The Fresher - 3. Chapter 3

After shaving, showering, brushing my teeth and fixing my blonde hair into its usual ruffled style, I finally decided on a smart black shirt – which my mum had always told me made my blue eyes ‘pop’ – and my best pair of jeans. I put on my boots and gave myself a quick once-over in the mirror before deciding that I was looking about as good as I ever would. I sprayed myself with some of my aftershave and quickly made my way to the kitchen downstairs. Glancing at my watch on the way down, I saw that it was about quarter past eight. Worrying the others might have left without me, I took the last flight of steps two at a time. Looking through the glass pane in the door to the kitchen as I reached the bottom of the stairs, however, I could see Matt still standing there with three others.

I ducked my head as I walked through the door into the kitchen. “Sorry for running late and holding you up, guys. I had to give my parents a call and lost track of the time.”

“No worries,” said Matt. “We really haven’t been waiting all that long, and we would hardly have buggered off without you, would we?”

I smiled at him by way of thanks. “Just the five of us tonight then, is it?”

“Yeah, some of the guys I spoke to are going out for a meal with their parents tonight, and the others I met said they’re a bit too knackered for a night out. No stamina, the wimps!” He gestured at the three others in the kitchen in turn. “Apologies if you’ve already met, but just in case, this is James, Fiona and Cerys.” Pointing at me, he added, “Guys, this is Andy.”

I raised my hand in a wave. With the exception of Cerys, I had actually met the other two earlier on, having helped them unload their stuff when they arrived that afternoon. I was glad to be reminded of their names though. It was difficult keeping track of everyone I’d met.

“Right, shall we make a move?” I asked.

“Let’s roll!” replied James.

Making our way across the main parade towards the Student Union, it was clear that other groups of newly formed friends were all heading in the same direction. There was a real buzz in the air, and we found ourselves walking faster and faster as we made our way towards the Plug Bar. Fiona and Cerys were talking away at a hundred miles an hour as though they’d known each other for years already – the fact that they both came from small villages not a million miles apart in the Welsh valleys probably helped – so James dropped back to walk alongside Matt and myself. We soon found common ground and the conversation flowed between us as we walked.

I was so wrapped up in the conversation we were having as we climbed the stairs to the bar that I didn’t notice Jake standing just inside the entrance at first. When our eyes finally met, I felt my heart start to race and chewed on my bottom lip, my stomach suddenly in knots. He was handing out goody bags as people made their way into the bar, and looked even better than I remembered. He’d obviously had time to go home and change, and he looked great in his navy jumper and light-coloured chinos.

“Hey!” he shouted over the music, “I was wondering when you’d show up! How’s the unpacking going?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fiona and Cerys do a double take, seemingly shocked that I actually knew this guy, or rather, that he knew me. I couldn’t help but grin.

“I’ve just about got my room sorted now, I think. And I told you we’d be heading over around eight-ish, didn’t I? We haven’t missed anything, have we?”

“Nah, things are only just getting started.”

I finally remembered my manners. “This is Cerys, Fiona, James and Matt by the way. Guys, this is Jake. He used to live in Conygre Terrace last year and helped me get settled in earlier on.”

“It’s great to meet you guys! Each of you gets one of these by the way.” He handed each of us a bag in turn and directed a wink at me as he handed me mine. “Now get in there and enjoy yourselves!” The others were already making their way further inside the bar, but just as I was about to walk past Jake, he grabbed hold of my upper arm. “Can I borrow you for a sec?”

“Oh, uh, sure thing.” I had to shout ahead to the others to be heard over the noise of the music coming from inside the bar. “You guys head on inside and get in the queue for drinks! I’ll be right behind you!”

Matt turned around and gave me a grin, rounded up James and the girls – who still seemed to have their jaws on the floor – and shouted back, “No rush! I know just what to order and I owe you one anyway!” And with that, the four of them disappeared into the throng of people.

I turned back to Jake. “I passed on your message to my mum, by the way. She said to tell you that you were more than welcome.”

“Thanks buddy. Your parents seemed really cool.” His eyes flashed and he started to grin. “And they had some great stories to tell about you!”

Casually moving his hand from my arm to my shoulder, he bent down towards me so that he could be heard over the music without having to talk so loud. The feeling of his breath against the sensitive skin of my ear had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end and goose pimples racing across my skin. He smelled incredible.

“I was thinking… Would you mind if I came and joined you and your mates later on when I’ve finished handing out all these bags?”

“Why would we mind?” I pulled back to look at him. “You’re the one who needs to worry about his reputation hanging around with a bunch of noobs like us.”

He laughed. “Ha! I’ll take my chances.”

“You’re a brave man, Jake. Seriously though, it’d be great to get the inside scoop on the best places to go in town. Oh, and just in case I didn’t say it earlier, thanks for all your help earlier on. I think you made a new fan in my mum, you know?”

Jake grinned, flashing his dimples, and arched an eyebrow. “Only your mum?” he laughed. “I can see I’m already losing my touch. Now stop wasting my time and get your butt in there, buddy. I’ll catch you later.”

As I made my way further inside the bar, it took all of my willpower not to turn around and give away the stupid grin on my face. After scanning the crowd, I soon caught sight of Matt’s brown mop of hair close to the front of the queue for drinks. Rather than trying to push my way through to join them, I decided to hang back and wait for them to head back my way.

Once they’d been served, Cerys caught sight of me and guided the rest of the gang over to where I was standing. Matt was carrying two pint glasses and handed me one, which was full to overflowing with a sort of dark red liquid. I had absolutely no idea what the drink was, and seeing the confused look on my face, Matt told me that it was a Snakebite & Black. I was still none the wiser, which Matt must have picked up on, because he went on to explain that it was a dash of blackcurrant squash mixed with equal parts of lager and cider. I hesitantly raised the pint glass to my face, gave it a quick sniff just to make sure it wasn’t as toxic as it looked, and bit the bullet, taking a reasonable gulp. To my complete surprise, it was seriously good and I told Matt as much. Armed with our drinks, we headed off further inside the bar in search of a table where we all might be able to sit together. Given the crowds though, it was wishful thinking.

As we congregated near a row of tables, waiting like vultures for a group to leave so that we could claim their spot, Matt piped up. “So, Jake’s the guy you were telling me about earlier, right?”

Fiona and Cerys stopped talking, clearly intrigued who Jake was and how we already knew one another.

“Yeah. Seems like a decent bloke. He asked if he could come and join us later on when he’s finished handing out the bags. I said it wouldn’t be a problem. I hope you guys don’t mind?”

Fiona and Cerys exchanged a grin and resumed their conversation even more animated than before, but everyone said they were okay with him joining us.

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A couple of hours later, the conversation was flowing and time seemed to be flying. The five of us were getting on so well that I found it hard to believe we’d only met each other that very day. Maybe the alcohol had something to do with it, but I honestly felt closer to these four people than I had to any of my friends back home. The only problem with the evening was that I seemed to have chosen the worst possible place to stand. With my back to a busy part of the bar, people were constantly knocking into me as they tried to squeeze past. One person put a hand on my shoulder as they tried to pass by, and I instinctively craned my neck around to see who it was. The guy had jet-black hair and startling grey eyes. The moment we made eye contact, I felt him push up really close behind me and casually grab my arse with his other hand.

He put his lips close to my ear and whispered, “Sorry mate. Bit of a tight squeeze to get through here… but you have a mighty fine arse, you know?”

I really didn’t know how to respond – largely because I don’t think my brain had managed to process what had happened so unexpectedly – but before I could, he had moved on and disappeared into the crowd. Old habits die hard, and I immediately started to worry how he came to suspect that I batted for the other team. Embarrassed by the attention, I looked over towards the entrance of the bar and saw that Jake had clearly witnessed the whole thing. I couldn’t read the expression on his face, and as I was about to shrug my shoulders to convey the message ‘What was that all about?’ another group of people arrived at the entrance and he turned away to welcome them before I could.

I turned my attention back to the others, but none of them appeared to have noticed what the guy had done. As their glasses were almost empty, I suggested that we headed over to the dance floor and offered to get the next round of drinks in as we passed by the bar. I wanted to get away from where we’d been standing. Matt stayed with me to help me carry the drinks, and loaded up with five fresh pints between us, we made our way over to where the others were waiting.

The music soon had all of us dancing and cutting the best shapes we could on the dance floor. I lost all track of the time, but suddenly found myself wondering when Jake might make his appearance. As I scanned the room, I caught sight of him over by the DJ booth. He’d obviously been roped into helping out with some task or other. He must have had a sixth sense telling him I was looking his way, because no sooner had I spotted him than he made direct eye contact with me across the room. I swear my heart actually stopped in that moment and my breath caught in my throat. I raised my pint glass above my head in a salute in his direction, and he gave me a thumbs-up in return, along with one of his killer smiles.

The five of us continued dancing away to the music, each track better than the last. As I looked around the dance floor, I noticed the guy who’d grabbed my arse earlier a little distance off to the side with his own group of friends. I had to admit he was seriously good-looking, but I’d never had another bloke come on to me like that before and it made me feel a little bit on edge, if I’m being honest. Although things were definitely getting better, I knew all too well that there were still plenty of gay-bashers out there just waiting to take out their blind anger and hatred on others. I wasn’t keen on becoming another statistic, so I thought it was best to avoid public displays of affection and rocking the boat in general.

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Later on in the evening, Matt told me that he needed to pay a visit to the little boys’ room, as he put it. The rest of us stayed on the dance floor, and after a few minutes, I was momentarily stunned when I felt someone reach their arms around me from behind, pulling me tight against their body as they moved to the music. With the alcohol having lowered my inhibitions somewhat, I assumed that it was Matt having a bit of a laugh on his way back from the toilets, so I decided to ham it up a bit… up until the moment I saw Matt walking back towards us with a frown on his face. With a bit of a violent tug, the hands around me disappeared almost as quickly as they’d been put there. Confused, I turned around to see what was going on. I’m not really sure what I expected to see, but Jake gripping hold of the guy who’d grabbed my arse earlier by the collar of his shirt was definitely a surprise, to say the least. The sleeves of Jake’s jumper were rolled up to his elbows and the muscles in his forearms flexed as he balled his other hand up into a fist.

I was immediately worried. Was Jake so appalled by the sight of two guys dancing together on the dance floor that he felt he had to put a stop to it? I know he’d promised my parents that he’d look after me, but was this other guy really someone I needed protecting from? Sure, I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the way he was making his interest in me known now or earlier on either, but regardless of Jake’s motives for stepping in, I realised that things could quickly turn nasty if I didn’t soon intervene.

Not wanting to cause a massive scene, I pushed my way between the pair of them. “Let go of him, Jake!”

He glanced at me in disbelief before his face twisted in anger. For the briefest of moments, I thought he might actually go ahead and punch the guy – or me – but he eventually loosened his grip on him.

Jake growled at the guy. “Get out of my sight before I kick you out of the bar myself.”

To his credit, he didn’t hang around to see if Jake would follow through with his threat, and I didn’t blame him for beating a hasty retreat. I’d never liked being the centre of attention, but to my dismay I realised that the altercation had drawn quite a crowd of onlookers.

Embarrassed, I turned to face the others. “I don’t know about you guys, but that’s probably enough excitement for me for one day. I think I’m going to call it a night. It’s been a long day and I’m feeling pretty knackered.”

Matt immediately agreed, but then Jake spoke up. “Oh, crap! There’s no need for you to leave, Andrew. It was the other guy who was acting like a complete arse. But listen, if you really are ready to head back, how about I come with you? I was about to finish up anyway, and I was hoping we could have a chat.”

“Are you sure you don’t want us to come with you, Andy?” Matt piped up. “I don’t mind heading back now.”

“No, you guys should stay,” I said. “Don’t let me ruin your night. I’ll catch up with you first thing in the morning though, yeah?” Looking around at their drinks, I grinned. “Well, maybe not first thing!”

Matt looked like he wanted to protest, but he eventually nodded his head, pulled me into a one-armed hug and told me to take care. Despite giving Jake my reassurances that I’d be fine on my own, he insisted on leaving with me. It only occurred to me when we stepped outside into the fresh air that it might have been wise if I’d taken a jacket or jumper along with me. On the flip side though, the cold did a good job of sobering me up.

As we made our way back along the main parade, a strong gust of wind stole the breath out of my lungs and I rubbed my hands up and down my arms to try to keep warm. Jake gave me a sideways glance and then took off his jumper, handing it to me.

“Just put it on,” he half growled, seeing that I was about to object.

Not wanting to get him all worked up again, I shut my mouth and slipped the jumper over my head. The smell of him was intoxicating.

After walking in silence for a while, Jake huffed. “That guy had some serious balls to just grab hold of you like that in the middle of the dance floor, you know? Especially after copping a good feel earlier on as well. Talk about taking liberties.”

Looking sideways at Jake, I gave him a lopsided grin and raised one of my eyebrows, deciding to keep things light. “Well, I’m certainly flattered you feel the need to protect my honour, Jake, but I didn’t think it was worth getting in a fight over. The guy was probably just off his face, so let’s forget about the whole thing and talk about something else, yeah? Why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself instead? I mean… I know you’re in your second year, but what are you studying?”

“Architecture. I can’t believe I’m in my second year already. Your first year will be over before you know it.”

I laughed. “You know, I considered studying Architecture myself, but it only took half a lesson of A-Level Maths for me to realise that there was no way on earth I’d pass with the grade I’d need for university. And Physics wasn’t an option either. Maths and Science really weren’t my forte!” I smiled at the memory of how quickly I’d ditched A-Level Maths for History and shook my head.

Jake chuckled and his mood seemed to lift. “Yeah, A-Level Maths wasn’t the easiest, I guess. So, if not Maths or Physics, what will you be studying here then?”

“European Studies and Modern Languages.”

“Nice one! Which languages?”

“German and Russian. I studied German at school, but I’ll be starting Russian from scratch here.”

“Impressive! So you’re a cunning linguist, huh?” There was that grin again, and his eyes danced in the moonlight.

I laughed. “Ha! I don’t know about that, Jake. I guess I’m definitely more of an arty type than a science geek though. Actually, I used to be pretty good at Art, but I haven’t done any painting or drawing in ages.”

“You should consider picking it up again here. I’m sure there’ll be a club or society you could join.”

“I think that’s unlikely, in all honesty. Who knows though, maybe I’ll consider doing it as a hobby in my spare time or something. If I ever have any, that is! How about you, Jake? Are you creative at all? I mean, other than training to be an architect, of course.”

“I took piano lessons right up until the end of sixth form and I eventually got my Grade 8, if that counts for anything?”

“Wow! I’m suitably impressed! That’s the highest grade, isn’t it?”

He brushed the compliment aside with a shrug of his big shoulders. “It’s been ages since I last played. I doubt I’m that good any more.”

I find modesty an exceptionally attractive quality in a person, but there’s a big difference between being modest and being hard on yourself. The more we spoke about other things, the more I saw that Jake perhaps wasn’t the ultra-confident, alpha-male type I had first pegged him as. He seemed to have this natural instinct to deflect any compliments I sent his way, and he talked down virtually all of his achievements. Wondering if there might be a reason why, I was thinking of the right way to pry a little deeper when I realised that we were approaching the entrance to my dorm.

“Here we are, then,” he said, followed by a brief awkward silence. “I don’t know whether you’ve had a chance to look at what’s going on tomorrow night, but it’s the legendary Toga Party. I’m sure I’ll be helping out in some way or another. You reckon you’ll go?”

If there was even the slimmest chance I’d get to see Jake dressed in a revealing toga then there was no way I’d miss it for the world. I didn’t want to seem too eager though. “We’ll see Jake, but I can’t imagine Matt will want to miss out on a toga party.” It suddenly dawned on me that I was still wearing his jumper. I tugged on the bottom of it. “You’ll be needing this back.”

When I took the jumper off over my head, I could feel my shirt riding up along with it, exposing my abs in the process. As I handed the jumper back to Jake and readjusted my shirt, it took a fraction of a second for his eyes to meet mine again, almost as though he’d been staring at my stomach. I felt my cheeks start to burn, even though I knew I didn’t have anything to be ashamed of.

He pulled the jumper down over his head. “This smells like you now.”

“Is that your way of telling me I stink?” I laughed.

“Nah! It’s your aftershave. Smells good, actually.” Looking down at his watch, he quickly added, “I’d best get moving anyway. There’s a bus heading into town in a few minutes, and there won’t be another one for ages if I miss that one.”

“You’d best get going then. Night, Jake. Thanks for walking me back.”

“No problem, bud. Hopefully see you tomorrow night.”

Like a lovesick puppy, I stood and watched Jake jog back towards the main part of campus. Just before he disappeared from view around the corner of a building, he looked back in my direction. Feeling embarrassed that I’d been caught watching him, I waved goodbye with my arm high above my head, trying to make it look as casual and natural as possible. Although he slowed down and mirrored my wave, I knew that I needed to get a grip on myself. With a sigh, I entered my building and climbed the three flights of stairs to my room. Still fully clothed, I flopped down on my bed and stared up at the ceiling, my brain working overtime. I’d already experienced the bitterness of unrequited love in the past, and I didn’t want to make the same mistakes all over again. With another sigh, I realised that there was no way I’d be getting to sleep any time soon.