Chapter 5-2
890 Words
“Lucky?”
Jayden smiled. They were on Skype (he’d finally gotten his webcam to work) and he was lounging on his bed with the laptop, where the signal for the college Wi-Fi was best. Darren was apparently on a sofa; Jayden could faintly hear a TV in the background.
“We got talking about you,” he said. “And I was told how lucky I am to have you.”
“Whoever said that’s obviously not met me, then.”
“I think they meant a boyfriend in general,” Jayden said, chewing on a ragged edge of nail. “Still love you.”
“I know, you told me last night. Apart from being lucky and loving me, how’s things?”
“You are so unromantic,” Jayden complained.
“Yep. So? How’s things?”
“Busy,” Jayden moaned. “Still loads of work. And Leah and Ella had a bit of a confrontation today; I don’t think they like each other.”
“Leah?”
“Rutherford.”
“Oh, right. The hockey girl.”
“Yeah. Well, she doesn’t like Ella, or Ella doesn’t like her. Or both. They had a really frosty introduction at dinner today.”
“Ella the blonde one who tried to chat me up?”
“She didn’t try and chat you up.”
“Jayden, she actually said it’s a shame I’m taken.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Hang on.” Darren leaned forward and tapped around for a couple of minutes, then sat back. “I quote: ‘Hi Darren! I’m Ella, I go to Cambridge with Jayden!’ And a couple of emotes I haven’t figured out yet. ‘He’s told us loooads about you, he’s raving. Can’t blame him though, I looked through your pics. Shame you’re taken, eh? Love Ella.’ And a couple of kisses.”
“Delete it.”
“Yeah?”
“Uh, yeah. Only I send kisses.”
“Paul and Ethan both send me kisses.”
“They’re joking manly kisses, they don’t count.”
“Paul has kissed me.”
“That was a dare,” Jayden said hotly. It hadn’t been a funny dare either. It had been last Christmas, and Ethan had produced mistletoe and caught Paul and Darren under it, and then when Darren had tried to escape, Paul had said he was afraid, so Darren had planted one on him. With tongue and everything. Jayden had not been impressed. “He doesn’t do it again. Like, ever, and if you even think about it…”
“Chill,” Darren said, grinning. “He’s not as good as you.”
“Damn right,” Jayden muttered and bent his legs to tip the laptop a bit closer. “Anyway. How’re you?”
“Tired.”
“What kind of tired?”
“Normal tired,” Darren said. “Got up at six o’clock this morning.”
“Why?” Jayden demanded.
“Car alarm went off,” Darren said. “God knows why, think I might have a big moth in there or something. The internal alarm wouldn’t shut up, I had to disable it and get Trev to look at it.”
“Trev?”
“Guy on my course. Used to work with VOSA, checking out if cars were fit for the road and stuff,” Darren said. “It’s all right for the minute, but I’m whacked.”
Jayden stroked a finger down the edge of the screen. “Go to bed if you want,” he said.
“Nah.” Darren offered a crooked smile. “Rather get a bit of time in with you. Never seem to anymore.”
Jayden huffed. “This sucks.”
“Should have applied to Southampton.”
“The thing about Cambridge University is that it’s in Cambridge,” Jayden said tartly.
“Yeah, yeah. Relax.” Darren rolled his eyes. The image stuttered for a second, and Jayden suppressed a snigger. “Your mum rang me today.”
“Yeah? About what?”
“Checking up on me, apparently,” Darren said. “Seeing if I’d starved to death.”
“She doesn’t check up on me.”
“I did ask,” Darren grinned. “Apparently you get fed at college, but I don’t. She doesn’t trust me to be able to cook.”
“I don’t trust you to be able to cook.”
“Yeah but…”
“Hang on,” Jayden said as someone knocked on the wood. “Come in!” he yelled, and the door cracked open.
“Hi!” Ella said, beaming.
“Oh, um, hi,” Jayden blinked. “I’m on Skype, so…”
“Who with?”
“Darren.”
“Oh!” She flitted to the side of the bed and leaned over Jayden’s shoulder to wave. “Hi, Darren!”
Darren raised a hand. “Er. Hi.”
“Sorry, I’ll leave you alone in a minute,” Ella badly stage-whispered, “but I wanted to ask if you’re going to come with us—me and Jonathon, that is—to the pub opposite the railway station this evening? At eight? Apparently they’re having a history talk there and there’s a pool table too, so Jonathon wants to try it out, and I thought it’d be fun if the three of us went.”
Darren raised his eyebrows at Jayden, who felt flustered.
“Um,” he said. “Well, I was going to go to the basement bar with Leah…”
“Oh, forget her.” Ella waved a hand. “They only do these talks once a month, and we’ll be far too busy next month, you know, so it’ll be good!”
“Um, yeah, okay, whatever, sure,” Jayden babbled, just trying to get rid of her, because he was on Skype, and Darren was giving him that half-amused, half-incredulous face that meant something unflattering was going to come out of his mouth soon, and Jayden really didn’t want Ella to be cross with him because of something his boyfriend had said, so…
“Great!” She beamed, hugging him briefly—and alarmingly, because she’d never really even touched him before—and waving at Darren again. “Sorry, I’ll leave you to it now,” she said.
“Bye, Ella,” Darren said, half-laughing. When she clicked the door shut behind her, he said, “That was a bit weird.”
“She’s, um…direct.” Forward, maybe.
“Yeah, no s**t,” Darren said. “Blowing off Rutherford, though? It’s all politics over there, isn’t it?”
“It feels like it,” Jayden agreed. “I dunno, I mean, Ella's really nice about helping me find things in the library and studying together and stuff, but she’s a bit…different, you know? She’s not really got anything in common with me.”
“Blondeness?”
“That doesn’t count, Darren, shut up.”
“Mhmm. Oh, I meant to ask,” Darren said, apparently changing the subject. “Get it across to that dreadlocked bloke, Tim? Get it across that I’m not Muslim. I think he seriously thinks I am, he sent me a link to a Muslim LGBT support network.”
Jayden laughed. “Oh, he’s just kidding.”
“It’s weird. I’m forwarding them to Paul now.”
“Black LGBT support?”
“Good idea.” Darren smirked. “Anyway, I’ll let you get to your history pub do. I need to eat and sleep, I’m dozing off here as it is.”
“Okay,” Jayden said and rolled his eyes at the door. “We’ll have a proper chat, without being interrupted, at the weekend.”
“Call you Saturday.”
“Yeah. Love you.”
Darren snorted, made a heart with his fingers, and logged out. Jayden stared at the blank screen for a long minute, before shifting the laptop aside and getting up to get ready.
He couldn’t help but feel…adrift.
- Writer
