My Boyfriend's BFF (gxg)

Chapter Three

A week had passed by since my first meeting with Brooke, and it was now her first day at King's College, well, at least her first day since she had been away with her father for work. I was excited to know at least one more person that I could be friends with. My closest friend, Amelia, was currently travelling from place to place with her family, as her parents were wealthy business owners. As much as I had missed her, I had been incredibly thankful to have had Jase and Eric around. Now, though, I had to admit that it was pretty nice to have a new female acquaintance. Even if the day was just cold yet mild, it was great to feel the certain warmth that came with the opportunity to make a new friend. 

As I stood browsing the shelves of the silent library, I placed a hand on my waist. None of the books were quite standing out to me. However, I just needed any excuse that I could come up with as to not be outdoors right now. I knew, that having lived in the UK for eighteen years now, I probably should have gotten used to the cold weather that winter brought with it, but I had never quite fully adapted to it. I felt like an unprepared polar bear at times. 

Anyway, the book that I was looking for wasn't for me. It was actually for Sara, Jase's other female friend. I had tried to be civil with her, but I just had this sense that she didn't like me. Nevertheless, that didn't stop her from getting me to run errands for her. Today's errand was to find her a copy of the Shakespeare plays for her English literature class. Fun, fun, fun. I really just needed someone to save me from all of this. I supposed that one of my weaknesses was that I could be overly altruistic at times. I just wanted to get along with Jase's friends. This just proved to me that maybe sometimes it would be easier to just not do what they asked of me. 

Despite that, Brooke had seemed pretty chilled out, and I was looking forward to meeting with her again. I knew that she had been fairly busy this morning, just sorting out her schedules and events for the day. Although, in saying that, it seemed as though she would be in a lot of the same classes as me, so I supposed that I would see her again soon enough. 

Coincidentally, as I turned around, I found Brooke stood behind me. 

"Hi, Tonia. I haven't been here long," she told me, possibly catching onto my slightly startled expression.  

"No worries. How's your first day been going?" I asked her, looking a little nervously towards the window for a moment, where I observed that it looked as though it was going to start raining soon. 

I managed to calm my nerves enough to make eye contact with Brooke, again. 

"It's been okay, you know? It's just so damn cold. Florida was gorgeous," she told me. 

"You were in Florida?" I asked her. 

She gave a nod of her head. 

"Yeah, did Jase not tell you? He's actually just an idiot at times. I'll have to beat him up," she joked. 

The librarian looked towards us, with her beady eyes, which caused Brooke to sigh and lower her voice, as she ran a hand through her straight blonde hair, and I found myself fiddling with my own reddish-brown waves, as though it was going to help me come up with something to talk about. I didn't really understand the nervousness that I felt, but I assumed it was just because Brooke was a new person. With time, this whole thing would get easier. I didn't really have any real reason to be nervous. 

I just smirked in amusement at Brooke's previous statement. 

"Shakespeare, huh?" she asked me, then, "He was a pretty cool dude. I started writing because of him, actually." 

I hadn't been expecting to hear that. It was actually kind of inspiring. 

"You write?" I asked her. 

Brooke just nervously rested her hand against her neck. I had the feeling that she didn't get the opportunity to talk about her hobbies very much. She seemed to smile, though, thankful for the fact that I had asked. 

"Yeah- just like short stories and poetry, though. Nothing major," she told me.  

I just gave an understanding nod of my head at that. 

"That's pretty cool," I replied, "So, what do you study?" 

Brooke seemed to ease a little better into the conversation, after my question. 

"Psychology, literature and geography. How about you, sweets?" she asked me, and her use of the nickname she had coined for me made me smile, naturally. 

"The same," I said. 

"Epic! It'll be nice to have someone to talk to besides Sara," she said. 

"Talking about me, Smarts?" Sara asked her, then, as she emerged from behind the book shelf, as though she had been there for ages. 

Was it slightly ironic that the rain seemed even louder, as soon as she had arrived? 

"No. Where would you even get that impression from, Bridgers?" Brooke asked her. 

Ah, so the two of them knew each other. Excellent. However, Brooke didn't seem to like Sara all that much. I could only imagine why. 

"Oh, my mistake. It just sounded like you were," Sara replied. 

"Well, don't get it twisted," Brooke replied, with a slight expression of irritation present on her face. 

Oh man, I could only imagine what Sara had put Brooke through before she had moved away to Florida. 

"You know, I really need to find that book, Ant," Sara told me, then. 

By 'I' she actually meant 'you', but I wasn't about to correct her. I also feigned a smile at her use of my affectionate nickname, 'Ant'. 

"Hey, her nickname isn't Ant, dude," Brooke stated. 

Sara just shrugged. 

"My mistake, anyway..." she trailed off, as she crouched down to pick a book up, "Auf wiedersehen. I should probably go study now. I had a pretty restless night last night, couldn't focus very well," she told the both of us, as she waved the book in her hands, and then wandered off. 

Brooke rolled her eyes. 

"Probably couldn't sleep because she was thinking about what drama she was going to cause, today. Anyway, sweets, let's head to class?" she suggested, and I nodded in agreement, causing Brooke to smile, as the both of us proceeded to venture out of the library.