The Stunner

To any outside observer we were the most random assortment of human beings wedged into a pub booth. Sure we were all roughly the same age but we did not look like we belonged together, in truth we didn’t.

The eight of us, all 18 and 19 , 5 boys, 2 girls and 1 non binary had just finished our second year aerospace engineering at the University of Sheffield. We had our last exam earlier in the day and tomorrow we would all be heading back to home, wherever that was for each of us. My parents lived in Manchester so I didn’t have a long journey back tomorrow.

I looked like your typical engineering student. Tall, slight of frame, thick rimmed glasses, wearing a Star Wars t shirt under an open flannel shirt and cheap jeans. I even had an uncool name. Leslie. It’s like my parents knew I’d be a nerd. The rest of classmates while all incredibly smart, many of whom I considered even smarter than myself, looked far less like the stereotypical nerd you’d find in your typical college movie. There was Lynn and Harry, though those weren’t their actual names. They were both from Chinese parents but born in the uk and fast became a couple once we started. Lynn was effervescently bubbly and cute as a button, she wore a nose ring and short hair that changed color more often than I changed my bed sheets. On this night it was bright pink. Harry was much quieter than her but had a wicked dry sense of humour. He also was a gym rat, you’d be forgiven for thinking he was a bouncer as opposed to a budding engineer.

Lynn was sat in Harry’s lap, as we tried to fit the 8 of us on 2 benches designed for 3 people each. They were across and furthest to the end from me. Next to them in the middle and taking up most of the space was Big Mick. His name was Michael but everyone knew him by his nickname. He was a very chubby, heavy framed lad from east end of London. He was as loud as he was big, and had an infectious laugh. As often was the case on the few occasions we went out together he was wearing a claret west ham kit.

I was wedged in against the wall. Next to me were Ash, Macej and Aarav. Ash shortened from Ashley, they were gender neutral, and wore unflattering clothes over their unflattering shape. They were a lovely person but not the most attractive. Macej was Polish, he was the only one of our group who wasn’t raised here, only coming to the Uk to study. He was taller than me, kept his hair shaved short and had a very angular nose. Aarav was a third generation British Indian, very short and a little scrawny. He had become quick friends with Macej sharing a love of FPS games. Aarav was probably my closest friend of the bunch. He was the first I befriended. I had gravitated towards him in class as we both looked like the most awkward and unpopular students in our whole cohort. That seemed like the safest option having endured heavy bullying at my 6th form.

After we got through the first semester and the difficult course started weeding out those who were serious on doing well from who were going to have to drag themselves through. Aarav and I started slowly amalgamating with the rest of our mish mash group. The 8 of us were easily the best in the year and would often have joint study sessions in the library.

I say 8 of us I haven’t mentioned who was sat directly opposite me. That was Olivia or Livvy as she went by. A geordie girl who could possibly be the most out of place among us. She would have been more suited on a red carpet somewhere.

You know how there are plenty of beautiful girls. But then there are a small handful that are almost painfully so. Livvy definitely fell into the latter category. The first time I saw her in class I had to double take. My eyes not believing such a creature could walk among us mortals.

You might think I am exaggerating. So let me paint a picture. She had shiny brown hair, straight out of an old Pantene advert. She had it tied up a lot of time in class but out on the town tonight it cascaded down in loose curls. She had a warm skin tone, big brown eyes and a smile that lit up a room. Her face was picture perfect with pouty lips and perfect bone structure. She also had a killer body. That was evident even under her causal clothes but tonight she was wearing a little black party dress with thin spaghetti straps. The square cut of her dress wasn’t showing cleavage but rather the rounded tops of her perfect breasts. They weren’t too small nor were they massive. They seemed to fit her frame perfectly. The tight fitted dress showed her cinched waist and flared hips with an ass so perfectly round you couldn’t draw a better one with a compass. At 5’7 she also had a nice pair of legs which she was showing off tonight under sheer tights.

I had a huge crush on her, naturally, but knew I stood no chance. She was seeing some guy named Darryn anyway. Yes Darryn spelt with a y. That wasn’t reason enough to hate him but at this point why not. I hated him because he looked, dressed and acted like a prick. Livvy was way too good for him.

I was following the group conversation while constantly stealing glances at Livvy. They were talking about the exam today and arguing over one of the more fiendish questions and how they reached their solutions. The rest of the paper had been fairly easy. Well for us at least, none of us were worried about not passing. Livvy wasn’t contributing. She had her head down in her phone texting furiously as she had done most of the night, barely touching her drink. When she did speak finally she stopped the conversation dead as she threw her phone down. And loudly shouted.

“Oh you can fuck right off!” In her strong Newcastle accent. Followed by her taking a big swig of her drink. Everyone had turned to her now. With Big mick next to her making shifting glances suppressing a laugh.

“What’s wrong Liv?” Ash asked.

“Darryn won’t..” she laughed and rested her head in her hands. “He won’t…. I I can’t say. I need to be WAY drunker for this.”

“This rounds on me lads” big Mick said turning to get to the bar. Harry and Lynn got up to let him out then shuffled down to Livvy.

Lynn asked her “what’s going on? Are you ok?”

“Yeah I’m fine” Livvy said “although I’m dumping Darryn” my stomach fluttered a little before settling once I remembered I wasn’t in this girls league, so what difference did it make.

“Oh no what happened?” Lynn asked her in a tone that betrayed her.

“Oh my god you hated him didn’t you?”

“Hate is a strong word.” Was Lynn’s defense.

“He was a bit of prick.” I said surprising even myself. The beer clearly lubricating my tongue.

“I’m sorry?” Lynn asked incredulously. I wanted to shrink feeling the pressure of her wrathful gaze. I turned to my friends for support.

“No one else thought that?” The table was silent. Finally Aarav rescued me.

“He wasn’t exactly perfect.”

“Oh come on, nobody is perfect.” Livvy said.

Once again my slightly inebriated state didn’t filter my thoughts as I uttered, “Well you are.”

“Excuse me?” She asked, staring at me once again.

I didn’t hesitate this time, “You’re super smart, drop dead gorgeous, like seriously how the fuck are you even real? And you’re super nice to everyone and funny.”

The table was silent as they watched me go on my rant. Livvy was stunned to silence as well. It may have been warm inside the bar but the bead of sweat running down my back had nothing to do with it. I decided to break the awkward silence by following up with. “You deserve way better.” then breaking eye contact with her looking down and taking another swig of my beer.

Lynn followed on from my comment telling Livvy “He’s not wrong you know.”

Big Mick returned with the drinks placing them down and sat at the end of the bench this time. “So, we know what Darryn did yet?” He asked loudly to everyone.

“NO they don’t. And I’m not saying.” Livvy said.

“She hasn’t said anything, but Leslie just professed his love to Lizzy.” Said Harry in his typical dry fashion.

If I was feeling warm before, now it felt like I was on fire. Mick was looking at me with intrigue and the others also followed suit. I dared not look across at Lizzy. As the silence grew I defensively uttered. “I.. I.. I.. think what I said is that she deserved better not that ..”

“I’m fucking with you dude.” Harry interrupted, saving me from further embarrassment

“Right so we still don’t know what the prick did?” Big Mick asked.

“Seriously? You too?” Livvy asked, confusing Mick as he was at the bar when we had used that exact word to describe Darryn about a minute earlier.

“Come on how bad can it be?” Ash asked. Switching the conversation back to Livvy and the reasons for her falling with Darryn.

Livvy was starting to flush with embarrassment, and she was taking more frequent sips to settle her nerves. She picked up her phone, scrolled through her messages, finding the one she was looking for and showed it to Lynn next to her.

Lynn scrolled and read for a while before saying “Oh my! Wow!” As she handed the phone back to Livvy who put the phone back down and her face in her hands.

“Oh you got to tell us now darling.” Mick said.

“No this is… personal. If she doesn’t want to share with the rest of us that’s her choice.” Lynn said jumping to her defense.

“Of course you’d say that. Seeming as you know.” Ash said.

“Yeah.” Aarav said jokingly, joining in. Harry and Macej remained silent but were nodding in agreement. Seemingly curious too.

“He won’t….. oh god this is stupid.” Livvy took a deep breath, downed the rest of her drink and finally said. “He won’t cum on my face.”

We were all silent and a little confused. Macej, Aarav, Mick and myself exchanging confused looks, unsure if we heard right That certainly was not what we were expecting.

“I’m sorry. Did you say he WON’T cum on your face?” Mick asked what I’m sure we were all thinking.

“I think a little more context would help them.” Lynn said.

“Oh right. So yeah. Our relationship is getting more….. physical and 1 he’s being a dick about wearing a condom.”

“See, prick”. I interjected she stared daggers at me but continued.

“He says, since I’m in the pill he shouldn’t have to wear one. But it’s never 100% safe and truth be told it’s less about that and more about STDs, I know he’s slept around a lot in the past.”

We all nodded along in agreement.

“Anyway he keeps…” she paused a bit but continued on with her explanation “wanting to finish inside me. I’ve told him no and so asked him to give me a facial instead but he’s refusing.”

“What an idiot.” I said.

“Not wrong there mate.” Mick agreed.

“You don’t think I’m overreacting maybe?” She asked the table but was looking more towards me.

“Hell no. 1; He should grow the fuck up and wear a condom. And 2 ; your girlfriend is kind enough to let you give her a facial as alternative. That’s hardly a sacrifice. It’s more like hitting the fucking Jackpot.”

“You like giving facials then?” She asked me.

I let out a scoff. “Livvy seriously, come on, you think I’ve ever had the luxury of being in that situation?” Highlighting the fact I was an obvious virgin.

“Well I don’t know if you had a girlfriend back home. But is the idea of giving a facial a turn on for you?” She rebutted.

“Well, yeah. I think all guys find that hot. right?” I turned to the guys around me.

Aarav, Mick and Macej all reacted with agreement by shrugging their shoulders or nodding.

Macej added, “My girlfriend in Poland. She does not like them.”

“Girls don’t like ‘em mate. Only guys do.” Mick said.

“Well……” Livvy said making us all turn back to her piquing out curiosity. “Fine, I like them ok! What about you?” Livvy turned to Lynn. Ash being more into girls probably wasn’t the right person to ask.

“Oh hell no. I am not talking about my kinks with all of…..”

“Yes she does.” Harry said prompting us to roar with laughter and her to turn and start hitting him. He just held up one of his large arms and her attempts to slap him were futile.

“NO. NO. I don’t like it.” She said pointing at each one of us trying to make it very clear. “But he does. So we do that occasionally because I’m a fucking amazing girlfriend.” She then turned to Harry. “Now tell them that’s true or you can forget EVER doing that again.”

“Ok ok. Yeah she’s right.” He said

“Tell them.” She prompted again.

“I did!”

“No tell them that I’m a fucking amazing girlfriend.

“Oh. She’s a fucking amazing girlfriend.”

Livvy looked curious “So you don’t actually like like it. You just do it because he likes it?”

“Yeah. Do you really actually enjoy it?” Lynn asked.

I could see all the guys lean forward slightly.

“Well yeah actually. I find it really hot.” She said, explaining ti the table. “But most guys I’ve dated have just wanted to finish inside me.”

“You’re dating the wrong people.” I said again.

“Clearly.“ she said looking at me. The way she was looking at me was different from before. She wasn’t pissed off now. More studying me like I was one of our math problems.

Big Mick raised his glass to the table. “To cumming on girls faces.” We all laughed and raised out glasses in. As we did Lynn and I made eye contact. Her face lit up in one of those smiles and then she used her free hand to cutely tuck some of her hair behind her ear. Exposing more of her flawless skin on her neck and her large party hoop earrings.

Conversation ebbed and flowed throughout the evening, ranging on all topics. Slowly we started to go out separate ways. Macej was the first to leave having an early flight and not yet started packing. Followed by Ash, then Lynn and Harry, who judging by the look on their faces were not going back to separate rooms.

Having drunk my limit I decided I was going to head out as well. Mick would likely keep going till dawn. His large stature enabling him to keep tanking booze and he frequently put that to the test.

“You staying?” I asked Aarav.

“Yeah, I think Il stay for one more round.”

“If you’re going I’ll come. I’d rather not walk back alone.” Livvy said.

“Uh… sure ok. If you’d rather stay longer then I don’t mind waiting.”

“No no I’m tapping out too. Bye guys! See you next year.” She said, meaning the second year of our course. She walked round and gave them both a hug, which I was jealous of. As she hugged Mick, he gave me a wink. I didn’t know what he was implying, I certainly wasn’t seeing this for more than what it was, just company and security of walking back to the dorms together.

Once we were outside, I realized that this was probably the first time I had ever been alone with Livvy. I felt my stomach tie into knots not knowing what to do. I was contemplating what would be the right distance to keep between us as we walk but as soon as we started walking Livvy interrupted my calculations by grabbing hold of my arm.

“Hold on to me Les. I’m a little wobbly on these heels now.” I hooked my arm allowing her to stable herself. My heart responded by beating faster and hard enough I could feel it in my head.

Looking down at her heels I said, “They do not look practical.”

“They’re not really meant to be. I was planning to go to the club with Darryn after.”

“So you were going to ditch us uncool people” I jibed.

“No… no… yes. Maybe. You guys aren’t uncool.”

I stopped and faced her crossing my eyes and giving her a dorky smile and she couldn’t hold it together bursting out laughing.

“That’s what I thought.”

“Oh my god I’m so sorry.” she said still laughing. “You’re just so funny.”

“Yeah, funny looking”

That made her laugh more. “No I’m serious you’ve always found a way to make me laugh.”

“I was born hilarious.”

She cracked up again. “See what I mean?” Despite it being June it wasn’t a warm night and a gust came down the road causing her to shiver.

“Do you want my shirt? It’s not a jacket but it might help?” I asked her.

“What about you?”

“I’ll survive” I said taking it off and wrapping it round her.

“It’s embarrassing. I’m from Newcastle, I should be tougher than this.”

It was my turn to laugh. “Is it true that Geordie girls go out clubbing in winter wearing next to nothing?”

“Oh my god yes. It’s insane. I don’t know how we all don’t die of hypothermia.”

We talked about home and family who she would be seeing again tomorrow. She lived with her mum. Her parents split when she was 12 but her dad didn’t move far away so she still saw plenty of him and generally had a good relationship with both as well as their new partners. I learned she had a 14 year old sister who she felt was going to be even more beautiful than she was. I told her that I found that unlikely.

Similarly I let her in on my family background. Not that there was much to talk about. Only child to pretty average parents. Average seems a harsh word, as I loved them dearly and they were fantastic parents. They worked hard at their rather mundane jobs. My dad was fitter for British Gas, now called engineers themselves, he found it funny I had to go to university to get the same job title as he had, even if the roles were entirely different. While my mum worked in admin for the NHS. All in all they were rather uninteresting people who worked 9-5 then came home had dinner and vegetated in front of the tv.

By this point we’d reached the university campus and were headed towards the girls dorm. We reached the front door. I thought this is where we would part ways, but while still holding on to me, she put in the door code. When the door opened she set foot inside kept her tight hold on my arm, escorting me inside. We walked up the stairs and down a corridor until we got to her room.

I was about to tell her good night when she spoke first.

“Do you want to cone in for a bit? I’ll make a cup of tea. Warm you up before you head out again.”

My dorm was less than a 2 minute walk away, just 2 buildings over.

“It’s fine, I’m not far.”

“Please.” She looked at me with those big brown eyes. “At least to say thank you for the shirt.” I was done for at ‘please’. There was no way I could say no to this girl.

“Sure.” She smiled and we headed in.

I walked into her bedroom and she sat me down on the edge of the bed as there was little else to sit. Her dorm room was exactly the same layout as mine. Small and functional. A bed, desk, a small ensuite and a kettle. That was pretty much it. There was a kitchenette down the hall that would be shared between a number of rooms.

Her room was quite clean but I noticed that was because she was already packed for tomorrow.

She went to fill and put the kettle on. “Are you going to miss student digs?” She asked

“Definitely not going to miss the random fire alarms at 4am when some drunken arsehole incinerates his toast.”

She laughed. “Yeah, we’ve had less of that, but I can’t wait for my independence. Have you got your accommodation sorted for next year?”

“I think so. Not signed yet but have an agreement over email. A one bedroom, nothing much, it’s essentially accommodation targeted at students. Just a bit more comfortable and slightly bigger than this place. What about you?”

“Well. I hadn’t looked as Darryn has a place and wanted me to stay with him. It sounded like a good way to save money at the time, now I’ve got to start looking and it’s quite late I think.” She sounded worried.

“I’m sure you’ll find. And don’t worry. If you haven’t found by the start of term, the couch where I’m going is a pull out. So you can crash at mine until you find something.”

“Awwh you’re offering me your couch?”

“No I’m offering you my room. I’ll take the couch.”

She turned to look at me smiling. “You’re adorable.” It wasn’t top of the lists of compliments I’d like but I’d take it. She finished making the teas and handed me one.