Chapter 12 - "Can I come to dinner?"

Barely a month into university and we'd already been given a project. I hated projects. I always felt the need to constantly work on them. With essays at least you knew when you were finished. The other thing that worried me about this particular project was that we had to work in pairs, and our lecturer was the one who put the pairs together. What if I didn't get on with my partner? What if we were both too shy to make suggestions?

The teacher gave everyone a number and then we had to walk around the class to find the person who had the same number. This was so that we were getting to know other people and practising Spanish at the same time.

My number was fourteen and I said it to myself over and over again in my head. Catorce, catorce, catorce...it was ridiculous really. I'd known how to say fourteen in Spanish for years, and yet under pressure I was worried I'd forget and make a fool of myself.

As it happened, it was my partner who approached me, and he was the one who asked if I had number fourteen. I smiled, almost in relief, and said, "Si."

He grinned and held out his hand to introduce himself. The guy seemed very at ease with himself and very friendly, which calmed my nerves. He also seemed very Spanish, and the fact his name was Pedro only reinforced that.

"You know the good thing about working with me?" he asked as we took a seat next to each other in the library.

"Go on."

"Your Spanish is going to improve loads."

I laughed nervously. "I already feel nervous enough."

"Yeah but it doesn't matter because I'm not judging you. I'm already fluent in Spanish so it's not like we have to compare our levels."

"If you're fluent then why are you studying it?" I asked him.

"For the grammar really," he admitted. "I can speak Spanish but my written Spanish is awful."

I smiled. "This project is going to be especially useful for you then?"

He grinned. "Yes. Extremely useful. Although you might have to help me."

I got along with Pedro like a house on fire. With university, there were people who you clicked with, like Jack, and then people who you got along with but didn't have that complete easiness around, like Hayley. I definitely clicked with Pedro. He was funny and kind, and helped me out so much with my Spanish. He somehow made me feel like I was good at it even though he was pointing out my mistakes.

"Your Spanish is so accurate," he told me. "Seriously, your grammar is spot on."

"My school really focused on the grammar aspect of things," I replied.

"You just need more confidence in yourself," he said. "Take a few risks. Guess a couple of words. You'll be amazed at how much you actually know."

I smiled in gratitude. "Thanks."

Pedro lived in the same halls as me but in a different block, so we walked back to our flats together, agreeing to meet tomorrow to get started on the project. We'd done so much talking about ourselves that we hadn't really made a start yet. But I could already tell that this was a project that I was going to enjoy doing and I'd hopefully learn a lot more whilst doing it.

*

"Izzy, what time is your first lecture tomorrow?" Jack asked me the next day.

I thought about Thursday's timetable. "Um, twelve I think."

"Perfect. So you're coming out tonight then?"

I glanced at him in the reflection of the mirror where I was straightening my hair. "I don't know, Jack. I'm busy tonight."

"What could possibly be more fun than an evening out with us?"

"I've got a project to do," I told him.

"But it's a new club. And drinks are ridiculously cheap on Wednesdays. You should still come."

"I've already arranged to meet with my partner tonight."

"It won't take all night, will it? We probably won't be leaving until ten."

"Yeah but I'll be shattered."

"Come on," he moaned. "It won't be a good night if you don't come."

"Just not tonight," I told him. "I'll come with you next week when my whole evening is free. I've just got too much on tonight."

Jack pouted in disappointment but accepted that he was fighting a losing battle. Taking a seat on my bed, he proceeded to watch me carry on getting ready.

"So what's the project for?" he asked, picking up my photo frame and examining the picture of Nathan and me.

"Spanish," I said. "It's a grammar project about the subjunctive."

"Sounds thrilling."

I shrugged. "It's alright. I prefer the Spanish subjunctive to the French one. And my partner seems pretty cool so it's not like it's going to be too tedious."

"How's Italian?"

"It's good," I told him, switching off my straighteners and then heading over to my wardrobe to root around for some shoes.

"So are you able to dirty talk with Nath in Italian yet then?"

I rolled my eyes but played along. "No. I've only be doing it for a few weeks. Maybe by the end of the semester."

He laughed at that and got up from my bed; Jack's attention span was minimal anyway and he could see that I was almost ready to leave for my lecture.

"He's coming this weekend, right?"

I shook my head. "No, not this one."

Genuine disappointment crossed Jack's face at the news that Nathan wouldn't be visiting. It was good that the two of them had formed such a bond.

"Why not? It's his turn, isn't it?"

"He has work to catch up on so we're meeting up for dinner instead on Saturday."

"Can I come to dinner?" Jack asked with hope.

"No. You can't. If you want dinner with Nathan then you have to ask him yourself."

"You're just full of bad news today, aren't you?"

"Yep." I winked, pulling my bag onto my shoulder. "And now I'm leaving for my Spanish oral."

"At least Nathan will be able to help you when it comes to Italian oral," Jack said.

"Yeah," I agreed. "He really helps me to get my mouth around it."

Jack burst into splutters of laughter and he was still laughing when I shoved him out of my room so I could lock the door.

Unfortunately, all Jack's comment had done was divert my attention from my Spanish lecture to Nathan's body. For the whole lecture my mind was concentrating on how curious about sex I'd become. One afternoon in bed with Nathan and I felt like a new person. One different kind of sex and I felt curious. What more was there out there? It wasn't even kinky...it was just different.

My brain only focused back on work when I was walking to the library to meet Pedro. I wasn't even nervous and usually it didn't take much to ignite my nerves. Pedro was already there when I arrived; he'd scored us a table in the far corner of the library where it was quieter and more private.

"Hola." He grinned when I sat down.

"Hola." I smiled back.

"How's your day been?" he asked.

"Fine," I replied. "I've only had a couple of hours of lectures today. Nothing too tedious."

"That's what I like to hear. So, shall we discuss how we're going to go about this?"

When I'd first heard about this project, I'd been worried that I wouldn't be partnered with someone who cared as much about work as I did. Some people only came to university for the social experience. They didn't care about the grades or the credits. This project meant you had to rely on another person to pull through and deliver some good work.

Fortunately, Pedro seemed to have the same work ethic as myself. He was passionate when he spoke and his plans were meticulous. We divided the work up between us and then set about searching the library for grammar books for research. There was a good hour when we worked in near silence as made our separate notes, only communicating if either of us was unsure about something.

I felt the need to impress Pedro; I'd worried about having a partner who didn't pull their weight, but now I was worrying about pulling my own weight. My work would affect Pedro's grade. I didn't want to let him down. I wasn't working for myself anymore – I was doing it for someone else.

After we'd made our notes, we got together again to compare what we'd found. I explained a few things to Pedro and then he did the same to me. Learning in this way was so much more effective. Not only was I reinforcing my own knowledge by effectively teaching it to Pedro, I was also having one-on-one tutoring when he did the same for me.

The time flew by and both of us were growing hungry when seven o'clock rolled around. Making a mutual decision that we should call it a night, we packed away our books and checked out of the library.

"What are you having for dinner?" Pedro asked as we walked back through the dark corridors of the university.

"Don't know." I sighed. "Something quick and easy, I think. I can't be bothered to cook."

"Well, it's almost half seven," he said. "Do you want to grab something to eat together? Save your cooking skills for another night?"

The idea of tasty, professional food was far too tempting to decline. We found a pub on the walk back home and decided to eat in there. I couldn't even remember the last time I'd had a good, pub meal. Pedro ordered a burger while I chose the gammon, and then we both sat down on a table by the fire to wait.

"Do you prefer life in England or life in Spain?" I asked him.

"England," he replied instantly.

My eyebrows shot up in genuine surprise. I hadn't expected that answer. "Really? One of the reasons I'm studying languages is so that I can emigrate to warmer climates when I graduate."

He laughed at that. "Well you've lived in England all your life, and put up with the weather for the duration of that. I understand why you'd want to experience something new."

The conversation with Pedro never ran dry. He had such interesting stories about Spain and Spanish culture – I found myself hanging onto his every word. We lost track of time completely and we were still talking even after we'd cleared our plates. It wasn't until I'd caught sight of the time on Pedro's watch that I even realized how long we'd been here.

"We should head back," I said, double-checking the time on my phone.

I then noticed that I had three messages and seven missed calls from Nathan. A pang of guilt rippled through my body. Was he okay? I felt bad that the reason I hadn't noticed his calls was because I'd been having so much fun with Pedro. But surely Nathan would understand that. He knew how important it was to make friends at university, and he was the one who'd told me that I needed to make the effort with friendships. That's exactly what I was doing.

"Sure," Pedro agreed. "I'll walk you back."

I didn't make much effort with conversation on the way back to my flat. My mind was on Nathan, hoping that he was okay and that his calls had just been for a chat. Pedro noticed that I was quieter because he asked if I was alright as he dropped me off. I assured him that I was fine and then headed quickly up to my room to Skype Nathan. It was so late that my flatmates had already left for their night out. And then, with dismay, I realized that Nathan wasn't even online on Skype.

Quickly opening his messages, I scanned through them all.

- Nathan: How was your day? [Sent at 18.33]

- Nathan: Are you okay? Not like you to ignore my messages ;) [Sent at 20.47]

- Nathan: Please call me. I'm worried about you. [Sent at 22.55]

I felt so sick with guilt that Nathan had been worrying about me all evening. Why hadn't I checked my phone? Had I really been so consumed with my newfound friend?

Even though it was almost eleven thirty, I rang him. If he was asleep then he'd at least see my missed call and know I was alright.

"Bella?" he answered instantly. "Fuck. I've been so worried. Are you alright?"

"Nathan, I'm so sorry. I've been working at the library all evening and had my phone on silent."

He let out a sigh of relief and then a nervous laugh. "Shit. I forgot about that."

"I'm so sorry. I should have checked my phone but we were just ploughing through the work. We didn't stop."

"No, Bella, it's fine," he assured me. "God, I go on at you about how irrational your worries are. Guess I'm experiencing it first-hand myself now, huh?"

"Not at all," I said quickly. "I should have replied. I feel so bad that I've worried you."

"Honestly, it's fine. I'm just glad you're safe. Have you almost finished your project?"

"Almost," I replied. "We've done most of the research. We just need to type it up and present it, et cetera..."

"You still getting on alright with your partner?"

"Yeah," I said. "He's helped me a lot. And it's good because I also feel like I'm helping him. He's not so great with the grammar side of things. So he helps me with vocab and I help him with grammar."

"Sounds like a dream team," Nathan joked.

"It is," I said. "Hang on, I'm putting you on speakerphone because I need to get ready for bed."

I switched the speakerphone function on and then placed the phone on my desk before searching out my pyjamas.

"You're not even ready for bed?" Nathan asked. "Have you seriously only just got in?"

"Yeah," I replied. "We grabbed some food afterwards. The first thing I did was call you. You weren't online on Skype so I phoned you."

"I wish I was online now..." he said, his voice low. At first I didn't understand his point. "Which pyjamas are you wearing?"

And then it clicked. I had a pair of pyjamas which Nathan loved. The tiny shorts and skimpy top showed off a lot of flesh and he'd often run his hands all over my body whenever we were cuddling in bed together.

Smiling to myself, I decided to spice up the phone call. "I'm not wearing pyjamas. I'm wearing that shirt you left here. It still smells of you."

Silence on the other end of the call. I knew he was still there because the call's timer was still going up. I smiled as I pulled my over-sized t-shirt on and then slipped into a very unsexy pair of pyjamas bottoms.

"Nice to know you're taking advantage of it," Nathan said eventually.

"Yeah," I sighed. "It looks better on you though. It's far too see-through on me..."

I wished I could see his face. Nathan knew damn well that I'd never be brave enough to flirt like this to his face.

"Bella..." he said, his voice low. "I'm really not sure you're ready for dirty talk yet..."

"Suit yourself... But maybe one day you'll realize just how much you've opened my mind."

His voice quietened. "Will you take me off speakerphone?"

"Nobody's in. They're all out tonight."

"But still," he said. "I'm being serious now."

I climbed into bed and switched off the speakerphone, pulling the covers over me and putting the phone to my ear.

"Okay. My phone is against my ear now. What's up?"

"Bella, it's great that I've opened your mind. But I still want to take this whole new dimension slowly, okay? There's a whole lot of things we could try and there's even some things that your mind won't even be able to comprehend."

"Nathan, I have read Fifty Shades Of Grey, you know."

He sighed. "Please, Bella. I'm being serious. I'm not talking about that sort of stuff, at least not the really hardcore stuff."

I was suddenly hit with curiosity. "Have you ever done any of that hardcore stuff?" I asked quietly. "You know, is that the sort of stuff you used to do...?"

"No," he answered instantly. "You can't do that sort of stuff on one-night stands."

"Didn't you have girlfriends?"

"Not so much girlfriends..."

"Fuck buddies?"

"That would be more accurate."

"And you did kinkier stuff with them?" I asked.

I could tell I was making him uncomfortable, but he was the one who wanted to take this conversation seriously.

"Nothing too kinky," he answered. "We just explored sex more..." Then what he said next really surprised me. "I want to do that with you too, Bella."

My stomach lurched, but rather than feeling uncomfortable, it made me feel curious and excited. Nathan hated comparing me to his flings, and yet now he was saying that he wanted to do that stuff with me too.

"I'd be up for that," I told him, my voice quiet.

I snuggled further into bed. I hadn't expected to be having this conversation any time soon, but I was warmed to know that Nathan and I were at the stage where we could discuss all this.

"I trust you completely," I told Nathan quietly. "And that means I trust you with my body too."

"It's not quite the same, Bella," he murmured. "But let's just see how things go, okay?"

"Okay," I murmured back. "I love you, Nathan."

"I love you too, Bellissima. Now go to bed and I'd suggest not reading Fifty Shades Of Grey for a while..."

I laughed. "Nathan, just so there isn't a misunderstanding, no matter how much I trust you, I'm never gonna be up for some of the stuff in there."

He joined in my laughing and when that died down, we lay in comfortable silence. We may be on different ends of a phone, but it was almost like we were still together. And when I fell asleep later on that evening, my dreams were dominated by Nathan.

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Thank you for reading :)xx