12:04am. In a few hours, anxiety-filled beings would be either getting themselves ready or roaming the streets for their first day on university, trying to figure out everything they need in rushed time like life depended on every particle to be in perfect place.

But Selena would have to deal with something else beforehand. Usually for someone who falls asleep later than she should, hitting the mental snooze button at 9pm seemed like a good start to a fresh new week. But after a few hours of sleep, she was awakened by a knocking door, specifically her door.

She groans to herself as her eyes were still struggling to remain open.After turning on the lamp so she could see, she grabs a black silk dressing gown at the end of her bed and wrapped it around her slightly inappropriate-to-anothers-eye vest top and underwear.

She opens the door after peering through the peephole, unable to make out who it was from the dark corridor or her exhausted vision being distorted slightly. She opened it enough to not reveal how disorganised her room looked. She quickly rubs her eyes while revealing herself to this mysterious figure.Put away the pitchforks and weapons because it was Jason; in a black hoodie and pair of joggers, a lot more comfortable than their first interaction. But he made it work also. His hair was messier too, but his glowing eyes remained the same mesmerising tone despite the surrounding dimness.

"Shit, did I wake you?" His voice was very hoarse and deep. Deep enough to definitely turn on to a certain type of women. Luckily for Selena, her dreary eyes and body,which could shut down any second, was shielded.

"No, I was just watching some Netflix, some Bad Neighbours." She yawns, making her lie unconvincing. Jason wasn't dumb, her eyes alone was the big giveaway. He didn't buy it, but he felt bad for the late night interruption but doesn't say anything to her. Selena perks a smile and leans against the door frame, trying to look as engaged as possible. "What's up?"

"This probably sounds really stupid and you'll probably want to slam the door in my face for asking this so late but do you have a cooking pan I could use?"

"A cooking pan? You are cooking at this time?" Her eyebrow lifts.

"I only just woke up and I really craved something fried and I could only find one pan among all the crap I have boxed up still. Do you mind helping me out?"

Selena lowkey could feel a small ounce of annoyance building up for the small reason that her sleep was interrupted, but she remembered her offer earlier. The kindness she gave away. She said he could ask if he needed anything so she couldn't just decline him over the petty reason of being too tired to walk several meters. Plus, it wasn't in her nature to just turn away knowing she could help single, she was too polite for her own good.

"They are more likely to be in the kitchen already, I'll show you." She recalls whether they were in the kitchen or still hidden in the final box she hadn't discovered yet. Either way, she nods to him and he follows closely as she leads him to the kitchen.

As they enter, she was hit with the already frying bacon and the gorgeous lingering smell of burnt toast, the one smell she strangely loved that no one else. There were sausages on the go too, as well as mushrooms and tomatoes gently cooking in the last few drops of oil that was contently spitting out, trying to escape.

"It smells so good in here." Selena compliments as she begins to search in her cupboards. Despite being here for one full day, her kitchen cupboards were up to full capacity, with things she couldn't even remember bringing. Her mother probably organised a few additions to ensure Selena was fully prepped while Selena helped her dad bring the stuff up.

"Thank you." He didn't want to seem to smug. He knew it did.

As she grabs a brand new medium sized pan and placed it on the side, she observes what he was doing. She noticed the full English breakfast cooking away on the low heat. "What else are you planning to cook? Looks like you are already cooking the entire kitchen here."

"Just a few eggs." He says, pointing discreetly towards the full tray of eggs resting on the counter top and just chuckled as she hopelessly stares at the eggs in clear view, not even 30cm away from her.

"Scrambled or fried?" She says, eyebrows raised again.

"Scrambled is the only way."

"Here is a small tip. If you want a little kick to the taste, add some paprika as it's cooking. Honestly, I never have eggs without it." Gordon Ramsey would probably be smiling at her growth to new spices and herbs, somehow it made her feel confident.

Jason smiles as her. "As much as I would love to try it out, I only have salt and pepper and maybe some garlic powder to spice up my food right now. I didn't have time to go on a shopping spree for herbs."

Selena didn't like that answer as she instantly begins to rummage through her cupboards again, the top one now which contained mostly food. She pulls out a large white tub which made continuous clanging sounds due to the large, glass contents and her inability to keep her hands still. She rested it by the eggs. Jason steps forwards until he's right beside her, also checking his food wasn't burnt to a crisp yet.

Salt. Pepper. Thyme. Paprika. Turmeric. Cinnamon. Chilli. Garlic. Ginger. Basil. Rosemary. And even more. The perfect selection to spice up your life. Or some fucked up social media challenge. Selena had a full array of herbs and spices ready for her cooking. She didn't care for bland-tasting food. They were full and ready to be used to their full potential. The expansion of flavours is what she truly desired.

Selena looked like a proud parent as she presented her babies to a very eager Jason who was already looking at each individual one. "I really need seasoning in my life if you couldn't figure that out. If you want to use any now, just help yourself." Selena had already pulled at the smoked paprika and hands it to Jason. "Only if you want to take my advice."

Jason takes the contents and knew instantly he would try it out in an attempt to get her approval.

"Well, I think I'm going to head off back to sleep."

"Ah, so you were asleep?" Jason grins widely as Selena's fades, knowing her lies would catch up.

She hides her face with her cold hands and groans. She breathlessly laughs at her own words catching her lies out. "Busted" she mutters quietly but he still hears. "I didn't want you to feel bad, its nothing."

"I'm sorry though."

"You don't need to be, I'm usually up at this time even with a 6am alarm waiting for me." Selena said, igniting some truth back.

She watches Jason grab three eggs from the carton and rest them on the side as he pulls a large glass bowl which had a whisk resting in as well as a small carton of milk. But only for a second.

"Have a good night and I hope you enjoy your food, Jason."

Jason started to feel bad for waking her up now it was confirmed and out. He looks over to his cooking station and then back to Selena and she begins to depart. He gently leaps forward and pulls her back by her hand. She isn't shocked by this, her body didn't jump and her heart didn't race ecstatically from the surprise contact, but it found a pace too fast just by his deadly touch. "Do you want to eat something with me? I have more than enough if you'd like to."

She looks over at the food, really wanting to say yes. The smells really made her stomach rumble and she would do anything for a light snack since she missed dinner earlier. It reminded her of home - cute Saturday mornings with earl grey tea is her parents favourite tea pot as they believed it was better than a kettle.

But really she wanted to look down at her hand, the one that was still being held by him and just remain in that close proximity.His skin was warmer this time, more comforting than earlier. "Are you sure? I don't want you to go starving."

"I think I'll be fine. You can even mess around with your herb collection as much as you'd like to." Jason licked his lips slowly, speaking lowly again. He slowly began to pull away his hand from hers. It was like they were having an intimate moment, eyes locked on each other and the small space between them. The kitchen could be ablaze and both of them wouldn't give a single care to it until they were to engulfed by the flames.

But Selena liked the sound of that. "You do drive a hard bargain." Even her voice copied his and sounded lower than usual, but that was the thing that got her out of the trance she was in. "But only if you let me cook some hash-browns too. It's not a full on fry up until you have hash-browns on the go." She went back to normal as she lightly skipped to her cupboards to get another mental pan out.

"Sounds like a fair deal to me." Jason approved as he watched her.

••••

An iconic Nirvana shirt tucked into grey ripped jeans with a fitted belt and doc martins. Make up was kept simple; a nude matte lip and bold eyeliner, highlighter blinding in the light. It was a look that would make each Tumblr girl go crazily jealous.

Selena checked herself out in the standing mirror and she genuinely felt good for once. A moment for the history books. She found her red circle sunglasses just to give her look a pop of colour and placed them on top of her head, the messy bun staying in tact. She twists her body around more, ensuring she didn't look awful and that the mirror was just a big misconception.

"Selena, come on. We are going to be late." Faith shouts through the door which leads to Selena chucking to herself. She ensures her laptop is secured in its case and shoves it in her bag, alongside a bottle of water, a banana and chargers.

45 minutes to get to the university campus, a 20 minute bus journey and a quick walk to the correct building, followed by the class. That was the first goal of the day, one that was graded a big fat F too many times last year. The buses were a students nightmare. Scratch that, bus drivers were a nightmare.

She leaves her dorm in full spirits, not even the sight of Faith and Lucy standing outside, looking into each other's eyes and laughing to themselves before leaning into a small, but passionate kiss could make her loneliness hit at full speed. She nearly didn't want to exaggerate her single persons disgust to love, but she did to maintain their ritual of mocking young love.

"Please stop being all lovey-dovey or get a room please." Selena interrupts as she begins to lock her door with the dangling keys. Faith chuckled at the joke, but Lucy seemed to have nothing at first.

"We have two rooms, why don't you take a pick Selena." Lucy snaps in a tone all of a sudden which was hard to pick out. Harsh? Sarcastic? Either way, it wasn't entirely friendly.

Selena was slightly confused by the sudden snap as it was a regular thing to joke about couples who shown any kind of affection, especially from the singles who craved someone to do that with. It was never malicious, or at least from Selena's intent. "Damn, calm down. It was only a joke, Luce. Love away as much as you want."

"Well, next time, don't say anything about my relationship." Selena roll her eyes towards her door as Lucy does the same in her direction.

Lucy huffs before she makes a head start outside. Selena ignores her as she sighed quietly before turning around with a enlarged smile towards Faith. "Lets go."

•••

The bus journey was insanely awkward, especially as the other girls didn't have to be in until a few hours later. The trio sat in the bus, Selena listening to her rock playlists while Faith and Lucy were engaged in conversation nearly the entire journey. Faith tried to give a small smile towards Selena who sat on the opposite side of the bus to get space but Selena never looked towards her, afraid of a random outburst and Selena being unable to bite her tongue this time.

Faith waited for Selena after she said a gentle goodbye to Lucy who was on the opposite side of campus. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah." Selena takes off both her earphones and crumples them up and leaves them in her pocket. "Why wouldn't it be?"

The girls start making the way to their designated building that was a minimum two minute walk from the bus shelters. They walked past all sorts of personalities and people, reuniting with friends or looking scared and lost.

"Look, I'm sorry about Lucy earlier." She looks down towards the stone floor. "I didn't think she would snap at you like that."

Selena appreciates the apology, but it was from the wrong person. Selena doesn't know what to really say but she wanted to avoid any more bad blood for the day. "No, don't worry about it. It's already forgotten about, ancient history."

"We had an argument last night and it's on the list of the biggest ones we had so far. It was pretty bad over something so fucking petty." Faith kept her head lowered, vulnerable which was rare for her.

"What happened?"

"I- Don't get upset once I tell you. I know what you are like." Selena was confused by this. Faith typically didn't care, the girl had no stop button when it came to talking. She didn't know how to soften blows or prepare you for pain.

"I won't." Selena said confidently. "I promise."

Faith sighs. "She doesn't like the fact I confide with you when we have problems or issues."

"W-What? That's ridiculous." Selena wanted to raise her voice even more but Faiths head snapping in her direction with glaring eyes made her contain it. She gulped, processing it.

"I told her we were talking about the holiday dilemma and Greece and that horrible farm and she just flipped on me." Faith goes to walk in the direction of the building but Selena pulls her arm gently to the empty bench right next the entrance.

They didn't care about being late.

"That isn't like her."

"Trust me, you have no idea how argumentative she can get when she's in the mood."

Selena relaxes back and lets out a small breath of air, watching the return of students heading to their lectures. "I thought things were good with you two."

"They are." Faith strongly insists. "Or at least I thought they were."

"I don't want to get in the way of whatever is going on between you two. I don't want to make Lucy feel uncomfortable or anything either, you are my best friends."

"I know, Sel."

Faith places her hand on top of Selena's which rests on her lap and she squeezes it a little. They hold a small gentle gaze, perhaps too long. Only the sudden gush of wind breaks that.

"Tell me what I can do to fix this, Faith. I don't want you two arguing and bringing my name into it when I don't mean to cause problems."

"We will be fine. Promise. Drop it for now, I think we should head up to class." Faith instantly shuts her out. She stands up fully and grabs her shoulder bag before leaving a still sitting Selena. She just watches Faith enter the glass doors, not even looking back to see if Selena was closely following.