Chapter 17
Ethan
Early fall in the UK is a lot like early fall in South Carolina.
I don’t know what I expected but the weather is perfect.
Crisp and cool, the leaves are turning gold and floating down from the trees, the whole fall vibe.
When I manage to forget what brought me to Hemden in the first place, I think I might love it here.
I only wish I could forget permanently, pull out one of those memory erasers from Men in Black or Eternal Sunshine.
That’s something else I’ve been doing, studying up on classic films. We can’t stream for shit in the halls, but I got a deal on a Blu-ray player when I went shopping for a new laptop and now I’ve developed a pretty intense two-movie-a-day habit.
It’s not cheap and the bookcase in my room is already almost full, but it’s better than any other addiction I can think of.
It’s almost lunchtime when I leave the library, striding across campus in the direction of my other favourite spot, The Snug.
Not exactly a scene but they have a fire nitro cold brew and ginger chocolate chip cookies, and I would sell my own grandmother for one of their sandwiches.
I don’t even think she’d be mad at it. Everyone on the planet needs to have a caprese panini from The Snug before they leave this planet.
Pretty sure they could inspire world peace if we got them into the right hands.
Sticking to my dad’s rules – study hard, practise harder, avoid the bars and keep out of trouble – hasn’t been as difficult as I’d hoped it might be.
Mostly because I don’t even know how I would get into trouble around here, the whole campus is just so fucking quaint.
After two failed efforts, dating is not on my to-do list and I’d rather eat my own intestines than piss off Clive by showing up to practice hungover again.
And I’m genuinely enjoying my classes. As in already-looking-into-post-grad-courses enjoying them.
Psychology is fascinating and shockingly, I’m good at it. No one is more surprised than me.
Hot air from the radiators warms my cold cheeks as I walk in and head straight to the counter. Backpack on my shoulder, I dig my hands deep into my pockets and pretend to consider today’s menu.
‘Before you start, it would be medically irresponsible of me to sell you any more coffee today,’ Declan, the chemistry major and my favourite barista, states. ‘There is a limit to how much caffeine the body can handle.’
‘No way, man,’ I protest. ‘Look at me, I’m a specimen, this body metabolizes coffee like oxygen.’
‘If you can smell colours, you’ve officially had too much. Anything else I can get you?’
‘Lemon chicken panini and a Coke?’
A few taps onto the screen in front of him and he gives me a thumbs-up.
‘Okay, but please know the Coke is pushing it.’
I return with a salute and tap my card after adding the generous tip he so richly deserves from my father’s bank account.
‘Go and sit down, I’ll bring it over.’ Declan pulls a can of soda out of the refrigerator behind the counter and tosses it my way. ‘We’re just doing a fresh batch of chicken, should be ready in five minutes.’
Over in the corner, my favourite spot is open, right by the fireplace, not lit right now but still so stinking cute.
So adorable, in fact, I am thrilled my old teammates can’t see how much I love it because they would never let me live it down.
But it’s the best seat in the whole place.
An old saggy sofa sandwiched between the window and the wall, bookcase behind you in case you need something to read while you eat, the whole world in front if you’d rather people-watch.
And the people-watching at Hemden is almost enough to make up for the lack of cell reception.
Life at Marshall always moved so fast. I was so caught up in what was happening to me, I didn’t stop to pay attention to what was happening around me.
It’s only been a couple of weeks, and I already feel changed, maybe even in a good way.
But I’m probably not the best judge of that.
Another thing I love about this place, the weather changes faster than green grass through a goose.
When I walked over, the sun was shining but now it’s pouring out and The Snug is really living up to its name when Michael, my goalkeeper, walks in, brushing rain off his short hair.
We exchange manly nods, he goes to order a coffee and I wait.
Compared to the rest of the team, he’s kind of quiet, reserved in that stiff-upper-lip-British kind of a way with a bone-dry sense of humour.
I heard he’s related to the royal family somehow but if that’s some kind of story he pulled out of his ass to get more girls, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Royal or not, he’s cool enough as far as I’m concerned.
‘Captain.’
Cup in hand, he climbs over the back of an armchair next to the sofa and slouches into it without spilling a drop of coffee.
‘You know you can call me Ethan,’ I tell him, wiping my hands on the feeble single paper napkin that came with my sandwich. One is never enough.
‘Where’s the fun in that? Captain feels right. Or General as you’re trying to kill us in training. Admittedly, we’ve never been this sharp as a unit.’
‘Thanks, man, appreciate it.’
I take the semi-compliment readily. Clive isn’t big on positive reinforcement, preferring to chew us out when we fuck up and only acknowledge good work with a grudging nod. I’ve heard a rumour that if we win on Saturday, he might grace us with a smile, but I’ll believe that when I see it.
Someone knocks at the window, and I see a couple of the girls from my course waving, but not at me.
When I look back to Michael, he’s beckoning them inside and I’m immediately antsy because I don’t just recognize them from my classes, I’ve seen them both with Mia, and friends of hers are unlikely to be fans of mine.
Even after the trip to the medical centre, even after I straight up asked for a truce, nothing has really changed.
‘Michael,’ the first girl says, throwing herself down into his chair even though there isn’t really enough room. ‘Ethan.’
‘You know each other?’ Michael asks and they both nod, raindrops shimmering in their hair.
‘Everyone doing psychology knows each other,’ the second girl tells him, taking a seat next to me. ‘It’s a small group.’
She’s not wrong but if I have to guess their names, I’m fucked.
It’s honestly shocking because both of these women are hot, the one draped over Michael tall and gorgeous with long braids that brush the chair and dark brown eyes that would make anyone melt.
The other one has short red hair and the kind of wicked smile that makes you want to know exactly what she’s thinking.
Not that long ago, I’d know their names, their phone numbers and their measurements after two weeks of school but they’ve barely even registered with me.
After Bethany and Lauren, I’m staying clear of anything that could pass as even vaguely romantic.
Even if I have found myself thinking about Mia once or twice when I’m alone late at night.
I must be a masochist, or maybe it’s because I know she would rather join a nunnery than touch me with a ten-foot pole, so she’s a safe fantasy space.
Look at me, putting my education into practice.
Like my dad always says, first time for everything.
‘I’m Alice, that’s Jenna.’ The redhead points to herself and then her friend, saving my ass. ‘Just in case you’re bad at names.’
‘He is,’ Michael confirms. ‘But we let him get away with it because he’s so pretty.’
‘And you’re hilarious,’ I say, and Alice returns a dazzling grin. She really is cute, but I don’t feel a thing.
‘What’s going on?’ Jenna slips out of Michael’s lap and pushes him across the chair until they’re both wedged in, side by side. ‘Strategizing?’
‘Kind of, we have a game tomorrow.’
‘We know!’ Jenna is instantly excited, something I’ve always liked in a girl. Enthusiasm is an underrated personality trait. ‘We’re coming, aren’t we, Al?’
‘If I must.’
The three of them start to bitch each other out in a way only old friends can, when the door opens and a girl in tight jeans and an old-fashioned raincoat walks in, hood up.
‘Mia!’ Alice exclaims. ‘Well now the gang’s all here.’
‘What are the chances?’ Mia pulls down her hood and approaches the sofa warily, like she’s walking up to a strange mutt.
Hmm. Is it me or does she not look psyched to find us here?
‘Clearly we all needed something to power us through Friday afternoon,’ Jenna says as Alice bounces up the sofa cushions to make room. ‘We were just talking about the game tomorrow.’
‘Game?’
‘First fixture of the football season,’ Michael tells her. ‘Me and your man over there are going to make the pussies from Mossington Uni wish they’d never been born. Mostly him, I’m planning on having a nice easy day at the back.’
‘We’ll do our best,’ I promise, doing my best not to stare.
She’s wearing some kind of lip gloss that sparkles whenever it catches the light, like there’s glitter in it maybe.
We’ve barely seen each other since our night in the medical centre, occasional nods across campus, passed once or twice in the hallway, and that’s okay with me.
‘Well, well, well. There must’ve been a bloody big cat to drag all of you in at once.’
When I tear my eyes away from Mia’s mouth, I see the blond dude Mia was with in here last week standing behind Michael’s chair, a smug look on his face.
‘And you’ve even let the dog sit on the furniture,’ he says, smiling at me. ‘Only joshing, mate, I’m sure you’re housebroken.’
‘I don’t know, I’ve been known to bite.’
‘Children behave.’ Michael flaps his hand between us. ‘Ethan, Oliver. Oliver, Ethan.’
He stoops to shake my hand, and I suddenly hate the stupid, sagging sofa. I have to stretch to meet him, even though I easily have at least four inches and thirty pounds on this guy. He couldn’t tip the scale at 160, soaking wet.
‘Nice to meet you,’ I say through gritted teeth. It’s not often I don’t like a person on sight, but my instincts are usually pretty sound and I definitely do not care for this asshole.
‘You’re American!’ He pulls his hand out of my overly firm grasp. ‘Do you know Mia?’
‘Yeah, I know Mia. We went to the same school back home, we’re roommates here.’
‘Really? She hasn’t mentioned you. Interesting.’ The guy rubs his chin as though it’s anything but and it takes all my self-restraint not to stand up and spear him off his feet. ‘Right lads, not to be rude but Mia and I came to study. Unless you’d rather sit with—’
‘No, we should study,’ she says, cutting him off before he can even finish his sentence. ‘I know y’all understand.’
‘Oh, we sure do.’ Alice raises her eyebrows in Mia’s direction and I’m kind of surprised someone as smart as Mia would be into a guy who looks like he’s about to show me how to clean my keyboard in a YouTube tutorial.
‘Busy bloody weekend. Football tomorrow, celebratory party at Members tomorrow night and Sunday, it’s the big day,’ Alice adds and for one terrifying second, I think she means Mia and this dickwad are getting married.
‘Alice, you promised, please don’t plan anything.’ Mia looks down, her hair covering her face. ‘I’m really not a birthday person.’
‘Alice might’ve promised but I didn’t, and I am most definitely birthday people,’ Jenna says, rubbing her hands together. ‘You’re going to be twenty, that’s a big deal. New decade and all that. What are we thinking, foam party, silent disco or stripper jumping out of a cake?’
I have no idea how serious she is, but Michael shakes his head, his steady expression barely shifting, which I hope means we can take the stripper off the table at least. Mia looks as though she’d rather die than acknowledge the day, which is weird.
Who doesn’t love birthdays? It’s also interesting that she’s only turning twenty.
But it makes sense that the librarian skipped a grade somewhere along the way.
‘I’m so serious,’ she says. ‘I really don’t do birthdays.’
‘Why?’
Everyone turns to look at me instead of asking Mia the same, very reasonable, question.
‘For real, why not?’ I ask again. ‘If your friends want to celebrate you, isn’t that a good thing?’
‘Not everyone loves being centre of attention.’ With a pointed look at the blond douche, she nods towards the opposite corner of The Snug. ‘We really should get to studying, I’ll see y’all later.’
‘That’s us told,’ Michael says as they cross the room, Mia sitting as far away as possible, back turned. ‘Has she always been so prickly?’
Jenna’s attention moves to me. ‘I have a better question. What did you do?’
‘I was born and then, let me think … No, that’s it.’ I grab my Coke and squeeze the can a little too hard, two indentations appearing under my pointer finger and thumb.
‘As I understand it, she didn’t get on very well with your girlfriend back home,’ Alice says. ‘Not exactly best friends?’
‘She knew Breanna?’ I screw up my face, more confused than ever.
‘Said something about a nickname she gave her? I’ve got a feeling it wasn’t especially complimentary.’
‘Hell hath no fury like a woman pissed off at your missus,’ Michael says sagely. ‘I don’t know if flowers will do it, mate, you might want to get out your knee pads and start grovelling.’
I turn to look across the room, where Mia is pulling books out of a bag and stacking them on a low coffee table between her and the blond dude. Classic Bre. But how am I supposed to make up for something my girlfriend did when she isn’t even my girlfriend anymore?