, mija?" Miles guffawed. Mouth still agape from the moment earlier. His body bellied forward so he sat folded in half and leaning into our conversation as much as his body bent.
YOU ARE READING
Closing Arguments
Romance"He should never have hit you, but winding him up like that..." "Like what? Talking about being your partner, working with you, spending time with you. That's no fabrication, H. We are going to be spending a whole lot of time together this semester...
