rule of three. [saltburn]

cinq.

xxx.

chapter five.
cinq.

xxx.

Jade's room was on the second floor, meaning she had great quad muscles from walking up and down the stairs to get there, and she often had a peaceful time at night. She could sit on the windowsill, with the window itself propped just a few inches open, and let the cool breeze blow through her hair. It was dark, the moon glowed down over the campus to illuminate her landscape as she rested her arm against her propped knee, tapping an unlit cigarette against her leg.

She had actually had a pretty bad relationship with smoking, but within the past year, she up and decided she didn't want to do it anymore. It was hard, given Farleigh and Felix both smoked and seemed not to realize that perhaps they shouldn't do it in front of her, but, you know. A part of her always seemed to remain in the past, though, so she kept the last pack she ever bought and had it tucked in her sock drawer. There were only a few left in it, and one of them sat between her fingers.

Jade didn't plan on lighting or smoking it, she just held it. It felt a little stupid, but it did make her feel a little better and relieve some of the stress weighing her shoulders down.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't last long and an unlit cigarette wasn't enough to prevent her from gritting her teeth when she heard a sound below and would find it's source. She peered down from her window after hearing the bushes rustling, squinting to see what was down there. It just seemed too dark and unclear at first, but eventually she was able to make out an outline of a person, just standing at the front of the bush. Jade scoffed quietly, wondering what kind of freak would do that when she saw something glint.

A pair of glasses.

Jade's instant thought made her nearly fall out of the window, slipping down from the sip so she could lean further out of it to look down at him. When she realized she was right in her assumption, she swiped her phone from her table and went to text Farleigh. She typed the message, though just as her thumb hovered the 'send' button, she paused. The brunette looked back down at Oliver, wondering what the hell he was actually doing.

After a few moments passed by of her deep consideration, Jade erased the message to Farleigh and instead took a picture, as clear as it could be in the darkness. She glanced over it once to make sure that you could at least sort of tell it was Oliver, then sat her phone back down and closed the window.

xxx.

That morning, Nick had returned back to the dorm. He spent the night in Nell's room, thank god most of the girls got their own rooms since there were slightly less of them. He was too annoyed with Felix to fathom the idea of waiting in their dorm until he came back with god knows who, and lose sleep over it. So he went to stay with his sister, sleeping on the floor with some blankets and pillows he took from his own bed, under the guise that he needed to rest for an exam in the morning and Felix's snoring had been waking him up.

Now though, he stood at the door, fiddling with his key as his frustration grew the more he struggled to shove it into the lock. He wished he could say his frustration with Felix had dissipated in his sleep, but it didn't. And a little part of Nick knew he was being somewhat unreasonable. Felix was allowed to have other friends— hell, he had a shit ton of friends —but it felt like it was being rubbed in his face with Oliver. It was bad enough that he'd had to scoot past both Annabel and India making out with Felix in the hallway outside their room, on separate occasions. Now he had to worry about Oliver being in his room, with his stuff, with Felix, when he wasn't there. And there was nothing Nick hated more than a nosey person.