Scheduled an urgent talk with my friend Lily this morning, to discuss the woeful circumstance of our last bop, when instead of beguiling Jason (Gorgeous Gap Year Fresher), I had ended up locked in an inebriated clinch with my surly ex-boyfriend.
‘I thought you dumped him when you found him with that random naked girl?’ Lily asked casually, slurping coffee as we trudged to lectures.
I groaned. ‘I did.’
‘So d’you want him back? That’s what everyone’s been saying.’
‘No!’ I shrieked. ‘In fact, I don’t even know what the big deal is: it was just a pathetic drunken -’
I felt a tap on my shoulder, and was dazzled by a golden tan and gleaming smile. Gorgeous Gap Year Fresher had surprised me again.
‘Hello,’ he grinned, falling into step beside me as Lily oh-so-subtly crossed the road at a sprint to leave us alone.
‘Hi,’ I breathed.
‘You’re a second year, right? I’m Jason, a French and Philosophy fresher.’
Forcing away daydreams of being girlfriend to the new, 21st century Sartre, I eagerly grasped the hand he was extending towards me.
‘Your tute partner’s told me about you – I was hanging out with her at the bop, if you remember.’
Hoping that the loathsome Pert’n’Perky hadn’t vented too maliciously about me, I nodded. ‘Yeah, she’s a great girl, isn’t she? ‘
But Gorgeous Gap Year Fresher didn’t seem to hear me. Instead, he halted brusquely and gazed seriously into my eyes. I felt my knees tremble beneath me.
‘I feel I should tell you,’ he said sombrely, ‘I saw you with that guy on the dance floor – your ex, right?’ My cheeks flushed. ‘After the bop – I feel really bad about telling you this, but he kissed your tute partner, and they disappeared together.’
My jaw fell, and my mind teemed with questions. Why would Pert’n’Perky lower her standards like this? Revenge? Drunkenness? True love melting her thorny heart at last? And why had Jason decided to tell me this? Was he…interested? My mouth was struggling to find words.
‘I can see you’re in shock,’ he said gently, squeezing my arm, ‘so I’ll head off to my lecture. But remember, you can do so much better than someone like him.’
He smiled, and then, for one magical, all too brief moment, leant in to give me a quick kiss on the cheek, before disappearing into the mill of chattering students.
I was stunned – but far from feeling devastated, soars of thrilled elation were swooping and gliding in my stomach.
Diary of an Oxford Scuzz
