Now I See You | ✓

Thirty-One

The following evening, Manal, Josie and I have a girls' night. I extend the invitation to Saori, because I do actually want to become proper friends with her and I think she'd get on well with my roommates.

Aubin pouted very hard this morning when he realised he was getting left out of the plans, but I refuse to cave and invite him along just because we're going on dates now. I want time with my friends. Eventually, I got him to see my point of view and he grumpily agreed that it's healthy to spend time with other people, too.

Still, that doesn't stop him from messaging me quite a bit throughout the evening, because it turns out that he's a little clingy. Eventually I put my phone away, because as much as I love the fact he wants to talk to me – not to mention the storm of butterflies it kicks up – I do want to see my girls, too.

The four of us sit around the table in the kitchen area, sharing fajitas, courtesy of Josie. I acted as her sous-chef, but she did most of the heavy lifting. I just stood there and stirred the pan at the right moments.

"So, what is it you study, Saori?" Manal asks, as she spreads guacamole on her wrap. She drops the spoon on the table by accident, splattering a little guacamole on her top, because our girl's nothing but clumsy, of course.

Saori, who's got a pretty much overflowing wrap in her hands, swallows her mouthful before replying. "I'm studying business management, which is such a drag because it's just a bunch of men in a room telling me they think they know better."

Manal snorts. "Yeah, I feel you. Same for me in civil engineering."

We all spend the next ten minutes commiserating each other over the fact that so often, men just think they know better than us.

Saori glances at me and winks. "Fuck boys, right, Judah?"

Knowing that she's just teasing me because of Aubin, I just laugh and nod along. She's fitting right into our group, which I'm really grateful for. I don't know a huge amount about who her other friends are, outside of her flatmates, but it's nice that she's becoming part of our friendship group, too.

And if things do go south with Aubin, which I really hope they won't, she'll just have to keep being part of our group, anyway. I'd like to think I could handle that.

It's really nice, actually, spending more time with her. I learn throughout the evening that she's got two older sisters, one of whom is dating Aubin's older brother. I did actually know that they grew up in the same place, along with Saidi, but I wasn't aware their families were so closely linked.

"Ohh, so that's how you've ended up sharing a place with Aubin," Josie vocalises as she puts all the pieces together in her head.

Saori nods, reaching for another wrap. "Yeah. Jaden was Aubin's roommate freshman year and I just didn't really get on with mine, so the three of us moved in together. Working out pretty well so far."

Josie wrinkles her nose. "The boys aren't really messy?"

Saori snorts, catching my eye for a second. "No, Aubin's a total neat-freak. Can't do anything in the place without him coming along behind me like a clucking hen, wiping down surfaces and tidying up. Jaden's pretty tidy too, which I guess you have to be when you live with Aubin, so it actually works out pretty well for all of us."

Manal tosses her head back in laughter. "Oh, wow. I didn't know that. Unless you didn't know either and he just lets you get away with it?" she turns to me, raising her eyebrows.

It would be funny if he did just let it slide, to be fair, but he doesn't do that at all.

I laugh, shaking my head. "Oh, no. He won't even let me wash dishes up because I won't do it right. Won't let me eat in his bed, either, because of the crumbs."