James reached out his hand and fumbled around aimlessly on his bedside table. He took a quick glance at his mobile and slowly sat up on his bed, giving out a loud yawn in the process. It was barely 8 in the morning.
"You're leaving? It's still early." James asked with his voice made hoarse by sleep. He reached out and picked up the t-shirt thrown on the floor last night to pull it over himself.
"My parents are staying with me for the next few weeks. I've got to go back early before they notice anything." Nadine told him with her back facing the bed, buttoning her top. "I'm already late; they wake up earlier than this."
"Then be later. Let's have breakfast first." James told her and got out of bed to her side.
"James-"
"Aren't you hungry? I'm very. It's either you have breakfast with me or be my breakfast, I'll let you choose."
With manipulative brains like James, it was obvious he got both items on the menu.
The drive back home from Nadine's was relatively quiet. Every time after they spend a night (or nights) together, James would send her back to her place. It was about ten minutes away by car from his.
Maneuvering his steering wheel with one hand, he let his thoughts run a bit. This relationship or non-relationship he shared with Nadine was already in its 4th year. In layman terms, they were friends with benefits. Simply put, they're friends who has sex with one another, and with mutual consent, they decided to keep it from the rest.
In Nadine's words, "there's really nothing worth telling them. We're just friends that's having sex. If they know they'll push both of us into a relationship that we are not ready to commit for, wouldn't that be worst?"
While he could have rebutted her, he decided to keep it as it is. Honestly speaking, out of all the girls he knew back in college, he would have never thought to be in such a physical relationship with anyone. Much less Nadine.
Until now, he's still pretty amazed at how they've managed to keep everything at nothing more than friends. He doesn't question what she does or who she meets, she does the same. They didn't need to report to one another, if they needed each other physically, they set a time to meet. The only time they belong to each other was time spent together and even so, it was mostly spent in bed. When they meet up with others, they are like how they are with everyone else. Updating on each other's' lives and fooling around like dorks, for James that is.
Back in school, she was the pretty, smart and talented junior with a hoard of suitors whom Ashley pulled into the student union from her dance club. While they were technically friends, they weren't close until she took the role of Secretary, which meant a lot of time working with Bret and him.
As time went by, he got to know that she was a studious girl by her numerous award nominations. Optimistic by nature with a hidden cheerful personality which she only shared with close friends. While he thought of her as a very sincere and thoughtful person, he'd never thought of her that way. Until his graduation night that is.
*****
The student union has always been in charge of planning and organizing the annual Graduation Nights. Which meant to say that even if they weren't part of the graduation cohort, the organizing committee still had obligations to attend it.
Today, he invited with him a girl that he has been dating for quite some time. Her name was Ericka, she was the belle of the Arts faculty and they knew each other from one of the events he helped the school to organize.
James was looking around for familiar faces when he arrived at the reception hall outside the school auditorium.
"Boo, who are you looking for?" Ericka tugged at his arm.
