Ethereal Love

Chapter 1

My goodness trains take forever! You'd think the speed of them would get you to your location instantly but obviously not. Although trains do take a while, especially as where I am heading is a long way away, I do enjoy how smooth the ride is. Listening to my favourite playlist, I sat back and relaxed as I still had a couple of hours to go until I arrived at my destination. Oh, I'm Maddy by-the-way, Maddy Tipton. I'm 18-years-old, born in June on the first. I am attending Manchester University to study Medicine. I'm choosing to stay in my own apartment off-campus for my first year and possibly try out halls in my second year? But that all depends on the availability of a room. I'm hoping to make some new friends and find my 'group' as in secondary school, I never really had a group – I was what I called myself a 'floater', somebody who goes around and sits with different groups every day.

After a couple of hours passed and I could finally get off the train, I grabbed my bags and ordered an Uber. My uber driver was so sweet, his name was Dane, he seemed really interested in my Uni course, which was nice. Dane was roughly in his late forties, you could tell as he had that middle-aged tired look and delicate wrinkles on his face. Arriving at my new apartment, Dane offered a hand to take my bags up to my room – I had a few bags, so I would've made a couple of trips if I didn't accept his help. He came into my room and dropped my bags off; I went to tip him for his kindness, but he declined my offer. I showed him the door and thanked him again, a sweet and innocent smile appeared upon his face.

Turning my speaker on and setting up my music, I looked around my room and completed some mental calculating to organise where everything will go. Playing music loudly, I unpacked my bags and organised my books on each shelf. I then used my label maker to mark out each book for each topic of the subject I will be learning in further detail this semester. Three hours passed and I had finally finished unpacking and tidying my new room. I FaceTime called my mum, and I gave her a tour of my room – safe to say she loved what I had done with it and she was heavily shocked at how big the apartment is. A leaflet was kicked under my door, it read: 'ALL FRESHERS AT UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER COME ALONG TO WETHERSPOONS AND MAKE SOME FRIENDS, FROM 8 PM – 1 AM!' I told mum about it and said I have to go and get ready.

I put the phone down and got ready for a night out. Looking for a suitable outfit was the easy part as I'm quite a laid-back woman so I suppose I can go dressed in some black mom jeans, a vintage white Nike sweatshirt and my white AF1 shoes. I went basic with my hair – I used my curlers to make my hair wavy. Finally, I put some mascara on my eyelashes, concealer on a couple of glowing spots and some lip gloss. I slid my shoes on and left about an hour early, I wanted to grab a Greggs sausage roll before the party. My sausage roll was only 59p which was quite cheap for Greggs, but it was in the reduced section, whilst I was there, I grabbed myself an Oasis drink because let's be honest, nothing beats a good Oasis for a refreshing beverage.

After snacking on my sausage roll and finishing my drink, I headed straight to the party in hope to find a new and stable group of people I would hopefully be able to call friends one day. I arrived at the party and I see so many people already finding their people, it made me question if I would fit in as fast as the rest of them. I walked over to the bar and grabbed a drink, I took a sip and turned to a group so I could make some new friends, but I bumped into some six-foot-two giant with a stomach which felt like it was made of steel. I flinched and apologised to him, "I am so sorry, I didn't see you there." His response wasn't so pleasant, "HEY, watch it!" he shouts at me,

"Alright, there's no need to be a nob about it; you can see it was an accident," I reply,

He looks at me daringly and says, "Well are you going to help me get this off my shirt?

He has a faint accent, I looked at him and said, "I would've offered to help get the mark off, but you were being an arsehole about it." I let myself go and gave a nervous smile. "Follow me." I continue.

He looks at his friend and looks back at me in shock that I actually said that to him. I went to the bathroom with him and I wet some paper towels and squeezed the remains of water out of it, so the paper towel was now damp. I started patting it on his shirt, but he was impatient. So impatient that he had a small tantrum so groans and takes his shirt off. I sigh and laugh as he walks out of the bathroom, he overheard and came back in, he walks up close to me, so close I could feel his breath, "Do you have a problem, new kid?" he asks,

"No, no, aha, I don't have a problem, but I do see the type of person you are," I reply,

"Care to share? I mean your sigh and bitchy giggle was screaming that you have something to say..." he says,

"I think you think too highly of yourself, you're a self-centred snob who thinks that by taking your shirt off will get you the attention you crave because every girl in that room next door follow you on Instagram and comment heart eyes under your posts - you think that you could get any one of us in the snap of your fingers," I say,

"Well, it clearly got your attention. I'll see you later, new-kid." He says,

His name was Iago by-the-way, he is a Calvin Klein model, one of their most popular models in the UK. He has a body that most men our age would kill to have, he's part Italian, English and American so he has a golden-brown skin-tone. He has floppy brown hair that he puts wax in every day to style it, emerald green eyes that twinkled in a certain light, the nicest dimples on either side of his smile – he was hot! But he's a frat boy so I already know I would never get along with him.

I can hear the pathetic cheers from all his fangirls coming from the restaurant/bar. Is that the time? Oh my, I think to myself, I better shoot off. Especially as I have my first Med class tomorrow. I leave the bathroom and head towards the exit – Iago saw and chased after me, "Hey, hey, let me walk you home." Iago says,

"I can walk myself but thanks," I say but he insists,

"I'm Iago, sorry for being like that earlier." He apologises which was kind of suspicious, but he was weirdly trying to be humble – he was already aware that I know who he is...

"I would say it's nice to meet you, but you are a pain, I'm Maddy, sorry for spilling my drink on you," I reply, apologising again even though he doesn't deserve it.

We finally arrived at my place and he walked me to my door, he asked if he could come in, but I knew what he wanted – we had both drank tonight and the tension was there – I laughed at him and said, "No, I really must get ready for bed – I have class tomorrow."

"Oh really, what class?" He asked, suddenly interested in my life.

"Med class with Professor Gilbert, but I really must go. I'll see you tomorrow." I say, hurrying along trying to get him gone,

"Ahh cool... Professor Gilbert, you say? I'm in the same class as you ahaha. I suppose you will see me tomorrow." Iago says, with a tiny tone of excitement within his words.

A weird feeling of both dread and excitement crawled upon my body, there's no way I could feel excited that he is in the same class as me – what was going on with me? Let's not overthink it, I'm excited about class... not Iago. I brushed my teeth, put my hair in a loose bun and made myself comfortable in bed ready to sleep. Big day tomorrow, I cannot mess this up.