Chapter 4 - Single

The first few weeks of college were soon over with, and Jesse began to feel like he was finding his feet. His grades on the first few assignments were in and it was clear that he was getting into a good stride. But, if he was completely honest, he could have done without the girls who were consistently approaching him. There seemed to be groups of them in every area of his life: at the dorms, the college department; even in the social spaces Jesse would frequent to hang out with his new friends.

“Why don’t you go over and talk to her?” his new friend Callum asked, having jealously spotted that the most gorgeous of girls was making eyes at Jesse as they all sat together at the bar one evening.

Jesse slapped his arm over his overweight buddy and smiled. “Because I’m here to hang out with my friends, not chat up girls,” he laughed, before using his large hands to carry as many beers as he could for everyone back at the table.

“But look at her!” Callum sighed with longing. “If I looked like you, there’s no way I wouldn’t be over there flirting with her.”

Jesse smiled, but inside he was already starting to worry that his new friends were noticing his lack of interest in having a romantic life. It wasn’t that Jesse hadn’t been with girls in the past. He had. But he had never been one to chat girls up at a bar and take them home with him. The sort of connection he longed for was about more than just sex. He’d wanted to spend time getting to know them first and feel that sense of togetherness. Some girls lost interest as the fifth or sixth date came and went, with no clear sign that sex was on the table for them.

Jesse tried to look up and see if the girl was still making eyes at him. She was. But now she was also smiling keenly at him, having made eye contact at long last. Jesse sighed, briefly considering going over to at least chat with her, if only to satisfy the others. But, no. He didn’t need girls in his life right now, complicating things. And so, squeezing himself in-between his overweight buddies in the booth, Jesse settled in for a good night with them instead.