In Halls

Round Two

I stretched the lacy hem of the dress down a little further as I made my way along to the kitchen. It was shorter than I remembered, and the memory of the guys yesterday night was nagging at me.

Tara and Elizabeth were already sat on one of the sofas, leaning into each other like they were the best of friends already. The conversation stopped the moment I walked in. Elizabeth smiled apologetically, but I could have sworn Tara smirked.

"Hey, guys," I said. I was just about ready to turn round and head back to my room. But Sophie would not approve of that kind of behaviour.

I poured myself a weak rum and coke and tried to feel enthusiastic about this evening. Talking to Elizabeth earlier today had felt like a serious step towards friendship, but now I felt like I was backtracking. I tried not to think of Tara as the problem.

She had restarted the conversation, talking about the struggles of unpacking. That I could relate to. Mine had stalled after my visit from Elizabeth. All I'd managed to do was pin up my work leaving card next to the picture of me with Jason, then sit on the floor for ages thinking about what would be going on at work, until Sophie had called me.

The guys joined us after a few minutes. Well, just Josh and Christopher, who came in together mid-conversation. How was everyone already pairing off and making friends? Somehow I seemed to have missed something today. They sat down. Josh, I noticed, sat as far away from Tara as he could and only looked at Elizabeth or Christopher. So he and Tara hadn't sorted out whatever it was that had gone on between them.

Christopher, meanwhile, sat down next to me.

"Hey, Ellen, how're you doing?" he asked, clinking his can of cider against my glass.

"Good, thanks," I said with a smile. He pulled out his phone.

"Hey, I need your number. I'm putting together a group chat, you know, so we can share stuff about the flat and all that."

"Sure. That's a good idea actually," I said.

"Yeah, well, I'm not just a pretty face," he said, with a grin.

Ed was a little late. He strolled in with his jacket on and dumped two six-packs of lager on the table.

"Courtesy of my Dad," he said. "Two each to kick off the night."

Two pints of lager just to kick things off? The thought did nothing to help my queasiness, but I took one when it was handed to me and tried to join in the enthusiastic thanks. Christopher passed around a bottle opener sporting the logo EVEREST BASE CAMP.

"You're welcome, you're welcome," Ed waved to us all, "Now you all owe me two drinks as well as a meal."

Tara nearly spat her lager back out in a shriek of laughter. Elizabeth did one of her nervous giggles.

"You what, mate?" said Josh.

"What, you guys didn't think it would be free, right?" said Ed, with a mischievous smile. "Kidding, I'm kidding."

"I'll cook for you mate, if you don't mind pasta pesto," said Josh.

"I don't really know how to cook, but I don't mind trying," said Elizabeth.

Cooking for people was a good way to make friends, right? I could do this. I cooked a lot.

"I don't mind doing a group meal. Maybe some time next week?"

"No offence, but you're both veggie, right?" said Christopher. "I'm not going to be able to cook anything that will work for you guys. I'll order you a takeaway? Anyway, who's up for another round of Ring of Fire?"

He waved his cards at us. I wasn't keen, but again, no one else had any objections. Josh set up the music and with a bit of chatter, the room started to feel less awkward, more like a party. And like most of the parties I had been to in my short career thus far, I was lingering on the outskirts.

I took a snap of my bottle of lager, and sent it to Jason.

Drinking the free drink even though it's gross lager. You proud?

Jason replied right away with a picture of a mug of coffee and a pile of notes. His term had started a week before mine, so he was already into proper classes.

Way to make me jealous. Make the most of it. Party will be OVER by the time you get to final year.

Well, right now that didn't seem like such a bad thing. But I was determined to have fun, to not be the loner, if I possibly could. I just needed to relax and enjoy the evening. Let my hair down, as per Sophie's advice.

"What's up? You not going to drink that?"

It was Ed, appearing at my shoulder for what felt like the eighth time that day.

"Oh... lager's not really my thing, you know? But thanks, anyway. You have mine. I've got some rum and coke somewhere."

"Sure," he said with a smile. "Sorry about that. Hey, nice dress."

"Ellen, get over here!" It was Christopher. He came and put his hands on my back to guide me to the table, and I tried not to blush. "It's your turn to pick one."

He put a hand over my wrist to guide my hand down to take a card. I giggled and pushed his hand away.

"Stop it, you'll make me break the ring already!"

I drew a card in exaggerated slow motion. It was a six of clubs.

"Six for dicks!" the girls said together with glee. As Christopher took a swig of his lager, I took the opportunity to flick the bottom of the bottle. He coughed and spluttered, splashes of beer soaking into his t-shirt. Revenge for trying to pick a card for me, or a juvenile attempt at flirting, I wasn't sure even myself which. The whole group rocked with laughter, and the game moved on.

The night turned into a blur of alcohol and laughter. Some of our neighbours dropped in, bringing with them more alcohol and information about a club night somewhere in the town, away from the Union, which received general approval. Ed drank all the leftover lager and the second King's cup, then had to run to his room to be sick. As I fished his head out of his toilet and plied him with water, I had to reflect wryly on our conversation yesterday, on the topic of me never having to visit his bathroom. At least it hadn't had time to get filthy yet. If you didn't count the delicious fresh lager-vomit smell.

By the time the taxis arrived to take us to this other club, he was back on his feet, albeit in an unsteady fashion. Elizabeth seemed to be holding it together a bit more, though she was glued to Tara to the extent that I could hardly check in with her. Christopher filled the taxi journey by pouring out a long and detailed explanation of the different strengths of types of chilli plant to me, punctuating it with taps on my knee at significant moments, which I didn't mind at all. The queue must have been twenty minutes of standing in the cold, and then we all tumbled together into the night club.

Okay, so it wasn't my kind of music even remotely, and it was super crowded and filled with fake smoke. But there was still something fun about this whole party thing. Ed was dancing on one side of me and Christopher on the other. Elizabeth was across the circle, miming her dance moves to me. Josh and Tara were... wherever Josh and Tara were. But the rest of the group was all right.

Was this all it took to make friends? A bit of alcohol and some loud music? This was amazing. I was starting to feel like it was all going to be okay. I could be at home at uni, I could really get along with these people.

Until I turned round and saw Ed making out with a random girl in hot pants beside me.

Guys, I really struggled with this chapter. In fact, the next few chapters. The beginning of this story was so easy to write, and I have huge patches of the middle and ending all sorted out, but it's the in-between phases that are catching up to me now! The writing just feels clunky and difficult, so let me know if you can see any improvements. If you think it's okay, then let me know with a little vote.