I've been excited about this chapter for so long! To date, this is my favourite chapter.

Year One: Back in the Dating Game

Concrete Beach - 21:22 PM

Xavier has no idea what he's doing.

Xavier woke up this morning and forgot about the favour. He went the whole day with it out of his mind. He went to class, did his training exercises, sat in lectures - it was a great day. That is, until Ashton texted him thirty minutes before remind him about the double date.

Xavier read the text and had flashbacks to their conversation. And at that present moment, he didn't know what to do. With Britney, everything was casual. They never had to do introductions in a date setting. They met as classmates, became friends, and eventually something more. Becoming her boyfriend was natural because it just happened. They could've gone the whole two years without the status change and still be exclusive to each other.

Now, hypothetically, this would be something from scratch. And although it wouldn't be anything serious, he couldn't just sit there. He had to be pleasant and entertaining for the night.

It also took him way too long to pick something to wear but he scrapped something together. It was a white shirt with jeans and a bomber jacket. He's pretty sure he wore it to class. Oh well, that was how he dressed with Britney and it worked for two years.

"Are you excited?" Ashton asks as the two of them head over to Concrete Beach.

"No," Xavier responds.

"Don't tell them that."

Ashton fakes a smile for Xavier as he points ahead at two girls sitting at a booth right outside Concrete Beach. Ashton stands beside one of the girls which makes Xavier assume the other girl, the one looking at him up and down, is his date.

Xavier couldn't deny it. She's a cute girl. Short dirty-blonde hair, big and prominent brown eyes, clear skin with no makeup. She's not showing any extra skin in her high-necked sweater, jeans, and sneakers - unlike her roommate who should wear a jacket since it's chilly outside and everything is on the verge of slipping out. His date looks like she didn't put any effort into this like him.

"Xavier," Ashton starts, "this is the roommate, Orchid Vermillion."

"Xavier what?" Orchid asks immediately, continuing to look up at him with her big eyes.

Xavier pauses because he didn't expect the Southern accent. He's never really heard one in person before and it was cool. But now he's looking at her like a deer-in-headlights, which she might have seen in person many times before.

"Rogers," Xavier responds.

Orchid lifts her brows as if to say okay, cool and Xavier puts his hands in his jacket's pockets. He doesn't know what to do. She doesn't know what to do. Ashton and his date don't know what to do, but they eventually head inside towards Concrete Beach's dance floor.

Xavier still stands there, wondering if Orchid wanted to head inside as well but she remains seated and fiddles with the straw in her drink. Should he ask her?

"Are you going to sit down or -?" Orchid asks.

"Right," Xavier says quickly, rushing over to the seat across from Orchid where her roommate was sitting.

The two of them sit silently for a bit, unsure of what to do. God, this is awkward. He would feel rude to go on his phone, especially since she wasn't using hers. At least she has a drink to fiddle with. Xavier sits back in his seat, watching her look everywhere else but at him as she finishes her drink. When she puts her glass down and looks at him, he looks away. At least they weren't dancing inside. That would've made everything worse.

"You look like a basic white boy," Orchid tells him.

"Because I am." Xavier orders a drink. "You look like a basic white girl."

"I had my hand up a cow's ass before I started school."

Out of all the answers, Xavier wouldn't have even expected that as the last one possible. How does he even respond to that? Did he even hear that right?

"We had to deliver the placenta," Orchid says as Xavier's drink arrives.

Again, so many questions. It doesn't help that she was so casual about her seemingly bizarre responses (because they were normal to her). Instead, Orchid takes his drink which makes him order another one. She crosses her legs in her chair as she looks at Xavier. At least their awkward tension seemed like it was starting to melt. But little did he know he was going to freeze it.

"You look nice," Xavier says. Why did he sound so fake? He didn't intend for that.

He waits for a response. What do girls do? A smile? A thanks? Orchid does none of that. Her eyes narrow as her nose crinkles. Her drink remains still in her hands as Xavier's arrives. He tries not to drink the whole glass in one go. Did he screw up already? He didn't think he did.

Orchid exhales a laugh. "That seemed forced."

Xavier's face starts heating up. "It's not."

"My roommate said I dressed like a Mormon housewife."

"I don't know what that looks like."

Orchid can't tell if he's serious but she smiles a little from the corner of her mouth. "Good. My family is so traditional that they might as well be Mormon. They didn't want me to come here to the Academy and be educated. You know, just stop after high school and stay on the farm. My great-grandmother, who's somehow still alive, wanted me to marry my neighbour's son after my graduation. Apparently, she could sense my ovaries drying up which, by the way, they're not."

Xavier clears his throat. Wow. She didn't have a filter.

"Where are you from?" He asks.

"Tennessee. What about you?"

"New York."

Her eyes widen a little as her lips purse together. "Alright, City Boy, are you in Operations?"

"Yeah. Are you?"

"Weight Class B."

"A."

She raises her brows, checking out his physique again while nodding approvingly. "Clearly."

Not knowing what to do next, Xavier orders some food for the table. Orchid eyes him carefully as she reaches for the first mozzarella stick once it arrives. He can tell that she notices everything about him because he wasn't trying hard to hide it. After the first bite and twisting the cheese string from the divide, she laughs a little which confuses Xavier.

"If it makes you feel better, I'm only here for my roommate," Orchid tells him. "Her meal plan will cover this."

Xavier's mouth goes dry. "Oh, no it's fine. I was just - are you two friends?"

Orchid laughs again. "God no. She begged me to come. Like she was on her knees as if she was milking a stubborn cow. She was as desperate as hell but I needed a night out and should watch over her. She seems like a lightweight. What about you?"

"He asked and said I was lonely."

"Aren't you a good and sad person."

The night progressed. Xavier didn't know how long he was supposed to stay here and neither did Orchid. Neither of them wanted to go inside the club and grind on each other like everyone else in there. And it's not like their roommates came out to bring them back to their dorms. Bro code says to go have fun on your own, but girl code (as Xavier's heard) says to watch your girl's back. So that's a reason why he didn't call it a night or insist on leaving. But they're adults. They can take care of themselves and sit here like two people set up on a not-date date.

Little do they know that they caught each other spacing out. When their eyes meet again, small smiles appear.

"Aren't you scared of getting caught checking someone out?" Orchid asks.

Xavier shakes his head. "I'm more scared someone thinking that I'm checking them out."

Orchid nods, taking another mozzarella stick. "Smart, City Boy. Now, tell me, who's the girl?"

Xavier's cheeks heat up again and he readjusts his jacket. "What?"

"I grew up on a farm, if you couldn't already tell. I would see that longing face from the sheep when we took their mates for breeding."

Xavier narrows his eyes at her. "Are you calling me a sheep?"

To his surprise, Orchid baas. Xavier's jaw drops because he should've seen that coming but he didn't. And it sounded so real that it was freaky. Orchid laughs to herself and Xavier eventually joins in. The sheep bleat made the night. Orchid raises a brow, waiting for Xavier to answer but pulls back when he remains distant.

"Okay, fine, don't tell me," Orchid says. "I'll get it out of you one -"

"My high school sweetheart."

"-day. Oh my god! She's your prize hen!"

Orchid almost screams, causing Xavier to jump a little in his seat. She has one hand with a mozzarella stick in front of her mouth in shock while her other hand is holding his arm. She looks like she's about to cry and, honestly, he would too. Memories of his high-school sweetheart leaving with her cousin - his best friend - are too much for him. But he shifts his focus back on Orchid who has a tight grip on his forearm. She would definitely tell he's in Weight Class A. But did she call Britney a prize hen?

"No wonder you know how to be nice to girls!" Orchid exclaims. "You're an actual gentleman!"

Xavier nods. "It took more than that."

"Pass me your phone."

Xavier does so and she begins typing on it. He should get better at asking before doing. Then, her phone dings in her pocket and she takes it out, passing Xavier's phone back to him. Xavier looks at the screen and sees that she started a texting conversation with him to exchange numbers.

"You're going to help me," Orchid says.

"Okay," Xavier responds. Again, he should ask first. "Help with what?"

"Finding my high school sweetheart."

"We're not in high school."

"Oh, Xavier, you and I will be besties with that logic."

She smacks the table happily and sits back with an excited smile. Xavier sighs, watching Orchid stir the straw in her glass, mixing her now-diluted drink with the melted ice cubes. What did he get himself into?

-o-

Somewhere Around Concrete Beach - 00:21 AM

They finished their drinks, paid the bill, left the lounge. They weren't going inside to grind on each other but they chose to walk around. Orchid still had to keep eyes on her roommate and Xavier felt bad to leave his new bestie when she still had a lot of energy. Besides, if he would help her look for a high school sweetheart in college, he had to figure out how to do that.

For a moment, he thinks that he'd be better at the date than matchmaking.

"Okay." Orchid claps. "Tell me about high school sweethearts."

Xavier looks at her and is surprised when she's serious. "I thought you wanted one. You said you went to high school."

"I know the idea of it but not the reality. The sweethearts I know are the people at my school who got pregnant and married before the baby came. Romantic, right? Nobody lasted."

"Yeah, well." Xavier shrugs. "I didn't last."

"Did you have a child?"

"God, no."

"But you did more than sex, right?"

"Yup."

Xavier realizes how quickly he answered that and Orchid pauses before holding back laughter. He really should've said no to this not-date date. She's laughed at him more than she's said words. But it's true, though.

"Have you had sex?" Orchid asks.

Xavier coughs, causing more laughter. He rolls his eyes. This girl has no filter for questions or backstories. It was very different from what he's used to. He knew his friends from birth so nothing was ever new. The only big secret he's been aware of was Britney.

"Come on," Orchid nags. "We're adults and I'm invested in your high school flame as much as you will be in my conquest for something close enough. I bleated for you."

"I remember," Xavier says. Best part of the whole night.

"Do I have to bleat again?"

"No."

"No to the virginity or the bleating?"

"Yes."

Orchid stops their walking. She around and faces him.

"You're confusing me," she says. She points up at him and narrows her eyes as she leans up close to his face. "Not cool, bestie."

Xavier smiles. "Yes to both."

Orchid's face twitches since she doesn't know how to react. She backs down, pats his shoulder, and resorts to baaing again.

-o-

Hudson Residence - 2:38 AM

Before they went their separate ways, Orchid said that she had to go collect her roommate if she was still at Concrete Beach but promised to get back to him when it was time to go man-hunting for her. Besides, if she wanted a man in Operations, who better to ask than her new male bestie in Operations? He still can't believe he's calling Orchid Vermillion his bestie. And at least he'll have something to do and someone to hang out with.

He returns to his dorm and turns on the light. Xavier sees Ashton but, thankfully, not with Orchid's roommate. It's not like there's a sock on the door.

"So, how'd it go?" Xavier asks.

"Awful," Ashton responds. "It was like talking to a wall."

"Aw, don't say that. The posters on the wall were phenomenal."

Ashton glares at him. "Ha, ha. But she didn't ask anything about me. Questions have to be reciprocated. I asked her questions for small talk and she just said yes or no. It felt like an interrogation."

"Then you should've gone on a date with Orchid. All she did was talk." And baa.

"Then you must've had a good time."

"It was something."

Xavier doesn't regret going on the not-date date. It was a good time and now he has a new bestie and future plans. His parents told him not to mope around about Britney and even Apollo so he won't. He'll preoccupy himself until they come back. It's college. It's time to be alive.

"You still owe me," Xavier says as he takes off his jacket.

"What?" Ashton asks. "You had a great time."

"She basically knows my biography."

"Chicks are like that."

"I'm not dating her."

"She seemed better than my date."

Orchid bleated and became his bestie.

"You still owe me," Xavier confirms.

"Fine, whatever, that will be a thing for us now," Ashton concedes. "I respect that since I'm a man of my word."

"As am I."

"But you have to admit that you had fun."

"I did. I promised to be her wingman."

"Weird flex, but okay."

And now, allow me to introduce our second rando, Orchid Vermillion. Ain't she charming? She'll be back in a few chapters.