CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3

A loud crash woke him up from his nap. He didn't really want to check it out. In his dream, he was just about to cash out the cheque his boss gave him and he really wanted to see just how much he had received as salary. "Of all the times to interrupt my sleep….how come no one ever breaks anything when I'm having a nightmare?" he grumbled as he wore a shirt and a pair of sweats off the floor and walked out of his room to make sure he couldn't be dragged into whatever mess had been created. "What if I just go back to sleep and say I didn't hear anything? Wouldn't that be a great idea?" But obligations and curiosity got the better of him and he found himself standing in the long corridor that was part of the second year floor of his hostel. There were a lot of boys crowded around a room about five or six doors away from his. He scratched the back of his neck and rubbed sleep and regret out of his eyes. "What now??" he groaned. What could possibly have happened now to be loud and interesting enough to pique everyone's attention? As he walked slowly towards the gathering, he realised that the commotion was in one of his classmates' room.

"Get out of my room, man! Your very presence makes me sick!" Todd shouted at Prince. The latter had tried apologising for a drunken moment that had resulted into Todd's girlfriend spending the night in his room.

Todd had found them, fast asleep in each other's arms, poured water on them and then walked out. Both had woken up disoriented. Shelly fell off the bed while back tracking from him. None of them knew how or what had happened, they couldn't remember a thing from the night before. Shelly had tried to talk to Todd, but he had blocked her number and wasn't in his room. When she used her own roommate's phone, he had hung up the minute he heard her voice , and blocked that number too. Every time he picked up a call and heard her voice he'd hang up and block the number, whether he had saved it before or not. She was devastated. He was always needy, so him pushing her away was like a bullet through her chest. She had barged into Prince's room and ordered him to go explain everything to Todd. Prince wasn't really interested. He wasn't one to get too close to other people. He didn't even know how they had ended up in his room. Come to think of it, he had only talked to her twice in his life, when he wanted her to excuse him and when he bumped into her and dropped her books. So why was she involving him in her relationship with Todd?

"What do I do, Jo? What do I do? Todd won't listen to me. He wont even look at me! And I heard from Stephen that they're fighting right now. It was an accident! I barely even know the guy! If he's going to be angry let him at least let me explain. I didn't mean for this to happen. If I was sober, it never would have!" Joanna listened and shook her head while Shelly paced back and forth in the room. She was recording everything and planned to send the audio to Todd. That is the only way to make him hear her out, isn't it? While Shelly sat down and buried her face in her hands, trying very hard not to cry again, Joanna sent the audio to Todd. Hopefully he'll listen before he deletes it. While she was standing up to make tea for her friend, something popped into her head. "Shelly, did you use protection?"

"i don't even know if we did it or not, Joanna. We weren't naked when we woke up. Just topless. But of course that would look wrong if you walked in on us and saw what he saw, you'd think the same. Why?"

"I was just going to recommend the morning after pill, for you know, just in case"

"Way to make me feel better girl"

"Don't be sarcastic, I'm being serious. You never know what could happen."

"I had my pants on Jo. Besides, I think I would have felt sore if we had actually done it. I must've thought he was Todd. what's his name anyway?

"Hold on, you don't know who he is?!" Shelly shook her head.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Am I supposed to know him? I've only ever bumped into him once, like literally bumped into him. Who is he?"

Joanna took a deep breath, pinched her brows and sat down opposite her friend. I guess that was one of the things Todd had liked about her, the ability to be oblivious to the obvious.

"Okay, lemme fill you in on the basics." she looked up to find Shelly looking at her with a look that said "Do I want to know the basics?"

"His name is Kaye Prince. He's like the hottest, most reserved, most athletic guy in my class. A lot of girls in my college want him, even some from other colleges, but he only talks to around two or three of the girls in my class. His twin sister and her best friend. I'm actually shocked you don't know him."

"I'm not in your college, Jo, remember? I'm almost on the opposite side of the university. Anyway, I don't really care who he is or where he's from anymore. I just want Todd to understand that I didn't mean to do that."

"Look dude, it was an accident. I don't remember what happened or how it happened. I just woke up cold and wet with a some chic half naked in my bed. I don't know her, and I didn't even know she was your girlfriend. I'm here to set the record straight. I don't know who she is, and neither do I care. I'm just here to let you know that I didn't screw her."

"And how can you be so sure you didn't screw her when you don't remember what happened, huh?"

"Because we both still had our pants on! In fact, she was in a tank top. Look I don't plan to spend all day here. Whether you believe me or not, that's your problem. But I will make this clear; I. Did. Not. Screw. Your. Chic. Take it or leave it." Prince tore through the crowd that had gathered around Todd's room and tried to get away from all the unnecessary drama the latter had created. He bumped into someone in sweats and mumbled a sorry before walking out. Last night will be the last time he would ever allow himself to get drunk, that's for sure. He still had a headache from the hangover and the method used to wake him up didn't do much to help.

Brandon watched his cousin walk away and wondered why he was in a bar in the first place. He knew Prince was having problems back home, and that he didn't usually like to talk about them. He didn't even recognise when he bumped into me. He walked back to his room and picked up his phone. Maybe his sister could have more insight on what exactly happened back home. Something was up and nobody wanted to tell him.

One way or another he was going to find out.