Page 26 of Darkest Obsession

“Sorted.”

“Thanks, Thomas.”

I nod and watch her walk away. She’s weird, Sylvia. But she’s a good friend. Jude and Kit come into the gym shortly after, laughing hysterically.

“Do you have her knickers on you?” Kit screams. How the hell did I end up with a best friend who is just so bloody loud? And even if I did have Clover’s knickers on my person, I would need them for leverage, so I wouldn’t give up possession to my idiot best friend.

“No. We have a 30k row tonight, where’s the rest of the boat?”

“You wouldn’t believe what I got in bio class today,” Kit announces gleefully. He pulls something out of his pocket. One of Clover’s dreadlocks.

“How the bloody hell did you get that?”

Jude snickers. “Who cares. We can torture her with this.”

“We can talk torture after practice. We have a preseason race in three weeks. We can’t fuck around.”

Jude mutters something insulting under his breath. Cunt. He could have easily joined the cricket team if he wanted to. Our ergs sit in perfect rows in our colonized dance studio and eventually, everyone gets to practice. Our coach shows up this time to lead and to announce the elections for team captain. They’ll happen after that preseason race, so we all need to ‘look for the leaders’.

A lot of this college stuff is a bunch of tripe. I take my shirt off to sit on the rower, straightening my back and tying my hair in a knot out of my face. This is my favorite part of the day, using every muscle in my body to work and push my limits. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Practice hurts, as it should. Jude leaves with some of the others on the boat. I stay after to wipe the machines and to get quiet, a plan thwarted entirely by my best friend’s presence. Kit doesn’t bother helping, but at least his vaping allows him to take deep breaths and pauses between words.

“Did you hear what happened to Amina’s sister?”

“Yes.”

“I think a girl did it,” Kit said.

“I said that.”

“Jealous. Think it was Clover?”

“What?”

“I mean… Jealous of you and Sylvia.”

“There’s nothing to be jealous of,” I snap. “Sylvia and I are friends and that’s all. I’m honestly sick of these rumors.”

“Fuck, you’re defensive. Are you sure you haven’t shagged her?”

“She’s like a sister to me.”

“You’ve never even tried to shag Violet?”

I throw my phone at Kit’s head and when he cries out, I suppress a smile and demand he toss the phone back over, which he does.

“Hungry?” he asks. Of course I’m hungry. Thirty thousand meters takes a lot out of you. We agree on fish and chips. After that, it’s time to meet Clover in the library. I wear my nice hoodie and a pair of khaki pants. Nice trainers. I suddenly give a crap about how my hair looks. Control yourself, Thomas.

She waits for me at the library entrance. This would have been easier if I had her phone number, but she would obviously turn me down if I asked for it. I even remembered her knickers.

“I staked out a quiet study room,” she says. “So you can give me my underwear back. Asshole.”

“How am I the arsehole for giving your underwear back?”

She rolls her eyes. Yeah, I suppose I deserve that.

“Sylvia said you were entirely unhelpful. I’m not surprised.”