Ladykiller

Chapter One

It was the start of my final year at college, and I was determined to have some fucking fun already. First year was just stress, nerves and crying, second year was just lounging around with my roommate Nina, complaining to each other about how we didn't have social lives but doing absolutely nothing to remedy the situation. Both years were so very different to the experience I'd been promised by all those college prospectuses I had thrust upon me as soon as I turned 18, the ones with awfully mismatched colour palettes and grinning idiots plastered on the cover. It wasn't happening again, I was adamant that this year would be different. 

This year me and Nina had our very own apartment, complete with two bedrooms and something the landlord advertised as a storage space/guest cupboard, and we were so ready to make up for lost time- it just so happened that the opportunity for fun came much sooner than we expected. We were flopped top-and-tail on the sofa, barely finished with the unpacking, when my phone buzzed in my pocket.

'Hey, Will just texted saying-' Nina cut my sentence off with a loud, guttural moan that lasted the best part of a minute. I just stared at her, waiting for it to end. 'What the fuck was that?'

'Will sucks.'

'Y'know, it'd be nice if my best friend could at least pretend to like my boyfriend.'

'It'd be nice if your boyfriend wasn't a sleazy asshole.' 

Her tone was playful enough but I knew full well she meant every word. Admittedly, Will didn't have a great track record, but he stuck around and that was more than any other guy had ever done for me. Nina was of the opinion that I should ask more than that of a boyfriend, I was of the opinion that asking anything more than the bare minimum from men would inevitably lead to disappointment. So far I'd never been proved wrong. 

'Well my sleazy asshole just invited us to a post-grad house party tonight,' I flipped my phone around to show her the text, 'but I guess you won't be coming?'

She raised an eyebrow before forcing an apologetic smile, which looked almost painful. 'Y'know, I've always thought Will has some pretty great qualities.'

'Name one.'

'He, uh- he lent me five bucks once and never asked for it back. So that was... nice.'

I laughed and jabbed my foot into her ribs. 'You're such an asshole.'

***

Our uber dropped us off outside the post-grad house a few hours later. It was insanely big for student accommodation, putting our measly little two-bed (plus guest cupboard) flat to shame. Thumping music was vibrating the sidewalk beneath my feet, prompting me to glance down the street and hope to god it was exclusively student housing, cause getting arrested for breaching the peace was the one thing I left off my final year bucket list.

I shot Will a text and he eventually staggered outside to meet us, pulling me into a vague hug whilst ignoring Nina's bogus smile. Before leading us inside, he informed us that one of the people who lived here was his friend, Sean, and if anyone asks we should say that we know him. So we weren't actually invited. Great start.

As soon as we were all through the door, Will abandoned us, skulking off to join a big group of guys out in the backyard. I didn't even bother looking over to Nina when it happened, knowing full well she'd be brandishing a huge, smug smirk. The two of us were left to blindly push through masses of people until we managed to find the kitchen.

'Here.' Nina pulled a bottle from her bag and thrust it towards me, but the horrific flashbacks of my sloppy history with wine made me hesitate in grabbing it. 'Oh c'mon, it's a party. We said we were doing no-holes-barred fun this year, you can't back out now.'