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‘Her drink is running low,’ they noted. ‘Get her another one.’

He looked over again. Amir had disappeared and Juniper now chatted with Tilly, back pressed against the wall as she nursed an empty bottle of cider with a pink label that he assumed made it berry-flavoured.

A Strongbow-flavoured olive branch…

It wasn’t the worst idea in the world

10

‘I just don’t know why he has to bethereall the time,’ Juniper groused, getting comfortable on one of the leather couches in the living room. The music was giving her a headache. Or maybe it was the cider. Or maybe it was Aiden’s presence.

Beside her, Tilly sprawled onto the arm, cuddling a beige pillow to her chest. It had taken her back to see just how differently they were living compared to her more well-off classmates. Unlike Juniper, who only had a view of scaffolding around a derelict building at the back of campus, the residents of Cartwright Gardens had the pleasure of tall sycamore trees to look out at. It didn’t seem fair, somehow. Juniper had a bed and a desk chair. Tom hadrooms. Furniture. Space. A home.

And an Aiden, currently. An Aiden Juniper was sick of seeing. An Aiden Tilly was probably very sick of hearing about, but she couldn’t help it. Her tongue was loose from the alcohol, and god, she was pissed off.

‘Because he’s in our class,’ her friend said now, and then pouted. ‘You know who’s not in our class? Lesbians. No lesbians for Tilly.’

She looked gorgeous tonight, dark skin warmed by a rich purple lipstick and golden eye shadow. Juniper had helped pick out her outfit, a velvet burgundy halter top and flared matching trousers that she would never have been able to pull off herself. In return, Tilly had done her makeup, a fierce smoky eye that made her feel more herself than ever.

‘You deserve all the lesbians. What about her?’ Quick to take on her wingwoman duties, Juniper pointed over the crowded living room at a short-haired woman playing a game of spin the bottle with Tom and his friends.

Tilly clucked her tongue. ‘You pointed at her an hour ago!’

‘Did I?’

She nodded. ‘She’s Tom’s sister. I can’t date somebody related to him!’

Since Tom was currently trying touch his chin with his tongue, and almost succeeding, it was a valid point. Juniper huffed and sat back, wishing somebody would turn the music down. Or stop the strobe lights from circling the room. Or, at the very least, remove her least favourite person from the premises.

Just as she kicked her legs over the side of the couch’s arm in an attempt to get more comfortable, the heel of her boot collided with a passerby. Right in the groin. They let out a moan of pain, and she sprang to her feet with the intention of apologising – until she realised that the groin in question belonged to Aiden.

He hunched over, hands outstretched in an attempt not to spill the drinks he held: a beer and the same cider she’d been guzzling. ‘Your shoes are fucking lethal, Hodge. What wasthatfor?’

‘You tell me. You hit my foot!’

‘Fine. I will give Tom’s sister another chance,’ decided Tilly.

Juniper gasped in horror. After all of the efforts she’d put into her wingwoman duties, this was how she was treated? But it was too late. Aiden watched Tilly go, slowly rising as the pain eased from his face. His very, very handsome face. Juni must have drunk more than she’d thought, because he looked better than ever, his hair falling over his forehead in brown waves and a black T-shirt, half-covered by an open corduroy shirt, stretched over his thick chest.

‘Drunk already?’ His eyes sparkled with mischief.

‘Tipsy,’ she corrected, shimmying the hem of her skirt down her thighs when his eyes lowered to her outfit. She’d known it was too short, damn thing. ‘And not in the mood.’

She nudged past him to leave only to find that, through the kitchen, where she’d hoped to get some air, the courtyard was lit up with the orange glow of a dozen rowdy smokers. One of them had decided to take his top off and swing it around his head while singing Tina Turner.

Honestly, she was ready to go home, but she didn’t want Tilly to realise that she was a party pooper so soon into their friendship. She went back into the corridor and wobbled her way up the stairs, her head feeling less like cotton wool as she grew further from the noise. The intention was to lock herself in the bathroom, but there was a queue of people, so she slipped into the first bedroom she found, which was cloaked in darkness and, best of all, quiet.

‘Okay, Juni. Take a breath. It’s just a party,’ she whispered to herself as she perched on the thick double mattress. She left the room unlit,eyes still dancing with red dots left behind by the strobe lights, but she could make out a surprisingly tidy room. The streetlights outside reflected on something silver in the shadowy corner, catching her eye. When she realised what it was, she let out something akin to a growl.

A bloody throwing wheel. Tom had his own. Of course he did. She dragged her finger along the cold metal surface as envy spiked through her. If she wanted to practice throwing, she had to wait until workshop hours or stay behind after class, something she didn’t much feel like doing after the mess she’d made this week.

‘Hiding?’ The gruff voice behind her caused her to jump. She spun around already knowing, somehow, who she’d find, but still aggravated by his silhouette nonetheless. Aiden’s features became visible as he let the door swing shut behind him.

‘Are you just following me around now?’ she questioned impatiently. What did she have to do to have a moment to herself? A moment away from him and his stupid smirk?

He set the drinks down on the desk, where a laptop was half-concealed by notebooks left open, scrawled handwriting inside.

‘I was trying to offer you a drink. If you didn’t avoid me like the plague, you would have seen that downstairs.’ He held out the cider, strawberry and lime.