Double Lines

POV – Ethan…

Noah and Andrea returned to the room dressed but with wet hair.

“Micky, did you make us drinks?” Noah asks as he walks up to us. I look over at Mikaela, who still has her head down.

“I’m not thirsty,” I comment.

“Oh, I would love a coffee, though,” Andrea pouts.

“No, we should get going,” I state, getting off the bar stool.

“But…” Andrea begins.

“We are going, Andrea,” I say through my teeth.

“Don’t be sour because you didn’t get any,” Andrea states, placing her hands on her hips.

“We are going,” I growl. Andrea folds her arms and pouts.

“Fine, whatever,” she replies.

“Come on,” I tell her, heading for the door.

“I’ll call you,” Andrea says to Noah happily before following me.

I lock my jaw, not saying anything as we get in the car.

“What’s the matter, baby? Didn’t you have fun?” Andrea says coyly.

“Of course, you didn’t,” she laughs when I don’t respond.

“That’s it. We’re done,” I say, pulling the car over.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, get out,” I say, glaring at her.

“You don’t have to be an arsehole about it, Ethan.”

“Just get out!”

“Fine. And you know what, you may have a flash car, but you know what Freud says about that, only you’re compensating for your lack of sex drive!” she yells before slamming the car door after her.

I shake my head in anger.

“Fuck!” I growl, hitting the steering wheel. What have I done?

I drive to the student carpark and park before heading across campus to my dorm building. I’ve lived in the dorms since I began university, having not wanted to venture into frat house sharing despite my uncle, father and grandfather being members of the elitist frat house groups around the country. However, I did pay extra to have my own room with an ensuite.

After showering and changing my clothes, I leave my room to see if I can find Declan. Declan is one of my childhood friends and has known me since kindergarten. Like me, he is also a legacy of the frat house my father and uncle were in, but like me, he wanted to ‘fly below the radar,’ so to speak, to have a different college experience than his parents. He lives in the same dorm building as I do as a resident advisor.

I knock on his door and wait for him to answer. The door opens, revealing Declan with unkempt hair and clothes that looked quickly thrown on.

“I didn’t disturb you, did I?”

“No, she left an hour ago,” Declan states. I just shake my head and walk into his room.

“You need to open a window, man,” I chastise, walking over to the window and letting the air in.

“Can’t tell,” Declan replies, sitting on his bed. I take his cue and sit on his desk chair.

“So, how was last night?” Declan asks, wriggling his eyebrows at me. I shake my head. I had told Dec about Andrea’s proposition, and like me, we were both against it.

“I don’t know why you agreed, mate; you’re so stupid!” Declan laughs.

“I know. I was completely blindsided,” I tell him.

“What do you mean? Who was the couple?”

I look at Declan and don’t know what to say. We had spoken about what I would do… I was going to leave as soon as I could; I hadn’t planned to stick around.

“It was her,” I tell him.

“Her? Who her? Which her?” Declan asks, looking at me.

“Not your her?” Declan asks, shock in his voice when I don’t respond. I nod, and Declan whistles.

“Wow. I didn’t know… I didn’t think that couple swung that way…” Declan comments. I nod. I’d pointed Mikaela out to Dec over the years, and we’d seen her around with her boyfriend. They looked like a loving couple, so I was surprised when I saw her last night.

“She doesn’t. Mikaela was uncomfortable…”

“Ah, so her name is Mikaela?” Declan asks.

“Yeah. She looked so unhappy, Dec, and when her shithead boyfriend and Andrea started, she ran off to a room in tears,” I tell him.

“Please tell me you did the gentlemanly thing and went after her?” Declan asks. I nod.

“I did. I couldn’t leave her like that…”

“Don’t sound sorry, Linc. It’s not like she didn’t agree to the swap.”

“That’s it!” I tell him, “She didn’t! I’m not sure why she agreed, but I don’t think she thought he’d go through with it!”

“So she didn’t like the idea either?”

“No. Not at all…” I sigh. Declan and I sit there, quiet.

“What happened?”

“I slept with her,” I say, looking at my shoes.

“You did what?” Declan shouts. I look up at Declan, who is smiling.

“You dirty dog!” Declan cries, slapping my foot. I shake my head.

“She was willing, right?” he asks. I nod.

“So… how was it?”

“It was good…”

“Really… good?”

“It was the best sex I’ve ever had…”

//\\///\\\//\\

I try not to stalk her now that I know where she lives. But my mind can’t stop thinking about her, and it’s gotten worse since we slept together. I drive past her house once or twice, but not every day like I itch to do. I want to see her again, but she seems to keep to herself.

I do see Andrea around campus, usually with her friends. Her friends give me strange looks, but I don’t care. I’m over the whole Andrea thing.

I’m in my room on Friday night, chilling with my laptop as I stream movies. It’s been a busy week, and I’m looking forward to bed. My phone rings, and I reach for it to see who is calling.

“Hey, Dec, aren’t you at work?” I ask when I pick up.

“Yeah. She’s here,” he states. I can hear the noisy bar in the background. Declan works Thursday and Friday nights at Torrence, one of the bars down at Water Grotto, the local area where students from university go drinking.

“Who?” I ask, half listening to him and watching the scene on my laptop.

“Your girl, Mikaela. And she’s upset. Come down,” Declan tells me.

“She’s there?” I ask, checking what I’ve heard.

“Yeah, come down, man,” he tells me.

“I’ll be right there,” I reply, ending the call. Quickly, I close the lid to my laptop and pull my bedsheets off my lap. I’m dressed in pyjamas and am dirty from the day’s activities, so I run into my ensuite and shower quickly.

I think I spent fifteen minutes getting ready to leave before heading out the door to my car. The Water Grotto, our university’s nickname for the local clubs and pubs area, is typically busy for a Friday night, but I manage to find a park on one of the side streets by the main road. Locking the car behind me, I approach Declan’s work. Declan is at the bar serving customers as I approach, smiling at me as I walk over.

“She left,” he tells me.

“What?” I asked. I missed her? Declan nods.

“Sorry. She had two drinks and left,” he repeats.

“Fuck!” I swear, threading my fingers through my still-damp hair.

“How was she? Was she okay? Did she say anything?”

“She wasn’t good man. She told me her boyfriend was cheating on her. Told me he brought his mistress home tonight and has spent the week coming home late smelling of someone else,” Declan explains. I feel awful. This is my fault.

“Fucking arsehole!” I reply, angry. Declan nods.

“Drink?” Declan then asks.

“Yeah, one,” I agree. I watch as Declan pours me a beer. I thank him when he gives it to me and pay him.

“Oh, I also suggested that she move into the dorms,” Declan says as I begin to walk away with my drink.

“You did what?” I ask. Declan shrugs.

“I felt sorry for her. Yeah, so maybe you’ll see her at work on Monday?”

//\\///\\\//\\

I worked at the Campus Administration Building three days a week. I hoped to see Mikaela come in and talk about her accommodation changes, but as I started at four on Monday, I missed her. I did ask Julie, one of the full-time office workers, if Mikaela had come in (under the guise that Mikaela was my friend), but she didn’t know. So that was a dead end.

I did drive past the house she shared with Noah a couple of times, but I didn’t see her, so I decided to continue with life and try to catch up with her if I saw her on campus. Only I didn’t see her. Or, should I say, I think I saw her, but she would disappear from my view pretty quickly. Maybe she was avoiding me? I don’t know.

I’m walking to class when I hear my name being called out, and I turn to see some of Andrea’s group of friends standing under a tree, waving at me. I narrow my eyes at them as I walk over.

“Hi,” I greet, to which I get smiles.

“Hello!” the dark-haired one, who I think is called Holly, replies.

“How have you been? We haven’t seen you in ages!” the other one, Tiffany, I think, says.

“Yeah. Andrea and I broke up, and I’m busy with assignments,” I acknowledge. Both girls’ nod.

“Yeah, Andrea moved in with that Noah guy. She’s very happy,” Tiffany says, to which I nod.

“Good on her,” I reply. I remember Andrea asking me if we could move in together, but I wasn’t interested in that type of relationship with her.

“So, are you seeing anyone?” Holly asks, biting her lip at me. I shake my head.

“I’m not really interested in a relationship at the moment. This is my final year, and I want to concentrate on that,” I explain.

“Oh yeah, I forgot this was your final year,” Holly smiles. Tiffany nods.

“Well… it was nice talking to you,” I say, about to walk off.

“Don’t be a stranger!” Tiffany calls out as I begin to walk away. I smile at them, which makes them giggle and walk away. Girls are strange creatures.

I think I see Mikaela after class, but when I call out to her, she keeps on walking. Before I knew it, she’s turned a corner and disappeared. I sigh and stop walking. Maybe this is for the best? Perhaps we are not meant to be?

The weeks move slowly, and I’m snowed under with assignments. I head for work on Thursday for my morning shift, opening the door for a female student walking out.

“Thank you,” she says, her melodious voice making me stop and look at her. Mikaela. Her cheeks go pink as she looks up at me, and I’m lost for words. I haven’t been this close to her for forever, and it takes all my resistance not to grab her and hold her in my arms.

But as quickly as I recognise her, she’s gone, walking away. Whereas I look like an idiot, lost in the moment.

“Mikaela!” I call out, but she doesn’t turn and keeps on walking. I take a quick look at my watch; I’m already ten minutes late, thanks to my phone battery dying, and if it’s meant to be, I’ll see her again, so I turn back into the building and walk inside.

//\\///\\\//\\

“What are your plans on Saturday night?” Declan asks me. We’re sitting at the campus library, studying. It’s funny how we’re studying the same thing, working together when our family’s companies are almost rivals. But it’s good.

“Nothing, why?” I ask, shrugging my shoulders. We’ve been back from holidays for a few weeks, and I haven’t seen or heard about Mikaela. I know I should move on, but something about her keeps me going. I think about her every day, and it’s awful.

“You need to get out. Let’s go to Torrence and have a drink or two,” Declan suggests. I nod; Torrence is the name of the pub Declan works at.

“Why not,” I reply.

“Seriously? You sure?”

“Why not? I’ve been in a rut since the whole Mikaela thing… I need to have some fun,” I reply, to which Declan enthusiastically nods.

Declan meets me at my dorm room on Saturday. We’ve decided to walk to the Water Grotto together rather than drive so we can drink.

“You ready?” Declan asks when I open my door. I nod and close the door behind me as we walk down the hallway.

“You drinking tonight?” one of the guys in the dorms ask as we walk past.

“Yup,” Declan replies.

“See you there!” he tells us. We nod and continue our walk to the grotto.

It’s only ten at night, but the streets are busy with students walking to the grotto. People greet us along the way.

“Right, two pints,” Declan declares, passing me my drink.

“Untainted?” I tease, making him laugh. We stand there and drink our beer as we people-watch. The bar is busy tonight, with a group of females dancing in the middle of a makeshift dance floor.

“What about her?” I ask Declan, pointing to the girl in the mini-skirt dancing with another in white skin-tight pants.

“Hmm,” Declan says, “I think the girl in the pants…” he smiles. I nod and watch him walk over to the girl dancing with her friend. Declan whispers something in the girl’s ear, and she smiles at him, allowing him to take her hand as he leads her towards the bar. Her friend looks around but continues to dance on the spot, almost oblivious to the fact that she’s now alone.

“Ethan!” I hear someone call for me. Turning, I see Andrea walk my way, wearing a very tight short crop top and high-waisted skinny jeans.

“Good to see you! How have you been?” she asks.

“Fine,” I say, nodding at her. Andrea stands there quietly, watching me as I ignore her and look out into the crowd.

“Noah and I moved in together,” Andrea says. I give her a look and then look away.

“Did you hear me? I moved in with Noah!” Andrea says, a little bit louder.

“Congratulations,” I reply. Andrea smiles at me as I nod.

“Hey babe,” I hear Noah greet Andrea, wrapping his arm around Andrea’s shoulders and kissing her cheek.

“Hi, Ethan, isn’t it?” Noah greets me, offering me his hand. I shake it politely.

“How have you been?” Noah asks me.

“Good, you?”

“Great. Andrea and I recently moved in together… we’ve been really happy,” Noah tells me. I just nod.

“That’s good to hear. Look after her, man,” I tell him. Noah nods.

“Oh, he does,” Andrea adds, making me give her a sideways glance.

“How is Mikaela? Do you know?” I ask. Andrea and Noah both shrug their shoulders.

“I haven’t seen her since she moved out. But we’ll probably catch up soon,” Noah says.

“Really? I haven’t seen her around campus,” I add.

“Yeah, but my family and hers are close. We’ll probably catch up at Christmas,” Noah says, uninterested.

“Noah’s taking me to visit his family at Christmas this year,” Andrea adds with a smile.

“Oh yeah. Where are you from?” I ask, trying to pry information from them.

“He’s from Bateman’s Bay. Noah’s promised to take me to the beach,” Andrea grins.

“That sounds… great…” I nod.

“I’ll catch you both later,” I tell them as I finish my drink. Andrea and Noah both nod, and I head back for the bar.