"THINK IM DYING," Neva whined, pulling the hood on her sweater down over her eyes, as her body slumped into the hard cafe chair she was on.

"Give it a rest, Neve, anyone would think you're the dramatic one," Cassie teased, ripping off a chunk of bread and tossing it into her mouth.

Huddled in the corner of the campus cafe, they had been hoping to find something greasy to soothe their stomachs - and also line them, in anticipation of the night ahead.

Instead, the university had apparently decided that health and well-being was their number one priority, so the canteen only had their soup of the day or some prepackaged salad. Neither appealed to the girls, so Cassie had settled for the soup just to get the free bread roll, and Neva was seriously considered opening up UberEats.

"I'm never drinking again," she sighed, pushing her hood back down, appreciatively taking the chunk of bread that Cassie was offering her.

"Oh yes you are," Cassie chimed like a pantomime dame, and she was right.

They'd been invited to a zoo party at a frat house just on the outskirts of the campus, so naturally they'd be getting slaughtered again tonight.

"You know I'm surprised," Cassie continued, gnawing on her roll. "I half thought you'd hurl when Jimin's roommate picked you up."

Cassie wouldn't have called it picking up in the traditional sense of the word, more so Neva was folded over his shoulder like a fresh sheet of A4 paper.

"Don't remind me," Neva groaned, pinching her eyes together harshly.

"Remind you of what?" Cassie teased. "You've bloody forgotten everything."

"I think its better that way," she admitted sheepishly, preferring the idea of denying any of her embarrassing antics. "Anyway, you're the one with stories to tell, little Miss-dirty-stop-out!"

"I'm not a dirty stop out!" Cassie protested with a smile. "You know how hard it is to get dirty on a single bed with another man snoring across the room? Impossible."

"Still a stop out," Neva snorted.

"Yeah, you got me there," Cassie grinned, triumphant. "In my defence, I didn't know if you'd be up to no good with Jimin's roommate in our room, so I was trying to do you a favour! He was literally your type, right down to the messy hair."

"Favour my ass," Neva smirked, sipping on the glass of coke that she had been looking at since they sat down. She couldn't stomach much, but carbonation and fullfat soda always seemed to help. "Plus it's not like you'd have had far to travel."

This was true, though at the time, Cassie didn't quite believe that Jimin did actually live in the dorm directly next to hers. She had gone on a wild goose chase to the third floor of every other block in their dorm complex. Her keycard didn't work on a single door. Lo and behold, she found herself traipsing back up their corridor shamefully, a little bit annoyed for not realising that he hadn't been joking. As if by magic, her keycard had worked on the room next to Jimin's.

"Anyway, thats not important right now," Cassie batted the air in front of her away. "I still haven't decided what I want to wear tonight."

With lectures not due to start for another week, the next few days were all about socialising, and the girls didn't want to miss a single opportunity - even if their livers disagreed.

"What about a bird of paradise?" Neva suggested, all too familiar with all the colours and chaos in Cassie's wardrobe.

"Genius," she gasped, loving the idea. "What about you? Still going for the funeral look?"

"A funeral is just a party with a little crying, and that's how most of my nights out go regardless," Neva joked. It had been part of her most recent reinvention, leaving her sandals embedded with sand and anything lighter than dark grey at home.

"No tears tonight," Cassie narrowed her eyes. "You can't go as any kind of feline because I promise you that everyone will be some form of cat. What's your favourite animal?"

"Cats," Neva deadpanned, before smirking at Cassie's wide eyes. "Nah, I'm just fucking with you. Bunnies."

"Oh well then there's your answer! Perfect. Our very own Jessica Rabbit."

"I don't think that's quite the look I'll be going for," Neva laughed, ignoring the pounding of her still hungover head. She made a mental note to stop off at a pharmacy on the way home, and a fancy dress shop too.

"Why not?" Cassie goaded, finishing up her roll. "I'm sure I've got a red sequin number hidden away somewhere."

Neva absolutely did not doubt this.

Clearing her plates to the side, Cassie was ready to go and Neva couldn't wait to finally order the chicken mayo she'd been craving. Laughing about inconsequential nonsense, Neva almost didn't notice the bell by the door ringing as a student walked through it.

Glancing her eyes upwards, her smile faltered ever so slightly. Staring at the man who was at the counter, something felt oddly familiar. She recognised those shoulders.

The triangular back was well poised, belonging to a man who clearly knew how to train his body. Her head tilted slightly, blocking out the sounds of chatter.

Like a Polaroid flash, memories of his back flooded her vision; the way he'd carried her home on it a hundred times over, the way her fingers had once dug so deeply into it that he actually bled, the way she'd press kisses into his spine on lazy Sunday mornings.

But that was impossible. She was two and half hours from home, and he'd flunked all of his entrance exams.

He had pinky promised her that he wouldn't apply for the same school that he knew she had always dreamt of going to. It was the only university in the country that offered the media and criminology cross-over that she had been fascinated by.

No, no, no.

No, it couldn't be him. The back was broader than his, more masculine - but she hadn't seen him in a year and - oh, God, was it just the hangover making her want to hurl?

"Wassup?" Cassie chirped, completely oblivious to the tidal wave crashing over Neva. She was gonna get dragged into a rip tide, she was sure of it. That being said, drowning would probably be preferable

As his encounter with the cashier came to an end, he turned to scout the place out for an empty seat.

A smile rested faintly on his lips, defined jaw dimpled ever so slightly.

Yep, she was drowning. Definitely drowning.

Following Neva's borderline psychotic gaze, Cassie still seemed oblivious.

"Oh," she smiled warmly. "Told you he was you type. That's Jimin's roommate."

"No, Cass," Neva whispered, ignoring the hairs falling over her face, slightly hoping the would shield her from the inevitable.

But they didn't.

His eyes found hers, and if she'd have been paying attention to his lips, she would have seen the profanities escaping them. They'd always been wide and round, but his eyes were like bloody fried eggs now.

As were Neva's.

"Thats my shitbag  of an ex-boyfriend."

"Oh... oh FUCK!" Cassie let slip without a second thought, earning her a few bemused glances.

"Can we go now, please?" Neva whispered, unable to take her eyes off the man in front of her, who was reciprocating her struggle.

What. The. Fuck.

↬↬↬↬↬

A/N: officially my worst nightmare lol, how would you have reacted in Neva's position??

Also a chicken mayo is the best thing you can get at uk maccies, I miss them so much 💔 x