From the Beginning Ch. 01

This is the first time I am publishing something; the overview has been stuck in my head for about a week and I thought that I might as well get it on paper. Not really going to be any sex in this chapter, more for setting the scene, this will probably be a long story. Constructive criticism is appreciated, as well as tips for my future writing. The name of the song is inspired by the song by Emerson, Lake & Palmer and partially inspires the story.

Thanks,

SilentRomantic.

All sexual activity takes place between adults.

Nathan tried to place the fob against the sensor next to the door, a difficult feat considering the heavy rain and the fact that he was holding a large, and very heavy, box in his hand. Managing to get the door unlocked he stepped into the entrance of his home for the next nine months. At least, it was the entrance to the entrance of his home. He was going to be living in a ground-floor flat with four other students. Now he was inside, he dropped the box on the floor outside his flat door and put his key-card into the slot above the door handle. Hearing the click he opened the door, picked up the box and brought it inside. As he turned left to where he knew his room was, he heard a door open behind him.

"Hey Nathan! Nice to finally meet you in person." a feminine voice called out to him.

Placing the box by his room door, he turned around to see which of his flatmates were greeting him. "Hi, Katrina, right? Great to meet you too, how are you?" Nathan replied, able to put a voice to one of the profiles in one of the university groupchats.

Katrina was a brunette that was about a head shorter than he was, looking her up and down he could tell that she had a good body, she clearly did some form of exercise, but wasn't super slim.

"I'm doing great, just excited to be here to be honest, just finishing with my unpacking."

"Well, you're way ahead of me then, I've barely started unloading the car." Nathan laughed.

"You're not the only one, Richard and Chloe only just got here as well, they just went back to get more stuff."

"I probably passed them walking down here then, I'll make sure I introduce myself later."

"Yeah, probably a good idea, anyway you better get unloaded, once everyone is done maybe we can go shopping?"

"I'm up for it, see you later." Nathan said, unlocking his door and picking up the box as Katrina retreated back to her room.

As he walked into his room, Nathan couldn't help but stop and admire his new space. To his left was a door that led to his en-suite, whilst directly ahead of him was his bed, against in the corner connecting the back and right walls. There was also a desk and chair, in the corner connecting the back and left walls, with some shelves above them. Finally, there was a wardrobe up against the wall of the en-suite. Putting the box down, Nathan walked up to the window between the desk and bed, looking out he saw a path running down the central part of campus, as well as some greenery and some of the research buildings.

"This is going to be fun." He thought to himself as he went back to his car to get more of his belongings.

Grabbing the last box out of the cab of his truck, he locked the door he swept his sweaty hand through his hair and thought about how lucky he was to have the truck. It was about 20 years old and on the more expensive side to run, but it was worth every penny. It had been a gift from his uncle Tim on his 17^th birthday. "Easier for me to give you the truck than pick you up and drop you off for every job" he had joked at the time. Nathan could afford to run it since he had worked with his uncle, who owned his own construction company, since he was 13 years old, and had saved almost all of his pay from those five years. In fact, he already had a job near the university he was studying at, due to his uncles glowing referrals.

Walking down a set of stairs, he saw a beautiful brunette woman trying to keep the door next to his apartment block open whilst balancing a box on her thigh. Rushing over he grabbed the door so she could focus on the box.

"Thanks, nearly dropped the ball there, well the box but you get what I mean." The woman giggled as she looked him in the eye.

Nathan smiled as he replied, "No problem, glad I could help."

He left quickly before the woman could reply.

The woman looked on curiously as he unlocked the door to the block next to her. "I guess he isn't interested." She thought.

After Nathan entered his apartment block, he paused and took a deep breath. He didn't consider himself to be attractive, as a virgin with brown hair that was short on the sides and long on up, combed up and slightly to the side, patchy beard when he allowed it to grow, and he felt skinny at 5'10", weighing 65kg. His complexion was okay, but the stunner he had just helped was way out of his league. He had made a quick escape, so it didn't seem like he was hitting on her, and in truth he wasn't, he was the type of person to help, without question or reward, if he saw someone that needed it.

When he opened the door to his flat, he noticed all of his flatmates were in the kitchen. He waved and signalled that he would join them in a minute and took his box to his room. This box contained some his most important, and fragile, items. In the box were a significant number of pen inks, as well as an array of fountain and dip pens. Nathan loved his different pens and inks, mainly using them to journal and write short stories when one came to him. He had over 30 different types of inks, ranging in price from £7 to £35, most of which were in the higher price range, and a variety of pens, from his £27 Pilot fountain pen to his £730 Mont Blanc fountain pen.

After making sure he put the box down gently on his desk, where nothing else would disturb it, he left his room and entered the kitchen, where Katrina was sitting on the counter talking with the two flatmates he hadn't met yet, Richard and Chloe. Richard was around 6'3" and had a solid build. From talking in the groupchat, Nathan knew that he played rugby for most of his life. His muscle combined with blonde hair and blue eyes meant he was seen as very attractive to almost all the women that had seen him at university so far. Chloe, on the other hand, was around 5'5", and a bit chubby. Not overweight but had yet to lose all of her baby fat. She was also blonde but had brown eyes. Nathan knew that Richard would be in some of his classes, as they were both studying history. Chloe was studying politics, and Katrina was studying law, so both of them would also share at least one class.

"Hey everyone, nice to meet you all, I'm Nathan, Richard and Chloe I'm guessing?" Nathan asked as he introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you too Nathan, and no, before you ask you can't call me Dick." Richard joked as he moved from leaning on the counter to shake Nathans hand.

Nathan laughed and replied, "Fine by me, the only time I'll mention you being Dick is when I tell people I'm living with one."

They all laughed and then Chloe introduced herself.

"Glad to be able to put a name to a face Nathan." Chloe smiled as she also shook his hand.

"As am I."

At this point Katrina stepped in, "Now that introductions are out of the way, what does everyone plan to do for food?"

"I can just about make eggs and bacon, so I have no idea." Richard laughed.

"Typical gammon headed rugby player." Chloe ribbed.

"You told me you can't cook either." Katrina replied, also laughing, "Guess I'll have to teach you both, what about you Nathan?"

"I can cook, I don't think I'm great at it, but I haven't killed anyone yet, looks like we'll have to take it in turns until they both learn enough."

"Looks like we need to go shopping then, if we all make a list of likes and dislikes, we can make a plan from there." Katherine stated.

"I need to unpack some things then we can go to Tesco, my truck has 4 seats." Nathan agreed.

"You have a truck! I thought we weren't allowed vehicles!" Chloe squealed.

"You can if you have activities you have to drive to that are long distance, I have both martial arts and a job, which I need a truck for."

"What type of job?" Richard asked.

"I'm a qualified construction worker, my uncle recommended me to a friend of his that runs a small company, so I'll be working part time with him." Nathan answered.

"Nice one, you're gonna be busy then." Chloe observed.

"Yeah, but I don't start until after freshers' week is over anyway."

"Glad to hear it! Means we have time to get pissed!" Richard exclaimed to everyone's amusement.

"I'm afraid I don't really drink Richard, unless it's with very few people around, even then one drink is all I have." Nathan responded, wanting to get that bit of information out of the way as soon as possible.

"Fair enough mate, to be honest it's fun watching us drunks make fools out of ourselves anyway, and you don't get the consequences of the next morning."

Suddenly Katrina interrupted, "I think we should all get on so we can actually have some fun tonight."

Everyone agreed.

As Nathan was unpacking, he decided to put some music on. Moving across the room he took his speaker off his shelf and turned it on, it automatically connected to his IPad. Putting his speaker back on the top shelf he decided to listen to some progressive rock. Shuffling his playlist, Love you too much by Greg Lake. Feeling much more energised, he continued to unpack whilst quietly singing to himself.

Around 30 minutes later he had finished unpacking everything except his kitchen items. Propping his door open with his new doorstop, he went grabbed a box and walked the short distance to the kitchen. As he entered, he saw Chloe unpacking the last of her kitchen items.

"Hey, you nearly finished as well." She asked as he put his box on the floor.

"Yeah, nearly there, just got the last few kitchen bits." He replied.

"Well, you're the last one to put your stuff away, but I spoke to Richard, we've left you with the next best cupboards that are left, Katrina had already put her stuff away."

Nathan was shocked. "Wow thanks! You know you really didn't have to do that."

"We know, but if you're going to be doing more cooking, we guessed you would have more things to cook with, so it makes sense for you to have the better space, plus, it's the least we can do if you are going to be teaching us."

"Still, I could have made do without."

"If it wasn't for you and Katrina we would have to learn as we go, we'd be going without more than decent storage space if it wasn't for the two of you."

"Guess I'll shut up before you change your mind, I'll make sure I thank Richard when I see him." Nathan said, surprised at such a gesture.

"Good idea." Chloe laughed, "Anyway I need to go and make my list, I'll see you when we're done, nice music by the way."

"Sure, see you later." Nathan replied, slightly embarrassed that he forgot to turn it off when he left his room, before continuing to unpack.

Once unpacked, Nathan returned to his room and took his Pilot MR out of his backpack, it was his everyday pen and the ink he used worked on normal paper as well as the slightly thicker paper needed for most fountain pen inks. He then began to write his shopping list, as well as the list for likes and dislikes.

His dislike list was relatively short, whilst he decided not to bother writing a list of food he liked, he had the recipe book he'd written for that.

After he finished, he went into the kitchen to get a glass of water, Katrina and Richard were already in there, lists out on the table.

"Thanks for the cupboard space Richard, you didn't have to do that, but I really appreciate it." Nathan said as he entered.

"No problem, I know you already spoke to Chloe so let's leave it at a thank you and get on with talking about our lists." He replied.

"Good idea, what's that book in your hand Nathan?" Chloe asked as she entered behind him.

"This is my likes list" he said with a chuckle. "Actually, its my recipe book, only food I like is in this so there wasn't really any point, the recipe names are all at the front."

Nathan put the book, as well as the dislikes list on the kitchen table, the three of them hunched over it, Katrina holding the book. They didn't read the whole thing but looked at specific recipes that they thought they might like. It was five minutes before any of them said anything. Katrina spoke first.

"Nathan this is amazing, do you know how to cook all of these dishes?"

"Anything in that book I've cooked at least 10 times and for most of the meals I've eaten as every heated meal for three days straight." He replied, "If I can't cook a meal in bulk the odds are that I won't cook it."

All three of them look at him with shock written on their faces. It was Richard that spoke next.

"Not to move away from the meals, but the writing itself looks amazing, where did you find the inks and skill to write like this, it's almost like it's calligraphy."

"All written with a type of fountain pen in my best inks, I have taken a few calligraphy lessons in the past so that's probably why it looks like it, however I wanted it to be easier to read so I only have to glance at it when I cook."

Chloe hadn't said anything since reading, still looking shocked, she decided to speak up.

"I don't know about Richard and Katrina, but if you give me 10 minutes to look at these recipes, then learn what recipes Katrina knows, I don't even need any of you to look at my list."

"I agree with Chloe, fuck the list, lets here what Katrina has to say then we'll get on with making a shopping list." Richard agreed.

"I can cook, mainly simple meals like lasagne and pasta bake, but as long as Nathan's comfortable with me using his book, I'm happy with mainly using his recipes with a few of mine in the mix." Katrina offered.

"Don't let the fancy writing and number of recipes deceive you, a lot of those recipes are simple, have a look through and see what you think you will like and dislike, also look at what each recipe needs and make a list, as long as it's in the book I can cook it, any other recipes you want me to try that aren't in the book just ask and I'll try and find one. Also, look at what utensils and gadgets are needed to cook each recipe, as I don't have a slow cooker and some of them need it." `Nathan said, overwhelmed by what they had said.

"While you all do that, I'm going to give you all some space and do some bits in my room." He continued.

After he left, he wondered what he was getting into, now not only did he have to work, study, go to martial arts and do some of his other hobbies, now he had to teach others how to cook as well. "What the fuck am I getting myself into." he muttered as his door closed.

After 10 minutes Nathan heard a knock on his door, as he opened it, he saw Richard, who had the room across from him, at the door.

"We made a shopping list of meals plus any extras we wanna get." He said as he handed over both the list and book, "Add anything you want then we'll get going, the girls are getting ready now."

Nathan nodded, "I'll be ready in five."

With confirmation Richard turned around and entered his own room. Nathan closed his door and added the few extras he wanted to the list. As promised, he was ready in five minutes, locked his room and waited in the kitchen with three big shopping bags. Richard joined him next and another five minutes past before the girls appeared.

"Finally, all ready to go?" Richard asked.

"What do you mean funny, we had to make ourselves look presentable, which you clearly haven't done." Chloe teased.

Everyone laughed and headed out to Nathans truck.

After an hour of shopping, they returned with all three bags full, plus a backpack and a number of smaller bags. As they walked into their apartment block a group of others were walking down the stairs.

"Hey, you're flat 3.1, right?" One of the men said as they reached the bottom of the staircase.

It was Richard that replied. "Yeah, that's us, what flat are all of you in?"

"I'm Connor, nice you meet you. I'm in the flat above you with Gary, Lucy and Taylor." He replied whilst gesturing to the two of the women and other man behind him.

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Katrina, this is Chloe and Nathan, and that's Richard." Katrina said.

"We're having a party tonight if you fancy coming?" Gary offered.

"Yeah, we'll be there tonight" Chloe confirmed after looking at all three of us.

"Great we'll see you later then, we'll start kicking things off around nine." One of the women replied, Nathan didn't know which one was Lucy and which one was Taylor at that point.

"Bye." Nathan said as Richard turned to open the door.

After they all unpacked the shopping they stood and looked at each other.

"Guess we're going upstairs tonight then." Richard stated.

The girls shared a look between them before Katrina replied. "We better start getting ready then, you two better look presentable." she joked as they both left the room.

It was only six thirty at the time, so the boys knew they didn't need to start getting ready yet.

Nathan showed Richard how to cook a simple mince and pasta dish, after they finished cooking the girls came out to eat. They all raved about the dish, and Nathan made sure that Richard got some of the credit for it, which made him smile with appreciation. After talking for a little while longer the girls left to continue getting ready.

Nathan looked at Richard then asked, "You play CoD?"

Richard returned the look before returning with a question of his own. "Xbox or PlayStation?"

"Xbox."

He laughed at that before saying "Shame, but yeah I'm up for kicking your ass at CoD."

Nathan grinned as they walked towards their end of the flat.

Entering Nathans' room, Richard stopped confused.

"Mate, how the fuck do you have time to cook, do martial arts, study, read, and play both the keyboard and guitar?"

Nathan laughed. "Let's just say that my closer friends left my school after we finished our GCSE's and although my best friend was still there, I was more of an acquaintance to his other friends, I socialised with them once in a while but if my other friends weren't free, I would practice, plus I've been in martial arts since I was 9 and playing keyboard since I was 8. I started playing guitar aged 14."

Richard looked at him for 30 seconds before letting out a howl. "The women at this university are going to be all over you mate, make sure you leave some for the rest of us." He continued to laugh for another minute before Nathan could talk.

"Yeah, I doubt it." He replied dismissively.

It was at this point that that Nathans lack of self-confidence became evident to Richard, but all he could do was shake his head, knowing nothing he would say would change that. At that point he promised himself that he wouldn't let any women take advantage of Nathan, it would probably break him.

"You keep your opinion and I'll keep mine. Anyway, let's play some CoD." He finally decided to reply.

Nathan entered flat 3.2 slightly hesitant. The four of them could hear the thumping music from downstairs, and the others had been drinking since an hour before they left, so they were already tipsy. He, on the other hand, didn't have anything to drink. Part of it was because of his martial arts training, he liked to be in control of his body and didn't want his reactions to be slowed. The other part was about his past, his family, but nobody at the party knew about that, so he stuck to his "I just don't enjoy it" approach.

After some time had passed, he found himself beginning to relax. Richard had pretty much instantly had a female student approach him and had left to get a drink in the kitchen with her. While Chloe and Katrina had gone off with Lucy and Taylor and were now in conversation with a large group of students, mainly women.