3. Chapter 3 #2
I flinch back, blundering enough that my headphones I’d pushed aside of my ear fall to the ground. Emery is taken over with laughter, Harris telling him to wind his neck in. “Buy him dinner first, yeah Cass?”
Both Harris and I at the same time reach out to grab him by the ear, but Emery ducks and does a little tap dance as he manages to escape us both. The little shit.
Cheeks flaming, I look back to Miles and for good measure I shove both hands deep into my athletic shorts pockets. Thank god I’m not too dishevelled after our run, Grace would be irritated if I looked a mess I’m sure.
“I’m Cass.” I say, thankfully not stuttering out my own name so I don’t appear any more pathetic than I already feel. “I’m–”
“Are you guys out on a run?” Grace asks, cutting me off from introducing myself as her boyfriend.
I’m not sure who this guy is, but he looks familiar so I assume he’s a classmate from her English Literature course.
“Yeah, set off from the river near the gallery gardens. We haven’t been out long. ” I answer, but she just frowns.
“I didn’t know you were out.”
I bristle, feeling like she’s annoyed with me but I’m unsure why. “Yeah, we run three or four times a week after practice.” I nod to my friends, who give Grace a wave and thank god she returns it with a genuine smile. So she’s just annoyed with me then.
“Rugby?” Miles points a finger at me and smiles widely, my senses attacked again as I absorb that smile and practically have to shake myself.
“Yeah, we’re all part of the uni’s team.” I motion to both Harris and Em, the latter is hanging off our friend's neck again like he always does.
“Wow, that’s really impressive.”
“What are you listening to?” One of the guys from Grace's course says, striding up to stand next to her with my headphones in his hands. His dusty pink hair tone is familiar, so we must have met before, when I picked her up from class.
Slipping on my headphones, his smirk falls into an appreciative smile. “Nice, I love Whitney. Not what I expected. You guys run around listening to pop classics?”
I blush, but Em is proud as hell. Squeezing Harris around the neck, he tries to jump onto his back. “Hell yeah we do, best hour of my day.”
Handing me the headphones back, my cheeks sting with how hot they feel under the glare I’m still getting from Grace.
She opens her mouth to say something to me, but Miles steps a little closer and air pushes out of my lungs in a little squeak.
Harris looks at me funny and raises an eyebrow, probably confused at this version of myself neither him nor my friends are privy too.
I just get so nervous around these people, mainly my girlfriend because I don’t want to do or say anything to show her up.
I know it’s incredibly silly to worry so much, but I don’t have an off switch when it comes to this shit.
I’m always tense and on edge with her, despite what they say about familiarity coming with time, it can’t come soon enough.
“Wanna grab a coffee inside?” Miles asks and it’s the perfect timing to pull me out of my turmoil and hide my face from Harris. I’m pretty sure he just came from inside the cafe, but I nod and look at Grace with another, quicker nod in hopes she doesn’t shoo me away.
“Sure–yeah, I’d love that. Catch you guys later?” I give both my friends a tiny wave goodbye and at least Emery is none the wiser, scrolling through the playlist on Harris’s phone that he slipped from his pocket, getting excited over which one to choose.
“See-ya! Ok big man, let’s finish us out with some Xtina and we’ll grab burritos on our way home.
” We all share a house together just on the outskirts of the city, pretty much where I assume most of the students here live.
Rolling his eyes, Harris watches my expression for a little longer before giving me a nod goodbye, setting off into a light jog down the high street whilst Emery belts Fighter at the top of his lungs.
“I’m so sorry–did I tell you I was sorry?
Here, have my hoodie.” Miles pleads, taking off his green flannel to remove his black hoodie from underneath.
The iced coffee makes my white t-shirt stick to my torso like a second skin, probably revealing my nipples to the entirety of customers.
I shiver at some of the ice cubes that have found their way into my shorts, trying to not freak the fuck out at how sticky and wet I am, probably embarrassing Grace.
She’s standing in the line still waiting to place our order, which I would have done but Miles accidentally turned around once he had his drink and tripped over his own feet.
I can’t look at her without breaking into hives right now, so I let him continue to dab at me with tiny napkins and try to keep my teeth from clattering.
“Honestly i-it wasn't your f-fault. It’s f-fine. At least I sm-smell like caramel.” I smile, gripping onto the small circular table next to the chairs we’re sitting in, right next to my favourite window display.
It’s full of pumpkins, vintage cats and they’ve made a scarecrow witch that looks like she’s stirring a giant coffee cup.
It’s creative and reminds me so much of the handcrafted way Mum used to decorate the house for Halloween, before I headed off to university.
“Take my hoodie.” Miles demands softly.
Taking the black material into my hands, I smile shakily because I am freezing my fucking balls off here, but Grace approaches the table and clicks her tongue.
“Casper doesn’t need your hoodie, but thank you.
He should probably go clean himself up.” She sits down opposite me and I try to warm up my smile for her, but I’m a little pissed at myself and my lips are blue.
I’m embarrassing her in front of her friends that she probably didn’t want to introduce me to in the first place.
She’s met mine in situations like this, but usually we hang out at her house so I’ve only met the two girls she lives with, Millie and Annabelle.
They’re her closest friends from home, like mine, they all headed off to university together.
I’ve never noticed the drastic difference between both her and I until my first time at her digs, which is just downplaying the house her parents outright bought her so she didn’t have to worry about accommodation.
Some people just have a natural advantage in life and both her parents are really nice, from the one time they video called and she accidentally accepted whilst we were having dinner.
I swear my mind is trying to distract me from the chill deep in my bones now, but I’m ripped back to the present as she takes the hoodie from my trembling palms and hands it back to Miles.
For some reason he looks livid at this and gets a tick at the back of his jaw, which he tries to smile through and looks slightly psychotic.
“Seriously, Grace–it’s not a problem. He’s drenched and it’s chilly outside, he can wear my hoodie. ”
Again, the black material is thrust back into my hands with a little force behind the pass this time, and before she can take it from me again, I smile and grasp it tightly.
“Cheers man.” I look over to the toilets situated in the far left corner of the coffee house but I can see it’s engaged, might even be locked by the barista who’s wrestling with a giant cue.
Not giving it a second thought, I grab my t-shirt by the back of the neck and slide it off my upper body, using the driest part to wipe my chest and do my best at my lap where most of the cold liquid decided to collect.
“For god sake, Casper!” She hisses at me, definitely pissed now if she wasn’t before.
A little gasp leaves Miles and what really takes me by surprise, is when I lift my arms up and drag the oversized hoodie over my head, he mumbles, “So fucking hot.” I don’t think he even realises he said it out loud, but my ears burn a little hotter and I act like I didn’t hear him.
Adjusting the ties on the neck and settling into the fabric; it smells like vanilla and cinnamon, a mixture of something caramelly but that might just be the spilt drink.
It fits incredibly well, but I guess he is lean and taller than me so he might buy bigger clothing to get the right size for his height.
I sure do for the muscles both rugby, running and working on the farm gives me.
I weirdly like that his clothes fit me, which is a fucking insane thought.
The rest of Grace’s course friends join us after grabbing their orders and we all shift around the table to accommodate.
She moves so that a curly red head called Faye can sit next to her, and her boyfriend Mason takes the seat to my left.
There’s only two chairs left for three other guys, so I move down the booth seat I’m on and squeeze into Miles so that someone can fit on the end.
The other guy from earlier, Teddy with pink hair sits on my right and gives thanks.
Unaware I might be crushing Miles, I move my arm so it lays on the windowsill behind his head and shift my legs so they’re not too spread, taking up room for anyone else.
“Sorry, I’m practically in your lap.” I don’t know why I have to open my mouth and say weird things sometimes, but thank god he just nods vigorously and stares at me with his mouth slightly open.
I wonder if he’s considering why the hell Grace is with me too, or just didn’t expect me to not be a total arsehole.
From my size and dark tattoos, along with my unruly dark brown curls, I’m used to people expecting to be a little hesitant, but honestly being in such a welcoming city for university has really allowed me to start showing a little more of myself.