Page 20 of Love, Academically

“I’ve already had one and I’m driving,” Rhys said, pushing the beer towards Dan. “Everything okay? Your text was quite cryptic.”

All it had said was:

Pint. The Cross Rifles. 8pm.

Rhys was not used to being ordered around, he was usually the one doing the ordering. He clenched his jaw, because now he knew how Lila had felt when he’d ordered rather than asked earlier. That was a whole new level of empathy that he really didn’t want to slide into.

“I haven’t seen you. I wanted to catch up,” Dan said.

Catch up? Rhys raised an eyebrow because that certainly did not sound like Dan.

“Jasmeet cancel on you?” That would be the most obvious explanation.

“No, we didn’t have plans tonight,” Dan said, sipping his pint.

“Are you planning on ever coming to kickboxing?” Rhys asked pointedly. “Because I hate going with different people.”

“Yeah, sorry I’ve been a bit AWOL,” Dan said with a grin. “But Jasmeet is amazing.”

Dan obviously wanted to talk about her. This was not ‘catching up’. Rhys settled back into the uncomfortable chair.

“Tell me.”

“Man, she’s incredible. We’ve been out a few times and texting constantly.” He grinned. “I really like her.”

“Really like her?” Rhys repeated. He’d learned that repeating what Dan said as a question made him sound interested. It’s not that he wasn’t interested, it just sometimes didn’t come across very well.

“Yeah, really like her.” That dopey grin on Dan’s face wasn’t going anywhere. “She’s funny, clever, passionate about her job.”

Rhys stifled down a sigh.

“I cannot get enough of her. I think this might be a long-term thing.”

“Long-term?” That was new for Dan. He was more a ‘two months and move on’ kind of guy. Rhys grinned. This was good for Dan, so he pushed down the frustration that he’d cancelled kickboxing. Twice.

“Yeah. Long-term.” Dan nodded.

“And you know this after a couple of weeks and a few dates?” Rhys asked, genuinely interested. How did people decide who to spend their time with and whether a relationship was going to be ‘long-term’ or not?

“Yeah, I do,” Dan said, suddenly serious. “When I’m not with her, I want to be.”

Rhys nodded. “Okay.”

“You’ve not felt like that before?” Dan asked.

“No, I can’t say that I have.” Not even with Seren, and he was supposed to marry her. Good job he didn’t then, if he was supposed to feel like that.

“You just haven’t found your person yet.” Dan leaned back in his chair.

“And Jasmeet is ‘your person’?”

A slow smile spread across his face. “I’m pretty sure she might be, yeah.”

“Good for you, Dan,” Rhys said. “But you can’t keep skipping kickboxing.”

“Hang on, you cancelled the other day when you were with Lila.”

Rhys rolled his eyes and launched into a wide-ranging rant about the current state of the NHS.

“So, you spent all afternoon and most of the evening with her? At the hospital?” Dan asked.

“Yes. Her fucking twat of an ex-boyfriend was the doctor that dealt with it.” Jason was a fucking twat, there was no getting away from it.

“Tell me you pretended to be her boyfriend again and that you didn’t drop her in the shit.”

Rhys narrowed his eyes at his friend. “What do you think I am?”

“I know you, man,” Dan said, eyebrows raised, and he did. They’d been friends since their undergraduate days. Dan had seen him struggle through his years at Dallimores and helped him get the job at the university. He’d been there with him, through it all.

“Of course I did.” He’d quite enjoyed rubbing Jason’s face in it.

Dan looked at him speculatively. “What happened when you took her home? What aren’t you telling me?”

Sometimes, Dan was way too astute for his own good.

“Nothing. We had fish and chips,” Rhys said, taking a gulp of his lemonade. He was not about to tell Dan that he fell asleep on Lila’s sofa, slept in her bed and practically suctioned himself to her.

“Hmm,” Dan said, draining his beer and pulling the other one closer to him. “You like her.”

“What?”

He hadn’t really thought about it, but yeah, perhaps he did like her. Lila was okay to be around, once you got past all the rainbows. She hadn’t had a clue what his family did, she hadn’t googled him, she hadn’t checked the Sunday Times Rich List, and that was refreshing.

“I suppose I do like her,” he said, nodding.

“Hmm mmm,” Dan smirked. Rhys chose not to follow up on that ambiguous noise.

“I helped her out, she’s helping me out,” he said. “We have a transactional relationship.”

“Right,” Dan said. “And how is she helping you out?”

“She’s being my fake girlfriend for a family dinner.”

“Woah,” Dan said. “She’s meeting the parents already?”

“It’s no big deal,” Rhys said with a shrug.

“Yeah, it is. It’s much bigger than fake-boyfriending for an ex,” Dan said, leaning his arms on the table. “Why do you even need a fake girlfriend?”

“It’ll just be easier. My parents expect it, Seren will be there as well and I just want to prove to them that I’m succeeding at life.”

“Ah yes, Seren and Ieuan,” Dan said, voice hard.

Rhys had gotten over Seren a long time ago, and her marrying his cousin, Ieuan, whilst weird, wasn’t the end of the world for him.

He didn’t love her, had no claim on her, and if they were happy together, who was he to stand in their way?

“I get it, man. Lila’s cute and I bet parents love her. ”

Dan was right; Lila was cute, with her little nose and clear eyes.

His mother would love her and so would his sister.

But his father? Who knew what he would think.

He’d just have to make sure Lila wasn’t left to fend for herself with his father’s scathing, penetrative questions.

Whatever Lila said, his father would find some fault with her.

There was no pleasing that man and he wasn’t about to subject Lila to an interrogation.

No one deserved that, especially not someone who was helping him out.

She would be there as a prop. A physical manifestation of the success of his life. They could have an amicable fake break-up at a suitable time in the future.

It was time for a subject change.

“Tell me about work,” Rhys said. If this was supposed to be a ‘catch up’, he wanted to make sure he covered all aspects.

Dan launched into staff politics in the Engineering Department and Rhys was once again glad that he didn’t have to share resources or machines, or whatever engineers used, with other lecturers.

It was bad enough having to share the departmental library where they kept the Charter Roll publications and not for the first time, Rhys wondered why he couldn’t just have them in his room.

But rules were rules and they were made to be followed.

Something about ‘being available for all staff and students’.

Like his students were going to look for primary source material without having it shoved under their noses.

It was nearly ten before they left. Rhys dropped Dan home, ignoring the question as to why his car smelled of vanilla.

Lunch? How long would it take to buy a dress? If they were there for about ten, he should be home by midday. Shouldn’t he?