Chapter 36 - "You know I've got a boyfriend."

Jack and I watched as a tall, dark-haired guy knocked lightly on Hayley's door. His two companions, both blonde and equally muscular, stood behind him, their eyes darting up and down the corridor almost nervously.

"What's he doing?" Jack asked me.

We were taking it in turns to use Jack's peephole to try to gather what was going on outside Hayley's room. On my way out of the flat, I'd seen the three boys letting themselves in through the door that had been left propped open. Not wanting to encounter them, and also curious about why they were here, I'd darted into Jack's room so we could spy in safety.

"Nothing. They're just waiting," I told him.

"Let me see — it's my turn now." He nudged me away from his door so that he could resume the position at the peephole.

"Who do you think they are?" I asked.

"Dunno. Do you think they're something to do with why Hayley and Gemma keep going out so much? Oh! Hang on...the door's opening. They're going in..."

"Is she leaving her door open?" I asked with hope.

Jack snorted at that, which was a fair reaction to a stupid question. "Of course she's not. It's shut again now." He sighed and stepped away from his door. "Weird, huh?"

"Very weird," I agreed, moving to sit down on his bed.

"Maybe they're all having some kind of orgy. It's Hayley so I wouldn't put it past her. Speaking of weird...when are you meeting up with Pedro?"

"In about twenty minutes. I was just on my way out. And why is that weird?" I asked defensively, frowning at Jack.

He smiled. "I'm just teasing; don't fret. What are you doing?"

"Going for drinks," I said. "Nathan was the one who told me to go. He says I spend too much time in the flat and that I should start making more of an effort to get out and about."

"And does Nathan know that Pedro doesn't know that you've got a boyfriend?"

"Pedro does know," I said.

I knew that I must have mentioned Nathan to Pedro at one point or another, but I could hardly remember every conversation I'd ever had with him. Jack's constant speculation meant that it started to become a niggling thought in the back of my head, causing me to second guess myself.

"I still think he'll make a move though."

"Jack!"

"I'm sorry, but I do. Guys can detect these kinds of things. I'd put money on the fact that he considers this a date and that he'll pay for everything and then make a move at the end."

"You're so wrong."

Mischief glinted in his eyes. "How confident are you about that?"

"Sorry, are you suggesting we actually bet on this?"

Jack shrugged nonchalantly. "If you're so confident then why not? I'll bet you a tenner."

There was no chance of Pedro making a move. Even if he didn't know I had a boyfriend, he'd had plenty of chances to hit on me before Christmas—and he hadn't.

"Fine," I said.

Jack took out his wallet and fished out a ten-pound note. He waved it in front of my eyes, until I batted him away.

"I'll put it here," he said, placing it on the lid of his printer. "And after your evening, you can come and either pick it up, or place your tenner on top of it, okay?"

"You're on."

*

Pedro was already at the bar when I arrived and leaned to give me a brief hug as I took a seat opposite him. We exchanged small-talk before perusing the menu to decide what to order.

"This is on me," Pedro said.

Jack's bet flashed in my mind. "Oh, Pedro, come on. We'll split it," I told him, glancing up from the menu to look at him.

"Nah, I've got good news and I want to celebrate it." He beamed, shutting his menu to indicate he'd chosen.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. I got promoted today!"

My eyebrows shot up. "That's great! So, what are you now?"

"Just a senior sales member." He shrugged, as if that wasn't the main thing to be getting excited about. "And I know it's still only a weekend job, but I got a bonus and a pay rise, so this is definitely on me."

Despite what Jack had said, Pedro clearly wasn't treating this as a date. He was just offering to pay because he could afford it. There was nothing wrong with that.

"So, tell me about Christmas in Italy," he said, once we'd ordered our drinks.

"Yeah, it was really good," I replied.

I started to tell him about my parents coming out too and how it had been nice for both families to mix. Then I mentioned about the various cultural differences I'd noticed between the two countries and that it had got me thinking a lot about my third year at university.

"Ah, that's ages away yet!" Pedro laughed. "I wouldn't worry too much. We don't even start to get meetings about it until next November."

"Aren't you apprehensive at all?" I asked him. "It's a huge deal."

"Nah. I'm very much one of those live in the moment kind of guys. I don't worry about things I can't control, and I don't worry about things that aren't going to affect me within the next thirty minutes."

I smiled at that. "I really wish I had that attitude. I worry far too much."

"You should try it for a week or something," he suggested. "Just try to go a week without worrying about anything. You said your flat has become boring recently so it shouldn't be too hard."

"Oh, speaking of my flat!" I gushed.

And then I told him all about Hayley and Gemma's strange behaviour, including their visitors this evening.

"What did they look like?" Pedro asked me, a frown wrinkling his tanned face.

"One of them was really tall with dark hair. Big muscles, only wearing a t-shirt despite the fact it's January..." I trailed off. "And then there were these two blond guys with him, a bit shorter but still solidly built."

"Hmm," he mused, looking pensive. "There are a group of friends in my block who look like that. I don't know much about them, but I know of them, if you get what I mean."

"Reputations?" I assumed.

Pedro nodded. "They look like bad news, but who am I to judge? Want me to do some digging for you?"

I almost felt my eyes light up at the potential gossip that could arise from this arrangement. "Definitely! That would be great. Jack and I do a lot of speculating about it."

Pedro laughed. "Okay. I'll see what I can find out."

If Nathan hadn't have encouraged me, then I probably wouldn't have gone for drinks with Pedro tonight. However, I was surprised at how much of a good time we had. We'd always got on well, but I'd tried to distance myself recently because of what Jack had been saying. I realised now how unnecessary that was; Pedro and I had a lot in common and we shouldn't stop spending time together just because of some hypothetical theory of Jack's.

"I'll walk you back to your block," Pedro said as we put on our coats to leave the bar.

"There's no need; I only live about thirty seconds away from your flat."

"Izzy, please, at least humour me so I can come away from this evening feeling like the perfect gentleman."

I smiled at that, but uneasiness rose inside me. Maybe I was just over-analysing everything now, but surely there was no need for Pedro to act like a gentleman if we were only friends and this wasn't a date. Before I had chance to ponder it, though, Pedro had already launched into a fresh conversation as we began our walk back to the student accommodation.

"Those are the guys," I said under my breath, grabbing Pedro's arm to transfer his attention onto the three men leaving my block of flats. "Do you recognise them?"

"Yeah, they're the ones I thought," he replied, as I removed my grip from his forearm. "I'll see what I can find out for you."

As we got to the door leading into my building, I stopped to give Pedro a hug and thank him for the drinks.

"I've had a lovely evening," I said.

Pedro didn't reply, but what he did do took my breath away, and not in a good way. As I pulled back from hugging him, he moved his head and pressed his mouth against mine.

Although the kiss was completely unexpected, it didn't freeze me to the spot in shock. In fact, it did quite the opposite. Before I'd even registered that Pedro was kissing me, my body acknowledged that it wasn't Nathan's lips against mine, and I automatically pushed him away in horror.

He backed off immediately, but I couldn't help the feeling of being violated that came from the unfamiliar sensation of someone kissing me who wasn't Nathan. I'd grown so accustomed to Nathan's kisses that it felt foreign to have someone else try to kiss me, and I hated it.

"Fuck." Horror sliced across his face. "Izzy, I'm so sorry. God, I'm really sorry. I'm so embarrassed. I didn't mean to, you know, I...I thought that..."

"You know I've got a boyfriend!" I cried, my hand covering my mouth as if to protect it from any other further invasions.

"I know..." He pinched his eyes shut. "I know you do. I'm really sorry. I just thought...I don't know, the evening was going so well and, well, I really like you and I guess part of me thought you might like me back because of how well we get on..."

"I've got a boyfriend," I repeated, simply because I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Yeah, but some girls..." he faded away.

"I'm sorry, some girls what?" I pressed, urging him to continue but really hoping he wouldn't finish the sentence in the way that I was predicting.

He sighed, almost in defeat. "They just sometimes prefer to have something a little closer to home," he said, not even bothering to coat it in an apologetic tone. He said it in a completely factual voice, as if he'd given up trying to excuse his behaviour.

I shook my head in disbelief. "Well, I'm not one of those girls. And clearly you're not the guy I thought you were."

"Izzy, please," he begged, grabbing my arm as I went to head inside. "I honestly can't say how sorry I am—"

"I don't want to talk to you right now," I told him. "I just want to go inside and think of a way to explain to my boyfriend that my friend, who I insisted didn't have feelings for me, has just tried to kiss me."

"I'm really sorry—"

I shut the door after myself so he couldn't follow and didn't look back as I trotted as quickly as I could up the stairs. My head spun, different emotions flying through my body. I was angry at Pedro's assumptions. I was hurt. I was worried about telling Nathan. I was embarrassed that I'd insisted for so long that Pedro wasn't interested in me, even after Jack practically forced the idea into my head.

Jack.

I couldn't deal with him tonight. Rooting in my bag, I pulled out the ten pound note before jabbing my key angrily into the lock to let myself into the flat.

Jack's door was open, so I walked straight in and slammed the note onto his printer before swiftly leaving again.

"Hey!" he called, chasing me down the corridor to my room. "What happened? Are you okay?"

I didn't bother to stop him as he followed me into my room, but rather than doing his usual routine of sprawling himself across my bed, he hovered near the doorway.

"Izzy...?"

"He kissed me," I muttered, hauling my bag across the room towards my wardrobe. "Everything was fine, and then we got back here, and he kissed me."

Rather than looking conceited and blurting an 'I told you so', Jack's face fell.

"Oh, Izzy, I'm really sorry...I actually hoped he'd prove me wrong. I never wanted him to put you in this position."

I sighed. "It's fine. It's not like it's your fault. If it's anyone's fault, then it's mine."

I sat down at my desk chair and prodded the power button on my laptop to load it up. How would I tell Nathan about this?

"It's not your fault. You said you'd told him about Nathan. And even if you hadn't, he shouldn't have tried to kiss you without your consent."

"We even spoke about Nathan this evening!" A fresh wave of anger rolled up my spine. "Do you know what he said to me? He said he thought I was one of those girls who wants a bit on the side when her boyfriend is away."

Jack's eyebrows shot up. "He said that?"

"Not exactly in those words, but that's what he meant."

"Oh, Izzy..." he murmured, almost in pity.

"How the hell am I going to explain this to Nathan? You know, he tries so hard to convince me he's got nothing going on with Louisa. Even when I'm not suspicious about anything, he still tries to keep my mind at ease because he knows it must be difficult for me. And here I am. The guy who Nathan is so cool about me hanging around with has just tried to kiss me."

"It's not like you led him on. And you didn't kiss him back. Nathan is a reasonable guy. He'll understand."

"We were all supposed to be going for drinks on Friday, and part of that was so Nathan could get to know Pedro, but another reason was so that we could both rest assured that neither one of us was insecure about who we hang around with when we're not together. Either Pedro can't come anymore, or it'll just be awkward."

"It was always going to be fucking awkward." Jack snorted.

"It wasn't supposed to be." I pouted. "It was meant to be fine. That was the whole point."

My Skype notification sounded its usual pop noise to indicate that I had a message. When I turned my head back to the screen, I saw that Nathan was asking how my drinks had gone and if I wanted to chat.

"He'll be fine," Jack reassured me, placing his hand on my shoulder. "He trusts you."

"It's more than that though." I sighed. "Pedro and I were great friends. This has ruined that."

"Don't worry about that right now. I'm sure you'll manage to talk this through. I'll let you get on with chatting to Nath now, but I won't be going to bed for a while if you want to come and chat."

"Thanks, Jack." I smiled at him. "But you're right. I'm sure it'll be fine. I think it's more upsetting for me than anyone else."

After Jack had left, I wasted no time in calling through to Nathan. He answered almost immediately, and just as quickly he could tell something was wrong.

"What's up?" he asked.

"The drinks didn't exactly go smoothly."

Nathan was quiet for a couple of moments, and the silence was almost torture. What was he thinking?

"Did he come on to you?" he asked eventually.

I sighed and rubbed at my temple, nodding my head. "I feel awful," I said, risking a look up at him.

Brow furrowed, but his face otherwise relaxed, he didn't seem annoyed.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "I mean, that must have been pretty awkward for you."

"I don't want you to be upset. I promise I didn't lead him on."

"Bella, relax." Nathan blew out a soft laugh. "I'm not upset with you. I'm upset for you if anything. You were fond of him, and I know this probably changes things."

"I'm just annoyed with myself because Jack kept warning me that Pedro was interested, and yet I didn't believe him."

"No because you're that kind of person. You underestimate how attractive you are. You've always been like that, even from when I first met you. You find it so hard to believe that boys could be interested in you."

"I don't like to assume..."

"There's a difference between self-confidence and arrogance," Nathan said.

"Funny, because when I first met you, I remember thinking you were both." I raised an eyebrow.

Nathan smiled, happier that I was attempting humour. He always managed to have a calming effect on me, and I was relieved that he wasn't upset at Pedro's actions.

"I guess this means that drinks on Friday might be a little more awkward than we first thought!" Nathan clasped his hands together and grinned, as if seeing the funny side of the situation was the best way to cope.

"Oh come on...like he's actually going to still come," I said. "To be honest, I'm not even sure I want him there. He apologized profusely afterwards but I'm still pretty mad."

"Well, if he apologized profusely then he obviously feels guilty. And if he wants to make it up to you and carry on being your friend, then I don't see a better way to do that than by coming to the drinks and proving he's happy to be just a friend."

"Nathan, we'd even spoken about you during the evening. And yet he still tried to kiss me. He can't have that much respect for me."

"Sometimes you have to give someone a second chance, remember? If he did want to carry on pursuing you, then he wouldn't agree to come to drinks with your boyfriend, would he? Maybe this is what you need to both move on from it. And maybe if he meets me, then he won't feel so fine about hitting on a girl in a relationship."

I frowned, remembering again what Pedro had said. "He said he thought I might want someone closer to home."

Nathan nodded, not seeming surprised by that. "Why do you think a lot of long-distance relationships fail? People miss the physical contact and start looking for it elsewhere, and then they find someone closer to them who can provide that on a daily basis, when their boyfriend can't."

"We're not even in a long-distance relationship. We see each other most weeks. And even if we didn't, I'd never feel that way about us."

"Me neither. But a lot of people assume that's what'll happen. You stay together until one of you finds someone better."

I frowned. "That's an awful philosophy to have. Why bother staying in a relationship if you're going to find someone else anyway?"

"I doubt it starts that way. Just most people underestimate how hard it can be."

"At least we're making it work." I smiled.

Nathan shot me a grin in return. "That we are, baby."

After I'd had time to cool off, I'd get in touch with Pedro and see how he felt about still going for drinks on Friday. It would be my way of offering an olive branch. Nathan was giving Louisa a second chance, and now it was my turn to extend that to Pedro.

It wasn't until I was drifting off to sleep, many thoughts flitting through my head, that I began to wonder just why Nathan was so keen to meet Pedro...

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Thank you for reading :)xx