Oxford Blood (The Cavaliers: Book One)

by Georgiana Derwent

After the excitement of freshers’ week, things settled down. Harriet enjoyed herself so much that she barely had a chance to feel homesick, but she hadn’t made any progress with Tom. Indeed, after the first bop, she’d barely seen him around. By all accounts, he had a lot of out of college friends. When she did spot him, she tended to ignore him before he could ignore her.

  Caroline and Ben hadn’t had much more luck. “We’ve hit this horrific friend zone situation,” Caroline moaned to her and Olamide over girly cocktails at the Grand Cafe one night. “It’s ridiculous. He clearly likes me; I obviously like him. I just don’t know what to do.”

  “Talk to him,” said Ola. “Sit him down and tell him what you’ve just told us.”

  “Or just jump him,” Harriet suggested. “Make him dance with you and then lean in and kiss him. I’d never have the balls to do that but if anyone does, it’s you.”

  Caroline shook her head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. In the past, I’d have done either like a shot, but I just see Ben and freeze.”

  “At least he’s civil to you,” Harriet said. Her sadness over Tom’s behaviour tended to come to the fore after a few drinks.

  “You’re not still thinking about Tom are you?” Caroline said. “Forget him. Move on. I’ve no idea why he’s acting like he is, but you’re too good to wait for him to get his act together.”

  “You don’t understand. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I really feel that he’s the one for me. I’ve always had an idea of my dream man and he just fits it exactly. The first time we met, it was so perfect. I just want it to be like that again.”

  Caroline laughed. “When you say he’s your soulmate, I think what you actually mean is that he’s utterly gorgeous and you’d really like to get him naked. Let’s not get too melodramatic here.”

  Harriet thought about his poetry reading, his speech at the Union, his musical taste. And yes, his piercing eyes, lustrous hair and glorious figure. It wasn’t a case of being melodramatic at all. Sometimes love at first sight happened. Sometimes you just had to trust your instincts.

  Olamide smiled. To everyone else’s surprise, whilst Caroline and Harriet had been agonising over their respective crushes, she’d quietly got together with Callum, the hardworking and shy history student. They cooked each other meals, went to see subtitled films, and studied together. In fact, it had been an effort getting Olamide out tonight.

  “You know what we should totally do?” Caroline continued. “Get out and meet some guys from other colleges. Show Tom and Ben we don’t need them and their antics. There’s a big Halloween party at the Union this weekend. Let’s go.”