Harlyn
"You smell like you dunked your head in a fryer," Elly says, pulling back from our hug and wrinkling her nose at me. Her dark skin is offset by a bright white sweater under her favorite purple coat. "You need to shower, babes."
"Thanks, Elly," I say, rolling my eyes. "Appreciate the honesty."
She grins and lifts her chin, making her tightly coiled black hair bounce. "You can always expect honesty from me."
"Well, you wanted to meet right after my shift. I didn't exactly have time to go home and clean up," I say, gesturing at my McDonald's uniform. The M-emblazoned hat is still digging into my skull. "This is what you get."
Elly sighs deeply and pulls the door to Nando's open for me. "Fine."
We order and pay at the counter, fill our cups, and find a table by the front windows.
"All settled into your room?" I ask, ripping my hat off.
"Yep. Eliot college doesn't know what's coming for it."
"You've been living there for three semesters, El," I remind her. "I think it knows exactly what's coming."
"Yeah, well, my hall mates don't know what's coming," she says. "All six are new again. Four are first years. Almost everyone moved off campus this term." She looks out the windows, watching as crowds of people wander past.
"You know you could also live off campus," I say. She glowers at me, and I raise my hands in surrender.
I know it's a selfish thing to say, but it's hard for me to share Elly with anyone, even the hallmates she hates. I still live at home, because it's closer to Canterbury Christ Church University. Elly's dad's house is just a street over from mine. But the University of Kent, where she goes, is all the way across town. It's only a thirty minute bus ride, but it's just far enough that she justified moving onto campus during the semester. It's also just far enough - and we're just busy enough - that during the semester, we have to work pretty hard to spend time together. We're a year and a half into Uni, and it still sucks every time she moves back.
"What about you? Ready for classes to start next week?" she asks. A young woman with a long blond ponytail sets our food in front of us. "Oh, thank you."
"Yes, thank you." The girl nods and disappears. "I wish they had been hiring when I was looking for a job. I'd much rather work here than McDonald's."
Elly cuts into her chicken. "Yeah, I know. You say that almost every time we come here." She points her fork at me. "And you're evading my question." I stare at her, shaking wishful Nando's thoughts from my head and back track.
"What? Oh. No. I just got distracted." I start cutting my chicken, too. "Erm, I think I'm ready. Ready to have less shifts, too. Bobbi agreed to cut down my hours, so I have more time for school."
"Good! That killed you last term."
Bobbi became manager last summer, and since then, she's leaned on me, knowing I need money and I would say yes to covering shifts. But at the end of last term, I started drowning in year two coursework. Mum finally told me I needed to start saying no when she asked. Turns out, saying no is not my strong suit. But I finally talked to her today and told her I needed to step back a little. She didn't take it all that well, but eventually - reluctantly - agreed. We'll see how long that lasts.
"Oh, and our new foreign student moved in on Saturday."
I wasn't a huge fan of the idea of hosting foreign students studying at Christ Church when Mum told me about it. But it's grown on me. Four and a half years in, and I have some pretty cool stories. And now that I'm at Christ Church, too, I actually have more in common with the students staying with us than I did when I was in sixth form.
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Not A Temporary Love | Finley & Harlyn #1
Romance2023 WATTY'S SHORTLIST When Finley Bowers decided to study abroad in England, he wasn't expecting to fall in love. But when Harlyn Evans shows up in his life, he brings a whole lot of goodness - and chaos - with him. *** Finley Bowers has always don...