Page 6 of Oar Than Friends

It had been three years and I still hadn’t gotten a lid on my emotions; the profound emptiness I felt whenever I thought about Jake and the unexpected heart attack which had taken him from us at nineteen years old.

Jake was why I was here in Cambridge.

Jake was why I was studying medicine.

Jake was why I spent any spare minute I had in the stern of a shell.

I stood up, wiping my sleeve under my nose, then wiped my eyes as I tried to remember the way back. Crying over Jake would not be the reason I’d get lost in a new city.

‘Left, left, right, left,’ I muttered as I turned the corner and found myself once more staring at the wide expanse of lawn in front of the majestic Downing College. It wasa moonless night, only the stars lighting the way, and the pale stone of the building looked eerie in the faint lamps lining the gravel path.

It was still hard to believe that I was really here. That I would be …

‘Ahhhhhhh!’ My yelp echoed around the quadrangle as I jumped up from the grass I’d suddenly found myself falling almost face first onto, and spun around to see what exactly had cushioned my fall.

‘Arrrrgggh … my … fucking … balls … arrrggh … what the fuck?!’ grunted the lump rolling around by my feet, making a noise that was more reminiscent of a wounded animal than a human.

Yet, on closer inspection, it was indeed a human. A human man, in fact. A very large human man dressed entirely in black.

I forgot my shock and stared, unblinking, at the sight in front of me.

After leaning across to tap his shoulder, I stood up with clenched fists because something had stopped me before I reached out andactuallytouched him.

‘Um … are you okay?’ I asked, and rolled my eyes at my stupidity because it was clear he wasn’t.

Another minute of him curling into the foetal position wheezing deeply and it was becoming a little old. Mr Darcy wouldn’t have made such a fuss.

Then I remembered I was a med student and should show a little more concern and compassion.

‘Excuse me, can I get you help? Is there anything I can do?’

‘You’ve done enough, I’d say,’ he grunted from theground where he was now on all fours, his clipped English accent adding an unnecessary bluntness to his words. ‘Jesus Christ, you need to ask a man before you punch him in the balls.’

‘I’m so sorry … it was an accident. I didn’t see you.’

‘Well, you should be more careful and pay attention to where you’re going,’ he snapped.

Two glasses of wine coupled with homesickness and the emotions I hadn’t had time to bury, which were still bubbling directly under the surface of my skin, had my usual endless patience snapping like a piece of candy cane.

‘What did you expect? It’s not my fault you were lying in the dark, dressed entirely in black, on a lawn you’re not supposed to be walking on!’ I pointed aggressively to the sign-post on the path instructing exactly that.

‘Then why are you walking on it if you know you’re not supposed to?’

I opened my mouth to argue back, then closed it. There was a reason I hadn’t taken law, and it was my inability to construct a valid argument.

‘Okay, well … um … you’re obviously okay. I’m going to get going.’ I thumbed behind me, not that he saw as he was yet to look at me.

‘That’s right, debilitate me and take off.’

‘What exactly do you want me to do?’ I stropped.

‘Did you just stamp your foot?’

It was at this point that he turned his head to face me, a curl of dark hair flopping to one side as he did, and for the first time I had a good look at him, a reallygoodlook, and was rendered speechless. I scowled down at my chest as it gave a little flutter.

I wasn’t sure if it was due to the dim light, but his eyes – as pale turquoise as the Cambridge colours – glistened like stars in a clear night sky. His ruler-straight jaw line had unclenched slightly, but I could still see it twitching under the thick stubble coating his skin and doing nothing to disguise the rest of his face – sharp cheekbones, a full, luscious mouth, and a wide Roman nose as though he had arrived here direct from the studios of Michelangelo, chiselled by the master himself.

Woah.

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