Summary: In the following morning of the Halloween party, Daphne reminisces about the end of her night with her roommate.
The alarm clock echoed in the room waking Daphne up. She grabbed it and threw it aimlessly on the floor, smashing it on the floor. Before she could go back to sleep, her door opened. “For Christ’s sake, Daph, stop making loud noises,” Briar massaged her temples.
“I was trying to turn that shit off.”
Briar looked at the broken clock on the ground then at her friend rubbing her hands on her eyes. “I can see that, but can you do it without making any more noises? I don’t know why you have an alarm clock in first place.”
“Because we have early classes and internships?”
“Looks like you’re going to be late tomorrow then. Can you avoid making any more noises?”
“Fine, sorry about that,” Daphne replied sitting up.
“And if it’s not too much to ask, can you prepare one of those detox juices?”
“I’ll have to make noise using the blender,” Daphne jested.
“Ugh… Whatever, but make it quick,” Briar grimaced massaging her scalp.
Daphne cocked an eyebrow. “Funny… you’re usually the one who makes noises and gets annoyed when a neighbor complains. What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I just need my beauty sleep.”
“Is someone in there with you?”
“No…?” Briar looked away.
“Briar…” Daphne scolded.
“Alright, but please don’t get all judgemental and overbearing.”
“It’s Arthur, isn’t it?”
Briar threw herself on Daphne’s bed, burying her head under the duvet. “Stop judging.”
“I am not.”
“I can feel you staring at me.”
“You’re toying with his feelings.”
Briar tilted her head up to look at her friend. “But he’s adorable. And so good in bed. Maybe I can love him someday.”
“Maybe?” Daphne raised an eyebrow.
“I’m trying!” Briar pouted, but as her roommate showed no sympathy, she picked at one of her nails. “Can I ask you something? You can be totally honest.”
“Shoot.”
“Do you think I’m being cruel to him?”
“Yes.”
“Daphne!” She cried out hiding her face under the covers.
“You said ‘be honest’”.
“I thought you’d be a little more supportive and tell me I should try to find my way to happiness,” she pouted.
“Well, I do,” Daphne removed the covers from Briar’s face. “But not at the expense of a guy who thinks he’s in a relationship with you.”
“You say it as you’ve never done it before,” Briar narrowed her eyes.
“First of all, I didn’t have sex with every guy I went out with.”
“Yeah, you had zero sex since Ern–” Briar mumbled, but as Daphne crossed her arms over her chest, she stopped talking.
“And second, they were aware it was just a casual thing.”
“Really? Did that exchange grad student you left the party with yesterday know you don’t pass the second date?” Briar taunted.
“No, I wasn’t on a date with him.”
“Then what was that?”
___
The loud music coming from the Alpha Phi party still could be heard a few blocks away from its neighborhood. But it was barely noticeable to Hamid and Daphne.
“Hey, Captain America almost lifted the hammer. It shows that he’s worthy and could be the king of Asgard,” she pursed her lips.
“But he didn’t actually lift the hammer up. Thor still remains the one who’s truly worthy of the throne until he gives up to become human,” he pointed out as they strolled side by side in the street of the campus.
“Wow… Can you imagine that? Giving up so much power?” She mused at her own words for a second and turned to him. “In your personal experience as a Greek god of travelers during this Halloween night, would you give up immortality and the perks of being a powerful entity to become human?”
He chuckled. “In my vast experience as a god,” he winked and she giggled. “If giving up power or immortality meant I could live with the woman I love until the last day of my life, yes, I would,” Hamid replied. Daphne blushed slightly and looked away to hide a smile. He noticed her sudden timidity and smiled to himself. “So, are we getting any closer to this bar you mentioned?”
“Yes, it’s right over there,” Daphne pointed to the bar in the corner. “Bar Argos. My favorite bar in town.”
“Does your favorite bar have single malt beer?”
“Yes.”
“Then Bar Argos it is.” After a few more steps, they got to the bar and Hamid promptly opened the door for her, letting her in first and followed suit to a table in the corner where Daphne chose to sit. The waiter approached and smiled at Daphne, then at Hamid, and took their orders. She quickly returned with two sparkling and thirst quenching single malt beers. Daphne and Hamid clinked bottles and sipped their beers, watching the live band play. “You were right. This is a good bar. Good live music, nice drinks, it’s not too crowded and people are actually having fun here.”
“I know, right?” She beamed.
“You have good taste in places to hang out.”
“I have good taste in many things,” she lifted up her chin.
“Is that so?” A playful smile crossed his lips.
“I know so,” she smiled confidently.
“Then I guess you won’t mind if I put you to a test.”
“What test?”
“I made up a game with my sister when we were bored called Thirty Seconds, which consists on saying everything that comes to your mind about a specific subject. And the subject here is you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Are you in or out?”
They exchanged daring looks at each other then she placed her beer bottle on the counter and adjusted herself on the stool. “I’m in.”
“Good,” he looked at his watch, pressed a few buttons and he looked back at her. “Go.”
“Now?!? Oh my god!”
“Twenty-eight seconds.”
“Okay, um…”
“Twenty-six…”
“Can you let me concentrate?” she hissed and he chuckled. She narrowed her eyes at him and began to speak. “Daphne Wang, I’m from England, but lived most of my life here in New York, I study History of Art, I like to paint and take photographs, I lived in China for a year with my mother and grandmother, I love Chinese food, I can speak Mandarin, I have a pug named Drake and a Corcel named Clover and my roommate is my childhood friend, who made me go to that stupid Halloween party because she said I was eating all our candy bar stock.”
“Not bad for someone who only had twenty-two seconds left. So you speak Mandarin and paint, huh? You’re quite resourceful for a candy bar eating monster, you tiny cute angel.”
“Hey! Don’t call me that,” her brows furrowed. “Did you just call me cute?”
“Yes, you are a cute little angel, but you’re also a candy bar eating monster.” She swatted his arm and he laughed. “Hit me all you want. It won’t stop being true,” he teased. Daphne glared at him for a moment, but his playful grin didn’t fade. On the contrary, he bluntly stared back at her, watching her expression change from annoyance to timidness.
“You have a weird way to flirt,” she said before taking a gulp of her beer to hide her amusement.
“My apologies. Let me make it up to you,” Hamid stood up and offered his hand to her. “Dance with me?”
Daphne battled her lashes and looked away for a brief moment. When she finally looked back, he was gazing her, a soft smile crossing his lips as he patiently waited for her response. She took his hand and stood up. “Alright, one dance.”
“One really long dance,” he jested.
“We’ll see.”
___
“That must have been one hell of a dance, since you got here after 2 am,” Briar smiled slyly.
“Shut up,” Daphne threw a pillow at her roommate.
Briar dodged the pillow giggling. “One night and you’re blushing already. He’s good,” she winked. “So… Anything else you want to tell me about your prince charming?”
“He’s not a prince. He’s a descendant from the Ottoman Empire sultans, but that doesn’t make him a prince.”
“From the way you’re swooning, I say the title suits him,” she taunted then wrinkled her nose. “Wait, you went out with the guy once and you already know his genealogy?”
“Turns out he talks a lot when he’s drunk,” Daphne wiggled her eyebrows.
___
“Woooohoooo!” Daphne cheered with the crowd that gathered around the dance arcade machine as Hamid scored consecutive points at Dance Dance Revolution.
His turn ended and he bowed to the people before signing on the scoreboard. “Thank you, thank you.”
“You’re pretty skilled for a drunk guy,” she praised between hiccups.
“I know,” he winked, leaving the tiny stage and joining her back to the bar.
“What’s OsManH?”
“That is something I’ll only tell you…” he squinted his eyes for a moment, pressed his forefinger to his mouth then pointed at her. “… In the right time.”
“Oh, come on. I already told you so much about me,” she jokingly pouted, resting her head on his shoulder.
He looked at her and smirked. “You look so pretty when you do that, but nope.”
“Hamiiiiid,” she whined. He simply made a gesture of zipping up his lips. “I know! Let’s play Thirty Seconds!”
“Yay! Let’s do it,” he enthused.
“And you’re the subject this time.”
“Nooo…” He grimaced.
“Yeees!” She nodded smiling. “In or out, Hermes?” He drank his beer pretending not to hear. “Are you chickening out?” She raised an eyebrow smiling slyly.
He glared at her playfully. “In.”
“Okay, you have thirty seconds starting,” she tapped her phone screen a few times. “… Now!”
“Hamid Osmanoğlu, I’m from Istanbul, I’m a descendant from the Ottoman sultans, I have bachelor and a masters degree in Economy, I’m a diplomat, I hate Lahana çorbası¹, but don’t tell my mother I said that. I got a scar on my left knee after playing maze tag with the Cordonian King and his friend, I love Chinese food too, I faked my identity to watch The Ring in theaters, I love all animals though I was only allowed to have one cat while growing up. A bunch of girls has hit on me since I got in the States, but the only one I want to kiss is you.”
The chronometer on Daphne’s phone beeped and she stared agape at Hamid, who had a roguish smile on his face. “You didn’t flirt with anyone else?”
“No, I said I only wish to kiss you. I never said anything about not flirting,” he grinned.
“Why didn’t you hook up with them?”
“Because they’re not nearly as interesting as you. I don’t just go around kissing anyone. I like to know the person first.”
“But we kissed after ten seconds talking.”
“Correction: you kissed me after ten seconds talking,” he pulled his stool closer to her. “And by the way, I’m so glad you did,” he said leaning in and brushing a thumb on her left cheekbone. Daphne closed the distance between them, their lips meeting in a slow and fervent kiss. His tongue caressed her bottom lip, her fingers tangled in his hair as he gripped her waist, pulling her close. Time seemed to melt away while they were lost in each other when they heard a gasp. Daphne pulled away to find out Donna Bowman was there, watching them. “Do you know her?” Hamid asked.
“Unfortunately, yeah,” she grumbled.
“Wanna leave here?”
“Do you mind?”
“Not at all. I have an early meeting to attend hungover in a few hours anyway,” he joked handing a few bills to the bartender. “Ready to go?” He offered his hand to her. She beamed, took his hand and they left the bar.
___
“Are you going to see him again?”
“Probably. He studies here,” Daphne shrugged.
“No, you doofus. Is there going to be a second date?”
“It was not a date!”
“You danced together, played games, you kissed, you know about each other’s background more than most people going out for the third time and it’s not a date? Okay,” Briar rolled her eyes and got up. “I’m going back to my room. Don’t forget the detox smoothie, please.”
“I won’t. ”
As Briar reached the doorknob, Daphne’s phone buzzed and she picked it up, instantly smiling at the text.
“Say hi to your prince/diplomat for me,” Briar jested.
Daphne threw another pillow at her but it just hit the door. She threw herself back in the mattress and started texting him with a sweet smile in her face.
___
¹ cabbage soup
