Peter knew he wasn't Mina and Penny's closest friend. They always seemed to have more fun with the other students, those who gathered at the bar in the evenings and talked about how so-and-so had slept with so-and-so, and how such-and-such irrelevant television starlet had had her nose done. He didn't really connect through small talk, and felt out of place during those conversations. He didn't drink very much either, so trying to keep up with that group typically meant a very painful morning the day after.
Nevertheless, he was very close to both Mina and Penny. It was hard to be close to one without being close to the other, since they were inseparable. Mina and Penny had met on the first day of university, a few months ago, and to hear Penny tell it, Mina had decided that they were to be best friends there and then, and they had proceeded to do everything together ever since.
Neither had a boyfriend, although the rumour was that Michael Griffin had slept with Penny during freshman week and that Mina had tried to date Brian O'Connor, the school's star hockey player, but that it hadn't worked out. Brian played it cool, saying that they "just weren't compatible", and that it "wasn't meant to be", whereas Mina acted as if it had never happened, and simply stayed friends with him. The general impression given was that Brian was a little disappointed that it hadn't worked out better, and Mina simply hadn't found what she was looking for in the friendly but ultimately shallow aristocratic semi-jock. It was strange, since most of the pretty girls in class seemed quite taken with Brian, with his stellar sporting credentials, his family name and his easy confidence.
It was in contrast to people like Brian that Peter felt most inadequate. He was perfectly nice, intelligent and friendly, but he didn't feel that he had the charisma and presence of someone like Brian, and he didn't understand how that worked. It didn't trouble him all that much, but Peter occasionally admitted to himself that what he really felt was envy, not at the easy-going confidence Brian had, or the boorish aggressive alpha-male-like behaviour that were the hallmark of Mike Griffin, but at the fact that it had afforded Brian and Griffin the opportunity to at least know what it would be like to date one of these two girls.
Although quite different, the two girls shared the features that Peter found most attractive. Aside from the attractive physical attributes both had been blessed with, they were light-hearted without being ditzy, kind without being condescending, naturally affectionate, had easy smiles and generally brightened the room through their presence.
Penny was from the United States. Her parents both worked for a company that had sent them to England on a long-term expatriation arrangement, and so she was going through the British educational system. She had those cheerleader good looks that were the stereotypical image of America's female undergraduates in the minds of British students, although she had avoided the anorexic attributes that sometimes accompanied them and instead had a body shaped by years of lacrosse practice. Lacrosse not being a sport practiced at a decent level by the university, she had recently taken up swimming and running. Pale green eyes under long flowing blond hair, and with prominent but well proportioned breasts, she was almost a wet dream come true, but years of being chased by boys and an education from a mother who had shared the same looks in her youth had given her the skills to see off even the most ardent suitor without breaking hearts or causing undue harm. She was the most easygoing of the two girls, upbeat and enthusiastic about even the smallest things like a trip to the movies or an evening cooking dinner at a friends house.
Mina was, at first sight, Penny's opposite. Of mixed Asian and eastern European descent, with high cheekbones, defined features and a gentle Asian cast to her face, she was quieter and more measured than Penny but shared the same positive outlook on life. Mina was naturally thin despite a voracious appetite, and a tiny bit shorter than Penny when she wasn't wearing heels. Waif-like, she wore clothes that accentuated her shape: Long dresses and flowing tops that came off the shoulders, made from soft fabrics. She seemed to have an understanding of style and fashion that was beyond her years, although that was to be expected since her mother was a fashion designer for a small boutique line of expensive female clothing. Whereas Penny's femininity came from her shape, with breasts that made up for their average size with their gravity-defying perkiness, Mina had very small breasts, and it was through her attitude and the way she carried herself that she drew the eye and communicated her natural female charisma.
Peter had become their friend in the same way as he had made many female friends. By being completely unthreatening. There was no subterfuge involved, despite the fact that he found them both painfully attractive and that they had been the subject of the occasional guilty fantasy; His natural shyness came through in his behaviour and served to make girls very comfortable around him. This had gone further with Mina and Penny, as Mina had quickly decided that they were to be fast friends, and had made a habit of coming around to his room with Penny so they could work on their shared courses together. All three of them were smart and by putting their minds together during homework, revision and when reading the assigned coursework, they could easily achieve the highest grades.
----
Today was not going well. Peter was in a funk because after 5 months of university, he was still single, and a few of the guys had made jokes at his expense, suggesting he might want to review his sexual orientation.
The jokes were inoffensive and good-natured, with no harm intended, but they had served to remind him of his loneliness. With a few more years, he would have been able to identify what he felt as sexual frustration, but at the time, it just felt like unhappiness and anxiety. He wasn't particularly looking forward to Mina and Penny coming around this evening to review their coursework for Legal Precedents in Contract Law, since their presence would only serve to accentuate how he felt.
Being reasonably guileless, Peter wore his emotions on his face, and Mina noticed something was wrong the second she entered his room.
"Peter, is everything OK?"
He wasn't likely to talk to her about this, since that would only lead to uncomfortable questions about how he felt about her or Penny, and that would mean he would either have to lie, which he was sure she would see through, or he would have to tell her how he felt, which would certainly endanger a friendship that was one of the most important things in his life at the moment.
"I'm fine. I probably need more sleep. Just a little out of sorts. That's all."
Mina wasn't buying it, but knew better than to push him. She had good instincts for this sort of thing, and had known Peter long enough to have a solid understanding of his loneliness and his insecurities. In fact, she had an extremely good idea what this was about, since she'd been observing him a lot more closely than he thought. She had seen him look wistfully at some of the girls in the group at the bar over the last few weeks, she had guessed at his feelings for her and Penny, but she couldn't very well tell him what he needed to do without making it worse by pointing out that she had noticed his insecurity and shyness. Drawing attention to it could only embarrass him.
"Penny will be here in a few minutes, can I make myself a cup of tea?"
She walked directly over to the kettle by the computer on the desk, and his answer caught up with her.
"Sure, go ahead. I bought some different teabags, they're in the top drawer."
Mina was thinking about Peter's problem. If she was right, and she wasn't sure about that yet, then there was a real issue at stake. When she considered what would happen if he dated someone, she couldn't help but come to the conclusion that she would have to spend a lot less time with him, and that possibility provoked some unpleasant emotions. Sure, he was insecure and had a hard time getting close to a girl, but this was university, and if he didn't make a move soon, one of the girls in the group would take him aside, give him an experience that would satisfy all those pent up urges he hadn't quite come to terms with yet, and wrap him quite cleanly around her little finger. After all, he was clean, smart, well built and would make a terrific boyfriend. And if that happened, she and Penny would hardly see him at all, as the next year or two would become a voyage of sexual discovery for him with one of the other girls in the university. Worse, to keep him under her thumb, this girl would - probably without even realising it - encourage the very insecurities that made him so vulnerable in the first place.