Chapter Eight

Aniyah’s POV

I flopped onto my bed as soon as we entered our room, Bea shutting the door behind us before dropping onto my bed next to me and poking me.

‘Tired, go away’ I groaned, pushing at her feebly as I battled the hang over that was trying to remove my brain from my skull.

‘No way girlfriend, you need to tell me what the hell happened last night’ my roommate replied firmly.

Moving my head slowly, I peeked up at her through my hair, ‘I have no idea what you are talking about’ I grumbled.

Bea folded her arms across her chest, ‘umm, I’m talking about the big chunk of hunk that you wouldn’t let go of last night’ she replied pointedly.

I frowned, rolling so I could see her, ‘what are you talking about?’ I asked.

Bea sighed, throwing her hands up dramatically, ‘the guy’ she groaned in exasperation, ‘you got talking to some guy, Pixie said he saved you from some asshole. You were dancing and having a good time together. Played a s**t tonne of beer pong if I remember correctly and each time, we tried to extricate you from him you waved us away insisting you were fine.

I lost track of you at about one o’clock after you practically threw me at Simon, oh by the way, thanks for that, he was f*****g fiiiiiiine’ she drawled out.

I blushed as I studied her, ‘I threw you at a guy?’ I asked, mortified.

Bea nodded, ‘yeah, if my memory serves me right, and I was not that drunk, you told me to go get my vixen on and then told him to show me a good time and to keep me safe or you would kick him in the nuts’ she replied dismissively.

I buried my head into the covers of my bed, I threw my friend at a guy? Was the man who I woke up next to the same guy I was drinking with or someone who had found me afterwards.

Broken fragments swirled in the recesses of my mind, stunning blue eyes that held me captive and a sexy smile. Beer, so much god damned beer, seems I’m really bad a beer pong from what I remember.

I screwed up my face, probing the fleeting thoughts, I could remember laughing so much my cheeks hurt, the guy with the blue eyes, he was funny. I also remember he was angry at one point, but I couldn’t quite remember why, when we were dancing though, he relaxed and held me by the waist, swaying to the music with me.

‘Do you remember the guy’s name?’ I asked quietly, ‘the guy I was with?’

Bea frowned as she rested her hand on top of my head and started to play absentmindedly with my hair. ‘Umm, it was really loud’ she said, ‘I’m not sure he ever told me, he was super hot though girl and you were adamant that you were staying with him, Pixie even tried dragging you.’

My stomach churned at her words, my friends had tried to protect me but it seemed I was in the starring role of my own nightmare.

Bea studied me, her face darkening, ‘did he hurt you?’ she demanded suddenly, ‘make you do something you didn’t want to?’

I shook my head quickly as she went to stand up, her fist curling by her sides. ‘No, no’ I replied quickly, OK, I had a very vague, hazy memory of what happened last night but something deep inside me told me that whatever it was, it had been consensual.

My roommate eyed me suspiciously, ‘how would you know?’ she asked bluntly, ‘you can’t remember what happened last night.’ Her face paled, ‘my god, I am a terrible friend! I should have fought harder when you were insistent you wanted to stay, you said you wanted to hang on to your V card!’ Her eyes widened, ‘did you hang on to your V card?’ she whispered.

Gulping I shook my head, ‘I don’t think so’ I whispered, ‘it’s sore, you know, down there.’

Bea dropped back onto her own bed, letting out a strangled noise as she covered her face with her hands. Peeking through her fingers at me, she muttered, ‘I am so sorry Aniyah, I said I would have your back and I didn’t. I totally understand if you don’t want to be my friend, hell, I don’t even want to be my friend and I’m stuck with me!’

Pushing off the bed, I moved to hers wrapping my arms around her shoulders, ‘hey’ I said softly, ‘it happened, from what you say, the guy was nice, and from what I remember, you are right, it’s not like a I slept with some asshole.’

Bea sighed as she dropped her hands into her lap and leaned against me, ‘yeah, but I was kinda rooting for you having the big romance and losing your V with a prince charming who would worship you like a goddess’ she grumbled.

I laughed, the tension around us easing, ‘trust me, I do not need anyone to save me’ I replied firmly, ‘I’m going to enjoy the college life, get my degree and earn a tonne of money doing what I love.’

My best friend beamed as she straightened up, holding her hand up for a high five, ‘you got that right girl’ she agreed as I smacked my palm to hers, ‘men are for right now not a lifetime. If we want a long term love affair, we can buy a damn dog, least that would be loyal and devoted to us.’

‘Damn right’ I said, leaning against her as we giggled, so I lost my V card at a party. I wasn’t the first and I won’t be the last. Yeah, it sucks that I can’t even remember my first time, but who knows, more memories might surface as the hangover clears.

I moved back to my bed, face planting onto the covers with a groan, I really needed sleep, and a shower, oh, and to change my clothes. Right now, sleep was winning my attention, and I curled into a ball, my eyes closing. Behind me, Bea stood up, rustling around for a moment before leaving the room, I assume to have a shower.

Sleep took me quickly, and I didn’t wake up for over two hours.

Waking up, I was groggy but my head was no longer trying to detach itself from my body with the help of a sledgehammer. Sitting up, I find Bea crouched over her bed, a pen flying over some sheets of paper that I’m sure is the homework we were set on Friday.

Looking up she drops the pen, smiling widely, ‘hey there sleeping beauty’ she says happily.

‘Hey, what are you doing?’ I grumbled, supporting my forehead with my hand.

My roommate shrugged, ‘well as you were napping I figured I’d spend twenty minutes doing this waste of time’ she replied, waving at the pages in front of her. ‘Like I need to prove I can remember this rubbish’ she added with a roll of her eyes.

I laughed at her, the noise quickly turning into a groan as my head rejected the sound immediately.

‘I left water and tablets on your table’ Bea said, pointing at my desk where an unopened bottle and two pills awaited me.

Blowing her a grateful kiss, I picked the tablets up, throwing them to the back of my throat before twisting the cap and taking a long draw, swallowing them down.

Placing the bottle back, I lifted my arm, smelling myself before grimacing, ‘ugh’ I groaned, ‘I stink, did I sleep in a dumpster?’

Bea laughed, ‘I think you smell gorgeous babe’ she replied with a wink, making me chuckle.

Pushing myself to stand up, I shook my head, ‘you are biased Beatrice Martin’ I scoffed.

Bea tossed her hair over her shoulder giving me a cheeky smirk, ‘please girl, I tell it as it is, you smell like fancy Belgian chocolate, I could lick you’ she said.

Rolling my eyes I grab my shower stuff and head out of the room, making my way down the hall to the communal showers. Pushing open the door, I find two girls already in there, both wrapped in towels as they dried their hair.

‘Ugh, have you seen him this semester? I swear he got hotter over the summer’ the brunette groaned as she wrapped a lock of hair around her curling iron.

‘Oh yeah, that boy has hot written all over him’ the blonde replied, plaiting her waist length hair into a French braid.

‘Shame he’s not into commitment’ the brunette sighed, ‘I’d happily claim that hunk of beef.’

The pair glanced up as I walked closer to grab a towel, each giving me warm smiles that I returned.

‘Hey! You share with Bea right?’ the brunette asked eagerly.

I nodded, ‘yeah, I’m Aniyah’ I replied, reaching up to the shelf and pulling a cream coloured towel down into my arms.

‘Sonya’ the brunette replied before pointing to her friend, ‘this is Brooklyn.’

The blonde rolled her eyes, ‘yeah, my parents hated me at birth’ she groaned, ‘I go by Brook’ she added.

Nodding, I smiled, ‘it’s nice to meet you both’ I replied.

Brook grinned, ‘we are two doors up from you. Feel free to stop by and hang out sometime.’

‘Thanks, I will’ I agreed, before heading toward the back where the showers were.

Returning to their conversation, Sonya groaned, ‘do you think anyone could turn that guy’s head enough to get him to settle for one girl? I won’t deny that Mrs Sonya Wells has a bit of a ring to it.’

Shutting the door to the cubicle, I stripped off my clothes, hanging them on the peg before pushing open the inner door and turning on the shower.

Stepping under the harsh stream, I stifled a moan as I let the heat envelope me.

Picking up my body wash, I squeeze a generous amount onto my shower sponge and rubbed away the grime of the party from my skin.  Next I pulled out my tools, yes I have tools for my hair. I proceeded to carefully detangle my hair before with a spray bottle of water and oil and a hefty amount of conditioner, something my mama had taught me to do when I was a child. I don’t use shampoo on my hair, as it can make it really brittle when it strips the moisture out. Once I had done the basics, I used more conditioner to wash my hair, like you would with shampoo, washing it out again before I turned off the water. I slathered on some leave in conditioner, spraying everything with the water and oil I used earlier then I pulled out my microfibre towel and used it to remove as much water as I could.

Wrapping the large bath towel around me, I gathered up my belongings and headed back to my room. Once back, I dried off, rummaging in my drawers for clean underwear and a top, pulling them on before grabbing some clean jeans and unwrapping my hair letting it fall down my back so that the final bit of dampness could air dry.

Raising her head from her books, Bea smiled widely, ‘shall we go and get some food?’ she asked hopefully.

Grinning, I nodded, grabbing my purse from off of my desk, swinging it over my shoulder before sitting on the edge of my bed and pulling on some shoes before jumping up and following my best friend out of our room.