Victoria White
More Than Friends
A Contemporary Queer Romance Novel
Copyright © 2021 by Victoria White
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Victoria White asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
First edition
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Contents
1. An Introvert’s Guide to Parties
2. Water Trouble
3. It’s a Small World
4. A First Date
5. Drinks and a Show
6. Lover Not a Fighter
7. The Ex
8. Sex, Tea and Crappy TV
9. The Morning After
10. An Intervention
11. It’s a Small World Part Two
12. On My Mind
13. Lover’s quarrel
14. Reconciliation
15. The End
16. Chapter 16
One
An Introvert’s Guide to Parties
Orientation week is the worst week in a college student’s life. Well, alright, maybe not the worst week. But it’s up there. It’s at least in the top five. And that applies for the first week of semester thereafter. Alright, maybe that isn’t entirely – universally speaking – true, and maybe most college students quite enjoyed the crap that goes down that first week when the stress of midterms hasn’t reared it’s ugly head, and everything’s new and fresh and exciting.
But Kate Harrison couldn’t quite wrap her head around that. And yes, before you say anything, she’s aware her name is just two first names awkwardly strung together. She’s heard that one before. Would’ve been worse, though, if her mum had named her like, ‘Amerika Burning Sage Harrison.’ That had actually been on the table. So, really, her name was brilliant when compared to the alternative. She could only image the comments her dad’s side of the family, snobby and British, would’ve made if her mum had gotten her way.
Kate hated the first week of college. There were freshers everywhere you looked, either trying to reinvent themselves or falling back into same old molds that fit them like a glove in high-school. It wasn’t hard to figure out which was which. The guy walking around shirtless with a football in one hand and a six-pack in the other wasn’t exactly looking to reinvent himself as the sensitive artistic type.
And she despised it all the more because she couldn’t escape the madness that was that first week. Kate lived on college row, a row of residential student accommodation, in very, very small dorm room. She didn’t have to share her room anymore. That had been awkward. You only walked in on you very sex-positive, all the more power to her, roommate int the middle of a threesome one time before you learnt quickly that announcing your entrance was not a bad idea. But sex-escapades aside, in general, when dorm life was examined through a PG-13 lens, it all reminded her of summer camp. It also reminded her of high-school, and middle school, and when she was feeling particularly sour, it reminded her of primary school.
She had hated school. It was the worst. Hormones and petty fights and shitty cafeteria lunches.
Kate Harrison hated a lot of things, come to think. But she especially couldn’t stand freshers week. There was no peace. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. People were everywhere. Everywhere. And they weren’t just sitting quietly, minding their own business, no, that would not do. They were involved in all sorts of group bonding activities and spirit building games. And if she were particularly unlucky, they would try and rope Kate into joining.
You would think after two years people, her resident advisor in particular, would’ve given up. Kate Harrison had perfected the art of being alone. Loved it. There was nothing better than her own thoughts for company. But more than just an antisocial disposition, Kate knew her limits. She already had five friends. That was her limit. She was very monogamous person. In friendships, relationships and even interests.
And she was comfortable like that. She had spent enough of her life trying to be something she wasn’t. She had spent enough time being peer pressured into doing things she didn’t like to do. And, because life was short even if she wasn’t, Kate had committed to no longer wasting her time bowing to said peer pressure. Enough was enough.
But, as of yet, she had not actually followed through with that particular resolution. Her lack of follow through was how she found herself on route to a fresher party just as that dreaded first week was coming to a close. It wasn’t her fault. It really wasn’t. Her oldest friend was also her resident advisor, and because he seemed to live and breath overachieving like it was gospel, and deep down probably wanted to live out his high-school fantasy of being popular, he’d decided to drag her to a party. A party his not-girlfriend new best-friend would be hosting.
A girl Kate had never met.
Frankly, Kate didn’t think much of this Emily. She sounded fine. Normal. Like every other person. So, Kate couldn’t quite wrap her head around why Bryan was so infatuated with this girl. It just didn’t make sense. She was just a person.
Though Kate wouldn’t say that to him. The boy had only known her a few days and already he was infatuated. Like head-over heels, completely unaware of how crazy he sounded, infatuated. The sort that Kate was fairly sure wasn’t healthy. Not even anywhere close.
And sure, some of Kate’s apathy and disinterest might’ve stemmed from jealousy over this new best-friend of his. She was self-ware enough to realize that. She was also not blind to the fact that Bryan seemed to get all googly eyes whenever his phone vibrated with a text from Emily. But knowing Bryan as she did – for as long as she had – this wasn’t altogether surprising. He fell in love with the same sort of girl every time. It was like clockwork with a different cardboard cut out of the same girl every time. So, Kate knew the signs. And she also knew that if the two did end up falling into some sort of relationship her friend would be planning their wedding in three months, and then dumping said girl just after the two-year mark because he was fascinated with some new version of her he’d just met. Some sort of upgrade. So yeah, clockwork.
Kate knew exactly where they were in the vicious cycle that was Bryan’s love life. The signs were all there, big, bold, loud and completely unmissable. He’d broken up with his girlfriend of two years – his high school sweetheart at that – over the phone not a week ago. Kate had seen him in real time fall out of love, out of interest really, with her. And it had all come to a head after he’d drunkenly kissed Emily – his new best friend. Who Kate still hadn’t met. Who Kate hadn’t been able to suss out and accurately deduce if she was any sort of threat to their friendship.
It was an utterly irrational instinct. Possessive too. And childish beyond belief. Bryan wasn’t some toy and she wasn’t a three year old that didn’t want to share. But the first week of college was always the hardest – it left Kate feeling unarmored and very much lost at sea. But, well, she’d been thinking of her ex-girlfriend for days now, and so Kate had latched on to Bryan’s new interest like a life-raft. Anything was better than thinking of her ex.
And sure, Kate could’ve lectured him about hopping from one girl to anot
her. She could’ve gone on and on and on about poor decision making and how this was not a good idea and that she was going to say, ‘I told you so,’ when this thing with Emily went south. But she didn’t. Instead, she’d sipped her coffee, hummed thoughtfully at the right moments, and contemplated making popcorn. If she was going to be forced to live through another romantic train-wreck she could just as well make herself comfortable and enjoy the show.
Because she was good friend, who had forgotten to lock her door and come up with some sort of excuse about why she would be busy Thursday night without any college work or social commitment, she found herself sat in Bryan’s massive monster truck of a car. It really did look like a monster truck, with massive wheels and a pimped out interior. If Kate were a worse person, which was still debatable, she would’ve made some sort of quip about him overcompensating for something. Or a lack thereof. But she was working on that. She was going to be a better person. A better friend. So she would resist the urge to make some stupid, borderline juvenile, comment that really had no place in the twenty-first century. But that didn’t mean his taste in music wasn’t fair game.
Kate stared belligerently at the dash. ‘If I have to hear another love song I am going to get out of this car and walk home. You can go to the damn thing yourself if this is the thanks I get for clearing my busy schedule for you.’ She sighed, glared ahead, and couldn’t help but note they were in a nice neighborhood. Nicer, by a not insignificant margin, than anywhere they should be for a college party. It was the sort of neighborhood where German engineered cars were parked in every driveway. All the grass, on every lawn, seemed to be of a uniform length – as you’d get a fine if it was one centimeter about regulation height, white picket fences were everywhere, and not a thing seemed out of place. There was not even a stray basket-ball left out in any of the yards.
And Kate couldn’t help but think who ever lived in these houses must’ve been very lonely because as her mother told her, whenever she had a drink or two, money couldn’t buy happiness. But it sure seemed like these people were trying. And apparently happiness and conformity went hand in had.
Bryan looked over at her and laughed. Smug bastard, thought Kate moodily.
‘You had nothing going. You were playing video games in your underwear and eating popcorn. Tell me I’m wrong.’
Kate didn’t.
‘That sounds like a real hectic night. ’
‘Whoop. Whoop.’ Kate’s voice was dry like a particularly dry bit of toast, burnt crisp at the edges and without any butter. ‘I’ll have you know it was party central before you rained on my parade.’
With detached interest, not unlike the type she’d give a dog, Kate noticed he’d changed his hair. It was longer than she’ d ever seen it, and it was messier than she’d ever seen it. All because her previously clean cut, the very definition of square, friend was in love with a girl who liked artsy people. Or anyone, apparently, with more a little more edge than a choir boy. Which, unfortunately for him, was a bar he’d fallen short of.
‘It’ll be good for you,’ said Bryan, ‘getting out. We’ll get some fresh air, meet some new people. I can get my flirt on. You can go crawl back into your cave and hide when we’re done. One night isn’t going to kill you.’
‘I wouldn’t be so sure,’ grumbled Kate. She slouched in her seat. ‘You didn’t tell me she was rich. Rich girls get up to all sorts of weird shit. Sex dungeon in the basement sort of weird shit.’
Bryan ignored her entirely. He was good at that and far too distracted to pay her much mind. Which really wasn’t what you want in a driver. Kate eyed her seat belt, and the hand brake just in case.
‘Her parents are super successful. Like intimidatingly successful.’ He said it like it was fact. ‘They’re like the perfect family. They have it all: cars, successful careers, smart kids, a massive house with a beach view and money. Whenever I go over there its crazy intimidating, but I think her parents like me. I think they think I’m a good influence.’
Kate couldn’t help but feel insecure. Sure she and Bryan came from the same small Midwest town, population four-thousand, but they came from opposite sides of the track. Bryan’s parents were stock brokers who had made enough money to retire at age forty. Kate’s parents were hippy hobby farmers one step, or upsetting news story, from living off the grid.
He gave her a meaningful look, like that meant something. As if he was one step closer to winning this girl over. And Kate didn’t have the heart to tell him he’d just shot himself in the foot. If what she knew about Emily, from Bryan’s love-struck ramblings held any truth, then being her parents first choice for her boyfriend was the worst thing he could’ve done.
Kate grumbled again. ‘No one has it all. And its people who pretend they do that have the most shit to hide. Sex dungeons, dude. Normal people don’t have the money for that sort of shit but rich people do.’
‘You watched too many crime shows but I’ll take your word for it anyway.’ He nodded his head in agreement but didn’t look entirely convinced. He’d humor her while his head was stuck in Emily land. But she was fine with that. It wasn’t worth the effort to try and convince him, it wouldn’t be worth the aggravation. So really this Emily was doing her a favor, if she thought about it that way.
Distractedly Kate couldn’t help but notice just how many houses had double stories. She’d never seen that many before. The houses also all had the same sort of minimalist design that screamed money, and seemed to be cut and pasted from the same template, as if they were designed by the same architect who decided that changing the shade of beige the houses would be painted would be enough to make them unique. She would’ve hated it if she weren’t a fan of minimalism herself.
There was a certain uncomplicated flair to minimalism that she appreciated.
She’d never be able to live in a place like that though. She’d want her house to look like she actually lived there, and not as if it were a model home. She was picky like that. Not that she could’ve afforded it.
‘Are you totally sure it’s cool that I come with? You’re not just going to be bringing around your random friend, who will legitimately know no one there, and who no one wants there, just to make yourself look more attractive to a girl?’ Kate’s tone was bland. She had to fight to keep her face impassive and nonjudgmental. It might’ve been a losing battle. She couldn’t have rolled her eyes harder.
Bryan ears flushed slightly, and he turned up the music. ‘You’re way too paranoid. No one is going to think we’re together.’
She’d caught him out. That was his plan. What a little sneak.
Kate muttered something under her breath. And thought back to his fourteenth birthday when he’d said just the same thing, and yet she’d been interrogated by a gaggle of girls she’d never met before and would happily never see again. And they had cornered her in a less than ideal state. She’d just been swimming and looked like a drowned cat. To say she was not keen for a repeat was an understatement.
Kate pulled at her bikini strap under her tank top and adjusted it.
‘Because that’s never happened before,’ said Kate dryly.
Bryan ignored her and steam rolled ahead, ‘We’re not actually going to her place anymore.’
‘Oh?’ asked Kate, voice bland as she peered sideways at him with sharp narrowed eyes.
‘Yeah, slight change of plans. Her parents are back in town. But she has a friend who’s hosting it, and apparently his place is even better. Well, it’s not really his place. It’s more of a summer beach house sort of thing.’
Save me, thought Kate, from whatever fresh sort of hell this is going to be. She certainly did not have the temperament to deal with a gaggle of rich kids who had more money than sense this late at night. She could’ve been in bed. She could’ve been playing video games.
‘Joy.’
‘You’re going to love it,’ said Bryan with confidence. But when he saw that wasn’t moving the needled pulled out the ace up he sleeve, all
his cards on the table. ‘They have free booze.’
And suddenly the thought of going to some stranger’s house didn’t seem so bad.
‘You didn’t mention that.’
‘I didn’t want to spoil the surprise.’ He said it like it was her birthday present. Which, knowing Bryan, wasn’t entirely beyond him. Go, and then there would be small talk. So much small talk. Ugh.
She was going to need all the liquid courage she could get.
‘The guy has a pool too, so that’ll be fun. We always do this wrestling thing where couple team up and see who can push the other off first.’
Kate thought a lot of things when he said that. Her mind was a overwhelmed by the sheer number that raced through her head each more sardonic and sarcastic than the next. But she said none of them because she was trying to be a better person. So, instead she went with, ‘I’m going to go out on a limb and assume participation is optional?’
‘Yeah, its optional.’ He smiled that boyish smile she knew so well. It was charming and disarming so much so that it made him look utterly harmless. Kind of like a puppy.
‘And I don’t suppose I have to guess who you plan on teaming up with,’ said Kate teasingly. Her eyebrow arched of its own accord. It had a mind of its own.
‘We’re not dating.’ Bryan half-shrugged.
‘But you want to be.’ Kate didn’t have time for him beating around the bush. She wouldn’t understand why he was playing coy now. It wasn’t like she hadn’t had to endure him wax poetic about this girl more times in a week than any person should reasonably be able to. Honestly, she really was a good friend.
‘I wouldn’t say no if she was interested,’ said Bryan. He added as an afterthought, ‘She’s pretty, and fun, and we have all sorts of deep chats.’
Kate cringed at that. She had a feeling those “chats” weren’t as deep as he might’ve imagined. She would’ve been surprised if he could string a sentence together around the girl with the way he was carrying on. ‘You have a type.’
More Than Friends Page 1