Chapter 7
You win some, you lose some. Win: I’m distributing the magazine with Felix. Lose: we are distributing the magazine in the beginning phases of a storm. An actual, proper storm, with a name and everything. Storm Philippa coming to kick our butts.
I honestly don’t know why we’re bothering.
No one wants to stop long enough to take a magazine, and even if they do, it’s going to get soaked straight away.
I’ve shoved ThrowBax flyers into each issue, but to be honest word has very much got around without the help of physical media.
We should just dump the copies of Quad in the Workshop café and get a coffee.
But no, Felix insists on doing his editor duties.
‘God, you’re brave!’ comes a voice from outside my hood.
‘Hi, Jessica!’ I say with a grimace. ‘Just doing our bit for Quad Magazine.’ I offer her one, which she takes quickly and shoves in her bag so it doesn’t get wet. ‘This is Felix; Felix, this is my personal tutor, Jessica.’ He gallantly holds out a hand to shake hers.
‘Nice to meet you,’ he says very politely.
She glances between us, a little smile on her lips like she can tell I have a huge crush on him.
‘I’ve got to dash, some first years are waiting for me in the Duke of Wellington Lecture Hall, but I’ll see you tomorrow?
I feel like you’ve probably got something interesting to say about Sarah Lucas!
’ she calls over her shoulder as she departs; it’s kind of her to make me look clever in front of Felix.
‘She was nice,’ Felix says brightly, but before I can respond, an extremely beautiful girl with big, round glasses and an edgy pixie cut wearing chunky, stompy boots holds out her hand for a magazine from him, glossy black nails gleaming and neat. Very chic.
‘Thanks, Felix,’ she purrs at him.
‘Any time,’ he replies smoothly.
‘Friend of yours?’ I ask, feeling the jealousy irrationally poke at me.
‘Oh, you know . . . just a first-year thing . . . nothing serious.’
I want to ask him about all the girls he’s been with at Queen Anne’s because I’m nosy like that.
I want to be able to see them all, compare myself to them, see if I fit in, see if I’m completely deluding myself that it could ever happen with him.
That girl certainly had a strong look, which counts in my favour, but also she was very thin, wasn’t she?
Which doesn’t really count in my favour at all.
‘You want to know something funny?’ Felix says, shivering, holding a damp copy of the magazine out to various passers-by, who just want to reach their destination and not be bothered by eager Quad Media members.
‘What?’ I ask, as a raindrop falls from my hood and drips onto the end of my nose. I’m wearing a very stylish shiny red raincoat, which Georgia, the film editor, said was ‘very Don’t Look Now’. I’m choosing to believe it was a compliment.
‘My ex-girlfriend was called Philippa . . . I feel like being absolutely battered by Storm Philippa is her way of getting revenge on me.’
‘Why, what did you do to her?’
‘Oh, nothing in particular, I just suspect I’m not the world’s greatest boyfriend.’
I look him up and down with exaggerated interest. ‘Nope,’ I say, shaking my head. ‘Definitely not boyfriend material.’
It’s like a spark has been lit in his eyes, a sly smile curling across his lips.
He looks at me, holding my gaze as people rush past us to get out of the rain.
For a moment, it feels like he’s about to kiss me, but of course he doesn’t.
Instead, we just have a little stand-off, a mutual skirmish over whether to escalate or back down.
In the end, the boring option is chosen.
Look, I may be a little bit silly but I’m not stupid.
I know Felix is probably not a good idea.
And I know he’s not going to be the world’s greatest boyfriend.
But all of that is fine if I just accept the situation for what it is: pure lust leading to brief fling.
He doesn’t need to be a saint or even boyfriend material if all I want is to sleep with him a few times and then be on my merry way, right?
‘Anyway, I’m sure you have other, more compelling talents,’ I say finally, breaking the spell.
He holds eye contact with me for a moment longer as he passes a copy to someone who actually takes it, though it quickly becomes apparent that they took it to use as an umbrella.
I can’t help but wonder if this is a total waste of time, but I’m not going to say that and cut my time with Felix short.
We’re edging close to something and, well, as the supermarket slogan goes, every little helps.
Even if sometimes you have to stand around in the rain giving away copies of a magazine that it seems nobody wants anyway.
‘Speaking of talents, when’s your night?’ he asks, and my stomach does a little backflip. My goal for today was asking him if he wanted to come, and he’s already walked right into my trap without me even having to do anything.
‘Saturday,’ I say nonchalantly.
‘Aren’t you going to invite me?’ The rain has finally let up and he collapses his umbrella.
‘Do you require a personal invitation?’
‘I don’t go anywhere without one.’
‘You are cordially invited to my night. It’s called ThrowBax. It’s on Saturday. It’s at the union.’
‘That’s it?’
‘Why, what were you expecting?’ I ask, fixing him with a very flirtatious look indeed.
He shrugs. ‘I don’t know, I was thinking it might be fun to have a little after-party.
’ A very pretty girl with wavy red hair and freckles heads down the path towards us.
As she passes, she doesn’t so much as look at me, her eyes drawn to Felix, who hands her a copy of Quad Magazine, which she, of course, accepts.
She even looks back at him over her shoulder, but he’s already turned back to face me, and it’s as if he’s drawn in by this feeling of unfinished business that’s lingering over us, like he can’t fathom moving on to someone else now I’ve piqued his interest. I feel all warm and light-headed, like I’m going to float away over the university like a balloon.
‘After-party?’ I ask very casually.
‘Maybe we can go somewhere.’
‘Who is this “we”?’ I ask, not daring to hope.
‘Me and you, of course.’
Oh, it’s on. It’s so very on.
‘Unless you’ll have loads of stuff with you? I don’t know what the modern lady DJ needs to carry with her.’
‘I’ll travel light,’ I say, maybe too quickly. ‘Where do you want to go?’
‘A Chinese social club round the back of King’s Cross. Open late, does amazing food.’
‘Really?’ I ask.
‘Really,’ he says, holding my gaze. I look back at him, his light-blue eyes twinkling at me from behind those thick, fair eyelashes. ‘Then we can see where the night takes us.’ STRAIGHT INTO BED, THAT’S WHERE THE NIGHT IS GOING TO TAKE US!
‘I’m in,’ I say, shrugging as if it isn’t the exact thing I’ve been wanting to happen since last year.
It’s so close I can almost feel it! I’m positively dizzy with crush, all warm and my heart racing. The thrill of the chase is fun, but I’m all about the capture . . . and that’s just over the horizon!