Carmen's POV

"Keep it."

Could he be any more of a flirt? I mean seriously, you already got what you wanted. Why make the effort, I really don't get it. He's cute and everything, but the night is over and it's time to move on.

It was weird when I found him in my bed this morning. When he fell asleep right after I moved to the couch because I didn't want him trying to cuddle with me or something. I figured he'd wake up during the night and let himself out, but no such luck. Then he tries to be all charming in the morning and act like....I don't even know. But it was annoying as fuck and I don't do mornings or getting to know him or whatever. I don't even remember his name and it doesn't matter either.

This coffee shop was my getaway from college life. No one comes here since it's so small and most students go for Starbucks anyway. As if I'm going to pay five dollars for one cup of coffee. No thank you. I never expect to see anyone from school here and I like it like that. All of my time is spent with kids at school, so this is my escape.

USC isn't in a huge city like a lot of other universities, but I like it that way. I'm not sure if I'd be able to handle a city of millions. The only problem is, it's a little harder to avoid people. And I like to avoid people.

The reason I chose to come here was mainly because of volleyball. I got a scholarship that covered my entire tuition, so all I have to pay for is living expenses. My Dad is in the military and he sends me a little money every month, but the rest is on me. Volleyball takes up a lot of time but I take less classes so my work load isn't as heavy. It's crazy, but I manage.

After my shift at the coffee shop is over I head back to the house I share with some other girls on the team. Seven of us live together right near campus, but I like to go stay at the apartment my Dad has here sometimes. He got a small place for the two of us to stay at when he's visiting and sometimes I decide to take my...activities back there. I don't know why, it just happens. Plus, the house was really crowded at the party last night and I didn't want everyone to hear me having sex with that British kid.

I didn't even really want to. Sure, he's hot and everything, but when the girls and I saw him they thought for sure he'd never sleep with me. I was drunk and maybe a little high and for some reason it felt like a good idea to take them up on that bet. A little flirting, some drinking games and making out in the bathroom is all it took to get him to leave with me. By the time we got to my apartment I was basically sober and he was cute and I just went with it. No harm done.

"Look who decided to come home," Alicia says when I walk through the door. She pulls her hair up into a messy bun and sits at the kitchen table. "Took him to the apartment, did you?"

"Yep," I reply simply, heading to the fridge to get some water. We have four filters in there at a time...we all drink like give litres a day. Sports thing.

"Well?" she prompts as I pour myself a glass. "How was it?"

I shrug. I don't like giving details or talking about that kind of stuff. That it happened, sure, but not the play by play. That's personal and no one needs to hear it.

"Come on, Carmen! He was so hot and his curly hair and the voice...I'm so jealous. Plus, didn't you love his accent? Every girl on campus is all over that boy, he's a serial dater."

"Is he? I've never seen him before last night."

"Now you've seen more than most," she jokes. I roll my eyes and laugh a little as I walk to my room. Unfortunate for me I got the bedroom on the main floor. It has a lock, thank goodness, so no one ever goes in there, but the girls love to throw parties and it makes sleeping impossible. The good thing is, I basically have my own bathroom so it's not nearly as dirty as the one upstairs always is. All the girls are always so busy so we rarely clean this place. Once a month we do a top to bottom and for the rest we just clean up our own shit.

After I've showered I get started on my philosophy paper. Unlike most of the girls on the team I actually care about my grades, so I take the time when there aren't parties here to get my homework done. I'm only taking three classes this semester so it's not hard to keep up.

There's a knock on my door and a friend of mine walks in, one of the few actual friends I have on campus and one of the only people in the world besides my father that I actually trust.

"Hey Liam." I smile at him and he lays himself across my bed. "Make yourself comfortable."

"How was the party last night?"

I shrug. Liam doesn't exactly approve when I do the one night stand thing. I don't do it a lot, but relationships aren't my thing and I like to have some fun once in a while.

"What did you do? I thought you were going to stop by," I say, saving my essay and turning towards him. I pull on leg onto my chair and lean my chin on it.

"I was going to, but Talia wanted to go to a movie."

"And of course your whipped ass agreed," I tease. He rolls his eyes but doesn't argue.

"I had fun, alright? At least I got laid. Maybe you should too, you're a little uptight these days," he fires back. I roll my eyes but say nothing. I'm not going to tell him but I'm not going to lie. He sits up against the wall and narrows his eyes at me.

"What?"

"You totally had sex last night," he accuses.

"Liam, why do you have to make it sound so technical?"

"You totally did! Who's the guy?"

"I've never told you before, why would I tell you now?" I turn back to my textbook and he laughs.

"Come on, just tell me who it is. Maybe I know him."

"That's exactly why I'm not telling you."

"Carms," he whines. I really hate that nickname, but he's the only one who uses it so whatever. "You never tell me. Just this once, come on."

I sigh and focus hard on the star I'm doodling on my notebook. He's going to judge me so hard.

"I couldn't even if I wanted to," I admit finally.

"What do you mean?"

"I sort of...I don't really know his name..."

He doesn't say anything so after a minute I look over to find him staring at me with his mouth hanging open. I cover my face and stand, diving onto the bed next to him and burying my face in the mattress.

"Stop judging me," I whine.

"I'm trying not to," he laughs. "Seriously, Carmen? How do you not know his name?"

"I think he told me but...I don't know, I just don't remember what it is. He had an accent, though. British, I'm pretty sure." I turn my head towards Liam and he furrows his eyebrows. "What?"

"Two of my friends are British," he says.

"Really?"

"Yeah, they live with me," he says. This is not happening.

"Are you kidding me? Shit, Liam I am not telling you who it is now."

"Don't you want to know his name so you don't feel like...you know..." He nudges me playfully and I cover my face again, Liam laughing in response. "Carmen, it's not a big deal. Just describe him."

"Nope."

"Carmen."

"Liam."

"Brown hair?" he guesses.

Damn it. "Yeah."

"They both have brown hair so, that doesn't help anything. Okay, did he have tattoos?"

"Umm..yeah. Mostly on his one arm and a few on his chest and stuff. They were actually really hot," I recall. He makes a gagging noise and I roll my eyes. "Shut up."

"Curly hair?"

"Fuck," I groan. "He totally lives in your house. What are the chances of that? Seriously, I'm never coming to your house again."

"You're barely ever there anyway, so that's not really a problem."

"So you never told me his name," I remind him.

"Right! Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's Harry."

"Harry?" I repeat, scrunching my nose. "That sounds like an old man name."

He laughs. "He's not old. You know that already, though."

"Fuck off," I groan, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at his face.

"I haven't seen Harry today. I'll have to ask him about you later. Do a little recon, you know, see how well you did."

"Could you make this any weirder?"

"I could try," he says, shrugging his shoulders.

"I'll pass. Did you do the psychology homework?" I ask, desperate to change the subject.

"Yeah, I did. It's easy, you'll get it done in a half hour."

My door swings open and another one of the girls, Steph, walks in.

"Hey, just so you know Des invited some people over, so that'll probably turn into a rager," she says, leaning against the doorframe. "Hey, Liam."

He waves and I roll my eyes. "Seriously? Another party? There are thousands of other kids on campus, why can't the girls just find another party to go to?"

She shrugs. "It probably won't be that crazy, but who knows. I just wanted to warn you."

She walks out and I can't help but feel irritated. I really don't know why I even live here. Liam pats my back and laughs a little.

"You have to come," I plead. He starts to shake his head. "Please, Liam! I hate these parties and I don't want a repeat of last night, I need mommy Liam to take care of me. You can bring Tal, the three of us can hang out. Pleeeeease?"

He rolls his eyes and rubs his hand over his bearded jaw. I know he won't say no, not when I beg him like this. Liam is such a softie.

"Fuck, fine," he says finally. "But you owe me, alright?"

"Deal."

Notes

numba two. just gettin started. wee yay.

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