The curriculum at St Joseph’s is huge and constant. The unspoken expectation of both my professors and myself are seeing me working hard pretty much from sunset to sundown. Don’t get me wrong, I have time with my friends, catching up quickly at meal times, but my time here is dominated by studying. Most of the time my nose is in a book, thankfully I also find great study partners in Caleb and Dom. Drew is too talkative for us and we banned him within the first two sessions, much to his happy disgust. Although he makes up for his banishment by starting to train with me, we share the PT and have an absolute laugh.
Dom has been, and continues, to be a good friend. We spend a lot of time walking to classes together. We swap notes and I either text or talk to him nearly every night. I am surprised by his intelligence and his compassionate nature. I shouldn’t be really, he has been very honest since the first time we met. We study well together, we are good friends. After the movie night, he has done as promised, not even batting an eye when I choose to sit with Caleb or catch up with Drew.
Tonight though is Girl’s Night and I am looking forward to catching up with the girls, Lizzie, Betsy, and Karen. Hartley is off at the Social Committee so it is just the four of us. We decided on a Sushi night, so we made our way down to the intimate Japanese Restaurant that is hidden in the middle of the gardens on campus. It is great to catch up with the girls and after too much Sake we are laughing so hard that my tummy hurts.
“Holy smokes, did you hear Hunter broke up with Gabbie? I mean they have been going out for years apparently and he just broke it off straight after the Welcome Dinner actually,” Betsy says.
“Oh wow, how is Gabbie? She must be heartbroken,” Lizzie says.
“Thank god! Hunter is too freaking good looking and bishes he is mine!” Karen slurs at us, before laughing. Starting another round of raucous laughter, that leaves other students glaring at us.
“Shut the front door!” Betsy hisses at us all, momentarily silencing us, “he just walked in. OMG Karen, shut up!” she growls in jest and we all raise our eyebrows pulling the universal sober up face. Which promptly sends us all into another round of giggles.
“Ssshhhh, honestly he is coming over,” Betsy stage whispers behind her Sake glass. “Oh hey Hunter, how are you? Bit late for dinner isn’t it?” she talks to him, all sweet-like, like butter won't melt in her mouth.
“Just grabbing some takeaway. Wow girls, looks like you are having a blast, on a school night no less,” he offers good-naturedly but his eyes are burning into mine. I hear what he is saying, but fuck that.
“Damn right we are!” I quickly retort back. And as soon as he cocks his head at me, I wish I could take my words back. It is juvenile and unnecessary, even if it feels good to throw him some shade.
“So, Hunter,” Lizzie starts, “you going to the Saints First Party?”
“Who’s asking Lizzie?” he smirks quickly before turning to the waitress holding his go bag ready for collection. We all watch him walk away, he looks really good in his tight dark jeans.
“Oh you know,” she offers playfully, when he turns back around to look at us from the front counter. At that moment his food arrives, neatly packaged all ready for him. Even from here, you can see him wooing the lady at the counter with his charm. He looks at his phone before stopping at our table again on his way out.
“Come on Lizzie, don’t start playing games. You want to ask me out, just do it. Better yet, how about I ask you out. Lizzie, want to go with me?” Hunter asks before he places his order on the spare table next to us. He moves to stand behind my chair so I can’t possibly see him as he waits for Lizzie to answer. His hands drop to my shoulder and he bends down close to my ear.
Lizzie watches his face, honestly you don’t see anything else when he is around, such is his pull. Even without looking, I know that he has her full attention, same with Betsy and Karen.
Once he has them under his spell, they are staring at him as he leans closer still to my ear, “You should go with me to the party…..Ginny. Tell her. Tell her to be my date,” his mocking words are loud enough for everyone to hear and he smiles sweetly at her, but his hands are squeezing my shoulder. With the girls under his spell, totally focused on what he is saying, they miss when he rubs his thumb gently over where he bit me. I struggle not to wiggle under his touch or even make a noise.
“Ginny?” he says when I don’t answer, “Tell her to say yes,” he pulls me to the side so he can see my face as he laughs, like we are all the best of friends.
“Oh sorry! God, of course, Lizzie you should go with Hunter,” I say with fake happiness following his every word. Once again Hunter has played me. This time in front of everyone.
“Well text me, Liz. We can work out the details. Ladies, have a good dinner and don’t forget we have early classes tomorrow,” he nods at each of us and then walks out the door. It is quiet around our table until the door closes and then chaos erupts.
"Are you serious? Hunter, just asked you out on a date, Lizzie," Betsy squeaks in surprise.
"Umm, what just happened?" I ask, just as bewildered. "Are we that drunk?"
We all sit around finishing off the last remaining bits of sushi, trying to figure out how Lizzie just got asked out by Hunter.
"I don't know if I can do this," she says after a few minutes of shared stunned silence. "I mean he just broke up with Gabbie, I won't be a rebound."
"God, I would. He is freaking, drop-dead gorgeous," Karen offers.
"Either way, be careful. Gabbie is not going to let anyone near him and no offense but I am pretty sure, oh look, I don't know what I am trying to say. He asked you, he obviously wanted to, so maybe you should?" I say back quietly.
"Who are you going with Gin?" Lizzie asks, still looking a bit stunned by what had just occurred.
"No-one. I am not sure I am going to go yet," I say.
"Dom!" the three of them answer in a moment.
"And yes you are going, with or without Dom, this is the event of the year. You are going even if I have to drag you in your pajamas!" Karen says before dropping her napkin on her plate, signaling the end of our girls night.
"All right, let's get going. Hunter was right, we have an early class and now I already have a Sake headache!"
