Going away to university was the best thing I ever did. I learned far more in my first few weeks there than I had done in the previous four or five years at school: how to cook for myself; how to operate a washing machine; how to find my way around a completely alien environment. I did, however, draw the line at working out how to do my own ironing. It was a culture shock in more ways than one. I had gone from having everything done for me, to having to do everything for myself. More than that, I had gone from an all boys’ school to an overwhelmingly female environment. I had chosen to study French and German, so there were only five boys on my course of forty. Before I had gone away, my only real contact with members of the opposite sex was with my mother and my sister (they didn’t count), and the occasional friend my sister brought home. The first few weeks had all been a bit of a blur. Every night, I seemed to be doing something different – meeting yet more new faces, drinking at the university bar with total strangers, going for coffee with even more people I had never seen before in my life, and going along to various different club meetings to find out what they were all about. Throw into that a series of lectures, seminars and tutorials dotted all over the campus (which still seemed enormous), and half of the time I didn’t really know whether I was coming or going. I also learned which of my coursemates had a good sense of direction, and which ones didn’t. More than once I found myself running late as a lot of the corridors looked the same, and flights of stairs which someone swore were just around the next corner seemed to have disappeared in the previous week. On one occasion, it was my fault that four or five of us had to slip into a lecture on 1950s German politics a couple of minutes after it had started, but more often than not, my sense of direction proved better than the others’. I’m not sure how the girls on my course looked on the boys. Three of them seemed to be very sporty types, and I got the impression that they knew each other from secondary school. The fifth boy was extremely shy, and didn’t seem to fit in comfortably with any of the female company. Which left me. Somehow, I was faced with the challenge of sinking or swimming – and I was determined to swim. As we reached the end of the first month, some of the faces started to become more familiar, and I was able to beginning to be able to put names to them. More than once, I became aware of embarrassed silences when I appeared. Whether they had been talking about me, or just having a girly conversation, I never knew, but it was obvious that whatever they had been talking about was not for my ears. As they started to become more comfortable with my presence, the occasional topic cropped up where I would not have been able to contribute even if I had wanted to – including which boys some of them fancied – where I was sworn to secrecy. Occasionally, just to embarrass me, one of them would ask me if I’d met anybody I fancied yet, and whether they could help me sort out a date with whoever it might be. I must have blushed, as they started to press me even harder for a name. I wasn’t going to say a word, as the girl in question was one of those who was looking at me at that very moment. I lied and said that I’d seen someone around a couple of times with short. blonde hair, but that I hadn’t been able to find out who she was. I did vaguely have someone in mind, and it was true that I didn’t know her name or what she was studying, but I was deliberately vague so that no-one could go and find her and attempt to set us up together. The girl who had actually caught my eye was called Marie. She was a couple of inches shorter than me, but her slender frame made her seem taller than she really was. The most eyecatching thing about her was her waist-length brown hair. She also had the most gorgeous deep-brown eyes. She was much more reserved than some of the others on our course, but I had had more chance to get to know her than anyone else. The timetable for her studies was identical to mine. During our conversations on our way to different classes I had learned that she came from a small town near Bournemouth. Her parents were big country music fans, and she had been named after Marie Osmond. Her hair was inspired by Crystal Gayle, but as she herself admitted, she hadn’t got the musical ability of either of them. She also had a pair of glasses balanced on the top of her head, but in the three weeks or so that I had known her, I didn’t remember seeing her actually wearing them once. It didn’t take a genius to work out that any sort of romantic involvement between the two of us could prove rather awkward, so although I had seen a few couples form, I was determined that Marie and I were not going to be one of them. The majority of our classes were in one of two buildings, which stood right next to each other. It was only a question of whether our classes were upstairs or down. However, once a week, whoever had done the timetabling had seen fit to give us a solitary hour in the basement of the Architecture and Building Engineering building. It was a seven or eight minute walk from our usual base, so we were invariably seven or eight minutes late. The lecturer was always waiting for us when we got there. It was his first session of the day. However, at the end of the session, it was he who had to hurry back to our normal building, and we students had the free hour. It didn’t take us long to discover the small coffee shop in the building. Once again, we had got lost in trying to find our way out of the building, but it was quite a fortunate find. It was clear that most of the architecture students had lectures, as the area was virtually empty. It meant that we could get a drink without having to queue. There were six of us who had made the long trek away from our normal area: Sonia, Beth, Zara, Louise, Marie and me. Sonia was the live spark in the group, but Beth and Zara didn’t take much to get them going. Louise, similarly, could be quite loud when the mood took her, so Marie and I often just sat back and watched. We had the time for a leisurely drink before returning for our final lecture of the morning. Our first morning in that coffee shop was another session of getting to know one another – swapping stories of where we came from, what we had studied at A- level, places we had been. As the conversation turned to Marie and her hair, we then moved on to the topic of musical tastes, and before we knew it, it was time to head off to the next session. It was great to have a moment of peace and quiet away from the normal hubbub of the School of Modern Languages. We were able to talk, without having the thread interrupted by someone joining us to say hello, or another person wandering off because they had just spotted someone going past, so the next week, I was really looking forward to our time together. Sonia was in one of her loud moods on this occasion, and Beth, Zara and Louise went along with her. “I’ve just realised something all we girls have in common that Rob doesn’t,” announced Beth. “What? Boobs, that’s hardly news,” laughed Sonia. “No, that’s not what I meant.” “He can have some of mine. I’ve got enough for two people,” said Sonia. It was hard to deny the truth of what she’d just said. She had taken her jumper off as it was rather warm, and the top she was wearing underneath was distinctly skimpy, and didn’t leave anything to the imagination. “Glasses,” said Beth. “All of us have got glasses, apart from Rob.” It was true. Sonia and Louise were wearing their glasses that morning. Beth and Zara always wore theirs, and Marie’s were in their usual place on the top of her head. I felt distinctly naked as a result. Sonia’s glasses were very much in keeping with the rest of her character – highly colourful and larger-than-life. They had the thickest lenses I could ever remember seeing, and they made her eyes look tiny. Unsurprisingly, the conversation then turned to glasses – why Sonia and Louise were wearing theirs, who had the strongest prescription, who had worn them the longest. It turned out to be quite educational for me. I had always assumed that if you needed glasses, you got them, and that was the end of that. Sometimes you had to get new glasses, either because you needed a different strength, or because you wanted a change of frame. It appeared that it was far more complicated than I thought. Sonia had got her first glasses when she was three. Her parents had taken her to get her eyes tested as she always stood right in front of the television. She had started wearing contact lenses when she was eleven, as she was ashamed of how thick her lenses were. Her eyes seemed to change twice a year, although she didn’t always get new glasses as she mostly lived in contacts. The number minus sixteen did not mean much to me, but it was far higher than anyone else’s prescription – but it didn’t take a genius to know that as her glasses were so much thicker. Beth’s glasses were different. They made her eyes look larger than everyone else’s. She told us that she had probably been longsighted since she was born, and that she had worn glasses since she was eighteen months old. She would have liked to be able to wear contact lenses, but didn’t really like the idea of poking things into her eyes, so she had never tried them. Zara’s glasses looked pretty normal to me. She had started wearing them when she was eleven. She had done her best to avoid wearing them as much as possible, but had decided that she really ought to start wearing them full-time when she went to university. She knew she should have been wearing them much more than she did before leaving home, so the moment she had said goodbye to her parents, she had put them on, and had kept them on ever since. Louise had overslept that morning, and had barely had time to brush her hair before leaving her room. She hadn’t had time to put contacts in. She was struggling a little, as she had not changed her glasses when she got her new contact lens prescription. Her parents had given her some money to order new glasses off the internet, but she hadn’t found anything she liked. She was going to have to sit in the front row of the next lecture and hope for the best – any help with reading the screen would be gratefully accepted. Up to this point, Marie had said very little. The others’ stories had all been interesting in their own way, but it was her I really wanted to know about. She didn’t wear her glasses very much as she had only got them when she had started learning to drive just over a year earlier. She didn’t want to become dependant on them, so she wore them as little as possible. Even so, when she had had her eyes tested before coming to uni, she had been told that she needed a stronger prescription, which she might find useful in the larger lecture halls. She had used them on the one occasion she had found herself in the back row, but normally, she tried to arrive early enough to get a seat nearer the front. Even then, she took some encouraging to take them out of her hair and put them on her nose, and it was only when I quietly added my voice to the other four, that she did so. If I had thought her good-looking without the glasses, with them, she looked stunning. The frames outlined her beautiful eyes perfectly. Fortunately, it wasn’t just me who thought so, and Sonia told her in no uncertain terms that she could have any boy she wanted if she wore her glasses. Marie blushed, but the mention of boys meant that they all turned to me. Fortunately, the question which followed was about my eyesight, and not what I thought about Marie’s looks. I was glad, also, that I had a table in front of me, so none of the girls saw that my body was giving the game away about what I thought. “Good eyesight runs in my family. I don’t think I’ve ever even tried a real pair of glasses on. Only sunglasses, and some of those cheap reading glasses you find in places like Poundland.” Beth took her glasses off and handed them to me. “Here, try these on. They’re like the ones in Poundland, except that they’re quite a bit stronger.” I didn’t have much choice in the matter. It was weird not to be able to see anything more than about six inches away, and yet to find that my hand in front of my face seemed exceptionally clear – and about twice its normal size – was even more so. I was then made to pose for photos so they could decide whose glasses suited me best, if I ever had to get my own. Louise’s glasses seemed a little weaker than Zara’s, but when I mentioned this, Louise wanted to try them for herself. She agreed with me, and then asked Zara if they could swap, as she could see better with Zara’s glasses than she could with her own. It was impossible to see anything more than shapes and colours through Sonia’s glasses. Apparently, I wasn’t sitting at quite the right angle for the photo, so I was made to put them back on, and turn around until they were satisfied. When I took them off, I was able to get a closer look at them. The lenses were about twice as thick as the frame, and seemed to go in a bit on the front as well as the back. After I took each pair of glasses off in turn, the other girls wanted to try them. Even Marie seemed curious about what she might be able to see through with Sonia’s super-strong lenses, but before she was allowed to try them on, she had to pass her own pair to me. Just as I had with Sonia’s glasses, I examined them carefully before putting them on. They made a difference, but I could actually see through them. True, everything seemed a little smaller, and a little further away, but I could still see through them. I was quite keen to hear more from Marie about them, so I asked how strong they were. “Minus one. My first pair were less than that. I was told I could probably have passed the sight test part of the driving test without them, but it was better to be safe than sorry, and I got this pair about a month ago.” “Marie’s glasses really suit you, Rob,” Zara announced. “You should get a pair.” “I’ll take your word for it, but you’re going to have to show me the pictures you just took.” I looked at the various photos of me in the different pairs of glasses. Sonia’s just looked silly on me. Beth’s and Louise’s didn’t really suit me, either. Zara’s were okay in terms of size and shape, but they were a little too light in terms of colour. Marie’s did look as if they could have been made for me, as the brown plastic frame was more of a unisex style than any of the others. After that, attention wandered to finding a new frame for Louise, and we must have spent the next fifteen minutes trying virtual frames onto her face on every internet glasses site known to mankind. We found a couple of pairs that she quite liked, and she might have been persuaded to place an order then and there, except that she wasn’t 100% sure of her exact prescription. The relationships within our little group strengthened as the term wore on. To others, it probably seemed more like a clique. Little by little, I was accepted as one of the girls, and it wasn’t uncommon for the six of us to get together on a Friday or Saturday evening and head off to the cinema or a night club together. I tried not to show any favouritism, but even when I was trying not to spend too much time with Marie, the other four seemed to ensure that we spent time alone with each other, without being too obvious about it. Whether she had spotted what they were up to or not, I didn’t know. I wasn’t complaining, and Marie didn’t seem to mind either. “I’m having a party to celebrate my birthday and the end of term,” Sonia announced, somewhere in the middle of November. “I do hope you’ll be there.” “You haven’t told us when it is yet,” Beth remarked. “The last Friday of term. I thought I’d warn you all now, so that you didn’t miss it because you’d already booked coach or train tickets to go home.” Once we’d all promised to be there, Sonia added that there would be a theme, although she hadn’t decided what it would be, yet. “Just make sure that the theme is suitable for everyone. I’m not wearing a pink dress for the occasion,” I warned. While we were talking about possible themes, Marie was readjusting her glasses in her hair. She didn’t get it right the first couple of times, so had to try again. “How about a Glasses party?” Zara suggested. “But Rob doesn’t have glasses,” Marie observed. “No, but he could get a pair from Poundland just for the evening. That wouldn’t break the bank. Either that, or he could borrow my spare pair for the night,” Sonia replied. “If they’re anywhere near as strong as your normal pair, I’d better get myself to Poundland in the next month or so,” I said. “I’ll order some pizzas, and if you all bring a bottle or two, that should be enough for a good evening. All we’ll need then is your best party spirit, but as it’s the end of term, we’ll all have something to celebrate.” “What exactly happens at a Glasses Party?” asked Marie. “Well, erm… the same sorts of things which happen at any normal party, except that we all wear glasses,” was Sonia’s answer. “And we eat pizza, and drink whatever you bring with you. I’ll think of something.” “Sounds good to me,” said Beth. When I went into town a few days later, I found myself looking at the various options for reading glasses, but didn’t particularly like any of them. Some of them were the sort of thing Sonia would have worn, but too many of them just looked like glasses for old people to me. Ever since I was made to try on all of the girls’ glasses, I had been wondering what it would be like to have a pair of my own, and I couldn’t get out of my mind the fact that Marie’s glasses looked good on me. They had made me look slightly older and more studious, and none of the frames in front of me would have given that impression. I went back to my room, wondering what to do. I did think about asking Marie whether she had her old pair as a spare that I could borrow, but I was trying to avoid spending too much time alone with her, in case I gave her… well, it wouldn’t have been the wrong impression, but I didn’t want to scare her off. Then, I remembered the fun we had had trying to find a frame for Louise. I thought about suggesting the girls did the same for me, but if I was going to turn up to a Glasses Party in some unnecessary eyewear, I wanted it to be a surprise for them, too. It took me an hour or so online to find a cheap, tortoiseshell frame that I liked, and then I had to enter a prescription. There seemed no point in going to the expense of getting some frames without having some sort of a prescription in them. In the end, I decided to go one step stronger than Marie had. I had been able to see with her glasses, and she clearly wasn’t dependant upon them, so it seemed like a reasonable compromise. I was a little worried that they wouldn’t arrive in time, and that I would have found myself back at the Pound shop looking for the least worst option. Fortunately, they only took ten days to arrive. I was pleased with them when I saw how they looked on me – smart, without being showy. My vision was acceptable at all distances, too. Not better, but I didn’t need to take them off for anything. I thought about wearing them to lectures before the end of term, but decided to keep them a secret for the party, and then wear them when I chose to when we returned in January. The last week and a half of term seemed to take an age. I didn’t see much of anybody outside classes, as we were too busy finishing various essays and other assignments to have any free time. Coffee breaks in between lectures were a welcome relief, but I think we all felt a sense of guilt that we weren’t busy studying at those times, and it wasn’t uncommon for someone to drink up quickly and dash off to grab a quiet half hour in some secluded corner of the library or other. I handed in my last essay just before lunchtime on the final day of term. If it hadn’t been for Sonia’s party, I might have been tempted to skip the three o’clock lecture and head off home for Christmas, but I was a good boy, and turned up as expected. Beth and Marie were also there, but numbers were clearly down on the previous week, and the lecturer remarked upon the fact. After the class, I headed back to my room. I was booked on a fairly early train the next morning, so I wanted to make sure that I had packed as much as possible in advance. Then, all I would have to do is get dressed, and it didn’t matter if I overslept a bit. As I was shattered with all of the studying I had been doing, I thought I’d grab a quick half an hour’s nap before starting to pack. It was half past eight when I finally awoke. The party had started thirty minutes earlier, so I had to get dressed in a hurry. I was grateful that my mother had insisted I pack a plain white shirt and a tie with the rest of my clothes. At the time, I hadn’t seen the point, and they had both spent the last twelve weeks hanging up in the wardrobe. Now, they were the ideal solution to looking like I’d made an effort. When I combined them with a smart pair of trousers and the glasses, I no longer looked like a first year student, but more like someone who worked in an office in London or some other big city. The girls had been starting to wonder whether they needed to come and get me by the time I arrived. In fact, they had hardly finished complimenting me on my appearance when the pizzas arrived. It was clear from the outset that they had all spent a lot of time on their appearance, and each of them looked stunning, in their own way. It probably doesn’t need saying, but for me, Marie was the loveliest of them all. It was equally obvious that they had all been drinking on empty stomachs, so they were all, Marie included, in exceptionally high spirits when I arrived. The room was also rather on the warm side, so it wasn’t long until I had loosened my tie and undone my top button. It was noticeable that a couple of the girls had done likewise, so there was more flesh on view than I had seen from any of them before. “So, what do we do at a Glasses Party, apart from eat pizza, get drunk and wear glasses?” asked Beth, when we were down to the last couple of slices of the Marguerita Pizza. “I’m glad you asked,” Sonia replied. “I’ve got a couple of games for us to play, and then I’ve downloaded a film for later in the evening.” The first game turned out to be pass-the-parcel. It was incredibly childish, but brilliant fun, as every time someone took a wrapper off, there was a forfeit inside. It was probably just as well that I got “remove an item of clothing” as I still had my tie around my neck at that point. There was a chorus of disapproval from the girls, but I pointed out that I could have taken a sock off, which wouldn’t have been any more exciting, so we got on with the game. Marie had to kiss the person on her left, which turned out to be me. She also got booed for kissing me on the cheek. I was tempted to join the booing, but the night was yet young. The second game was a take on the panel game “Would I lie to you?” We were divided into two teams, and had to write seven things down about our team members that they thought no-one else knew. The people in the opposing team had to guess which person was which from the secret. My team lost that game, probably because my secrets stood out as more masculine ones than the others, which put us at a disadvantage. There was a huge groan from all of us when we were told that the next game was charades – but with a Glasses Party twist. All the names were put into a hat, and we pulled a name out each. We then had to play the rest of the game wearing that person’s glasses. Zara got the short straw and had to wear Sonia’s glasses, and Louise wasn’t much better off in Beth’s. Beth found herself even more longsighted than usual, as she had Zara’s glasses, while Sonia pointed out that she might as well play bare-eyed as Louise’s glasses, even the new ones, were far too weak. Marie and I got to swap with each other, so we could both see pretty well. It was no surprise when our team won that game, as Marie and I were the only two who could see what was actually happening. After that, Sonia put the film on. I missed the very beginning, with the title, as I had gone to the toilet at that point, but it turned out to be a Christmas Rom-Com. It had been running for about ten minutes when I realised that Marie had fallen asleep on my right arm. I didn’t really want to wake her, but the angle she was sitting at proved quite uncomfortable, so I lifted my arm up and put it around her. She took hold of my right hand and held it against her chest, without really appearing conscious of what she had just done. I was glad the lights had been turned off as there would have been a danger that one of the others might have said something if they had been able to see where it really was. I only took it away when I was aware the film was about to end. When the lights were turned back on, Marie awoke with a bit of a start. She seemed genuinely disorientated, and she looked rather confused when I told her that the film had finished. She had slept through almost all of it. “You probably need to go back to your room. Rob will walk you home, won’t you, Rob?” Sonia announced. Marie was still rubbing her eyes at the time, but I didn’t miss the wink that Sonia gave to Zara. I couldn’t possibly say no, so I finished my drink, made another quick trip to the toilet and was ready. I gave the other four a goodbye hug, and wished each of them in turn a Merry Christmas. “You two behave yourselves, now,” were Sonia’s parting words. This time, there was no mistaking the wink, but whether it was aimed at me or Marie, I couldn’t say. The walk to Marie’s room was about half a mile, and should have taken about ten minutes. As it was, it took more like twenty. Neither of us seemed in a particular hurry to arrive. Marie had clearly had more to drink than I had realised, so I put my arm around her to make sure that she didn’t fall over. “Thank you,” she said. “It was so cosy in Sonia’s room, and I was starting to shiver a bit just now. I’ll just use your warmth to keep me from freezing.” All too soon, we found ourselves standing outside her door. There was an embarrassed silence, as if neither of us could make up our minds what should happen next. “Thank you for walking me home,” she started. “Would you like to come in for” (here there was a slight pause, before she continued) “a cup of coffee?” Everything was screaming at me that this was the chance I had been waiting for. The most beautiful girl in the whole of the university had just invited me, alone, into her room at the end of an evening out. It was the ideal opportunity to find out whether she really did feel the same way about me as I had begun to feel about her. And yet, something made me hesitate. We had another three and a half years together. If I got this wrong, it could prove very awkward. Even as I hesitated, I could feel her drawing closer to me. I realised that she was about to kiss me, and if she did, it might be too late. I wanted to be sure that this was what the Marie I had come to know really wanted, and not just an alcohol-fuelled spur-of-the-moment thing. I drew her into the deepest hug I could manage. I could feel every curve of her body pressing against mine, and I feared that she could say the same about me. I didn’t want to let her go, but knew that I had to. There was only one reasonable way out, that I could see. “Thank you, but I need to get back to my own room. If I have coffee this late, I’ll be awake half the night. You take care of yourself. Have a really good Christmas, and I’ll see you again in the New Year.” “You, too, Rob. And thank you again for walking me home.” I had only got a couple of hundred yards down the road when I realised I was still wearing Marie’s glasses. I paused for a moment, wondering whether I should go back to her room and return them. I dismissed the thought as it would have been even more dangerous than when I had said goodbye a few minutes earlier – and if she again invited me in, I didn’t know whether or not I would have the willpower to resist. I was half an hour down the line towards London the following morning when Marie’s text message arrived. “I’ve got your glasses; have you got mine?” I told her that I had, and that I could send them to her in the Christmas post, meet her in London at some point, or she could try using mine. I suggested that she try them and see what she thought. “I’ll use yours.” Usually, I look forward to the Christmas season, but this year was different. I almost couldn’t wait for it to be over, so I could get back to Marie, and find out exactly where I stood with her. Several times, I nearly picked up my phone to talk to her, but each time I chickened out. I wasn’t really sure what I would say. Even if she did tell me that she liked me, we were still a couple of hundred miles apart. Whenever there was no-one else around, I wore her glasses to remind myself of her – several hours a day, almost every day. I did send her the occasional text, but only to wish her a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and to enquire when she was travelling back to university. Her answers were equally matter-of-fact, and showed no emotion at all. My heart was pumping hard as I finally found myself on my way to her room the day before the new term was due to start. I had deliberately waited until mid-morning as I didn’t really want to catch her having a lie-in. Also, there was a reasonable chance that she would still have been in, even if she had plans for the day. “Is that offer of a cup of coffee still open?” I asked as she opened the door to her room. “Rob!” Her face lit up into a smile. “How lovely to see you! It certainly is. Come in, I’ve just finished drying my hair. I’ll be with you in a moment.” Even as she was putting her hair dryer, brushes, combs and a selection of towels away, I marvelled at how she managed to make even jeans and an old tee-shirt look sexy. “I’ve brought you a couple of presents,” I said, once I had a cup of coffee in my hand. “You shouldn’t have.” “I should have. You haven’t seen what they are yet.” The first present she opened up was her glasses. She burst out laughing. I apologised once again for forgetting to give them back to her, and explained how I had only remembered when it was probably too late. She agreed, as she said she had gone almost straight to bed after I left her, and had slept through until ten the following morning. The second present was a box of chocolates. I explained that it was to say sorry for having kidnapped her glasses. Again, she laughed. “And here are yours,” she said, picking them up from beside her bed. “But tell me – where did you get them? I didn’t think you needed glasses.” I told her an edited version of the story: how I had realised her glasses had made me look quite dapper when I had tried them on; how I had failed to find anything remotely appropriate in the Pound shop; and how I didn’t want to be caught wearing glasses with plain glass if anyone else tried them on, as I didn’t want to look like a fraud. Then, I asked her how she had got on with them. “No-one noticed that I wasn’t wearing my own glasses – or if they did, they didn’t say anything. I used them when I was out and about in the car and when I was expected to sit and watch a film with the rest of the family. Once or twice, I wore them just because I was thinking of you.” This last remark caught me by surprise, and I must have blushed deeply. Fortunately, she continued, while I was still trying to work out what to say: “I like you, Rob. A lot.” She paused. “When I asked you in for coffee after Sonia’s party, I was a bit upset when you said no. Looking back, I’m glad you did, because I don’t think I would have been able to control myself. I was so happy at the party when you put your arm around me, but I didn’t know whether you’d done it because you liked me, too, or whether it was because you were just uncomfortable with me leaning against your shoulder.” With a confession like that, it was only fair for me to come clean. If a relationship was going to develop, what I said next was going to be vital. “I do like you, Marie. When I realised I had walked off with your glasses, I was tempted to bring them straight back, but was worried that I wouldn’t have had the willpower to refuse if you’d asked me in again. I wanted to be sure whether it was you or the alcohol talking.” “Probably both. And when I said just now that I wore your glasses once or twice when I didn’t really need them, I forgot to add that it was once or twice a day.” I laughed. “Me, too!” After that, our conversation drifted onto what we had actually done during the break. She told me about some of her visits to see friends and relatives, while I shared stories of some of our Christmas traditions. Even so, we were just skirting around the fact that we had both just admitted that we rather liked each other. Neither of us had dared ask the question “what next?” By one o’clock, I was getting hungry. I could happily have sat and chatted to Marie for the rest of the afternoon – or even just looked at her. “How do you feel about a trip to the cinema tonight?” “What’s on?” “I haven’t the faintest idea. We’ll find out when we get there.” “Okay then. I’ll see you at the bus stop at six o’clock, and we can catch the ten past bus into town. There is just one thing, though.” “What’s that?” “Promise me that you’ll wear your shirt, tie and glasses this evening. They made you look really hot.” “I promise. But you must wear…” “I got the ideal thing for Christmas.” “I was going to say that you must wear your glasses, too. I have a feeling I might like to sit closer to the back with you, and I’d hate for you not to be able to see.” “You’re on. See you at six.” The next few hours dragged by. I had lunch, but didn’t have anything particular to do afterwards. I tried to do a bit of reading, but my mind was not on the book. I probably sat there for an hour and a half, but didn’t learn a thing. I thought about going to visit someone else to pass the time, but was worried that I might forget about my date with Marie, so ruled that out. Besides, I might have had to admit to why I wasn’t able to stay, and that could have been embarrassing. In the end, I went to the swimming pool on campus for half an hour, just to kill the time. I managed forty lengths, but my heart wasn’t in it. When I arrived at the bus stop at ten to six, Marie was already waiting. We weren’t the only two there, so we made small talk while we waited. We were both aware that we could easily be overheard. I didn’t know any of the other three would-be passengers by name, but I did recognise a couple of them. A frost was beginning to form, so we were all hoping the bus would hurry up and arrive, so we could get in out of the cold. It eventually came at five past six, by which time I was regretting arriving early. Getting a seat when there are only five of you on a single-decker bus is not difficult. I can’t remember a great deal about the film itself. It was some sort of a spoof horror film. As we’d got there early, we had the full range of seats to choose from. Marie chose us a couple of seats in the back row, somewhere near the middle of it. “Don’t worry, Rob – I did bring my glasses,” she said as we were making our way along the row. I had just taken mine off, as they had steamed up. We chatted quietly while waiting for the film to begin. Either it wasn’t going to be a particularly good film, or most people had decided they had better places to be on a cold, frosty Sunday night in early January. It didn’t take long for the first scary moment from the start of the film. About two minutes, I reckon. Marie took the opportunity to grab hold of my hand for comfort, and hardly let it go for the next hour and a half. She did, however, lean across and ask if we could swap glasses, and then told me she could see slightly better with mine. We continued to hold hands as we made our way back to the bus station, but when I realised that Marie was starting to shiver, I let go of her hand, and held her in my arms, instead. She didn’t resist, and put her head on my shoulder while we waited. No words were exchanged; actions were speaking louder than words. “Coffee?” I asked her as we got off the bus. “I thought you didn’t drink coffee in the evening?” “I don’t, but I have alternatives in my room.” “Your place it is, then.” Unlike Marie, I didn’t have a kettle in my room, so I had to leave her there while I went to sort the drinks out. While I was out of the room, she had closed the curtains, taken her coat and jumper off, and had pulled her hair round in front of her shoulders. She was still wearing my glasses, although I presumed that she had also had to take them off to de-mist them. This was probably the first time I had been able to see her in normal light all evening. “Well, what do you think?” she asked. “You look fabulous in your shirt and tie – and my glasses. How do I look to you?” As she said it, she brushed her hair back over her shoulders. Her top was just one stage shy of transparent, and I could almost make out all the details on the simple white bra she had on underneath. My jaw must have dropped in amazement. Words failed me. “It’s quite something, isn’t it? It was a Christmas present from my great aunt. She seems to feel that I ought to be well on my way to being married by now, and that if this top didn’t help me to get, or keep, a man, then nothing would. All that, and the fact that she had been to too many funerals in the past year, and would rather like to go to a wedding instead.” “No pressure there, then,” I commented. “I also had to try it on to make sure it was a good fit. I won’t repeat what my teenage brother said when he saw it. My dad seemed to realise at that moment that I was now a fully-grown woman, and that I had sex-appeal. My mum just said that I probably needed to be careful about when and where I wore it. But you haven’t told me what you think.” I took a couple of steps towards Marie, held her in my arms, and kissed her. Five minutes later, I paused, and said:
“Does that answer your question?” “Perfectly. Now let me show you what I think of your shirt and tie.” My response to Marie seemed positively half-hearted in comparison with what followed. Compared to the others in our friendship group, she had always seemed to be the slightly shy one. How wrong I had been! It was gone one o’clock in the morning when I walked Marie back to her room. On the way, I asked what she thought the others would say if they had seen us this evening. ““About time, too” I should think. “When you were late arriving at Sonia’s party, they were busy discussing how they could get the pair of us together. It wasn’t an accident that the only space left for you to sit down was right next to me. Even so, if they hadn’t insisted, I might well have done my best to make sure it happened. If they hadn’t given me quite so much to drink before you got there, this evening might have happened sooner.” - - - “So, are you two both still single?” Sonia asked as we settled down for our first Tuesday-morning coffee session of term. Marie and I had deliberately sat slightly further apart than usual, but the fact that we both blushed and looked at each other gave the game away. “I’ll take that as a “no”, then,” she continued. “About time too.” “Come on, then,” said Beth. She was always quick to follow Sonia’s lead. “When and where did it happen?” “That’s for us to know, and you not to find out,” was Marie’s response. The others looked a little surprised by this, but I wasn’t going to be any more forthcoming. News of our relationship soon spread, and it wasn’t just our coursemates who were aware that there was something going on. I had fellow students that I didn’t even know congratulating me on getting to date Marie. As far as I was aware, they didn’t even know her. When I thought a bit more about it, I realised that there was only a handful of students who were instantly recognisable on the whole of campus – and Marie was one of them, simply because of the length of her hair. Physically, she was extremely attractive, but inside – the side only I had seen – she was even more so. We had to remember that, above all, we were students, and that our degrees had to come first. As a result, we agreed that Mondays to Thursdays were work nights. Occasionally, we had to collaborate on assignments, or we were both stuck on the same tasks, so we worked together, but, by and large, we only saw each other in classes on those days. Fridays and Saturdays, there was often something happening on campus, so if either of us liked the sound of it, we went along together. Sundays, we kept as a day to be together – just the two of us. We did our best to get out and about and do something, as the times we found ourselves couped up by the weather were very intense. I was a little upset at Easter when Marie asked if she could have her own glasses back. I had totally forgotten that we had swapped. However, it turned out that she had booked a sight test. She was pretty sure that her eyes had got worse, and she wasn’t only wearing her glasses for my benefit. She felt she ought to go to the appointment with her own glasses, so she didn’t have to explain why the prescription was wrong. She did need a new prescription; -1.75 in both eyes. Rather than order new glasses then and there, she brought the form back to university with her so that she could order the same frames as I had – the same as she had been wearing for the previous three months. We both used the pretext of needing to do revision to go back to university as soon as possible after Easter, and ended up spending rather more time together than either of us had anticipated. We did do some revision, but that’s all I’m saying… - - - The door opened into the lounge, where I had settled down to watch the television. It was Marie. “How did the eye tests go?” I enquired. “Not bad. I ordered new glasses for myself, as planned. I was told to expect a bifocal prescription next time, but it could wait another two years unless I started to experience any problems in the meantime. My astigmatism had changed slightly, but nothing to worry about. Jenna’s eyes are perfect, but Katie was told she needed glasses for when she started learning to drive next month. That’s what took the time. She might have the same hair style and colour as me, but she didn’t want to have to wear the same style of glasses. In the end, we found something very similar, but different enough to persuade her they weren’t exactly the same. Actually, they look rather similar to the ones I had when we first met. Do you think they’ll do the same for her as mine did for me?” “If they do, there’s another very lucky man out there…”