Vicky

“A seven and the rest are hearts,” placing his hand on the table Ian smiled at his best friend, “that’s three in a row I’ve won now.”

In disgust Tomas threw his remaining cards on the table and looked accusingly at his grinning friend, “how come you always know what I’ve got? Are these marked?”

“If they are you marked them,” joked Ian “they’re yours.” Picking up the disputed deck from the table Ian started to shuffle them before dealing another hand, “so come on then” he asked. “You still haven’t told me what happened with you and Vicky last night.”

“Nothing,” Tomas confessed, looking around the common room to make sure neither Vicky nor any of her friends were present before continuing. “I thought she liked me, I mean she never complained about me having my hand on her arse all night.”

Sensing something juicy Ian probed, “so what happened? Did you make a move?”

“Sort of,” Tomas admitted “but when I leant in to kiss her she turned away and I ended up with face full of pizza.”

“What sort?” Ian asked as he tried to keep a straight face but eventually the strain was too much for him and he burst into laughter almost falling of the table they were sitting on. “Do you fancy going to Papa Luigi’s tonight? You never know you might get to second base.”

Although he wanted to be angry at his friend’s lack of understanding Tomas couldn’t help smiling at Ian’s joke and the “fuck you” he came out with lacked any venom. Above them the bell rang for the next period and like trained seals they both picked up their bags and started towards the common room door. “I’ll see you at lunch,” he told Ian as they were about to go their separate ways.

“Are you sure I’m not going to cramp your style?”

“What?” Asked Tomas confused.

“I hear pizza’s on the menu.”

“Fuck off,” Tomas laughed as he watched his friend disappear down the corridor before turning to go to his dreaded weekly date with Mrs Miller in the chemistry lab. In a world of his own he was unaware of Rachel, Vicky’s best friend until he had almost run over her and not wanting to discuss pizza, which he was sure Vicky would have told her about Tomas began to walk briskly by but Rachel’s hand on his arm pulled him back. 

 “How did it go with Vicky last night?”

“Don’t you know? I thought Vicky would have told you everything.”

“She might have done,” Rachel replied evasively “but I want to hear it from you.”

Fearing Vicky had told her best friend everything Tomas owned up, “it was a disaster I ended up French kissing a fish pizza. It was like she didn’t want to know me.”

“What are you talking about? Vicky said she loved last night. She’s hoping you’ll ask her out again.”

“But I ended up kissing a stuffed crust!” Tomas exclaimed wondering if Vicky had been on a date with somebody else as well the previous night. “We spent the whole night holding hands but when I tried to kiss her she turned away from me.”

Rachel paused and looked at him with what seemed like pity written across her face. “Just because you didn’t kiss doesn’t mean Vicky’s not interested in you,” she explained patiently. “She’s not had a lot of experience with boys and she probably didn’t know what to do when you tried to kiss her but she does want to see you again. You are going to ask her out again aren’t you?”

“I don’t know” Tomas replied honestly. “What if I do and the same thing happens? How am I supposed to know when she’s ready for me to kiss her?”

“She’ll let you know. You’ve just got to read the signals correctly.”

Shaking his head Tomas looked at Rachel doubtfully “and what are the signals?”

Smiling Rachel patted Tomas on the arm, “you’ll have to work that out for yourself” she told him. “And when you do she’ll have probably changed her mind anyway it’s a girls prerogative,” Rachel added laughing.

Confused Tomas watched a smirking Rachel walk down the corridor and wondered to himself if he was ever going to understand the opposite sex.