Best Friend's Journey Pt. 01

I lucked out when I started uni and managed to share a room with my childhood best friend, Carl. We were neighbours when we were kids and although I moved house and we went to different colleges, we managed to stay fast friends.

Throughout college, obviously, we made other friends and got to know new people. But our friendship stayed strong, and we managed to see each other most weeks.

We talked about university, and although we wanted entirely different things; he was a nerd that knew about politics, philosophy and all that book stuff, while I was more into using my hands and making tangible things in the real world, we found somewhere down south that did courses we both liked, and seemed to do them well. Our good fortune seemed to hold, because we both got the grades we needed and managed to get in.

Carl had picked up a girlfriend in college, the previous year: Jess. I had met her a few times, but he tended to keep his "friend friends" and his "school friends" separate. Seeing as he met Jess at school, then she had fallen into the "school friends" box, although, as a girlfriend, she got to mix with his "friend friends" from time to time.

I was surprised they had stayed together so long, really. She was traditionally "out of his league" from what I could tell. He was tall and not unfit, but he wasn't really the type to visit a gym ever, and I didn't think he had the charisma to chat up a girl. He had shaggy black hair that he never styled and brown eyes flecked with gold. His interests were definitely of the stereotypically nerdy male variety -- videogames, comics, etc. but like, the kind that you don't see played on Twitch or getting made into movies by Disney.

Jess was a bit shorter than Carl; her eyes were level with his mouth, so I'd guess she was about 165cm (5ft 4ish). She was fit - I think Carl told me she'd been going to the gym since starting college as she was originally going to do an NVQ in sports, or something, but switched to A-levels instead at the last minute. She had bleach blonde hair with dark roots that hung to around halfway down her back when loose.

I had thought that me and Carl moving down south together would have marked the end of their relationship: we would be just far enough away from our hometown for the journey to be a pain in the arse, and costly. However, Carl didn't seem to be disheartened by the distance.

"Are you going to be a little bitch when I bring girls over?" I asked Carl a few weeks before we prepared to move.

"Course not, mate. But in exchange, you've got to go out when I have Jess over," he replied, a cheeky smile on his face.

"Jess?" I asked in surprise.

"Yeah, my girlfriend," he laughed. "You're Sam: my best friend. She is Jess: my girlfriend."

His mocking voice had a tinge of irritation to it.

"So, you're giving it the long-distance thing, then? Isn't she going to be jealous that you're out playing all the time with me?" I joked.

"Err, no, mate. I'm sure we spoke about this before," He began. "She's going to the same uni, so she'll be just round the corner from us."

I was stunned for a moment at that revelation. I had absolutely no memory of such a conversation occurring and surely it would be something I'd remember.

"You're pulling my leg," was the only thing I could think to respond with.

"No, dickhead. I told you she got into the same uni as us when I told you I got in! We talked about you hooking up with her friend with the big arse?" He mock chided me.

"Oh yeah. Amy? Anna? Abby? Yeah, I remember you said she'd be living close and she's up for having a good time."

"Abby. Oh, so you remember that part?"

"Wait, you tried to set me up with one of her other friends before because, and these are your words: 'she's a bit of a slut'," I smirked at him. "If all Jess' friends are like this, then... Well, you know."

"Yeah, she knows her way around a bed. Or a chair. Or a table," Carl laughed. "She is insatiable, mate."

***

A couple of weeks later, we spent the whole weekend carting our stuff down the motorway to the coast. Carl, being a lazy fucker, never bothered learning to drive and both sets of our parents didn't want to have to make the journey a whole bunch of times, leaving me to hire a van for all our stuff.

"Thank you, Sam," Jess said as she climbed into the van between Carl and me. "My Mum already took me down once and didn't want to make the journey again just so I could bring a few extra things."

"It's alright babe. Sam doesn't mind," Carl cut in before I could say anything. "We're making the same journey, so it makes sense!"

I bit my tongue. Yes, it was the same journey, but I'd already made it once yesterday and once again already today and wanted to get it out of the way, instead of wasting daylight waiting for Jess to get ready. On top of all that, I was pretty sure she could drive herself.

"Yeah, no problem," I said grudgingly, trying to smile. "We probably don't have to worry too much about traffic at this time."

"You alright driving this big thing down the motorway at night?" Jess asked, actual incredulity visible on her face.

"Yeah, of course. This journey's burned into my brain now," I replied.

Jess looked like she had 'got ready' just for this journey. Her makeup seemed to be done to perfection, from what I could tell as a lad who didn't tend to wear makeup. Her clothes looked fresh and clean, and her blonde hair was tied back into twin braids. She even smelt fresh.

Compared to Carl, who was wearing sweat-stained clothes fit for moving furniture around, like it felt like we had been doing for the last eternity, she looked like a princess with her manservant.

"What's so funny?" Carl asked me.

"Hey, Jess. You going out somewhere?" I said gesturing at her as if to say 'all this' to Carl.

"What? When we're down?" She smiled. "Yeah, Abby... do you know Abby? Anyway, my friend Abby knows a good pub that she wants to show me, where drinks don't cost an arm and a leg."

"How? Don't you need to finish moving all your stuff in? Ours is basically shoved into the entrance hallway. It's going to take hours to get it all sorted." Carl complained.

"Abby got someone to help out. All I need to do is organise my stuff," Jess said, looking at her phone. "Should we go? It's getting a bit late."

The drive down was easy. It was getting dark by the time we hit the motorway and dark by the time we could see signs to our destination. Carl and Jess were talking together for most of the beginning of the journey. I was happy to zone out and focus on the drive.

Eventually, I noticed that they were silent. Or, mostly silent. I could hear Carl breathing heavily, but I could only see him from my periphery. Jess was tapping away on her phone. I glanced over to see Carl sleeping, his head tilted back and against the corner where the window met the headrest to his seat.

As I looked over, the brightness from Jess's phone caught my attention and my gaze passed over it on the way back to the road. It was only a quick glance, but there was a lot of the colour of bare flesh glowing out of the screen. She must have noticed me moving my head, as she quickly flipped her phone over and beamed up at me.

"Carl tells me you've been friends forever," she smiled sweetly. "Why?"

"Why?" I repeated, trying to work out what she was asking. "Why are we friends?"

"Yeah. You don't look like the type to hang around him."

"I could say the same about you!"

The words spilled out before my brain could process them.

"What does that mean?" She snapped, although it didn't seem to be aggressive.

"I mean..." I began, trying to phrase it non-offensively. "You're hot. He's, not exactly a model, is he? As lovely as he is."

She just laughed. The corners of her clear blue eyes creasing in amusement.

"He's handsome. He just doesn't take care of his appearance as much as some others," she started. "And he's really nice, and helpful and wonderful. Yeah, he could exercise a bit more, get a haircut and get some clothes that he hasn't had since he was fifteen, but he's not bad!"

I gave her credit. She seemed to be genuinely interested in him. Although, I should have known that seeing as they had been together for the last year. I had been critical of his looks to her, but she was clearly attracted to him, even if that was partially at his potential rather than as he was now.

"Have you never tried to help him?" She continued. "You obviously care about your looks."

Somehow, I couldn't tell if that was an insult or a compliment.

"What do you mean?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Fishing for compliments?" She said fulsomely. "You know what I mean. You're fit, and I mean that in both senses of the word, and part of that is because you know how to work with what you've got."

I felt the blood rush to my cheeks and was glad I was looking at the road instead of her face at that moment.

"Yeah, I've always ragged on at him to try a bit more. But that's not how he works and I'm not going to make him change. I love him how he is," My words almost nauseated even myself.

Jess's laughter tinkled through the van.

We continued talking, while Carl slept, for the rest of the journey. It turns out that she was nice, and I liked her. Shocking.

***

The following day, while Carl and I slaved over trying to stuff everything from both of our rooms at home into a "suite" that was smaller than either of them individually, I asked him about Jess.

"Why've you kept her away from me before?" I asked, both of us trying to manoeuvre the same bed closer to the wall.

"My bed? My bed has a gender?" He looked up at me in puzzlement.

"Sorry, I think I had the beginning of that conversation in my head." I apologised. "I meant Jess. Why have you kept her separate from our friendship group?"

"Oh," he stuttered. "I just- It wasn't a priority. The boxes just didn't overlap."

"I got to know her a bit better last night. She didn't seem like a good fit for you before, but after talking to her a bit more, I think she is," I smiled at him.

He dropped the corner of the bed suddenly, causing me to jump.

"Sorry!" He said, before looking at me strangely. "What do you mean by that? The fit thing?"

I thought quickly. I had clearly offended him slightly but couldn't think of a way to backpedal.

"As I said, I didn't really know her," I began, thinking frantically. "She seemed a bit stuck up. But I was wrong."

Carl nodded.

"Yeah. Okay. Sorry," he said, pushing the bed further.

I think I must have struck a nerve.

"Well, with us living together now, then you'll probably see her a bit more. So yeah..." He trailed off.

***

We had a week before term started, so took the time to familiarise ourselves with the city and with our cohort and neighbours. The bars down here were eye-wateringly expensive without using student discounts, so oftentimes we'd simply stock up at a local shop and head back to someone's dorm/room/suite/flat to lubricate our social cogs.

It was the Friday before term began that we ended up at Jess and Abby's with our bounty. They had somehow secured a flat in a student house, rather than in halls like Carl and I, and the whole house seemed to be partying tonight. I recognised a face or two from our halls, but other than Jess and Carl, I didn't know anyone here.

Some of the residents must have been engineering or computing students, as various lights around the house seemed to pulse in different colours in rhythm with the music and I doubted any student would have enough money to buy a system that worked like that.

"Hey, you must be Sam," a girl with skin that looked almost the colour of burnished copper in the strange lights said to me.

"Hi," I began, looking for Carl, who had been at my side just a moment ago. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage."

I looked at her, trying to see if I could place her face.

She had large dark eyes that looked both green and brown in the lights. Her hair was loosely curled and tied in kind of pigtails, although curls from her fringe hung down over parts of her face. When the lights flashed a certain colour, I could see her hair was dyed purple towards the tips and gradually faded to brown. I wondered how that would look in a solid light. Her nose was a little wide, but not large, and her mouth followed suit with plump full lips.

She wore a subtle orange cropped blouse that showed off a pierced navel on a flat stomach above tight blue jeans.

She laughed, the expression lighting up her face.

"Carl's with Jess, if you couldn't guess," she smiled. "I'm Abby. Jess's friend and flatmate."

"Ah! I've heard about you," I said, immediately regretting my choice of words.

"You have?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow at me.

"Only good things, I promise!" I smiled. "Well... Mostly good."

She laughed at that, relieving me.

"I'm pretty sure Carl can teleport or something. He was right here a second ago." I stated

"Yeah, Jess has that effect on men," Her eyes widened and she brought a hand to her mouth. "'Had'. I meant 'had'."

"That would have sounded a lot more innocent if you hadn't had the slight breakdown," I laughed.

If I'd heard that a week ago, I would probably have been concerned for him. But after talking to Jess about Carl, I didn't think he needed to be worried.

"Well, it's nice to meet you," she said awkwardly. "I'm going to look for a Jack so I can get remove this foot from my mouth."

"Let me know if you find one, I'll be sure to need it at some point tonight too," I smiled at her and let her wander off.

A little while later, I found my way back to Carl.

"Oi! I got Jess to point you out to Abby and you blew it. She thinks you're not interested in her," he frantically spewed out.

"She seemed a bit flustered and I wasn't drunk enough to say something stupid enough to help," I shrugged.

"Well, now would be a perfect time to go and say something stupid," Jess interjected from next to Carl. "She's getting hit on by creeps and she's already slept with one of them in an effort to get them to go away."

"Wow, she's been busy. It's not even ten," I replied.

Jess burst out laughing.

"Not tonight, you idiot," she said, punching me lightly on the arm. "Now go. Babe, make sure he doesn't mess it up."

I walked over towards where Abby stood in a wide doorframe, surrounded by guys. She seemed to be having fun; a broad smile split her face at least, so I was reluctant to interrupt. I felt a hand on my back, gently guiding me forward and Carl was at my side.

Suddenly, we were in the group. We must have interrupted something the conversation as they were all silent now.

"Hey Abby, Sam was just expressing his surprise that he never ran into you at Atlantis back home," Carl blurted out.

I had no idea what he was talking about, but Abby seemed to smile at him before turning to me.

"Oh my god, Sam! Me and the girlies were there all the time! That's insane that we never saw you! Do you know Imran? The bouncer. He let us in without ID just because J- Jo flashed him her tits once."

"Jo?" Carl asked.

"You girls like to party? Why don't you show us what you've got?" One of the guys, a small one with short spiky hair, spoke over Carl.

"Yeah, I know Imran. He's a good lad. Think he's been hit in the head one too many times though, you get me?" I said, ignoring the other guy.

Abby laughed. Carl smiled and turned to go back to Jess.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. You-" Abby began.

"Do all your mates put out like you?" One of the guys, a big lad that was probably handsome if he didn't look so dull, asked.

I saw Carl freeze, and both his and Abby's expressions mirrored what I could feel on my own face as we all turned to look at him. It wasn't even what he had said that was so offensive, but the way he spoke as well.

The lad who hadn't spoken since I'd got there shook his head and just walked off with the same look of mixed disbelief and disgust on his face. The smaller one grinned lecherously.

"Yeah Annie, Derek said you was easy to get into bed, and it sounds like your friends might be too. I don't mind sloppy seconds," he smiled at her, as if unable to comprehend what he was saying might be taken badly. "What about the hot one with the huge tits?"

He turned to look around the room, clutching the doorframe for support.

"She's your roommate, right? Derek said she-" He stopped when I stepped in front of him.

"You're being rude. Get out," I demanded of the little guy.

"This ain't your house, mate," The big dull one said.

"Doesn't matter. I doubt anyone would want either of you here the way you're talking. Get out," I repeated.

"Yeah, fuck off," Carl said, stepping beside me.

I considered whether I'd acted a bit too impetuously, but Abby seemed mortified, and these wankers kept pushing.

The first hit caught me square in the jaw. I had my eyes on the big guy, so when the little one rammed his fist into the side of my face, I felt my head jolt to the right. Fortunately, the big guy did exactly what I was expecting and pulled his arm back in a wide arc, perfectly telegraphing that he was about to punch me. I pulled my knee up into his groin and watched him fold over into a heap -- anything worth fighting for is worth fighting dirty for.

I turned to the other guy, but Carl was already holding his arms to the side while he tried to kick anything he could reach.

"Get out, before you embarrass yourselves anymore," Abby said, stepping up to my right.

"Slut!" The little guy spat.

"You know what?" Abby raised her voice at him. "Yeah. I like to fuck. Who doesn't? You're using that word as an insult because you can't get laid. That doesn't even make sense. With your attitude, you won't get laid. You're a pathetic little bitch who needs to re-evaluate how to talk to people, let alone women."

I noticed a few people looking our way, but most of the party was continuing on as if nothing had happened.

"Now get out of my flat," she said with finality and stood aside.

Carl let go of him and stood next to her. I followed suit and hoped they would get the picture.

The smaller guy grabbed the big one by the arm and started pulling him, which seemed to be a difficult endeavour as the big guy dragged his feet, groaning. The smaller guy stared daggers at us the whole time, which felt like a considerable duration before they finally stepped out of the front door.

Carl let out a sigh as Jess walked quickly over, biting her lip. I couldn't help but notice her breasts bouncing ahead of her as she marched towards us. I hadn't noticed how revealing her outfit when I'd seen her briefly a minute ago.

"Come with me," she commanded, pulling Carl by the top of his shirt.

He went without a second glance, muttering something about "dickheads".

"Sorry about that," Abby said, tears in her eyes.

"What are you sorry for?" I replied. "They were being rude. That's not on you... and I think I may have escalated that needlessly."

"I don't know," She responded, pursing her lips.

She sighed and rubbed her eyes, looking around. The people closest seemed to have gone back to their conversations.

"Thanks. I know you and Carl were trying to help," she said eventually. "I need to fix my make-up."

"Can I come?" I asked. "I don't really know anyone else here, and I think people might be a bit wary of me after that display..."

She seemed to blush, pausing, and considering. Then she smiled and gestured me to follow her.

As she turned, I noticed how her jeans seemed to adhere to her bum like another layer of skin. Wow, I had never considered myself an "ass man" before, but maybe that was just because I'd never seen one like this, perfectly round, yet tight. I would swear the denim jiggled as she walked.

"You coming?" She asked from down the hallway.