The Peace in the Storm

Chapter three - Spotlights.

Chapter three – Spotlights.

Being at university gave you freedom, there was literally no one to tell you what to do and that was the problem, no one could tell you what to do. All throughout primary school, secondary school and even sixth form you have to go to school everyday unless your sick, you couldn't have a day off because your parents wouldn't let you. It became the opposite when it came to university, I would attend at least three lectures a week, all the other days I simply could not be bothered and I ours don't have my parents around to tell me otherwise.

Which is my I laid comfortably in bed instead sitting in my lecture taking notes, it made me wonder how I ever got up in the morning before university. Today was also game day, so it only fair I relax as much as I could for the energy that will be used cheering our team and cussing out River and his idiotic squad if need be. I closed my eyes letting the soothing voice of Jhene Aiko take over and hopefully put me into a deep slumber. I jerked up to the movement of my door, and slowly grabbed my bat beside my bed, courtesy of Harry, for only Leila to reveal herself.

"Why?" I breathed and clutched my chest in an attempt to calm myself down.

"there's no point of going if you ain't." she answered with a shrug.

"I'm becoming a bad influence on you."

We ended up pigging out on our sofa and watched true crime thrillers until Leila feared she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. Leila put on a kids fantasy movie to lighten the mood but fell asleep halfway through and awoke to someone banging on our door. Turned out it was Harry who claimed to be knocking for hours, when asked why he was here and not preparing for the game tonight, he simply told us he hates training on game day.

"River told me he bumped into you?" Harry tilted his head to the side.

I threw my head back and let out a groan and reminisced to just the day before, I remembered him being so close that I smelt the mint and tobacco that was laced his breath. I remembered how he ran his hand through his hair ever so often and the smirk that played on his lips as he watched me. He had called me 'Makky' a nickname given to me by my siblings and a name I haven't heard in a long time. Hearing it for the first time in a very long time from his lips shocked me, it would slip from Harry's tongue here and there but it wasn't often enough for me to care. It had a certain twang when River called me 'Makky' due to his 'up north' dialect that made it more bearable to hear but I knew he was being spiteful as he said his aim was to get under my skin.

"More like let himself into my personal space." I scoffed. "Then had the cheek to call me Makky."

"It may have slipped." He admitted and threw his hands up.

"It doesn't matter he knows her name." Leila argued and disappeared back into her wardrobe.

Pointedly I looked at Harry and nodded, he sighed and shrugged in reply. It annoyed when we spoke of his friends like this because defending would not work against Leila and I and staying quiet would go against his morals of being a friend. It was times like this when I wished Harry and I attended the same university that way the fake that he tended to attract would have flew off him. However, that was just me being too overprotective, who am I to tell him who he can be friends with?

"Look him calling me Makky was just triggering, it's not like he knows anything, right?" Harry shook his head followed by a small smile.

Time passed and Harry left to get ready for the game instead of getting ready for the game soon after Harry left, I decided another quick nap would be nice and now everyone was impatiently waiting for me. Austin offered to drive us even though Leila and I could easily get there ourselves, but it did mean we don't have to pay for fuel so I wasn't complaining. I tended to underestimate how much time I needed to get ready when I thought I needed ten minutes turned out I needed thirty.