Getting Through Italy

|30| Fileja

|30| - "I can't be a friend to everyone." -

Jasmine breezed through the flat door, her laughter bouncing off the walls and carrying through into my bedroom. I opened my mouth to call out to her, shutting it again when I noticed Sean hot on her heels.

Neither of them spotted me as they settled down in the living room. Brief snippets of quieter conversation echoed down the hallway, and I rose from my bed, deciding to make my presence known.

"Izzy," Jasmine said, her eyebrows shooting upwards when I leant in the doorway to the living room. "Thought you got in later tonight?"

"Late afternoon, not evening. Hi, Sean."

He appeared startled to see me but returned my smile and accepted the laptop that Jasmine passed over to him.

"You find which episode we're on and I'll make a round of drinks," she said. "Izzy, come and tell me about your Valentine's Weekend."

We left Sean on our sofa and reconvened in the kitchen, where I brought Jasmine up to speed on everything from Jess and Jack, to Nathan and Marie.

"Can't believe that bitch still isn't leaving him alone." Jasmine shook her head.

"I think he's going to talk to her about it this week," I said. "Nip it in the bud once and for-"

As the kettle reached boiling point and began to whistle, Jasmine leaned closer and grabbed my arm to interrupt me.

"Sean and I had sex, and I think he's still coming to terms with it so don't say anything that might embarrass him."

She released my arm and turned to the kettle as the whistling quietened. I leant against the counter and blinked at her back, letting the revelation sink in. This Valentine's Day really had turned up the heat with everyone.

"When did that-?"

Spinning to face me, Jasmine thrust her finger against her lips to silence my question. It was typical of Jasmine to drop a casual bombshell like that and then expect me to sit on it until we were alone again.

Nevertheless, I did as she requested, although I couldn't help thinking that I'd have been less likely to accidentally embarrass Sean if I'd been oblivious to their hook-up. With that in mind, I let them watch Netflix in privacy, just like they'd intended.

*

Sean left just before dinner, claiming that he had plans with his flatmate to eat out. I hoped that was the case; I'd hate to think I'd interrupted his day with Jasmine by arriving earlier than they'd thought.

In her typical fashion, Jasmine seemed totally unfazed by the whole situation, having kissed him goodbye at the door with a promise to text him later. A kiss and a text after a hook-up suggested this was more than just casual sex. Jasmine's normal one-night-stands would be lucky to get cereal, never mind anything else.

"I guess it kind of just happened," she said as we discussed it over a glass of wine.

"You make it sound unexpected, like you haven't been sticking it on him for the past couple of months."

Jasmine smirked at my response. "I think I was a little more subtle than that, thank you very much."

I laughed but urged her to continue. She explained that they'd all gone out for dinner on Valentine's Day, which had then turned into drinks. With me otherwise occupied in Paris, Sean had offered to walk Jasmine home and, naturally, she'd accepted.

"I invited him in for coffee, we started watching something on Netflix, and you can stop giving me that smirk because it was actually Sean who made the first move."