"Sal.....Sally...SAL, for fucks sake!"
Sal bolted out of her daydream as quickly as she had fallen into it, by the harsh sound of Georgia's voice. Sal had been thinking about him again, and these daydreams were filling up the majority of her days, much to the annoyance of her flatmate.
"You have to stop doing this Sal, just staring out of the window thinking about you-know-who. Its not healthy and I need someone to talk to after a long day at uni, and I was also wondering if I could borrow your..."
Sal had zoned out again, but this time she wasn't thinking about Him, she was just going to that special quiet place where she spent most of her time when Georgia started her rants.
Joe had text her again. He wanted to meet that night, go for some food, find a motel, shag all night. The usual. At first Sal had been excited by this illicit affair, she had always attracted the engaged/married/recently divorced, and Joe was no different. They had known each other for ages she was totally cool with his fiancée Jenny, but one night at a party she found him passed out on her bed. When trying to wake him he grabbed her and started kissing her with kisses that were surprisingly delicious from someone so drunk. At first Sal had resisted, not wanting to hurt Jenny, and not wanting to have Joe regret it if he was too drunk to realise what, or who, he was doing. But then he whispered.
"Sal, get into bed with me, please, I know what I'm doing, I want you so bad"
She tried to resist, but Joe was so damn hot, and his hand was caressing her breasts so softly, but with increasing urgency. She didn't even notice that his hand had slipped into her dress and was teasing her nipples hard. She started to gasp at the feeling and forgot her worries. He leaned over her and stroked her face, his startling blue eyes totally focused on her own. His kisses started on her neck and moved down to her chest. He was pleased that she hadn't worn a bra that night, because he could see her excitement standing out hard underneath the material. He moved the straps of the dress downwards and took her right breast into his mouth, teasing her nipple gently with a twist of his tongue. Already Sal could feel herself getting wet from his sucking, and she could feel how hard he was against her leg. She forgot the guilt, she forgot everything. She wanted him and that's all she thought about that night.
Months on and they were still meeting regularly to make love. The sex between them was always passionate and urgent, as if each time could possibly be the last; Sal enjoyed each meeting and was usually always hungry for more. However recently her mind had been occupied by the events of the last semester at uni. She had been thinking more and more of Him, and what might have been. He had been an exchange student, studying at her university for a single semester. She had fallen for Him, fallen for Him hard, but it could never be. He had a girlfriend back home in America who He loved dearly, but Sal couldn't help but wonder if the connection she had felt with Him had been more than platonic. They had spent everyday of the 5 months together, whether it be sipping coffee and discussing novels in the uni coffee shop, or finding seriously dodgy rock bars and dancing the night away after getting trashed on whiskey. Sal had fallen deeply in love with Him, but nothing had ever happened between them. Despite the love she felt for Him, their friendship was even stronger and much more important to her than a quick fling and the responsibility of another ruined relationship. But it was different now. Now He was gone, and she was back at uni without her best friend, without the love of her life, and she wished it had all been different. She wished that she had gained the courage to confess how she felt, to ask Him to leave His girlfriend, to stay with her, to love her. They emailed each other everyday and each day the sadness and darkness that was overtaking her grew deeper and deeper.
So Joe filled a fraction of the void. Sal enjoyed her friendship with Joe, it wasn't all about the sex, they talked a lot about everything they could ever think to say. But she could never talk about Him. She only ever talked about Him to Georgia, but even that had stopped recently, Sal wanted that part of her soul to be private from now on, because if no one else knew, then maybe it might not be real, and maybe she might forget about Him and move on with her life.
The day that changed Sal's life started as any other day. She woke up to a cheeky text from Joe, asking if he could visit her knickers that night. That made her smile. Her relationship with Joe had become one of frequent passionate sex, but even more frequent jokes, banter and good times. He was still engaged to Jenny, and Jenny was still unaware of her fiancées misgivings, but Sal felt that the sex had become an added and somewhat irrelevant bonus to her friendship with Joe. They both liked sex, and they were both good at having sex with each other, they saw it as a way of enriching their friendship.
With a smile Sal text Joe back – "only if you buy them dinner first". She then leapt out of bed to dash to the shops before classes started, she had promised her flatmates she would cook dinner, but with nothing more than a packet of brown rice and a lump of discoloured cheese in the fridge, she would need some supplies. Throwing on her shorts and a tank top she admired herself in the mirror. Sal was not a vain girl but she had recently lost a lot of weight, and for the first time in her life she was not ashamed of looking at herself in the mirror, so she did it as often as possible! This morning she looked pretty good, despite just falling out of bed, her hair had that sexy messy look and her clear complexion glowed without the need of makeup. Grabbing her car keys she was just about to dash when the phone rang...
"Yeah, hello?" Sal flustered.
"Sally, its Jean from Accommodation, we have a new international student here who needs a bit of help, he's living in the flat next door to you and we were wondering if you could come and help him with his things and show him the ropes down there?"
Sal had always helped out with new internationals that arrived dazed and confused at the university. She herself was from England, and had travelled to Australia to study for a semester. She had loved the place so much that she had transferred onto a full degree and was therefore always at hand to help out people who were feeling a bit shell shocked.
"Sure thing Jean, I'll drive down so we don't have to carry all his gear".
Scribbling an apology note to her flatmates about dinner, Sal jogged to the car and drove the short distance to the Accommodation offices. As she walked in she saw Jean waving frantically at her.
"So where's my newbie then Jean?" Sal asked.
Jean nodded over to the main office where Sal saw the guy sat with his back to the window. He looked oddly familiar, but then tall blonde guys are pretty generic, she reasoned. She strolled over to the office but stopped dead in her tracks as he turned around...as He turned to look at her. She felt her whole world come both crashing down and rising up, all at once.
"Toby...how?...why?..I don't understand."
Toby stood up and in two strides had come over to Sal and gathered her into a massive bear-hug. Suddenly Sal didn't care about the why or the how, she cared about the now and that she was in his arms. Toby put her down and grinned at her confused expression. Turning around Sal noticed Jean cackling in the corner.
"You cow!" Sal cried "That's such a horrible prank!"
"So I'm a horrible prank am I?" Toby laughed.
"Well it was partly true" said Jean "he's going to be staying with you...as opposed to next to you, and he wanted you to come and pick him and his gear up."
"You lazy git!"
"Jean you're the coolest" laughed Toby "Are you sure I'm ok to stay with Sal?"
"Sure thing, just don't let it be known to too many people, down in your self catered flats the rules are a bit relaxed and we don't want a rebellion on our hands by people who don't have those privileges."
