xxx.

chapter five.
cinq.

xxx.

Jade's room was on the second floor, meaning she had great quad muscles from walking up and down the stairs to get there, and she often had a peaceful time at night. She could sit on the windowsill, with the window itself propped just a few inches open, and let the cool breeze blow through her hair. It was dark, the moon glowed down over the campus to illuminate her landscape as she rested her arm against her propped knee, tapping an unlit cigarette against her leg.

She had actually had a pretty bad relationship with smoking, but within the past year, she up and decided she didn't want to do it anymore. It was hard, given Farleigh and Felix both smoked and seemed not to realize that perhaps they shouldn't do it in front of her, but, you know. A part of her always seemed to remain in the past, though, so she kept the last pack she ever bought and had it tucked in her sock drawer. There were only a few left in it, and one of them sat between her fingers.

Jade didn't plan on lighting or smoking it, she just held it. It felt a little stupid, but it did make her feel a little better and relieve some of the stress weighing her shoulders down.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't last long and an unlit cigarette wasn't enough to prevent her from gritting her teeth when she heard a sound below and would find it's source. She peered down from her window after hearing the bushes rustling, squinting to see what was down there. It just seemed too dark and unclear at first, but eventually she was able to make out an outline of a person, just standing at the front of the bush. Jade scoffed quietly, wondering what kind of freak would do that when she saw something glint.

A pair of glasses.

Jade's instant thought made her nearly fall out of the window, slipping down from the sip so she could lean further out of it to look down at him. When she realized she was right in her assumption, she swiped her phone from her table and went to text Farleigh. She typed the message, though just as her thumb hovered the 'send' button, she paused. The brunette looked back down at Oliver, wondering what the hell he was actually doing.

After a few moments passed by of her deep consideration, Jade erased the message to Farleigh and instead took a picture, as clear as it could be in the darkness. She glanced over it once to make sure that you could at least sort of tell it was Oliver, then sat her phone back down and closed the window.

xxx.

That morning, Nick had returned back to the dorm. He spent the night in Nell's room, thank god most of the girls got their own rooms since there were slightly less of them. He was too annoyed with Felix to fathom the idea of waiting in their dorm until he came back with god knows who, and lose sleep over it. So he went to stay with his sister, sleeping on the floor with some blankets and pillows he took from his own bed, under the guise that he needed to rest for an exam in the morning and Felix's snoring had been waking him up.

Now though, he stood at the door, fiddling with his key as his frustration grew the more he struggled to shove it into the lock. He wished he could say his frustration with Felix had dissipated in his sleep, but it didn't. And a little part of Nick knew he was being somewhat unreasonable. Felix was allowed to have other friends— hell, he had a shit ton of friends —but it felt like it was being rubbed in his face with Oliver. It was bad enough that he'd had to scoot past both Annabel and India making out with Felix in the hallway outside their room, on separate occasions. Now he had to worry about Oliver being in his room, with his stuff, with Felix, when he wasn't there. And there was nothing Nick hated more than a nosey person.

Except maybe finding Felix naked in his bed.

With Annabel beside him.

Nick's hand hung onto the doorknob as he had barely stepped inside when he saw them, sprawled on the normally perfectly made bed. Half of the sheets were on the floor while the others scrunched around their bodies, and Nick was trying to make a list of things he'd have to wash, disinfect, and burn in order to keep his head from popping off with smoke.

Felix was a heavy sleeper, as much as he would deny it, Nick already knew that. Annabel must've been as well, or rather she might've been too hungover to hear the door creak, because neither of them did so much as stir. Nick's lips parted to wake them, feeling his heart pounding in his chest and the irritation he had the night before came flooding back through the gates.

Nothing came out of his mouth though, at least not in the moment. The crease between his brows began to fade as he looked between the two of them; no matter how many times Nick had seen Annabel before, he never really retained what she looked like, and he wasn't about to start now. But Felix, he looked at him like it was the first time he'd ever seen him. His dark brown hair was always a mess, strands reaching his brows where a silver piercing dotted the bone, and his sharp features looked uncharacteristically relaxed. Nick would never say that someone like Felix looked angelic because he simply couldn't believe that angel could ever piss him off as much as Felix did, but a glow did seem to surround his body, drawing you in to him. Maybe he was a devil, in that way.

When Nick found himself thinking about his hands, primarily the one with the shaky star tattoos and that stupid rubber band bracelet that he wore alongside his more-stupidly expensive watch like some sort of paradox, he decided he was standing there too long. Nick cleared his throat obnoxiously loud and let the door slam behind him as he walked over; his heart was still racing and he half thought that he should just walk back out and sulk in his bubble elsewhere, but the two of them started to wake up before he could decide that.

He heard Felix groan and instantly picked up the blanket off the ground, turning swiftly and throwing it at his face as he called, " You're in the wrong bed. "

" Nicky? " The brunette sat up, pulling the blanket off as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his other hand. Felix looked over at the other boy, his brows lowered in morning-confusion, " You weren't here last night— "

          " No, and good thing, huh? " He remarked sarcastically, moving to his desk to begin shuffling through his bag, appearing as if he was searching for something. Really he was just trying to find something to busy himself with so he didn't have to turn around and watch them. That didn't keep him from continuing the smart-ass comments, " Wouldn't want to have prevented you guys from being able to violate my bed, eh, mate? "

            " I didn't realize he was so uptight. " Annabel murmured, but Nick could still hear it. He turned around with a sharp look at her. And even though he said nothing, his dark-eyed stare was long and uncomfortable enough to make her scramble out of the bed. She quickly collected her clothes, pulling her skirt back on before she rushed past him without another peep.

            Felix also said nothing, he just sighed deeply, rubbing his forehead as he sat against the headboard. Nick rolled his eyes and turned back around, zipping his bag up as he stated, " Get out of my bed. I need to wash the sheets. "

            " Maybe she's right, you should get laid so you won't be so uptight, mate, " He said, and the seriousness in his voice nearly make Nick scoff.

            " Get out of my bed. " He repeated, every word with its own, significant pause though his tone remained the same. Nick heard the bed creak after a second, and Felix's feet his the floor,  but he continued to face the wall; the peeling poster of some rugby team was suddenly extremely interesting to look at.

            " The girls all like you, they don't really know shit about you, but they said you're a 'weird cute', you could probably have options. " Felix egged him on, and Nick honestly could've punched him for his stupid tone.

           Instead he rolled his eyes and replied, " I don't want to fuck Annabel, or India, for the matter. "

          " Mm. " Felix acknowledged halfheartedly, then quipped, " What about Jade? I won't say anything. "

          " You're ridiculous, Felix. " He snapped, " I'm the furthest from uptight, I just don't want my bed contaminated when yours works just as well. "

         Nick finally turned back around, though he didn't bother sparing Felix a glance as he walked over to the window. He unlocked it and pushed it up quickly, airing out the 'smell'. It was a petty and dramatic thing to do but he didn't care. He actually hated the outdoors, and he couldn't stand the smell of rain, which hit him harshly as soon as he whipped the windows open. He gripped the windowsill tightly, closing his eyes and exhaling a quiet breath when he felt something under his hand.

         He flipped it over and found a used cigarette sitting on the wet sill. Nick picked it up with two fingers, making a face at it as he began to say, " Seriously, Felix? You can't even put these in the bloody ash— "

           Felix plucked the cigarette from his grasp, looked at it briefly, then tossed it into the ash tray on his night stand. Nick could feel the heat radiating off his body, meaning he was standing right behind him, as close as he could be without actually touching him. Felix dipped his head an inch to be closer, insisting with a slight disappointment in his voice, " You're always upset with me anymore. What did I do, Nicky? "

           Nick's fingers dug back into the edge of the windowsill as a chill went down his spine, and he resisted the urge to turn his head away from Felix's breath. The black haired young man closed his eyes, then opened them as he turned around, careful not to touch Felix.

           " Are you going to bring Annabel here again?" He questioned, a deadly serious tone in his voice as he looked back at him. " Or Oliver? "

            Felix stared at him for what felt like forever until a crooked smile of disbelief appeared on his face. His tongue poked the corner of his lips as he let out a laugh, " Are you actually jealous? Is that what this is about? Ollie? "

           When Nick didn't say anything, Felix laughed a bit more heartily, " Oh, come on, Nick, I'm not trying to replace you or anything, mate. Plus, he's not that bad. You should give him a chance. "

            " Yeah. " Nick said, just continued to stare at Felix in annoyance as the brunette stepped back away from him, running a hand over his hair with another chuckle of amusement. It was only then that Nick realized he at least had boxers on. It wasn't exactly a priority in his mind.

          " Get your panties out of their twist, Oliver's my friend, you're my friend, you should just talk to him. " Felix insisted, heading across the room to pick up and pull on his shirt, " You two are sort of similar, you know. "

           " I'm sure. " Nick answered, waiting til Felix's back was turned to him to roll his eyes, feeling his cheeks with the back of his hand.

xxx.

2,001 words

3(?) more shortish chapters before we head to saltburn!

as always, all comments are appreciated and welcome!