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“So,” she said, turning the laptop down after one song. “What do you all want to get out of uni?”
“You mean other than a degree?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
I thought for a moment, catching Hayden looking at me with a knowing smirk. “I don’t know,” I answered, still looking at Hayden. “What about you?” I turned my attention back to Elle.
She smiled. “I want to sing and dance and join choir and music clubs. And of course I already told you; I want to find my people.”
“Your girl-squad?” I teased.
“Well, that was the original plan, yes.” Her smile was beaming now, and I wanted to reach out and stroke the rosy apple of her cheek, but I didn’t. “But any people will do.”
“And what do they have to do to beyourpeople?” Hayden asked, doing exactly what I had wanted to do a moment ago and cupping her jaw. The smile she gave him sent another shot of jealousy through my veins.
“Take the good with the bad, love me as I am, be real with me, listen to my truths and tell me theirs.”
“I can manage that,” Hayden said thoughtfully, then winked.
“I think I could too,” I mused, although there were obvious truths I would not be sharing with Elle.
We all looked to Brent, waiting for him to unofficially join our ‘squad,’ but he just grunted, making Elle snort in amusement.
“So go on, you tell me yours now,” she said to the room.
“I want to learn to cook,” Hayden said, surprising me. “I think I’ll be good at it. I love food but I’ve never had a chance to explore it properly.”
“Well, I am very excited to taste your wears.” Elle smiled. “Lance?”
She wanted truths. I’ll give her a truth, just not a full one. “I want to experience a little freedom before I’m tied into the life that’s been set out for me.”
She raised her brows at me but didn’t ask any questions. “I get that,” she said softly. “How about you, big guy?”
Brent’s standard pose—arms folded over his chest—showed his defences. “I have no ulterior motive. I’m here for my education and nothing else.” That wasn’t even a half truth. Brent didn’t care about his education one iota, he was there because I was and despite his complete lack of chill, I was completely and utterly grateful to my cousin.
“Boo, you’re no fun.” Elle stuck her tongue out at him. Brent sneered back. Undeterred, Elle raised her can of coke in the air and offered a few simple words, “To finding what we came here for.”
4
HAYDEN
Three months into university and I was in love. With life. Obviously. I wasn’t one for relationships and serious connections, although if I was, my heart would certainly be susceptible to my present company. But it wasn’t Elle or either of our other roommates who had me giddy. It was being away from the estate, out of the only other home I’d ever known, and into the little ready-made group that I couldn’t help but think of as family now.
My mum wasn’t a bad person, exactly. Just indifferent. I’m not entirely sure why she had kids—maybe my dad had wanted us. Clearly not enough to stick around for more than a couple years after my sister was born. I only had vague memories of him and no interest in making more. Mum’s next boyfriend moved in a year or so after Dad left, and he’s been there ever since. They plant themselves on the worn leather couch each morning and pretty much stay there until they go to the pub in the evening. They smoke, drink, and watch shit on TV. Mum provided the necessities in life; food, clothes, roof over our heads, but that was it. She never had any interest in us, she didn’t congratulate me on getting into a prestigious university, and she didn’t offer any help with my move. She said goodbye with an awkward hug given out of obligation rather than affection and has only text me once after I left to ask if I’d stolen her unopened Southern Comfort when I left. I had, but I didn’t tell her that.
That was why I didn’t feel the need to go back to the estate for Christmas, it wasn’t my home. I was happy in university digs, of course everyone else had left so it was eerily quiet. I would have been completely alone and perfectly happy with that, but Elle sat at our kitchen table humming Mariah Carey, twisting the stem of her wine glass, and watching me make my first ever Christmas dinner.
“Be honest with me, did you really want to stay here for Christmas? Or did you just feel sorry for me?” I asked, shaking the onions that were slowing browning in a saucepan.
She huffed out a laugh. “Don’t flatter yourself, babe. I wouldn’t have stayed here on my own but, honestly,anythingis better than spending more time than necessary with my parents.”
“Wow, I’m flattered,” I said with as much sarcasm as I had in me.
She giggled, one of my favourite sounds, the other being her singing voice, which I had become rather accustomed to after living with her for three months. Her singing travelled through the halls of our dorm at all times of the day. “You know what I mean! I’m very grateful to be here with you on Christmas day.” She raised her glass in toast and I found my own to join her. Apparently, I like wine. I had never tried it before I came here. I’d only ever had whatever I could steal from my mum’s stash when she wasn’t around, usually cheap liquor or warm beer were my options. But Elle liked all sorts of drinks, wine and cocktails being her favourite. She’d stocked a mini bar in our kitchen and had shown me how to make a multitude of concoctions, which had helped me considerably in my job at a bar in town.
The others didn’t need jobs, Lance was obviously Mafia Prince Extraordinaire and could hardly be seen flipping burgers for minimum wage. And as far as I could tell, being herewaswork for Brent. She never explicitly mentioned it, but reading between the lines, I had assumed that Elle’s parents were mega-rich. She didn’t seem to have much concept of money despite being a lowly student and over the last three months, she has casually mentioned that her house has a library, a swimming pool, and a gym.
“So, what does a typical Christmas with the Maxwells look like?” I probed.
