Loving Preston

14. Shopping Shenanigans and New Friends.

Avani's POV

Once we got back to our dorm, I sat on my bed and patted the spot next to me for Beth to come sit.

Beth sighed dramatically once she sat down. "I kissed him again." She started. "Technically he kissed me first but I didn't stop him." Beth said with her head in her hands, covering her face.

I pushed her hands away from her face and pushed her chin up so that she could look at me. "If the feelings are mutual, why are you sad? Why are you making such a big deal out of it as if it is something bad?" I asked her.

She lied down on my bed, now staring at the ceiling. "You don't get it. I just started college and I don't want or need a relationship right now. And he's a nice guy. I don't want to break his heart when I tell him this." She said honestly.

"Maybe y'all should talk about it. I mean, don't lead him on, you know what I'm saying. Don't give him any hope at all. Make it clear that you don't want anything RIGHT NOW." I replied.

She sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I will have to talk to him about this the next time I see him." She said and suddenly got up straight, grinning at me. "So I saw you talking to his brother in the kitchen while he was naked. What were you guys talking about?"

I rolled my eyes at the thought of him. "He was half naked Beth and we didn't talk about anything. He was just being a dick." I told her. "Aww man you didn't flirt with him or anything? I'm disappointed." She said and slumped.

"Shut up." I said while laughing and playfully shoving her.

She got out of bed and stood up. I looked up at her quizzically. "Let's go." She said with a straight face sounding serious.

"Go where?" I asked when she pulled me up onto my feet. "Don't you think it's weird that we've been in this whole new city for more than a week and yet haven't explored anything?" She said and I got excited at the thought of exploring the city.

"Yesss, let's fucking go!" I exclaimed. Beth laughed at my sudden burst of excitement.

We called Kyle to ask him if he wanted to join us but apparently he was too busy doing something else. More like someone else. I thought mentally grinning for him.

We started off by exploring the neighbourhood. Little coffee shops, libraries, post offices and museums nearby.

Damn, I swear to god. One day is enough to fall in love with this city. There is not one thing that I don't like about it. The architecture, the people, the smell of lillies and coffee on every other street, the weather, the sound of the birds, the chatter of people from the nearby coffee houses. I loved every single bit of it.

We were having a good time laughing around and looking at new places. We turned left, around a corner and saw a mall. "LET'S GO SHOPPING." We both yelled at the same time and laughed when we saw people around the mall, judging us for acting like tourists.

Once we got inside, we made sure to check every store possible. We went from gift shops to victoria's secrets to dolce&gabbana and any other store on each floor.

We walked into a vintage looking clothing store and looked around for a while. I found the perfect sweatshirt and a trench coat.

I tried it on and yelled for Beth to come see it in the changing room. At this point I didn't care what others thought. If I look like a tourist, so be it. "YOU GO GIRL!" Beth yelled and made me do a twirl.

She spanked my ass lightly and ran away back into the store. By the time we left the store, we had way too many shopping bags on each hand.

We giggled looking at each other and the strange looks we were getting. It was 8pm already. Almost dinner time. "Let's grab a bite, mate." I said in a terrible fake British accent and made my way out of the mall like a noble guard with my chest out and back straight. I looked like a fool. Beth followed my lead.

We walked for a while, looking for restaurants. Beth spotted a cute and cozy restaurant right across the street where we were. We got in and took a table for four since we had too many bags with us.

I sat down and sighed in relief. I can officially say that this has by far been the best day I've had since I arrived.

A waiter soon came to attend to us and handed us the menus. Beth ordered a Ceasar salad while I ordered roasted chicken and mashed potatoes on the side for the both of us. I also made sure to order us a bottle of Chardonnay since I was in a mood for a good drink or two.

Once we were done ordering, the waiter walked back to the kitchen. Soon, we started talking about our native places and everything related to it. Beth seemed quite fascinated with my Indian heritage.

Just when I was telling her about an incident, I was interrupted by someone standing right beside me. Oh, not just someone. There were two people standing right besides us. Looking at us. They looked alike. I'm guessing they are supposed to be twins.

One of them had red hair, a whole bunch of nose and ear piercings and a tattoo sleeve on her left arm while the other one had blue hair, no piercings and no tattoos. They both looked exactly opposite but yet, similar.

The red haired one started talking first. "Hey there, we saw y'all in the campus cafeteria the other day but didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves. We're new here and don't really know anyone else so we came to talk to y'all since you guys seem to be new as well."

"Oh! Hey there, come then sit with us." Beth said already making space for them to sit.

I smiled at them and introduced Beth and I to them. "I'm Avani and this is Beth."

This time the blue haired one spoke up. "I'm Hazel and she's Maeve." Hazel said while pointing at the red head.

"Cool names. So, are you both from here? You know...since your accents match." Beth asked refering to their British accent.

"We're from London. Our parents wanted us to attend college here since they attended it as well and they claim it's the best decision they ever made. They met each other while studying here." Maeve said.

All four of us continued talking about college, discussing our schedules and bitching about people we knew while waiting for our food to arrive.

Our food arrived soon. I poured them each a glass of wine. The food I ordered was enough for the four of us so that wasn't an issue.

We talked and laughed for a long time, getting to know each other. Hazel and Maeve were roomates just like us and stayed just two floors above us.

They were pretty cool and I could see us all getting together.

After we were done eating the main course, Maeve called for dessert. Truffle cake. "Cake and wine with new friends, this calls for a toast." Hazel said enthusiastically.

"To new friends." I toasted.

"To new friends." They all repeated after me and we gulped down the remaining wine. I checked the time. 11pm. I still have assignments to complete. Damn. I thought to myself.

I called for the bill and cleared it. We got up from our seats and took the bags one by one. We started walking out of the restaurant and made our way to the campus which was barely 5 minutes away.

"So will we see you around?" Beth asked once we got into the elevator.
"You can count on that." Maeve said and Hazel nodded, smiling.

We exchanged phone numbers and said our goodbyes after we got off on our floor.

Today was a good day. I had fun. Let's hope I spend everyday just like this, happily surrounded with friends.

I left my bags near the closet and got into my bed. I'll have to make space for the new clothes and shoes.

I sighed and opened my laptop and started on my assignments while Beth went to sleep. Lucky her!

-x-

Ahhh new friends for avani. Isn't this exciting..

What do y'all think of the twins? Comment down below.

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