A long (confusing) night
Ok so I’m in Fresher’s week at a UK Uni. Fresher’s week is the first week of university in the UK, and is a week of debauchery and awkwardness. This is the first of four field reports about it.
I’ve made friends with people on my floor. It’s about four days after I’ve arrived, and we are all doing pre-drinks in the pantry kitchen. Fun fun. I don’t really know anyone too well, and am one of the only (I think I am the only, actually) non-British person in this group. I’m sitting on the left end of a couch, and the room is full of people standing around talking. My best friend here, is with me, and the only one I really do know.
Whatever. I’m tired anyway.
I throw on a bored look and stare off into the distance. In my peripherals I see someone look over at me. Oh. She’s cute. Bingo.
I make eye contact and hold, smirk, then look away. My friend, standing to my left, engages me in conversation. I talk to him for a bit, just banter, and wait.
Sure enough, after a few minutes, I feel someone sit down on the couch, to my right. I wait a few seconds. My friend, noticing, turns away and engages someone else. Then I slowly turn.
Yup, it’s her. I ask her her name, and offer my hand, holding eye contact.
She laughs, and says
I give her a sort of quizzical look (not sure how best to describe it) and say
She looks sheepish. Yeah, I thought not.
I continue, smirking.
She takes my hand this time. I clasp her hand rather than shake it.
When she stops talking, I continue to hold her hand for maybe a second, but no more. I don’t want to come on too strong.
She has a mixed drink (in a water bottle) in her hand. She passes it to me. Yay! Compliance. My arm suddenly finds itself around her shoulder, while my other hand takes the drink and I take a sip.
She looks at me suddenly. Fuck. Was I not smooth enough??
But then she asks me
I almost imperceptibly sigh. Fuck. See the thing is, I’ve moved around a lot in my life. I’d only lived where she had guessed, for maybe five months. It’s a topic people find very interesting, but bringing it up when I first meet someone is very heavy, and I dislike investing that much in explaining (unless they put in the work, to get it out of me) upon initially meeting someone. It's good she's curious though, I just have to build intrigue.
So instead, I break eye contact, looking down and away. I simply say:
She looks at me in a weird, half skeptical, half intrigued way. Yeah, it wasn't what most guys would do. Time to reassure her I'm at least a little normal. I nudge her, and then say something to make her laugh. We talk lightly for a bit, but pre-drinks are winding down, we are heading out to a club soon. I lose contact with her as we are walking out. Oh well. There are plenty of other girls, and the night is young.
I walk out with the group. There are about twenty of us. A lot of them know each other from high school, but my friend and I know no one. That’s fine. I walk by myself, not really paying attention, but lightly talking to those around me when they draw near. I see Katrina with a guy, a ways ahead, flirting and touching him. He’s one of the more popular guys in the group, I think he may be a club promoter. Katrina’s a bit thirsty, eh?
Yet I have other girls in the group I’m working on. One of such is Daisy. The name belies it, but she’s a spunky, outgoing, very dominant girl, who approached me on my second day here. She also reminds me strongly of one of my ex-girlfriends. And she has big boobs (and is of course pretty otherwise). So basically my type in a nutshell. She is walking in a different clump of people, but looks from me to Katrina and back to me slowly, and smirks at me. I roll my eyes. Inside, I’m trying to work out the group dynamic going on here, before I say, fuck it.
I should have tried to play things cooler, but I was drunk. So was everyone else.
I continue walking, not really paying attention, zoning out. Suddenly, I feel someone slip under my arm again. It’s Katrina.
Girl what?? You were just with Mr. promoter?
Oh well. I’ll just go with it. I look at her skeptically. She says:
Ok good. Babygirl remembered. I begin to speak, pause, look at her, and begin say
Fuck. This is actually stuff I didn’t want to talk about. Whatever, I’ll just take another swig and see what happens.
Voila. Suitably vague and Byronic?? no. Not nearly byronic or intriguing enough and way too vague. But my best drunken approximation of byronic when put on-the-spot? Yeah, pretty much.
I change the subject, and start deep-diving her. Simple, just entering Uni stuff. Why are you here, do you miss home, oh what’s your degree, tell me about it, why that, all those saucy details. Her other guy keeps looking over, and is whispering to other people about it. Jealous??
Once we get to the club, I try to move her (head to the bar to buy drinks), but her friends drag her to the dance floor. I, not wanting to look like a chump, grab a guy friend and go to the bar. We each take a few shots, and head out to dance. This is where stuff gets rather fuzzy, both because I am very drunk and because it’s a dark and crowded dance floor (not my preferred environment in the least).
I remember dancing with the whole group at one point. Later, I remember dancing with my friend, Daisy, and one of her friends, with my arm around Daisy.
Later I end up with Katrina in a big group. It was late, and I figured I needed to make something happen. We are on the outskirts of the group. I pull her away, and then pull her in for a kiss. She kisses me deeply, then sort of realises that her friends are right there and my pull was actually awkward as fuck.
So she literally runs across the nightclub. Um what.
Then, I hit blackout. I dance with a lot more people, somewhat disinterestedly, and I had thought I had just gone home after.
Apparently not. A few nights later (I will actually post an LR about this specific night) Daisy tells me that I did in fact sleep with Katrina that night, and that she has a thing for me. Apparently Katrina told her friends that, at any rate. What?
So yeah.
Key takeaways:
-Despite spending the entire summer trying to go for a more extroverted, loud style, slow, chill, aloof, and byronic still work best for me. So ya. Will target that from now on.
-I drink too much. Don’t do that (it’s hard when you’re in a huge party scene tho).
-Competition is fairly irrelevant, the girl makes the decision, and the more you worry the less likely she’ll pick you.
-that’s about it. Be chill.
This was four nights ago. The next three nights are coming as soon as I type them.
Love y’all
Byron
Ok so I’m in Fresher’s week at a UK Uni. Fresher’s week is the first week of university in the UK, and is a week of debauchery and awkwardness. This is the first of four field reports about it.
I’ve made friends with people on my floor. It’s about four days after I’ve arrived, and we are all doing pre-drinks in the pantry kitchen. Fun fun. I don’t really know anyone too well, and am one of the only (I think I am the only, actually) non-British person in this group. I’m sitting on the left end of a couch, and the room is full of people standing around talking. My best friend here, is with me, and the only one I really do know.
Whatever. I’m tired anyway.
I throw on a bored look and stare off into the distance. In my peripherals I see someone look over at me. Oh. She’s cute. Bingo.
I make eye contact and hold, smirk, then look away. My friend, standing to my left, engages me in conversation. I talk to him for a bit, just banter, and wait.
Sure enough, after a few minutes, I feel someone sit down on the couch, to my right. I wait a few seconds. My friend, noticing, turns away and engages someone else. Then I slowly turn.
Yup, it’s her. I ask her her name, and offer my hand, holding eye contact.
She laughs, and says
Well fuck. I’d seen her around but don’t remember ever talking to her. Two points against me.
I give her a sort of quizzical look (not sure how best to describe it) and say
She looks sheepish. Yeah, I thought not.
I continue, smirking.
She takes my hand this time. I clasp her hand rather than shake it.
When she stops talking, I continue to hold her hand for maybe a second, but no more. I don’t want to come on too strong.
She has a mixed drink (in a water bottle) in her hand. She passes it to me. Yay! Compliance. My arm suddenly finds itself around her shoulder, while my other hand takes the drink and I take a sip.
She looks at me suddenly. Fuck. Was I not smooth enough??
But then she asks me
I almost imperceptibly sigh. Fuck. See the thing is, I’ve moved around a lot in my life. I’d only lived where she had guessed, for maybe five months. It’s a topic people find very interesting, but bringing it up when I first meet someone is very heavy, and I dislike investing that much in explaining (unless they put in the work, to get it out of me) upon initially meeting someone. It's good she's curious though, I just have to build intrigue.
So instead, I break eye contact, looking down and away. I simply say:
She looks at me in a weird, half skeptical, half intrigued way. Yeah, it wasn't what most guys would do. Time to reassure her I'm at least a little normal. I nudge her, and then say something to make her laugh. We talk lightly for a bit, but pre-drinks are winding down, we are heading out to a club soon. I lose contact with her as we are walking out. Oh well. There are plenty of other girls, and the night is young.
I walk out with the group. There are about twenty of us. A lot of them know each other from high school, but my friend and I know no one. That’s fine. I walk by myself, not really paying attention, but lightly talking to those around me when they draw near. I see Katrina with a guy, a ways ahead, flirting and touching him. He’s one of the more popular guys in the group, I think he may be a club promoter. Katrina’s a bit thirsty, eh?
Yet I have other girls in the group I’m working on. One of such is Daisy. The name belies it, but she’s a spunky, outgoing, very dominant girl, who approached me on my second day here. She also reminds me strongly of one of my ex-girlfriends. And she has big boobs (and is of course pretty otherwise). So basically my type in a nutshell. She is walking in a different clump of people, but looks from me to Katrina and back to me slowly, and smirks at me. I roll my eyes. Inside, I’m trying to work out the group dynamic going on here, before I say, fuck it.
I should have tried to play things cooler, but I was drunk. So was everyone else.
I continue walking, not really paying attention, zoning out. Suddenly, I feel someone slip under my arm again. It’s Katrina.
Girl what?? You were just with Mr. promoter?
Oh well. I’ll just go with it. I look at her skeptically. She says:
Ok good. Babygirl remembered. I begin to speak, pause, look at her, and begin say
”
Fuck. This is actually stuff I didn’t want to talk about. Whatever, I’ll just take another swig and see what happens.
Voila. Suitably vague and Byronic?? no. Not nearly byronic or intriguing enough and way too vague. But my best drunken approximation of byronic when put on-the-spot? Yeah, pretty much.
I change the subject, and start deep-diving her. Simple, just entering Uni stuff. Why are you here, do you miss home, oh what’s your degree, tell me about it, why that, all those saucy details. Her other guy keeps looking over, and is whispering to other people about it. Jealous??
Once we get to the club, I try to move her (head to the bar to buy drinks), but her friends drag her to the dance floor. I, not wanting to look like a chump, grab a guy friend and go to the bar. We each take a few shots, and head out to dance. This is where stuff gets rather fuzzy, both because I am very drunk and because it’s a dark and crowded dance floor (not my preferred environment in the least).
I remember dancing with the whole group at one point. Later, I remember dancing with my friend, Daisy, and one of her friends, with my arm around Daisy.
Later I end up with Katrina in a big group. It was late, and I figured I needed to make something happen. We are on the outskirts of the group. I pull her away, and then pull her in for a kiss. She kisses me deeply, then sort of realises that her friends are right there and my pull was actually awkward as fuck.
So she literally runs across the nightclub. Um what.
Then, I hit blackout. I dance with a lot more people, somewhat disinterestedly, and I had thought I had just gone home after.
Apparently not. A few nights later (I will actually post an LR about this specific night) Daisy tells me that I did in fact sleep with Katrina that night, and that she has a thing for me. Apparently Katrina told her friends that, at any rate. What?
So yeah.
Key takeaways:
-Despite spending the entire summer trying to go for a more extroverted, loud style, slow, chill, aloof, and byronic still work best for me. So ya. Will target that from now on.
-I drink too much. Don’t do that (it’s hard when you’re in a huge party scene tho).
-Competition is fairly irrelevant, the girl makes the decision, and the more you worry the less likely she’ll pick you.
-that’s about it. Be chill.
This was four nights ago. The next three nights are coming as soon as I type them.
Love y’all
Byron
