Knight In Shining Armor

Knight In Shining Armor - Chapter 2

I knew it was inevitable, my phone lit up.

Watching it buzz for a moment, I sighed, and then answered. “Hello?”

“Hi Daisy. You sound tired,” came my mother’s voice. She sounded preoccupied as usual.

“Yea, tests are stressful,” I lied, pacing around the room.

“OK, honey.”

“So, are you excited for the weekend?” I asked her.

“Oh, yes, me and the girls are going out!”

“Uh, Mom, I was supposed to come and visit, remember?”

“Sorry, sweetie! I’ve been so disorganised, lately-”

“It’s fine,” I said shortly.

“Glad you understand,” she replied with relief. “Oh! I must be off, bought a new sewing machine. Ciao!”

I loved my mother. But she really needed to grow up.

Ever since we had gotten the assignment, James hadn’t bothered to get in contact with me. Fed up, I finally tracked down his dorm room, and I was getting ready to go.

“See you, I called out to Meg, even though she wasn’t home.”

As I walked swiftly through the cold air, the feelings of loneliness and uncleanliness sent shivers down my body. I distracted myself, as usual.

I knocked on the door, and a nice looking brown haired guy opened the door.

“Hi, I’m looking for James,” I said to him.

“Oh, yea,” he grinned. “That guy. James! Come here!”

“Coming!” he yelled. The brown haired guy looked me up and down and grinned.

“In your dreams,” I told him. He laughed.

“Yea?” James called. He was the most relaxed I’d ever seen him, with a beer in his hand. As he saw me, the smile dropped off his face and he looked at me coldly.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“We need to get to work on our assignment,” I said firmly, pushing past him as his roommate watched on with amusement.

“Well I guess that cancels out your plans, James,” he laughed. James glared at him.

“Did I interrupt anything?” I asked curiously.

“No,” he said, looking down. “I wasn’t really…doing anything…” he trailed off.

“Well good.” I dumped down all of the different editions I had found of the story.

“I think we should start with the earliest addition, because it’s obviously the most accurate…” I trailed off as I sighted what was shoved underneath the couch – lots of liquor, most of them below half full.

“Oh, we had a party, a while ago,” he said, following my trail of vision. “I was going to throw them out…”

Turning his back on me, he gathered up all the bottles and put them into a black plastic bag that he left in the corner of the kitchen. I noticed how careful he was with them, as if he didn’t want them to break. And suddenly, I could tell that he didn’t intend to throw them out.

“Well, um, let’s get started on this project,” he said.

“Yea…” I replied curiously. He had so many secrets.

*

“Most awkward 3 hours of my life,” I complained, collapsing on the couch back in my dorm. Meg was home, making more food. It was then that I noticed I wasn’t the only sleep/food deprived one, Meg had sacrificed so much for me. She clearly felt guilt, and I vowed to take her out for a girl’s night before I began to show.