I don’t think so.
31Eric
Imake my way through the crowd to join Sean, who’s talking to some of his colleagues in a corner of the room. I hand him the drink I got for him and he smiles, thanking me. I sink onto the chair beside him.
We’re at a pub in the city centre, and we’re not the only Christmas party here. It’s bursting. Luckily, Sean’s colleagues booked ahead.
“What’s the plan for this evening?” I ask into his ear.
There’s so much noise I can barely hear myself speak.
“Dinner, alcohol.” He lifts his glass and takes a sip. “Boring stories about students, the faculty, the ghost which lives in the university library.”
“Ghost?”
“They say there’s a ghost,” one of Sean’s colleagues explains.
I don’t know how he heard us; he must’ve been eavesdropping already. I worked out right away that he was someone who liked to get involved in other people’s business.
“But I’ve never heard anything, despite spending so much time in there,” he continues.
“What’s the story?” I ask Sean, curious.
“It started after the Agatha Christie exhibition a few years ago. It was spooky: there were murder weapons and the outlines of dead bodies drawn onto the floor…” Sean explains.
“I never heard about this.”
“Nerd stuff,” his colleague says.
“Since then, someone started that rumour. Now on winter nights, when it gets dark really early, it’s impossible to find anyone alone in the library.”
“They shit themselves,” the colleague adds.
“What about you? Do you believe it?” I ask my date.
“You can never be too careful.”
I laugh as he takes another sip. He’s relaxed this evening – something that makes me incredibly happy.
“Hey, Quinn!” A voice lifts above the chaos. We turn to see another of Sean’s colleagues calling for his attention. “Tell us a bit about how you two met, you and…?”
“Eric,” Sean says.
“Yeah, go on. Tell us how you met, when you realised you liked each other…” one of his colleagues – I think from the Italian Department – asks, curious.
“Oh, well.” Sean glances at me in embarrassment. “A mutual friend introduced us.”
Which is true.
“We’ve both been friends of his for… Well, years.” He looks back at me and I smile. “But we’d never met.”
“No way!” she says.
Sean shrugs.
“How come?”
“I was jealous of him,” I find myself saying. “Jealous of the relationship he had with our friend.”
