A Kiss in the Dark

Chapter 1

Parker

I have some bitchy friends.

And I'm not saying this like I've only just realised it, but sitting there in the café with the five of them, I wondered how I'd gotten here. Now, it wasn't like they were all bad. Take, for example, Christie, my best friend. She was great, we'd known each other since kindergarten and been inseparable since. She however, ginger and pretty, was sporty, i.e. a cheerleader, but not with our high school. She'd joined a team, the Vixens, which is where she met Georgia and Francine, who were the bitchiest of them all, the former being the self-proclaimed leader of this friendship group. Helena and Dani were pretty cool, but they were first friends with Georgia so there was a sense of commitment looming.

We were pretty great together, we were at college, we didn't have to be friends if we didn't want to, but we had fun. But the bitchiness was analysed just because I was struggling to get into the conversation.

"So Hayley cried after him," Francine was saying. "I'm not lying, she was literally crying and begging him." She smirked. "Obviously he didn't take her back."

The four of them laughed, Christie and I didn't find it so amusing. I knew Hayley. She was such a sweet girl, though in all honesty her and Dean's breakup was her fault. She was quite clingy, which was why I'd kept some distance. They'd been dating for two months, Dean had really liked her, from afar obviously, because once he got to know her, once they'd started dating, it went sour. We knew within weeks that he was struggling to let go of her.

And now, Georgia and Francine, with sniggers from Helena every now and then, were bitching about what had happened just yesterday afternoon over our morning coffee.

I looked at my watch. "I've got to go, guys." I was the only one of them with a nine 'o' clock on a Monday. Those were the perks of studying mathematics. I left the café, slinging my bag over my back, crossing the courtyard towards the maths block.

"Parker!" I spotted Brett and John to my right coming from the bakery with pretzels in their hands.

"Hey," I smiled. "Where's Mace and Mackenzie?"

"Mackenzie's already at the lecture, went early to talk to your prof, or whatever. Mace is hungover," John explained.

I rolled my eyes. "Typical," I replied. "Anyway, I have to go, I'll be late."

I didn't run, but I'm not sure I can say it was walking that got me to my lecture theatre in time. I walked in, my eyes flicking straight to Mackenzie's face. He was slouched in his chair, his notebook and pen laid on the table. He wasn't the only person in the room, but he was the only one that mattered. I nodded and smiled at people on my way up to the last row of the seats, but my mind was still focused on his form. Thank the universe he hadn't looked up, he would have noticed me watching him.

I plonked down into the seat beside him. Usually Mace sat on my other side; apparently I needed protecting since I was so small.

Mackenzie's gaze slid from his phone to me. He smirked. "So how's lover boy?"

I groaned. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

He shook his head.

Okay, see, last week, I'd let it slip that I had a pen pal and Mac in true Mac fashion had been dropping hints since then.

My pen pal, MK1994 (he loved Mario Kart apparently), was Californian, we'd become friends through this programme in high school I'd taken part in and we'd been talking for four years. We didn't exchange names or anything like that, but we knew each other better than people who knew us by name. We talked about things that seemed too uncool to talk to anyone else about, maybe because there would be no snide laughter, but honesty. We'd agreed we'd probably never meet, we wouldn't arrange anything, but if we did accidentally, then it was fate.