Wearing the red dress I'd brought with me, I slipped my shoes on, they matched the dress perfectly, they were the same shade of red with a kitten heel. I run my hands down the length of the dress and looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. I loved everything about this dress, the colour complimented my skin tone, the square neck collar and broad straps revealed just enough of my cleavage without making me look slutty, the cut of the dress clung to my figure and flattered my shape giving the impression I was slender and finally, the length was perfect, just above the knee, at only five foot four I had short thick set legs so a short skirt just did nothing for them.

I finished applying my make-up and checked my hair, I had made a special effort, normally I'd just put it up with a grip with the ends hanging over like the long thin leaves of a spider plant, no tonight I curled my hair, and I turned in front of the mirror checking myself from all angles I questioned why I didn't do it more often, the near black, heavy curls bounced down my back, I look pretty I thought to myself as I closed the door and walked to the kitchen.

It was ten passed eight and all the other girls were sat around the table, all the girls except Katie of course.

"Wow, you look great" Sarah enthused, I smiled gratefully at her.

"So do you" I said honestly, and looking around the room they all did, they had all made a massive effort. I chatted to the girls whilst we waited for Katie; they were all excited about the plans for the evening. I had managed to deduce that the boys had left an hour ago and they were going to the 'Red Lion', this was a two for one bar so an excellent place to start any evening, they were under strict instructions they had to leave there by eight fifteen as we would be on our way.

Next they went to 'Oscars', this was a student bar, the drinks were cheap and there was always a good crowd in, again they were under strict time restrictions as they had to leave there by nine thirty, from there the boys went onto various bars and pubs with pool tables and dart boards in, and the girls would progress onto a cocktail bar. The end game was that we'd all meet up in 'The Academy', the best nightclub in town, by twelve o'clock. Their military like precision made me smile, and it was clear no deviations from the agenda could be made.

It was eight thirty by the time we got to the Red Lion, I ordered my two white wines and made my way over to the others. The girls were loud and leery and obviously up for a good night, the pub was packed with students all getting happily smashed on the generous two for one offer. A low buzz came over the girls and they all moved in, whispering to each other.

"What's going on?" I quizzed Sarah, she pointed over to a group of students, in the middle of them stood a tall, muscular god.

"That's Greg" she sighed, I could fully appreciate her need to sigh, his blond hair fell into his eyes as he talked animatedly to his friends, I watched in awe as he commanded the room, as I looked around every girl in the place was doing her best to look as if she wasn't looking at him. He wasn't just good looking, he was super hot, male model, good looking, and I again thought of the skewed ratio of fit lads to ugly ones at this university.

"He's a third year, he's doing sports science and is the captain of virtually every team" she gushed, I don't know how long I'd been looking at him for but he obviously felt my stare, he looked at me, smiled a breathe taking white grin and waved at me, I was mortified and not quite knowing what else to do a gave him a little wave back. I could feel every girl in the room looking at me, the girls stood with me were open mouthed, and I just laughed.

We drank our drinks and headed onto the next pub, I could hear the girls disbelieving chatter ahead of me as they wondered at my gall, Sarah laughed as I explained I didn't know what else to do as we walked arm in arm into the pub. Oscars lived up to the image I had conjured in my mind's eye, there was a long narrow bar on the far side running the length of the room, with tables dotted about sparsely, we headed straight for the bar.

Naomi got served first; she held in her hands two pints of a yellow substance which to me looked very suspiciously like egg yolks, seeing my disgust.

"It's called Blast Away", she beamed, "It's delicious and it gets you really pissed, really quickly", she went onto explain it was a mixture of a bottle of something called Castaway and cider, even just the thought of cider made me retch, ever since that night on the back field with two, litre and a half bottles of Diamond White. So when it was my turn I decided to stick with the wine and ordered two large glasses.

The place was heaving and the heavy smoke and sweat filled room made me thirsty, the girls had decided we'd stay for another half an hour so I fought my way back to the bar. I placed my order with the harassed barman.

"I'll get that" came a voice from behind me, "And I'll have a pint of Castlemaine" I turned and to my astonishment Greg was handing a fiver over to the barman.

"Erm thanks" I said confused.

"You're very welcome", he smiled beautifully at me, and he held out his arm ushering me to walk in front of him, I walked towards the table the girls had crowded around, and stopped just in front of them, I knew from the expression on their faces he was still behind me.

"Erm thanks again" I stumbled, grabbing my hand and shaking it,

"Hi, its Alex isn't it? I'm Greg", I already know that, I thought, every girl in here knows your name mate. Clearly still in shock,

"Why are you talking to me?" I puzzled, he gulped hard on his mouthful trying to prevent himself from spurting it all over the tableful of admiring fans.

"Well you're direct" he said laughing, "Of course I'm going to come over and see the little girl who threatened to castrate half my third team" recognition flowed over me.

"In my defence I only said I'd neuter one of them and it wasn't a threat" I answered seriously, he laughed again.

"They said you were feisty" he mused,

"Well that's disappointing, I've been on my best behaviour all weekend as well" he laughed again, hey I thought I'm good at this, he may well be the best looking man on the planet but he's eating out of my hands, god I didn't realise I was so funny.

"Besides" he brought me out of my reverie, "I wanted to see for myself the girl who'd got my little brother in such a spin" trying to hide my devastation at finding out my pulling skills weren't all that, I instead went for the bewildered look, "Mark, he's my brother, didn't you know?" now he was the one who looked bewildered.

"Mark, are you sure, not about him being you're brother as I expect you to be pretty certain of that, but I think you're wrong on the other thing," I asked.

"Oh no, I'm pretty certain on that as well, all I've heard all day is Alex this and Alex that", Thinking through the contact I'd had with him over the last two days.

"Listen I think you need to have a word with him, not about me, but in general, he's way too subtle for his own good, and he'd be better talking to the girl in question directly rather than his brother intervening, don't you think?" I concluded.

"Sound advice, I'll make sure I pass it on" and then kissed me on the cheek, dazzled me with his smile and walked away.

"What was that about?" about half a dozen girls chorused at once.

"Oh it was just about me threatening to cut Chris's bollocks off in his sleep, he was just checking I was still up for it" I said laughing. The girls erupted into hysterics, well all except Katie.

As we left the pub she slowed and walked with me, I knew she'd want to know what went on between Chris and me, as we walked arm in arm I explained he'd been showing off in front of the lads and keeping up the bravado I had threatened to castrate him.

"Funny" she said, "He didn't say anything", wishing I'd never got into this.

"Well of course he didn't, it was just a bit of harmless banter, no hard feelings on either side, it was just a joke" I lied.

"Well if you're sure, cause if he's upset you or offended you I'll kick his head in", I smiled at her, this was my Katie, my best friend and I knew she meant what she said.

The cocktail bar was called 'Tuxedos', it was a narrow small place, the bar took up half the space, with the odd barstool, this place was strictly standing room only. At the end of the pub was a thin corridor with doors leading off it to the toilets and staff area. I headed straight for the bar and ordered my old faithful glass of white, the other girls looked at me disappointingly but I made my way to a gap which had opened up by the windows.

As each girl rejoined the group I frowned more and more at their choice of comic beverage, they ranged in colour between red, blue and green, each had a slice or two of fruit attached to the rim with most sporting an umbrella and a straw, I did however have to draw the line when the last two came back with lighted sparklers in theirs, I quickly downed my wine and headed for the toilets.

After enough time had passed for me to be certain the fire hazard had fizzed and sparked its way to dormancy I left the restroom, not really looking where I was going I collided with Greg.

"I'm beginning to think you're stalking me" he observed,

"Do you know what, I was thinking the very same thing" I countered.

"Hmmm, perhaps you were right before, our Mark wouldn't last five minutes with you" he pondered,

"No I don't think he would" I admitted. Thinking again he added,

"Anyway I think he's missed the boat hasn't he?" not waiting for me to reply, "From what I've heard young Daniel has already staked his claim" and he looked at me expectantly, not quite sure what I should say, my mind racing for something witty to say about my charm or magnetic personality but coming up with nothing I decided to turn it on him.

"First stalking, now gossiping, you do surprise me, do you always take such an interest in your third strings lives?" I said closing the subject.

"Ok, enough said, do you fancy a drink? As a way of apologising for my stalking I mean" he smiling that breathe taking smile again and I felt myself melt as I looked into his indigo eyes.

"Erm yeah sure" I spluttered, then remembering myself "But obviously I will have to buy them, I'm an emancipated woman and it goes against all my principals to not pay my way" raising his perfectly shaped eyebrows at me, I wondered for a minute if he got them waxed until I looked at the rest of him and realised everything about him was perfect, I could see him thinking for a second over my statement until finally he agreed.

When I came back to our corner by the window with him again the girls were mystified, to be honest so was I, but when he called his mates over to join us, the girls seemed less interested in how they'd got there and more in keeping them there. The boys chatted with us until they'd emptied their drinks and then they said goodbye and moved onto another bar. We decided to stay for one more before going onto the nightclub. My sudden, unexpected friendship with Gods had endeared me to the girls and they embraced me into the heart of their little group, including me in all their conversations, how easily swayed we are I thought, a little attention from an Adonis and the world's a happy place.

The Academy was the same as every other nightclub I'd been in, low lighting to hide the stains on the upholstery, sticky floors and toilets of very questionable hygiene. It was just passed eleven and the place was filling up nicely, I recognised a few of the faces from last night's party. Like a homing signal we headed for the bar, Saturday night was shot night, apparently, with tonight's being Tequila. Apart from the odd glass of wine I have been know in the past to enjoy a slammer or two, I think it was the lemon at the end I just liked them, and unlike vodka I seemed to have a high tolerance level, plus they were bound to be watered down and at only a pound a shot who was I to argue.

I managed to talk six of the girls into having one with me and when the barman put them down in front of us I handled them like a pro, I showed the girls what to do and then Katie and I took ours first, within seconds they were gone the other girls followed suit and after a few eye watering squints the drinks were gone and we were all laughing, Katie ordered the next round and this time we downed them as a group. We followed the same routine for two more rounds before a song came on that Katie loved, and she pulled me off to the dance floor.

We danced happily for a while until we heard the girls shouting us back holding the little shot glasses in their hands, we had two more rounds before I noticed James and Daniel looking at me, Daniel was shaking his head a little, obviously disapproving of my drinking antics, I smiled broadly at him and raised my glass as if in a toast, he smiled back and the two of them made their way over to us.

"Hiya, you having a good time then" James asked as he lent in to kiss my cheek.

"Yes thanks" I shouted over the music, "What about you?"

"Yeah great, what are you drinking?" he asked.

"Oh it's my round I'll get you one" as I looked round I noticed most of my female drinking buddies had sloped off to sit with the boys from the dorm, there was only Katie and Naomi still with me. I could see Mark making his way over to us so when the barman served me I ordered six, the boys needed more convincing than the girls had done to drink, but eventually they joined in the spirit of thinks and downed them with us, James gave a slight shudder as the lemon juice hit the back of his throat, but then his eyes lit up and he beamed.

"Ooh, I like them lets have another", both he and Naomi ordered and the dozen shots lined the bar, before I'd had time to drink either Katie was pulling me onto the dance floor, as soon as I'd heard the first bar of the song I knew she loved it and we danced happily together, we had sort of a routine worked out and as I moved one way she would move the other, we'd done it for years and it was more instinctual now, a couple of the other girls joined us but they danced round us rather than with us.

Just as the song was finishing and a new one overlapped, I felt hands on my waist, I turned to find the only ugly male student in the whole of Wrexham gyrating his way towards me, I quickly manoeuvred my way out of his grasp and positioned myself so another girl was between us, I danced for another minute or two avoiding eye contact before I saw his outstretched hands reaching for me again, I twirled quickly out of reach and backed away towards the edge of the dance floor, once a safe distance had been achieved I bolted for the bar.

James, Mark and Daniel were all laughing heartily at me when I returned, "What?" I asked innocently.

"What do you expect?" James chastised "Cavorting with Katie in that way the poor lad just wanted a piece of the action" he laughed whilst he spoke.

"What?" I again asked, "We were only dancing, what are you talking about?"

"It was just a little racy, I had to tell Mark and Daniel here to wipe the drool off their chins" he said again laughing. I felt my face blaze with embarrassment which only made them laugh more; unable to take anymore I reached for a drink and downed it quickly. After a minute or so I caught Mark's arm,

"Oh, I was talking to your brother earlier", his face hardened.

"Right and what did you say? Let me guess you pledged your undying love" I was surprised by his hostility, if I'd known he'd react like this I'd of never mentioned it.

"No, not exactly I accused him of being a stalker" I told him matter of factly, his faced changed immediately, gone were the frown lines his face was now animated and laughing, he picked up two glasses and held one out to me.

"I'd of loved to be there for that" he chuckled.

Daniel, Katie and Mark each ordered another round of drinks, we'd lost Naomi but they bought her one just in case. As before within seconds of the drinks arriving Katie was pulling me onto the dance floor.

"This time, behave" James warned. There was a Take That medley on and most of the girls in our group had joined us on the dance floor, remembering what James had said, making a conscious effort to prevent our display looking like a lesbian orgy I danced happily, mainly by myself. Big mistake, the ugly student saw this as my invitation to him to again grab me, his hold was stronger this time and a quick side step wouldn't be enough to escape him. I took his hands from around my waist, but he reached for me again, remembering the lads at the bar, I pointed to them hoping he'd understand the international code sign for boyfriend, momentarily dazed he looked at them, I saw my opportunity and bolted, I felt him grab for me again but I was fast enough to get out of his way, I rushed towards the bar, I could hear him calling to me and as I got closer to the bar I felt his hands around my waist again. I flung myself into James arms and kissed him smack bang on the lips, I felt the arms let go of my waist and after a second or two I removed myself from James face.

"Thanks" I said sheepishly, James looked like he might be sick and the other two just looked at me open mouthed, I handed James a drink, "You look like you need this", they erupted again with laughter, for the next twenty minutes they relived the moment over and over again telling it from their perspective, describing my look of fear, James' look of amazement, more horror I thought, and ugly kids look of defeat.

My trauma had sobered me up and I started to notice just how drunk James was.

"How many has he had?" I asked Daniel, as James swayed towards me.

"I don't know, think it was probably most of that last round, he's bladdered I'd better take him home", seeing his eyes start to glaze I agreed this was a good idea.

"I'll come with you, don't think I can take any more excitement for one night" I offered. The cold night air smacked me in the face as soon as we stepped outside; glad I'd brought a jacket with me I tightened it round me and headed to the taxi stand. Within minutes we were home, I'd walked ahead of James and Daniel, my job was to get the doors open, Daniel struggled to get James up the stairs, the minute we'd got out the taxi James' legs were no longer receiving messages from his brain. After five minutes of exhaustive effort, James was finally in his room. Sitting him on the bed Daniel stepped away, clearly his job was done, I knelt down in front of him and untied his shoes, I then took them and his socks off. Next I lifted his t-shirt over his head.

"Do you think you could help me with his pants, or do you want to watch me take them off as well?" I asked sarcastically.

"Erm yeah right, I'll do it" he stumbled.

"Ok, well you put him into bed and I'll get a bowl and a glass of water" I ordered. By the time I returned James was in bed and snoring loudly, so I put the water next to him on the bedside cabinet and the bowl on the floor. Closing the door behind us I walked towards the front door.

"Well good night then" Daniel said from close behind me.

"I'm starving; do you fancy something to eat?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah sure, what have you got?" he replied,

"What about a bacon butty?" I ventured,

"Ok, but only if you throw in a cup of tea" he joked.

I made the tea and whilst the bacon grilled I changed into my pyjamas, I'd washed my face and put my hair up also.

"I like your hair down" he noted, "It looks pretty", a little embarrassed I thanked him and busied myself with the bacon. I hadn't realised just how starving I was and as I took my first bite I unintentionally let out a little groan of contentment, looking at me he smiled.

"Please don't take offence" which meant his comment was bound to offend me, "But you eat more than any girl I've ever know" I giggled out of surprise.

"Don't take offence! You've either just called me fat, greedy or both" I explained.

"No I didn't mean it like that, it's just unusual that's all, I don't think I've seen any of the other girls eating in the two months we've been here" narrowing my eyes and trying to look annoyed.

"Hmmm, good save" and I took another bite of my sandwich, he laughed again but this time running his hand through his hair making the auburn tones in his dark hair catch the light. We finished our supper and I moved to tidy the dished away.

"Can I have another cup of tea?" he asked "I'll make it, do you want one?" feeling a little dehydrated from all the alcohol I accepted.

"All this tea drinking we're doing people will start to talk" he mused.

"Listen I hate to break it to you but they already have" I confessed and I went on to explain my conversation with Greg in the cocktail bar. I don't know how I expected him to react, I think after seeing him run into phone his girlfriend today I thought he'd jump out of his seat and charge for the door. But he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Let them talk, you and I both know there's nothing going on, we're not doing anything wrong...are we?" his question threw me a little.

"Erm no, no we're just friends nothing more" I confirmed, he stared intently at me and a felt his eyes looking deep into me.

"So we're friends, right?" he clarified,

"Yeah, well I hope so" I smiled, he nodded his agreement back. We were quiet for a couple of minutes I was scrambling for something to say, he was the first to break the silence, I heard him snort to himself and saw him smiling broadly.

"You do realise once everyone finds out James is gay they'll think it's you that changed him" he was laughing a little too hard for my liking.

"No, they'll think that after one kiss from me no other woman could ever compare so he's given up on women altogether" I preferred my version.

"That good, was it?" he teased,

"I think that's why he felt the need to drink the bar dry, to try and erased the memory" I giggled.

"Can I ask you something?" he posed, "Why did you kiss James and not Mark or me?" thinking for a moment so I could make the words make sense.

"He's the only person here who I could have kissed, everyone else would of either got the wrong idea or would have turned me down, I knew James would do neither" despite my best efforts Daniel looked confused so I elaborated.

"Ok, I know Mark likes me and if I'd of kissed him he'd of though there was something in it rather than me just trying to escape that awful letch, and if I'd of kissed you, well I would never of kissed you, I would never kiss someone else's boyfriend, no matter how innocent it was I'd still be pissed if someone did that to me so I'd just never do it. Before you ask, if you'd been the only one there then I still wouldn't have kissed you because you'd of pushed me away, and as well you should" I concluded.

"Oh I see, and you thought all that through in the moments it took you to get to the bar" he pried.

Not rising to the bait "I'm a genius, you said it yourself" and I shot him a smile. We talked until the last dregs of the tea had gone cold, looking at my watch it was two thirty in the morning and the others would be back soon.

"So do you still want to go swimming in the morning?" I nodded, "Ok we don't need to go as early as this morning, should I meet you on the landing at eight?" he asked.

"Yeah that'd be great, thanks" I answered.

"Thanks for the butty and cuppa, see you in the morning" he smiled.