[Story Time: 01]
Jun. 3rd, 2009 05:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dear_nellIt's a Tuesday night in October in Cambridge - specifically, Tuesday night of Fresher's Week. The fourth day of the Cambridge Experience. And it's Pub Crawl night.
Of course, they've made us call it the Night-Time Tour of the Town, but it's still the good old Army-themed pub crawl I only half-remember from first year. And to really make sure that it doesn't get out of hand and get in the papers like the last time, College have got four of us on bikes, keeping an eye on things and taking home anyone who seems the worse for wear. I'm one of them. It's mostly boring, nothing too dramatic happens, but finally it's ten o'clock, most of the students are installed in 'Spoons or in the Cindies queue, and it's time for us to go off duty. But I decide to do one last tour of Spoons, to check it's all shipshape so my nadgers aren't on the line in the morning.
I'd noticed him a few days before, at the meet and greet. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scouting, but it wasn't his looks which made me notice him, it was his grin. A proper cheeky, eye-crinkling grin that was pretty damn sexy. No chance to talk to him then, but I did find out his name - let's call him Harry. That Tuesday, the day of the Pub Crawl, I bumped into him at the pigeon-holes, and with uncharacteristic bravery, spoke to him. We walked to the Porters' Lodge, chatting about this and that - he took a gap year, spent six months of it snowboarding and working in a bar. See you later? Yep, you bet. A swift grin, and I have to bite my lip.
It's hours later, and there I am in 'Spoons, checking on my flock. They're mostly fine, just rather merry, and I think longingly of my friends down the road, ready with my drink. I'm heading out when I catch sight of Him - Harry - chatting to a girl in my year. I smile, amused, and say to Emma, next to me, "Harry and Carla are looking pretty cosy, huh?" But she doesn't smile back. "Bloody Carla," she says, "She's got a boyfriend, you know - and he's here too. I actually cannot believe her." Carla and Harry are walking towards us, and Carla looks up, sees Emma, and looks angry, defiant. Emma grabs Carla as they walk past, and I grab Harry. "Better give them a minute," I say. "What's going on?" "Do you know she's got a boyfriend?" "Fuck. No. She said they broke up." He looks angry - cockblocked. Then he shrugs. Looks at me. "Drink?" he says, and grins. I think of my friends, decide they can wait.
We stand at the bar, chatting, for nearly an hour. My friend are forgotten. He's funny, flirtatious, ridiculously charming - my weakness. He knows exactly what to say. We have a drink, then another. I don't feel my usual gauche self. He makes me feel special, interesting, witty. He touches my arm just too often. And then the conversation trails off, and I know that I can kiss him. I don't know how I know, but I do - it's something in the way he's looking at me. I realise how close we're standing. And so I lean in and kiss him.
Of course, I'd forgotten about the approximately forty people from my college standing around us - until now, when all of a sudden there are wolf-whistles and camera flashes. Laughing, I make a rude gesture, and pull him closer. Then, feeling daring, I invite him back to mine.
Story Time: Harry Part I
Of course, they've made us call it the Night-Time Tour of the Town, but it's still the good old Army-themed pub crawl I only half-remember from first year. And to really make sure that it doesn't get out of hand and get in the papers like the last time, College have got four of us on bikes, keeping an eye on things and taking home anyone who seems the worse for wear. I'm one of them. It's mostly boring, nothing too dramatic happens, but finally it's ten o'clock, most of the students are installed in 'Spoons or in the Cindies queue, and it's time for us to go off duty. But I decide to do one last tour of Spoons, to check it's all shipshape so my nadgers aren't on the line in the morning.
I'd noticed him a few days before, at the meet and greet. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scouting, but it wasn't his looks which made me notice him, it was his grin. A proper cheeky, eye-crinkling grin that was pretty damn sexy. No chance to talk to him then, but I did find out his name - let's call him Harry. That Tuesday, the day of the Pub Crawl, I bumped into him at the pigeon-holes, and with uncharacteristic bravery, spoke to him. We walked to the Porters' Lodge, chatting about this and that - he took a gap year, spent six months of it snowboarding and working in a bar. See you later? Yep, you bet. A swift grin, and I have to bite my lip.
It's hours later, and there I am in 'Spoons, checking on my flock. They're mostly fine, just rather merry, and I think longingly of my friends down the road, ready with my drink. I'm heading out when I catch sight of Him - Harry - chatting to a girl in my year. I smile, amused, and say to Emma, next to me, "Harry and Carla are looking pretty cosy, huh?" But she doesn't smile back. "Bloody Carla," she says, "She's got a boyfriend, you know - and he's here too. I actually cannot believe her." Carla and Harry are walking towards us, and Carla looks up, sees Emma, and looks angry, defiant. Emma grabs Carla as they walk past, and I grab Harry. "Better give them a minute," I say. "What's going on?" "Do you know she's got a boyfriend?" "Fuck. No. She said they broke up." He looks angry - cockblocked. Then he shrugs. Looks at me. "Drink?" he says, and grins. I think of my friends, decide they can wait.
We stand at the bar, chatting, for nearly an hour. My friend are forgotten. He's funny, flirtatious, ridiculously charming - my weakness. He knows exactly what to say. We have a drink, then another. I don't feel my usual gauche self. He makes me feel special, interesting, witty. He touches my arm just too often. And then the conversation trails off, and I know that I can kiss him. I don't know how I know, but I do - it's something in the way he's looking at me. I realise how close we're standing. And so I lean in and kiss him.
Of course, I'd forgotten about the approximately forty people from my college standing around us - until now, when all of a sudden there are wolf-whistles and camera flashes. Laughing, I make a rude gesture, and pull him closer. Then, feeling daring, I invite him back to mine.
Story Time: Harry Part I