University Life - First Ch. 03-04

'Okay ladies, three shots for the road and we're out!' She said excitedly and there was a unanimous 'Hell Yeah' to that.

***

'Okay, what do you think of that one?' Lorna asked, nudging Kainene slyly as she pointed to a red-haired six-footer.

Kainene sighed, 'For the umpteenth time, Lorns. No! I do not fancy him.'

Nens! You don't fancy anybody! You're a boring old lady. Pick someone for the love of God.' Lorna sulked at Kainene.

'I don't wanna pick anyone up. I just wanna dance. Oh, look. That fittie over there is staring at you. Quick, go talk to him.' Kainene pointed randomly at the crowd.

'Oooh, where?' Lorna looked round quickly, and as she did so, Kainene slipped away from her towards the bar, heaving a huge sigh of relief as she did so.

'Not very nice.' Someone whispered in her ear and she turned around with a gasp.

'Oh, it's you', She sighed with a hand on her heart. It was Matt. 'You scared me'. She punched his arm.

'Ow. Not my intention. Anyway, still wanna be hooked up?' He asked wiggling his eyebrows.

'Err, No. Given up on that. Not particularly pleased with the guys here. Bunch of ugly sods if you ask me.' She shook her head vigorously.

Matt chuckled loudly and led her towards a corner, 'Ouch! You've broken quite a few hearts with those harsh words. Come on now, not one person has caught your eye? Cuz I've been on the lookout, wingman and all, and I've been...shall we say approached, by a few people asking about you.'

'Bullshit.' She muttered looking longingly at the bar. She was definitely not going to get the vodka orange she had been dying for all night.

'Seriously. Would I lie to you?'

'Yes.'

'Okay,' Matt laughed, 'Yes I will, true. But this time, someone does fancy you. But he's shy...intimidated, more like.'

'Why?' Kainene looked surprised.

'Err, don't take this the wrong way, but think it's because you're...' Matt turned a bit red.

'Oh, 'cuz I'm black? Don't worry, that happens all the time.' Kainene shrugged. 'Well, is he fit then?'

'I'm a bloke, so I can't answer that. But he's an alright chap. He's my mate anyway. Wanna meet him?'

'Can I get a vodka orange on the way, though. I really need one.'

'Okay you little drunk.'

'Oi!' she cuffed him again.

A much needed vodka orange in hand, Kainene could focus properly on what Matt was saying, or rather, who he was pointing to. Oh God, it was the same ginger boy Lorna had been referring to before.

'Erm, Matt, I don't really think...' Her voice trailed off as the red-haired guy had already spotted them and was walking towards them. Oh crap.

'Hey, Tom.' Matt grinned at him and did some guy-to-guy hug thing.

'Yo, what's crackalacking, homie?' A plumy voice replied, clearly trying to sound as hip and ghetto as possible. Sadly, the effort was fruitless.

Kainene cringed at his effort. Oh God, no. Not another person trying to act 'black' and failing woefully. Why did they even bother, no one saw her trying to act or sound 'white'.

'So, this is my mate Nens that I was telling you about.' Matt said subtly pushing a very reluctant Kainene towards Tom.

Tom beamed at her. He was slightly taller than she was, and in heels, she knew she would definitely have been taller. A no-no already.

'Hey, babe. How's tings?' Tom asked, practically high-fiving her in his 'cool' attempt.

She turned to Matt with wide eyes thinking, you have got to be having a laugh.

'Hey, I'm Nens. How are you?' She asked politely trying to indicate that she was not really up for his slang-fest.

Tom shrugged beaming manically, 'Not bad, not bad. You know how we is, blad. Just chilling and tings.'

Okay, enough was enough. She could not stand and watch the poor, clearly nervous boy, humiliate himself further. She turned to Matt and said, 'I have to go now, mate. Need the toilet effing badly. Been suppressing this shit for hours now and about to let a huge fart out, mate. See ya. Lovely to meet you, Tom.'

She spotted the quick look of horrific disgust that passed Tom's face and the amused look on Matt as she turned around hastily towards the toilet.

As she giggled to herself, she felt someone staring at her and looked round. She could not spot the person so shrugged inwardly and commenced guzzling her drink. She quickly downed her vodka orange and felt its effect almost immediately. Good thing she had really low tolerance for alcohol; made it a cheap night every time she went out drinking. A song went on as she spotted Lorna marching towards her angrily.

'Lornnns!' She squealed, practically hugging her. 'It's 'Rihanna'. I love this song. Let's dance.'

Lorna could tell that Kainene was a tad tipsy so she let go of her anger and laughingly let herself be dragged to the dance floor. Soon, Kainene was dancing her heart out and as she did so, she got quite a few stares for she was an amazing dancer. Lorna danced next to her but knew she could not compete as she was mediocre at best. As she looked around, her heart skipped for there was Rufus staring at Kainene intently. Lorna tried to nudge Kainene to inform her of this gorgeous tidbit but Kainene was caught up in the music and was twisting her hips away, lost in the beat of 'Please don't stop the music'.

Lorna surreptitiously stared at Rufus's direction and let out an audible gasp because he was walking towards them now.

'Nens. Nens. Ne...' She tried to nudge her harder, but Rufus had already walked up to them. Without a word, he started grinding next to Kainene. Lorna slowly edged away so as to give them space to dance, smiling slyly to herself as she did so.

Kainene felt hands around her and turned sharply to gaze into the most gorgeous grey eyes ever. He looked awfully familiar, but she was too care-free and in the music to figure out who he was. He started to dance with her and she danced right back. God, he was an amazing dancer. Stereotypes were so rubbish, who coined that false saying 'white boys can't dance'? He was stunningly good.

'You're a good dancer.' She panted slightly twirling away in his arms.

He laughed gently in her face, 'Why do you sound surprised?' His voice was deep, husky and, as far as lust-filled Kainene was concerned, gorgeous.

'Oh, you know, white boys and two left feet.' She absently said. She then realised what she had uttered and gasped, clapping a hand to her mouth. 'Oh, err, I mean...'

'That's okay,' he gently interrupted grinning down at her, 'I get that a lot.'

She could only nod at him, his smile was amazing. 'Do I know you?' she asked. She was sure she had met him somewhere. Maybe he was in the same hall or something.

'No. I don't think so. I'd definitely have remembered you if we met somewhere before this.' He grinned sexily.

'Hmm.' She hummed at him smiling too. They kept on dancing oblivious to the stares they were getting, both admiringly and enviously. The latter, in particular, was from two girls who stared at the dancing duo balefully. Lorna, who was stood next to Viola at this point and staring at the two dancers overheard one of them say cattily to the other, 'If only I had known all I had to do to get his attention was dance like a slut, I'd have practised on a stripper pole.'

'How like, so true.' The other girl, in an American accent replied.

Lorna gasped at this turning to Viola. Viola stared back at her round-eyed. She had overheard the conversation as well.

'Oh, God, I know those two. The perfect bitches of Headington.' Viola whispered to Lorna.

'Hunh? You know them?' Lorna whispered back.

'Yah, Minty, the blonde one was in Headington with me, as well as Heather, the brunette. Heather transferred from some private school in America but I only knew her for a month before transferring to our school, so wasn't really friends with her. But she and Minty got on really well from the day she got there, and Minty had always been the year bitch, and clearly she hasn't given up her title.' Viola gossiped quickly.

'Heather, did you say?' Lorna frowned trying to remember something. 'Heather! That's where I remember that name from. Are they lawyers by any chance?'

'Yah, why?'

'Nens, my friend dancing with Rufus, well she met her, Heather and they had a bit of a row over seats. Golly, they probably have it in for her now.'

'Oh dear, not even close to the end of first term and a potential fight brewing.' Viola sighed. 'And from the looks of it, Darling Minty fancies Rufus. Look at her staring so obviously.'

Both girls turned to look at Heather and Araminta who, in turn, were gazing half-lustfully, half-angrily at Kainene and Rufus.

Kainene, on the other hand, was oblivious to what was going on around her. She laughed and danced to her heart's content with Rufus as the songs changed from one R & B song to another.

'I love this DJ. He's so wicked, innit?' she spun round happily. She realised as soon as she said it that she had slipped back into her normal accent but she couldn't care less. She was having fun, and if the amazing dancer was put off by her way of talking then, sod it. She'd dance alone.

To her suprise, he laughed with her but did not mock her by replying 'innit' as well. 'He's rather good, isn't he? You hardly hear this kind of music nowadays on student nights. It's mostly dance, house and techno rubbish. I hate those kinds of songs.'

'Me too!' she shrieked grinning at him. At this point, his laughing stare changed into something more serious. She was surprised at this change and let out a tiny 'eep' as he pulled her closer to him. He bent his head and murmured in her ear, 'I really want to kiss you now.'

Oh, she gasped staring up at him. He smiled crookedly at her then bent to capture her lips with his.

Oh my. She thought.

'Oh my God'. Viola and Lorna excitedly squeaked.

'What the fuck?' Araminta snarled at Heather before stomping off.

Kainene was lost in his kiss. She did not know who he was, or what his name was but at that moment she did not care at all. He gently parted her lips with his and languidly stroked her tongue with his. She thought she was going to disgrace herself by swooning. Never had she been kissed in such a grown-up manner. When he raised his head, she followed his head with hers, rising on tiptoes and trying to continue the kiss without realising what she was doing. Immediately she did, she fell back on her feet, blushing furiously. He simply smiled down at her, 'I don't even know your name.'

'Kainene', she whimpered then cleared her throat quickly. 'I mean, everyone calls me Nens, though.'

'Nens. I'm Rufus.'

'Ohmigod, the hottie of Stoke Bishop...whoops!' She clapped a hand over her mouth at her utterance. How much more of a high school girl could she be?

'Hottie of Stoke Bishop. Wow.' He chuckled.

She blushed some more. Thank the Lord she was black, or she'd have been bright red by now, she thought to herself.

'Sorry, that's so embarrassing. It's what they call you in Stoke Bishop.' She muttered.

'Ah, I take it you're in a hall down there, then. Which one?' He asked.

'University,' she replied – and waited for the inevitable condescending look to cross his face.

To her surprise, he merely nodded, 'I'm in Churchill.' She stopped herself in time from nodding in the affirmative. Didn't want him thinking she was a stalker now, did she?

'Oh, that's good. Err, it was lovely dancing with you. I should probably get back to my friend.' She started to turn away, but he held her arm, stopping her from moving.

'Just like that? Or was I the only one affected by one of the best kisses ever?' he asked.

'Oh no. Oh NO! NO! I mean...I just...I thought it was a...you know...' she lamely trailed off.

'No I don't actually...but I'll let you off. Can I have your number before you go see your friend?' He asked.

'Oh, okay, it's...' she was cut off by a loud, 'Rufus, dahhhhhling. It's been absolute yonks since I last saw you. How goes it?'

She looked over Rufus' shoulder to see Heather and her friend walking towards them. Heather's friend smiled sunnily at Rufus before planting a loud, wet one on his lips.

'Minty? Oh, I didn't know you were attending this Uni.' Rufus looked a bit confused but pleased nonetheless at seeing 'Minty'.

Kainene stared at the beautiful blonde-haired doll and her heart sank like lead. There was no way she could compete with that. She, Minty, looked like she belonged with Rufus. Two Thoroughbreds, and she, a skanky flea-ridden horse. She quickly muttered something inaudible and walked away quickly, ignoring Rufus's cries of 'Wait, Nens, wait!'

She walked rapidly to Lorna and muttered a quick, 'Can we leave now?'

Lorna nodded and waved hastily at a sympathetic Viola before walking off with Kainene.

None of the three noticed Rufus' confused, sad look as they left, or Araminta's triumphant one.