It was the summer holidays. My college days were long gone and I was now neck deep in a shitty cesspool of uni work and debt.
That debt had just got a little bit worse as I headed back to my seat with three pints of fruity cider. I plonked one in front of Gina and one in front of Fiona. I slid onto the bench opposite them. God it was hot, and the cold alcoholic appley goodness was going down way too well. It was good to be home too. I enjoyed uni life, but I had missed my two best friends.
"Thanks Han," Fiona said.
"Thanks babe," Gina added. "Isn't that your fuck buddy from a few years ago. Sam wasn't it?" She nodded behind me at a table in the distance.
I turned and saw him, and I smiled. I hadn't seen him for ages. He still looked good. A little bit on the doughy side from our last encounters, but he still looked fantastic.
It had been a good few months with him. I had never come up with a good name for what we had. I suppose it was friends with benefits, or fuck buddies as Gina said. I called him my shag hag once, he hadn't been so keen on that one.
"He still looks pretty hot from here," Fiona said. Gina rolled her eyes and Fiona laughed. I laughed with her. Gina wasn't quite the male loving kind. She didn't hate them, she just prefered the close company of women. I liked to keep my options open and liked both.
"You would say that," Gina said. She turned to me. "Look if your going start fucking him over the summer at least go out with him this time, and then you'll be bored of him in a few weeks. Instead of it dragging on for months."
"It didn't drag on," I protested. "I only saw him now and again. And wait one minute, I haven't even spoken to him yet."
"You were shagging him every week," she said. "Pretending it was casual. And I can see it in your eyes already, working out your best chat up lines."
"It was casual!" I blurted, a bit too quickly and defensively. They both laughed at me.
It hadn't been every week, but we had met up quite a lot. Whenever one of us was horny and hadn't had anyone to take it out on. It had almost been a shame to head off to uni.
I had been tempted to phone him every time I had popped home for holidays, but I had bottled it each time. Worried that I'd be stepping on someone's toes.
"You're going to go over aren't you?" Gina said, reading my face as usual.
"Don't know," I muttered. I did know. I wanted to. I just wasn't sure I had drunk enough to have the balls to go over. It had been a while.
"Get it over with then," Gina said sulkily. Fiona and I laughed. Gina didn't understand how women didn't just stick to their own. The concept of how I could like men and women confused her greatly.
She wasn't jealous either. Trust me. I was not her type. That wasn't to say we hadn't fooled around occasionally. Gina was just more of a settling down type, and I was the complete opposite.
"As you're so encouraging," I said. "I'll be back in a minute."
"Good luck," Fiona said. I gave the cute blonde a quick wink and headed off.
I quickly adjusted my dress. It hadn't been my wisest choice of outfit, as I hadn't expected it to be so hot. It was a gorgeous dress, but the dark red velvety material was a bit thicker than my usual choice. It was short at least, high on my thighs. It had an almost square neckline with thin straps, showing just enough of my small amount of cleavage. It hugged my petite slender figure, highlighting what curves I had.
Luckily Sam was sitting by himself. Waiting for someone, or his company taking a long toilet break. I took a deep breath. Sometimes you just have to barrel into these things head first. What was the worst that could happen? Right. I had made a tit of myself plenty of times, one more wasn't going to scar me.
"Hey stranger," I said. Obviously sounding cool in my head, it sounded cool anyway.
"Oh hey Hannah," he said. He looked genuinely happy to see me, which sent all kinds of tingly goodness in all kinds of the right places. He was sat down and his eyes flicked up over me. "Wow, you look amazing." He stood and we hugged. The feeling of his bulk against my petite body made my skin flush. I was only 5'3" and he was over six. I liked the small feeling in his strong arms.
"Thank you," I gushed, like an idiot. My face heating up. "Not so bad yourself." He did still look good, not quite as muscular as our college days, but that didn't matter to me. He was very attractive, and he had far more important attributes. Not being a dick head was one.
"Thanks. Not quite as trim," he said, smiling and patting a small belly. "Drink?" He nodded towards the bar.
"I've just got one thanks," I said. "Just wanted to say hi." He had two drinks on the table. "I won't keep you and your imaginary friend from gazing into each other's eyes."
He laughed. "I'm meeting Carl," he said. "Still a cheeky fucker I see." I shrugged. "Are you out all night? Maybe we could catch up later?"
I smiled. "I'd like that," I replied. Play it cool Han, I told myself. "Should be in the usual old hang outs. Imagine we'll bump into each other."
"Do you still have my number?" he asked. "Just in case." I stopped myself from grinning. I had hoped he would offer a safer way we would catch up.
"I have a number," I said. I took my phone out and showed him the number I had.
"That's the one," Sam said. "There's no way I would have changed numbers without messaging you the new one."
I flushed pink slightly. The alcohol didn't help, I had that fuzzy perspective on the current situation.
"I wanted to call you," he said. "After you left for uni. I just wasn't sure if you'd want me to. I imagined you'd be too busy."
