**edited 19/01/2021**

Elle's POV

Sunday 18th November 2018

       It had been nearly two weeks since the incident with Ace and I was kidding myself into thinking I was beginning to get over it. He hadn't tried to call, text, and he'd even been avoiding me around campus. He never came round to see Delilah at the dorms anymore and he barely hung out in their group in case I was there. He'd just disappeared.

"Oh my God, please wear this!" Delilah begged, holding up one of her dresses. It was a satin-look dress with a baggy area near the chest that I'm sure would show a lot of cleavage. "Come on, Kit will be there," she winked and I groaned, grabbing the dress from her.

Kit and I had hung out twice since the incident with Ace and we were starting to get to know each other a little more. It was nice to be spending time with someone like him, but I was really struggling to find the same spark with him that I had so effortlessly with Ace. "Isn't it too much? Where are we even going?" I asked.

"We're going to a bar, every girl will be dressed like this," she reassured me as she pulled at the sexy red dress she was wearing. I sighed and turned away from her, dropping the dressing gown I was wearing to then slip on the dress. Once the fabric was on, I walked to the floor-length mirror we had and inspected how I looked. "Woah, I think I'm turned on," she cheekily commented and I slapped her arm, laughing.

"Isn't it too much?" I asked, moving the baggy area by my chest to try and cover more cleavage. (dress below)

"No, you look stunning girl," she smirked and pinched my bum, I squealed and jumped forwards in surprise before we both burst into fits of giggles. "Come on, you ready?" She asked and I finished my laughing fit, grabbing my bag as we headed for the door. Delilah kicked me some red heels which I shoved my feet into and then we headed out.

As we walked down the stairs, I looked in the self-facing camera on my phone and rubbed off a few make-up features that Delilah had added to my face that I did not agree with until I was relatively happy with the smoky look. "Are we walking?" I asked when we walked out of the dorm blocks.

"Yeah it's just down the road," she explained and we began wandering down the road, laughing about something Delilah had done earlier that day until we were stood outside of a bar. Delilah had gotten us both fake ID's and so we walked in without a problem and scanned the room to find where James, Kit and Maya were.

When we found them, James and Kit were stood beside the bar and Maya was sat by herself at a booth. Delilah and I wandered over to the booth where Maya stood and said hello to Delilah first, giving her a sweet peck on the lips. "Hi baby," Maya grinned.

"Hey you," Delilah smiled to her girlfriend and then looked at me. "Told you he wouldn't be here," Delilah raised an eyebrow at me.

"Who? Ace? He hasn't hung around with us for like, two weeks? Gone completely M.I.A," Maya said casually.

"Oh," I awkwardly stated back.

"By the way, you look beautiful Elle!" Maya gushed and I smiled sweetly.

"Thank you, you look gorgeous as always," I said with a grin as I sat down in the booth we were at.

"Are you flirting with my girlfriend, Elle?" Delilah teased, moving into the booth next to Maya. "Because I totally understand why," she winked at her girlfriend who hid her face in her hands in embarrassment.

Before anything else could be said, the boys returned with drinks for all of us and handed us each one. Kit slid into the seat beside me and smiled happily, welcoming me. "You look gorgeous," he whispered in my ear and I felt my cheeks heat.

"You don't look too bad yourself," I mumbled back and he seemed pretty happy with himself as he took a large gulp from his drink.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" Delilah asked.

"We were thinking a few drinks here and then heading to that new club that's opened downtown," James explained, drinking from his cup.

"Sounds good," Maya agreed.

I shrugged. "I'm sorry, I don't think I'll tag along to the club. I might walk home when you guys go," I explained and everyone nodded.

"We could walk you home before going?" James offered and I shook my head.

"It's only two minutes away, I'll be fine," I brushed it off and took the first sip from my drink, humming happily at the sweet taste that filled my mouth. "What's this?" I asked Kit.

"A Mojito," he chuckled. "I thought you'd like it."

An hour and a half later after three mojitos, the rest of the group were setting off to go to the new club they were talking about and I was headed off home. "Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Kit asked and I nodded, shrugging.

"It'll be fine, it's only a two minute walk. It'd be pointless all of you walking me there when it's the complete opposite direction to the club," I smiled but Kit seemed unsure. "If there are any problems then I'll call you or Delilah, I promise."

He nodded and gave me a long hug, finishing it with a kiss on the cheek. "Be safe," he said and then turned to join Maya, Delilah and James. "Text me when you get home!" He called.

"Will do, bye guys!" I shouted to the rest of the group and received a chorus of 'goodbye's' back. I turned my back to the group and began walking away from the bar and towards the block of dorms, it wasn't a long walk and I wasn't completely intoxicated and so I wasn't too worried. Also, the streets were well lit.

I rubbed my hands over my arms, wishing I had brought a jacket or something for the walk home. "Shoot," I cursed when I felt a raindrop fall onto my head. Luckily for me, it only started spitting with rain and so my skin wasn't getting too damp.

"You know, you should really have a coat out here," a deep voice rumbled from behind me just as I turned the corner on the walkway up to the dorms. I turned my head and saw a young man stood leaned against a brick wall, it was pretty out of sight and so the one thing on my mind was getting out into the open and so I continued walking, ignoring him. "Hey, hey. Little lady, you know it's rude to ignore people," the man continued and followed me down the small alleyway.

"Not when you're a stranger," I muttered back, continuing to walk.

"But I'm not a stranger," he sung and I stopped in my tracks, looking closely at the stranger but he was still a stranger in my mind. "Hi Elle, my name's Theo," he wickedly grinned and my heart nearly dropped out of my body. "I think we need to chat."