THE OXFORD BET *VirginityGames*

Chapter 28 Dorm-Party Anyone?

Francesca

"Finally, the trio is back together!"

Richard smiled brightly as he exclaimed the sentence, making me and my best friend turn our heads towards him. Richard carried the plate with Thai food towards us two hungry females sitting in his living room, he had just interrupted our latest discussion and recap of the new episode of the TV show we had all been binging.

"I honestly have craved a curry all week," Vicky groaned loudly, clapping her hands together as Richard placed down the plate. She rewarded him with a small kiss and then dug into our food.

It was a Friday evening, a very rainy Friday evening, and I was glad to spend it with my friends. However, I did find it easier to fade into my thoughts than make an effort to contribute to the discussions my friends shared, which I deeply hoped they didn't notice.

It had been an entire week since I had been back from America and since Daniel had confessed his feelings and tried to get me back. However, it had only been an hour since I saw him last. Unfortunately I had seen Daniel almost every other day, for a week. I had caught sight of him in the halls of Oxford, and he had probably seen me too.

The next two hours passed quickly, as me and my friends seemed to have a lot to share with each other. However, I never told then about Daniel and what happened in California, as they both knew anyway. I didn't tell them about my feelings or how Daniel had made me feel, or the gazes he has given me and the smiles we had shared. Probably because I did not want to admit it to myself that I still felt butterflies and shivered at the thought of his lips on mine, which I knew I shouldn't. I did feel eager to tell them, however - but only sometimes. And before I managed to do so, I would always hesitate and then would end up never telling them anyway.

I knew that if I started to speak about Daniel, I would end up telling them everything.

Saturday came around far too quickly. The weekend always seemed to go by quicker that any other days in the week. I was sure of it. Mondays always lasted forever. I groaned as Vicky and I entered to dorm. It was smoky and smelt of body odour. This was not the way I intended to spend my Saturday night. I would much rather have been in my room, eating ramen noodles and reading my book, or getting started on the pile of coursework that had already built up this term. For some reason my Lecturers had assigned so much recently. Had they not heard of Christmas spirit? Maybe I would've done my laundry or cleaned up my room. But more realistically, I would have just put on your favourite pyjamas and crawled into bed for the next fourteen hours. I was not in the mood to go out but then I felt guilty. I had to be a normal university student sometime. The Bet was over, but that should have been a good thing. I could life my life how I wanted. So when Charlie came into our lecture hall dressed up and walked across campus to get some food with me, I somehow let my classmate talk me into attending his stupid dorm party.

Izzy welcomed me with a big bear hug when she saw me. The blond laughed at something Amee said before telling her to sod off. I bit back a groan as I wondered just how much Izzy and Amee had drank that they were actually joking with each other rather than be at each other's throats. I didn't ask them out loud though, and only gave Vicky a tired look when I passed her and Richard. Vicky shrugged, wearing a sheepish smile in return before returning to her conversation with Richard.

I was so lost in thought I didn't notice the person step in front of me until I walked right into him.
He startled, quickly putting an arm out to steady me, the bottle of beer I was carrying fell to the ground, and spilled the contents at our feet.
"Hello there." Brandon said meeting my eyes. His dark eyes widened for a moment. I looked at him cautiously but Brandon did well to hide his surprise after a moment and gave me his most charming smirk that I was sure all the girls loved.