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Fic: Dating the Cleverest Boy in the World. Chapter 4.
Here it is - finally. Blame Christmas and computer woes on the lateness. I hope you like, and feedback would be the best thing ever! As usual many thanks to my beta ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kathyh who is fabulous. :) Beginning of fic here.
Summary: Allison had always thought that university would be an adventure. But she'd not imagined that she'd end up dating Harold Saxon's son.
Setting: 2025 (AU post-Sound of Drums)
Characters: OCs (many!), the Doctor (10th), Lucy, Jack.
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: Just over 4000 words.
Chapter 4
“Allison – how do you feel about lunch?”
Alex really did have the most alarming tendency to pop up out of nowhere. Since he had been a no-show for the lecture, she'd not expected to see him, and had half planned on just grabbing a wrap of some sort and heading for the library. But...
“Generally I’m in favour of it. Why?”
“I was wondering if you’d like to join myself and Chen? I’m curious to see if you two can get along outside a lecture hall, or if you’ll argue no matter the setting.”
Her eyes widened and she looked across the room to where Chen was standing, looking about as awkward as she felt.
“We don’t argue that much,” she offered - because really it was just that they enjoyed trying to outdo each other in class discussions - and Alex laughed.
“Yes you do! Come on, it’s my treat. And I’ve asked Matt and Josh to come along, so you won’t have to carry the conversation all by yourselves.”
For a moment she studied him, the happy excitement in his eyes pretty irresistible, and wondered how in just a week and a half he’d become such a fixture in her life.
“Sure, why not,” she finally said, and he beamed at her.
“Brilliant! Do you like Greek food? I found this little restaurant the other day that I'd like to check out…”
Following him down the stairs she shot Chen a slightly nervous smile. She hoped this wasn’t some weird matchmaking idea of Alex’s, although anything was possible with him, she’d discovered that much already...
Only last week he’d asked her to come ‘exploring’ with him, and they’d ended up in King’s College chapel. It had been the strangest experience, since he’d done a pretty good impression of her father – a history teacher through and through - running this way and that, pointing out historical oddities and getting very excited.
When she admitted not being terribly fond of history, he’d looked at her as if she was mad, and declared history to be the greatest subject in the world.
“So, why aren’t you studying history?” she’d asked, perfectly logically, and there had been a pause.
"Mostly because the courses are way too restrictive," the reply had finally been, and, before she had been able to explore the subject further, the organ had suddenly started playing, and Alex’s face had lit up, as if illuminated from above by a light bulb.
Then he’d dragged her up to the organ loft and somehow – Allison still wasn’t quite sure – talked the organist into giving him an impromptu lesson.
Any doubts that she might previously have had about his claim to be able to turn his hand to anything had been swiftly blown away, as in less than an hour he mastered the instrument. Having witnessed a seemingly never-ending stream of piano students traipse through the front door during her childhood - and still vividly remembering her own, less than enthusiastic, lessons - his feat impressed her more than she let on.
But most surprising of all had been the fact that once he'd got the hang of it, he thanked the stunned organist profusely, and then got up and left, his interest already elsewhere.
‘Not a musician’ he’d said, and she was beginning to understand what he meant.
Matt was waiting for them at the restaurant – a jolly place, the walls painted to look as if the diners had a view of the Aegean Sea - waving as they entered to catch their attention. Allison had only met him once before and was looking forward to getting to know him better. In looks he was definitely boy-next-door material, neatly cut brown hair and green pullover easily marking him out as someone who had not been blessed with Josh's flair for fashion.
She'd looked him up online of course, and knew that he was a medical student, aiming to join Doctors Without Borders once he'd graduated. He was also already involved with a large number of student groups - everything from Amnesty International to Save the Rainforest - and so much earnestness would have been rather off-putting if it hadn't been for his intriguing tagline: ‘Middle class through and through except for the fact that my dad used to be a clown', which spoke of a certain tongue-in-cheekness that undercut the Guardian-reading crusading spirit very neatly.
“Josh’s not coming,” Matt announced once they were all seated and introductions were out of the way. “He called a few minutes ago – something about a girl and the theatre.”
Alex smiled wryly. “This is how many girls now? Seven? Although he's never going to be Jack Mark II if he doesn't add a few boys.”
Matt grinned. "Oh but there was a boy!"
"Really?" Alex's eyes widened with glee. "How do I not know about this?"
"Well... apparently it's complicated." Matt leaned forward, clearly enjoying his scoop. "Turns out the boy in question had a girlfriend - something he neglected to tell Josh - and she found out, and is pretty pissed off. As is Josh, obviously. Generally he's just trying to keep it quiet. I only managed to get the story out of him this morning - I was wondering why he wasn't answering his messages and forced him to talk."
Alex shook his head. "Oh no, that won't do. The Jack Harkness Code stipulates that he has to solve it by having a threesome."
Looking up he realised that Allison and Chen were both looking at him, somewhat flummoxed.
"Who is Jack?" Allison asked, curious about the whole situation and yet not wanting to come across as a gossip addict.
There was a brief pause, as Alex and Matt exchanged silent looks.
"Jack," Alex began slowly, obviously choosing his words with great care. "Jack... is just Jack. Um... he's like my surrogate older brother I suppose you could say, and he... Well he'll sleep with anything with a post code, pretty much."
Allison frowned at this, but then a waiter turned up and handed out menus, and Alex used the interruption to change the subject.
“So – what would you like? Remember, my treat! Seriously – money’s no object.”
Allison quirked an eyebrow, but Matt shrugged. “Trust me, he’s loaded."
She looked at Chen, who shook his head, a small smile on his face.
“I have no problem with dining out on Evil Western Capitalism” he said with a wink, and Allison chuckled.
Alex looked up from his menu. “I’m not evil – unless playing the stock market is an inherently bad thing…”
Allison blinked.
“You play the stock market?”
“M-hm!”
Seeing that she was still somewhat flabbergasted, he elaborated.
“My Dad wanted to teach me about the value of money, but he dislikes the whole principle of pocket money, so…”
He shrugged and let the sentence hang.
“So… he taught you to play the stock market?”
“Yup. It was the Christmas of... 2015. The year with no snow? I was a bit bored, so he decided it'd make for a day well-spent. Which it did."
"2015?" she asked, incredulous. "You were... eight?"
He nodded proudly. "Haven't spent a penny that wasn't my own since."
She wasn't quite sure how to respond to this, and neither was Chen, who frowned.
“It is legal for children to do this in England?”
Alex laughed, brown eyes twinkling mischievously. “Oh no, not at all."
"And yet you admit to fraudulence quite openly? I do not understand."
"Ah now," Alex said, thoughtfully. "See this is one of the peculiarities of Englishness - you can say the most outrageous things and people will just smile and pretend it's nothing out of the ordinary, because anything else would be awkward. Also, I could be lying. British culture is a fascinating thing. You should have a look into it."
Chen slowly shook his head. "I came here to study science, not culture."
"No reason you can't do both! Wheelie bins, that's another peculiarity - trust me, never get between an Englishman and his wheelie bin!"
What Chen's response to this would have been Allison never found out, since at that moment their waiter turned up again, asking if they were ready to order, and Alex began quizzing him on the different dishes - in Greek.
Matt sighed.
"Please ignore him, he just likes to show off. Between trying to keep him out of trouble, and keeping Josh even halfway interested in his studies it's a miracle I ever get anything done myself."
Allison decided that she liked Matt.
Alex broke off his interrogation and shot his friend a sly smile. "Don't worry Matt, you've still got plenty of time to save the world."
Matt sighed again, and shook his head.
"I don't want to save the world, just make a difference. Because I can. If everyone just-"
Alex huffed with great exaggeration. "Not now Matt. Let's just order some food OK?"
He turned back to the waiter - who was wearing a polite 'God-save-me-from-students' look on his face - but Alex said something in Greek that made him chuckle (and made Allison suspect that the kitchen would outdo themselves), and then they got down to the business of ordering. Clearly eating out with Alex had a lot of advantages.
When the starters turned up, Allison brought the conversation back to where Alex had stopped it.
"Matt - what did you mean about making a difference?"
This innocent question swiftly turned into a intense discussion about how best to save the world - Matt was very much a believer in grassroots movements, and of enabling people to help themselves. Chen - the son of a government official - disagreed. In his opinion the most useful way of bringing about change was for a strong government, able to see the big picture, to help people in the way that would benefit the most. Allison, after a while, decided to come from the issue sideways, pointing out that technology was the way forward - just look at the difference mobile phones and the internet had made.
It was all very exciting, and she almost had to pinch herself - she was a proper undergraduate in Cambridge, having a deep discussion about politics and world affairs with fellow students. This was the stuff dreams were made of.
She was so caught up that it took her a long time to notice that Alex wasn't joining in at all. He was quietly eating, observing them with what could best be described as the detached interest of an anthropologist. To be fair, he'd said that he'd got them together to see if they'd still argue, but...
"Alex - what do you think?"
He met her eyes briefly, and then shook his head.
"I don't. Politics isn't my thing."
"Oh come on! You must have some sort of opinion!"
"I really don't. I can see the merit in most systems and I refuse to take sides."
He shrugged, but she wasn't going to let it go this easily, shooting Chen a look.
"Go on - in an ideal world, how would you arrange things?"
He looked from face to face, then sighed in defeat. "Fine. In an ideal world, there'd be one central government that could distribute all the resources fairly and evenly. This, however, would never last because people are stupid and selfish and corruptible."
Matt shook his head. "You've got to stop being so cynical."
"I'm not cynical!" Alex protested. "I'm just a realist. No system can ever be perfect. There will always be an imbalance, there will always be someone at the bottom of society, there will always be people who exploit the system to help themselves. It's human nature. And if you start messing with that you're in 'Brave New World' territory - or ‘Serenity’ - and that's even worse."
"That's... bleak," Allison said after a moment, and he shrugged.
"That's life."
Her eyes narrowed, and he smiled a sudden bright smile.
"And- that's why I never discuss politics."
Chen slowly nodded. "I hope you will not think me impolite, but you seem to be quite a strange person, Alexander."
At which point Matt burst out laughing and the boy in question buried his head in his hands. Still chuckling, Matt patted him on the back, and then checked his watch.
"Forty-five minutes, I think that might be a record. Although you didn't actually speak for most of those."
"Shut up," Alex muttered, then looked up through his fingers, caught between amusement and weariness.
"Can I just point out that I'm not a cynic or a pessimist? I think life is a fabulous, miraculous thing, the world never stops fascinating me, and I want to spend my life studying it. I just don't delude myself that it can ever be fair."
"But that's no reason not to try to make it fairer," Matt countered, and Alex hid again, groaning.
"Not having this discussion again. Ever. For the sake of my sanity, let's just say that I agree with Chen and you can continue arguing with him."
"Alex..." Matt tried, but the other looked up, shaking his head and looking quite exasperated.
"This is the 207th time we've touched on this subject - and trust me, I can name the time and place of every single instant - and I've had enough, OK? I can't be who you are, even though I admire the hell out of you. So, can we change the subject please? Pretend that Josh is here and talk about which of the Seven Wonders of the World is the most extraordinary."
It was now Matt's turn to sigh deeply. "And how often have we discussed that?"
"Only 153!" Alex said, beaming. “Although, to be fair, time-wise we have spent longer on it. Not that there’s a huge difference...”
Matt held up a hand. “Don’t. I believe you. Have you got your laptop?”
“Always!” Alex replied, and fished it out of his bag, before looking at Chen and Allison, who’d been keeping quiet through the argument.
"You need to see Josh’s drawings to give you a sense of perspective.”
“OK...” Allison replied, and Matt smiled at her confusion, as Alex was busy bringing up the images.
"He wants to re-create them. Josh that is."
“Re-create the Seven Wonders?” Chen asked, stunned, and Alex nodded proudly as he turned the laptop towards them.
"So much more than a pretty face, our Josh. He's studying architecture for a reason!"
All in all, Allison reflected later that day, it had been quite an interesting lunchtime.
***
Devoting Saturday to shopping had been Chelsea’s idea, but one that Allison had happily taken her up on. It had been far too long since she’d had a proper girl-y day, and Chelsea had obviously discovered all the best shops by now, judging by her ever-changing wardrobe. And although there was a small part of Allison that wished that she could be long-legged and blonde and have the ability to knot a scarf just so, realistically she knew that this would never happen and settled for just enjoying Chelsea’s company. She was beginning to miss her family and all her old friends, so it was nice to have a proper girl friend...
But as they walked through town, laden with bags and rolling their eyes at the Halloween/Bonfire Night decorations that had yet to be taken down, as well as the early Christmas stuff, Chelsea suddenly grabbed her arm.
"Oh my God, Allie who is that guy? The one walking with Alex?"
Allison looked around, and saw a by-now familiar gorgeous face approaching on the other side of the road.
"Oh that's Josh. He's one of Alex's flatmates."
"You know him?" Chelsea asked, in a voice heavy with accusation, as if Allison had maliciously kept this information from her.
"Um, sort of?"
"Well let's go say hello!" Chelsea decided, before catching herself.
"He's not seeing someone, is he?"
Allison pondered this.
"Well from what I know he's seeing a lot of someones. But no, there's no one exclusive."
"Brilliant!" Chelsea breathed, and dragged Allison across the road.
"Chelsea - I don't think it's a good idea..." she said, helplessly, but her friend was very determined once she set her mind to something.
Thankfully Alex seemed to encounter this sort of thing regularly, and made the introductions smoothly. As Chelsea started chatting to Josh, Allison noticed the weekend-bag slung across Alex's shoulder.
"Going somewhere?"
He nodded. "I’m off to London."
"What's in London?" she asked, curious.
He looked puzzled. "It's Remembrance Sunday tomorrow. We're always at the Cenotaph."
"Right," she answered - wondering at who 'we' were and why 'always' - but before she could continue with her nosiness he glanced at his watch.
"And I've got to go if I'm to catch my train. See you later, OK? Josh - behave yourself."
Josh shot him a droll look.
"When do I not? And say hello to the King for me!"
"Will do!" Alex laughed, and then walked off towards the station, leaving Allison with a major case of third wheel syndrome, since Chelsea was clearly torn between wishing to get to know Josh better, and yet not wanting to flake out on Allison.
Deciding to leave them to it, Allison excused herself. She’d got most of her shopping done anyway, and was determined to use the weekend to make her side of the room look a bit more homely. At the moment it contrasted rather sharply with Muniba’s beautiful throws and wall hangings, since Allison hadn’t got further than putting up her giant Simpsons poster, and cover her desk with random oddments and textbooks.
But before she could do any decorating there was washing, cleaning and tidying to be done... In some ways college really sucked.
***
It was a cold, wet night, as befitted mid-November, and there were seven of them squeezed around a table for four. But the ADC theatre bar was full, and Chelsea, for one, was certainly getting plenty of mileage out of the close proximity to Josh. Of course she had Mike on the other side, and Allison yet again felt like she was stuck in Hollyoaks, the University Spinoff. If only Josh would develop a crush on Mike they'd have a perfect little triangle going... (An unlikely scenario, given the looks Josh was sending the evening's bartender.)
Alex, Matt and Chen either didn't notice, or - more likely - didn't care, and the conversation was flowing well, despite the hidden pining. Josh, who had got himself involved in stage design, was telling them about the problems involved in starting up the newest theatre production, but every so often he was interrupted by peals of laughter from a neighbouring table, where the resident McHottie and top actor - name of Tarquin - was entertaining a gaggle of impressionable First Year girls.
“Check out Casanova!” Mike muttered glumly, and Alex shot the lothario a droll look.
“Amateur.”
Mike - who, in Allison’s opinion, had a bit of a chip on his shoulder - scoffed.
“As if you could do better!”
Alex raised an eyebrow, almost wrinkling his nose.
“Of course I could, but why would I want to?”
“Oh of course. You don’t want to,” Mike replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.
Alex’s eyes narrowed, and the rest of the table fell silent. Allison wondered what would happen next - Alex was charming when he wanted to be, but he didn't have the kind of face that made people drag their friends across the street just for an introduction...
The glint in his eyes was one she recognised though - it was pure competitiveness, something she remembered from untold fights with her brothers.
Then from one moment to the next his whole demeanour changed. He dipped his head so he was looking at Mike through his eyelashes, and his voice became low, intimate, and soft as honey, as he leaned forward.
“Mike. Flirting is a language like any other, and I’ll have you know that I am bloody brilliant at languages. But don’t worry...”
He reached out, laid his hand on top of Mike’s, whilst tilting his head a fraction and letting a confidential smile touch the corner of his mouth.
“...I’ll be more than happy to teach you.”
Mike, looking thoroughly freaked out, pulled his hand away as if burned, and Alex laughed, returning to normal in the blink of an eye, before picking up his pint.
“I believe I made my point?”
Mike was just staring, shaking his head as he dragged a hand nervously through his black hair.
“What the hell was that?”
Alex shrugged.
“Just a little something I picked up from my friend Jack. But don't worry, I've not had a secret crush on you this whole time. You’re kinda cute, true, but I just don't swing that way. Although if I did, I'm afraid I'd be pursuing Chen. Well..."
He shot Chen a raised eyebrow, and then added something in Chinese that had Chen choking on his drink, and staring up at Alex in pure shock as he tried to stop coughing.
“OK! Subtitles please,” Matt called out, but both Alex and Chen shook their heads vehemently.
“Let’s just say that I’m making Jack proud tonight,” Alex said smugly, and Matt suddenly looked thoughtful, shooting Josh a significant look. Josh nodded.
“Got it. Don’t want to know.”
Chen muttered, "Very strange. Very very strange. I do not understand the English," to himself, and Mike nodded glumly.
"Right there with you."
Chen looked surprised.
“But... are you not English?”
Mike looked like he was going to explode for the second time that night.
“I’m Irish! My name is Michael O’Reilly! For Christ’s sake, didn’t the accent give you a clue?”
Alex chuckled as poor Chen stared back in silent bewilderment.
“His accent-” he pointed to Chen, “-is pure Hong Kong. Can’t you tell? And going by his name, I’m guessing he’s descended from Chen Hugong. Am I right?”
Chen nodded slowly, grateful for the rescue. “That is true. How do you know this?”
Alex smiled. “I like history. Also I like your name, although that’s probably because we’re namesakes.”
“Excuse me?” Chelsea said, incredulous, and Alex chuckled as he tilted his head.
“Chen means ‘great’, and my full name is ‘Alexander the Great’. See?”
“No. Way.” Mike said, but Alex just smiled enigmatically, then asked Josh if he’d like to get another round. Josh happily leapt to his feet and took orders, and Allison used the break as an excuse to leave, saying that she didn't feel well, which wasn't a complete lie. Muniba had come down with a cold, and she thought she might have caught it herself.
Mostly though, she just needed some space, and as she walked back to her college one specific scene kept replaying in her mind...
It wasn't the flirting per se - it had been funny - but there was something about the way the change in Alex had been so... effortless. She couldn't quite put her finger on why it was so unsettling, although maybe - and she hated herself for thinking it - it had something to do with his father. A man who had, after all, fooled the whole of the British public for a very long time indeed. Not that she suspected Alex of having multiple personalities or anything like that, but...
He did this thing. This thing where he made everyone like him. It was nothing so blatant as the over-the-top flirting, but not entirely unrelated. Something so subtle that she wasn't even sure he knew he was doing it.
And he was always so in control. Despite frequently getting carried away by enthusiasm, he always chose his words with care. It just wasn't normal.
Of course being 'not normal' was something he admitted to quite readily.
But in spite of that - or maybe because of it - he seemed able to just do whatever he wanted, moving through university life as if rules were an excellent thing, but something that only applied to other people. All in all, when looked at in a suspicious light, it was pretty worrying.
She sighed deeply, and with great stealth opened the door to her room. She was getting paranoid. Which was ridiculous, because - despite being impossibly clever - he was quite obviously just a guy. His friends (who wasted no opportunity for cutting him down to size) were a definite proof of that. And really, if she wanted a comparison in the peculiarity stakes she needed to look no further than her older brother, Toby...
No, it wasn't him that was the problem. The problem was the fact that she was spending entirely too much time thinking about him. And she didn't know what to do about that.
Chapter 5.
kathyh who is fabulous. :) Beginning of fic here.Summary: Allison had always thought that university would be an adventure. But she'd not imagined that she'd end up dating Harold Saxon's son.
Setting: 2025 (AU post-Sound of Drums)
Characters: OCs (many!), the Doctor (10th), Lucy, Jack.
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: Just over 4000 words.
Chapter 4
“Allison – how do you feel about lunch?”
Alex really did have the most alarming tendency to pop up out of nowhere. Since he had been a no-show for the lecture, she'd not expected to see him, and had half planned on just grabbing a wrap of some sort and heading for the library. But...
“Generally I’m in favour of it. Why?”
“I was wondering if you’d like to join myself and Chen? I’m curious to see if you two can get along outside a lecture hall, or if you’ll argue no matter the setting.”
Her eyes widened and she looked across the room to where Chen was standing, looking about as awkward as she felt.
“We don’t argue that much,” she offered - because really it was just that they enjoyed trying to outdo each other in class discussions - and Alex laughed.
“Yes you do! Come on, it’s my treat. And I’ve asked Matt and Josh to come along, so you won’t have to carry the conversation all by yourselves.”
For a moment she studied him, the happy excitement in his eyes pretty irresistible, and wondered how in just a week and a half he’d become such a fixture in her life.
“Sure, why not,” she finally said, and he beamed at her.
“Brilliant! Do you like Greek food? I found this little restaurant the other day that I'd like to check out…”
Following him down the stairs she shot Chen a slightly nervous smile. She hoped this wasn’t some weird matchmaking idea of Alex’s, although anything was possible with him, she’d discovered that much already...
Only last week he’d asked her to come ‘exploring’ with him, and they’d ended up in King’s College chapel. It had been the strangest experience, since he’d done a pretty good impression of her father – a history teacher through and through - running this way and that, pointing out historical oddities and getting very excited.
When she admitted not being terribly fond of history, he’d looked at her as if she was mad, and declared history to be the greatest subject in the world.
“So, why aren’t you studying history?” she’d asked, perfectly logically, and there had been a pause.
"Mostly because the courses are way too restrictive," the reply had finally been, and, before she had been able to explore the subject further, the organ had suddenly started playing, and Alex’s face had lit up, as if illuminated from above by a light bulb.
Then he’d dragged her up to the organ loft and somehow – Allison still wasn’t quite sure – talked the organist into giving him an impromptu lesson.
Any doubts that she might previously have had about his claim to be able to turn his hand to anything had been swiftly blown away, as in less than an hour he mastered the instrument. Having witnessed a seemingly never-ending stream of piano students traipse through the front door during her childhood - and still vividly remembering her own, less than enthusiastic, lessons - his feat impressed her more than she let on.
But most surprising of all had been the fact that once he'd got the hang of it, he thanked the stunned organist profusely, and then got up and left, his interest already elsewhere.
‘Not a musician’ he’d said, and she was beginning to understand what he meant.
Matt was waiting for them at the restaurant – a jolly place, the walls painted to look as if the diners had a view of the Aegean Sea - waving as they entered to catch their attention. Allison had only met him once before and was looking forward to getting to know him better. In looks he was definitely boy-next-door material, neatly cut brown hair and green pullover easily marking him out as someone who had not been blessed with Josh's flair for fashion.
She'd looked him up online of course, and knew that he was a medical student, aiming to join Doctors Without Borders once he'd graduated. He was also already involved with a large number of student groups - everything from Amnesty International to Save the Rainforest - and so much earnestness would have been rather off-putting if it hadn't been for his intriguing tagline: ‘Middle class through and through except for the fact that my dad used to be a clown', which spoke of a certain tongue-in-cheekness that undercut the Guardian-reading crusading spirit very neatly.
“Josh’s not coming,” Matt announced once they were all seated and introductions were out of the way. “He called a few minutes ago – something about a girl and the theatre.”
Alex smiled wryly. “This is how many girls now? Seven? Although he's never going to be Jack Mark II if he doesn't add a few boys.”
Matt grinned. "Oh but there was a boy!"
"Really?" Alex's eyes widened with glee. "How do I not know about this?"
"Well... apparently it's complicated." Matt leaned forward, clearly enjoying his scoop. "Turns out the boy in question had a girlfriend - something he neglected to tell Josh - and she found out, and is pretty pissed off. As is Josh, obviously. Generally he's just trying to keep it quiet. I only managed to get the story out of him this morning - I was wondering why he wasn't answering his messages and forced him to talk."
Alex shook his head. "Oh no, that won't do. The Jack Harkness Code stipulates that he has to solve it by having a threesome."
Looking up he realised that Allison and Chen were both looking at him, somewhat flummoxed.
"Who is Jack?" Allison asked, curious about the whole situation and yet not wanting to come across as a gossip addict.
There was a brief pause, as Alex and Matt exchanged silent looks.
"Jack," Alex began slowly, obviously choosing his words with great care. "Jack... is just Jack. Um... he's like my surrogate older brother I suppose you could say, and he... Well he'll sleep with anything with a post code, pretty much."
Allison frowned at this, but then a waiter turned up and handed out menus, and Alex used the interruption to change the subject.
“So – what would you like? Remember, my treat! Seriously – money’s no object.”
Allison quirked an eyebrow, but Matt shrugged. “Trust me, he’s loaded."
She looked at Chen, who shook his head, a small smile on his face.
“I have no problem with dining out on Evil Western Capitalism” he said with a wink, and Allison chuckled.
Alex looked up from his menu. “I’m not evil – unless playing the stock market is an inherently bad thing…”
Allison blinked.
“You play the stock market?”
“M-hm!”
Seeing that she was still somewhat flabbergasted, he elaborated.
“My Dad wanted to teach me about the value of money, but he dislikes the whole principle of pocket money, so…”
He shrugged and let the sentence hang.
“So… he taught you to play the stock market?”
“Yup. It was the Christmas of... 2015. The year with no snow? I was a bit bored, so he decided it'd make for a day well-spent. Which it did."
"2015?" she asked, incredulous. "You were... eight?"
He nodded proudly. "Haven't spent a penny that wasn't my own since."
She wasn't quite sure how to respond to this, and neither was Chen, who frowned.
“It is legal for children to do this in England?”
Alex laughed, brown eyes twinkling mischievously. “Oh no, not at all."
"And yet you admit to fraudulence quite openly? I do not understand."
"Ah now," Alex said, thoughtfully. "See this is one of the peculiarities of Englishness - you can say the most outrageous things and people will just smile and pretend it's nothing out of the ordinary, because anything else would be awkward. Also, I could be lying. British culture is a fascinating thing. You should have a look into it."
Chen slowly shook his head. "I came here to study science, not culture."
"No reason you can't do both! Wheelie bins, that's another peculiarity - trust me, never get between an Englishman and his wheelie bin!"
What Chen's response to this would have been Allison never found out, since at that moment their waiter turned up again, asking if they were ready to order, and Alex began quizzing him on the different dishes - in Greek.
Matt sighed.
"Please ignore him, he just likes to show off. Between trying to keep him out of trouble, and keeping Josh even halfway interested in his studies it's a miracle I ever get anything done myself."
Allison decided that she liked Matt.
Alex broke off his interrogation and shot his friend a sly smile. "Don't worry Matt, you've still got plenty of time to save the world."
Matt sighed again, and shook his head.
"I don't want to save the world, just make a difference. Because I can. If everyone just-"
Alex huffed with great exaggeration. "Not now Matt. Let's just order some food OK?"
He turned back to the waiter - who was wearing a polite 'God-save-me-from-students' look on his face - but Alex said something in Greek that made him chuckle (and made Allison suspect that the kitchen would outdo themselves), and then they got down to the business of ordering. Clearly eating out with Alex had a lot of advantages.
When the starters turned up, Allison brought the conversation back to where Alex had stopped it.
"Matt - what did you mean about making a difference?"
This innocent question swiftly turned into a intense discussion about how best to save the world - Matt was very much a believer in grassroots movements, and of enabling people to help themselves. Chen - the son of a government official - disagreed. In his opinion the most useful way of bringing about change was for a strong government, able to see the big picture, to help people in the way that would benefit the most. Allison, after a while, decided to come from the issue sideways, pointing out that technology was the way forward - just look at the difference mobile phones and the internet had made.
It was all very exciting, and she almost had to pinch herself - she was a proper undergraduate in Cambridge, having a deep discussion about politics and world affairs with fellow students. This was the stuff dreams were made of.
She was so caught up that it took her a long time to notice that Alex wasn't joining in at all. He was quietly eating, observing them with what could best be described as the detached interest of an anthropologist. To be fair, he'd said that he'd got them together to see if they'd still argue, but...
"Alex - what do you think?"
He met her eyes briefly, and then shook his head.
"I don't. Politics isn't my thing."
"Oh come on! You must have some sort of opinion!"
"I really don't. I can see the merit in most systems and I refuse to take sides."
He shrugged, but she wasn't going to let it go this easily, shooting Chen a look.
"Go on - in an ideal world, how would you arrange things?"
He looked from face to face, then sighed in defeat. "Fine. In an ideal world, there'd be one central government that could distribute all the resources fairly and evenly. This, however, would never last because people are stupid and selfish and corruptible."
Matt shook his head. "You've got to stop being so cynical."
"I'm not cynical!" Alex protested. "I'm just a realist. No system can ever be perfect. There will always be an imbalance, there will always be someone at the bottom of society, there will always be people who exploit the system to help themselves. It's human nature. And if you start messing with that you're in 'Brave New World' territory - or ‘Serenity’ - and that's even worse."
"That's... bleak," Allison said after a moment, and he shrugged.
"That's life."
Her eyes narrowed, and he smiled a sudden bright smile.
"And- that's why I never discuss politics."
Chen slowly nodded. "I hope you will not think me impolite, but you seem to be quite a strange person, Alexander."
At which point Matt burst out laughing and the boy in question buried his head in his hands. Still chuckling, Matt patted him on the back, and then checked his watch.
"Forty-five minutes, I think that might be a record. Although you didn't actually speak for most of those."
"Shut up," Alex muttered, then looked up through his fingers, caught between amusement and weariness.
"Can I just point out that I'm not a cynic or a pessimist? I think life is a fabulous, miraculous thing, the world never stops fascinating me, and I want to spend my life studying it. I just don't delude myself that it can ever be fair."
"But that's no reason not to try to make it fairer," Matt countered, and Alex hid again, groaning.
"Not having this discussion again. Ever. For the sake of my sanity, let's just say that I agree with Chen and you can continue arguing with him."
"Alex..." Matt tried, but the other looked up, shaking his head and looking quite exasperated.
"This is the 207th time we've touched on this subject - and trust me, I can name the time and place of every single instant - and I've had enough, OK? I can't be who you are, even though I admire the hell out of you. So, can we change the subject please? Pretend that Josh is here and talk about which of the Seven Wonders of the World is the most extraordinary."
It was now Matt's turn to sigh deeply. "And how often have we discussed that?"
"Only 153!" Alex said, beaming. “Although, to be fair, time-wise we have spent longer on it. Not that there’s a huge difference...”
Matt held up a hand. “Don’t. I believe you. Have you got your laptop?”
“Always!” Alex replied, and fished it out of his bag, before looking at Chen and Allison, who’d been keeping quiet through the argument.
"You need to see Josh’s drawings to give you a sense of perspective.”
“OK...” Allison replied, and Matt smiled at her confusion, as Alex was busy bringing up the images.
"He wants to re-create them. Josh that is."
“Re-create the Seven Wonders?” Chen asked, stunned, and Alex nodded proudly as he turned the laptop towards them.
"So much more than a pretty face, our Josh. He's studying architecture for a reason!"
All in all, Allison reflected later that day, it had been quite an interesting lunchtime.
Devoting Saturday to shopping had been Chelsea’s idea, but one that Allison had happily taken her up on. It had been far too long since she’d had a proper girl-y day, and Chelsea had obviously discovered all the best shops by now, judging by her ever-changing wardrobe. And although there was a small part of Allison that wished that she could be long-legged and blonde and have the ability to knot a scarf just so, realistically she knew that this would never happen and settled for just enjoying Chelsea’s company. She was beginning to miss her family and all her old friends, so it was nice to have a proper girl friend...
But as they walked through town, laden with bags and rolling their eyes at the Halloween/Bonfire Night decorations that had yet to be taken down, as well as the early Christmas stuff, Chelsea suddenly grabbed her arm.
"Oh my God, Allie who is that guy? The one walking with Alex?"
Allison looked around, and saw a by-now familiar gorgeous face approaching on the other side of the road.
"Oh that's Josh. He's one of Alex's flatmates."
"You know him?" Chelsea asked, in a voice heavy with accusation, as if Allison had maliciously kept this information from her.
"Um, sort of?"
"Well let's go say hello!" Chelsea decided, before catching herself.
"He's not seeing someone, is he?"
Allison pondered this.
"Well from what I know he's seeing a lot of someones. But no, there's no one exclusive."
"Brilliant!" Chelsea breathed, and dragged Allison across the road.
"Chelsea - I don't think it's a good idea..." she said, helplessly, but her friend was very determined once she set her mind to something.
Thankfully Alex seemed to encounter this sort of thing regularly, and made the introductions smoothly. As Chelsea started chatting to Josh, Allison noticed the weekend-bag slung across Alex's shoulder.
"Going somewhere?"
He nodded. "I’m off to London."
"What's in London?" she asked, curious.
He looked puzzled. "It's Remembrance Sunday tomorrow. We're always at the Cenotaph."
"Right," she answered - wondering at who 'we' were and why 'always' - but before she could continue with her nosiness he glanced at his watch.
"And I've got to go if I'm to catch my train. See you later, OK? Josh - behave yourself."
Josh shot him a droll look.
"When do I not? And say hello to the King for me!"
"Will do!" Alex laughed, and then walked off towards the station, leaving Allison with a major case of third wheel syndrome, since Chelsea was clearly torn between wishing to get to know Josh better, and yet not wanting to flake out on Allison.
Deciding to leave them to it, Allison excused herself. She’d got most of her shopping done anyway, and was determined to use the weekend to make her side of the room look a bit more homely. At the moment it contrasted rather sharply with Muniba’s beautiful throws and wall hangings, since Allison hadn’t got further than putting up her giant Simpsons poster, and cover her desk with random oddments and textbooks.
But before she could do any decorating there was washing, cleaning and tidying to be done... In some ways college really sucked.
It was a cold, wet night, as befitted mid-November, and there were seven of them squeezed around a table for four. But the ADC theatre bar was full, and Chelsea, for one, was certainly getting plenty of mileage out of the close proximity to Josh. Of course she had Mike on the other side, and Allison yet again felt like she was stuck in Hollyoaks, the University Spinoff. If only Josh would develop a crush on Mike they'd have a perfect little triangle going... (An unlikely scenario, given the looks Josh was sending the evening's bartender.)
Alex, Matt and Chen either didn't notice, or - more likely - didn't care, and the conversation was flowing well, despite the hidden pining. Josh, who had got himself involved in stage design, was telling them about the problems involved in starting up the newest theatre production, but every so often he was interrupted by peals of laughter from a neighbouring table, where the resident McHottie and top actor - name of Tarquin - was entertaining a gaggle of impressionable First Year girls.
“Check out Casanova!” Mike muttered glumly, and Alex shot the lothario a droll look.
“Amateur.”
Mike - who, in Allison’s opinion, had a bit of a chip on his shoulder - scoffed.
“As if you could do better!”
Alex raised an eyebrow, almost wrinkling his nose.
“Of course I could, but why would I want to?”
“Oh of course. You don’t want to,” Mike replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.
Alex’s eyes narrowed, and the rest of the table fell silent. Allison wondered what would happen next - Alex was charming when he wanted to be, but he didn't have the kind of face that made people drag their friends across the street just for an introduction...
The glint in his eyes was one she recognised though - it was pure competitiveness, something she remembered from untold fights with her brothers.
Then from one moment to the next his whole demeanour changed. He dipped his head so he was looking at Mike through his eyelashes, and his voice became low, intimate, and soft as honey, as he leaned forward.
“Mike. Flirting is a language like any other, and I’ll have you know that I am bloody brilliant at languages. But don’t worry...”
He reached out, laid his hand on top of Mike’s, whilst tilting his head a fraction and letting a confidential smile touch the corner of his mouth.
“...I’ll be more than happy to teach you.”
Mike, looking thoroughly freaked out, pulled his hand away as if burned, and Alex laughed, returning to normal in the blink of an eye, before picking up his pint.
“I believe I made my point?”
Mike was just staring, shaking his head as he dragged a hand nervously through his black hair.
“What the hell was that?”
Alex shrugged.
“Just a little something I picked up from my friend Jack. But don't worry, I've not had a secret crush on you this whole time. You’re kinda cute, true, but I just don't swing that way. Although if I did, I'm afraid I'd be pursuing Chen. Well..."
He shot Chen a raised eyebrow, and then added something in Chinese that had Chen choking on his drink, and staring up at Alex in pure shock as he tried to stop coughing.
“OK! Subtitles please,” Matt called out, but both Alex and Chen shook their heads vehemently.
“Let’s just say that I’m making Jack proud tonight,” Alex said smugly, and Matt suddenly looked thoughtful, shooting Josh a significant look. Josh nodded.
“Got it. Don’t want to know.”
Chen muttered, "Very strange. Very very strange. I do not understand the English," to himself, and Mike nodded glumly.
"Right there with you."
Chen looked surprised.
“But... are you not English?”
Mike looked like he was going to explode for the second time that night.
“I’m Irish! My name is Michael O’Reilly! For Christ’s sake, didn’t the accent give you a clue?”
Alex chuckled as poor Chen stared back in silent bewilderment.
“His accent-” he pointed to Chen, “-is pure Hong Kong. Can’t you tell? And going by his name, I’m guessing he’s descended from Chen Hugong. Am I right?”
Chen nodded slowly, grateful for the rescue. “That is true. How do you know this?”
Alex smiled. “I like history. Also I like your name, although that’s probably because we’re namesakes.”
“Excuse me?” Chelsea said, incredulous, and Alex chuckled as he tilted his head.
“Chen means ‘great’, and my full name is ‘Alexander the Great’. See?”
“No. Way.” Mike said, but Alex just smiled enigmatically, then asked Josh if he’d like to get another round. Josh happily leapt to his feet and took orders, and Allison used the break as an excuse to leave, saying that she didn't feel well, which wasn't a complete lie. Muniba had come down with a cold, and she thought she might have caught it herself.
Mostly though, she just needed some space, and as she walked back to her college one specific scene kept replaying in her mind...
It wasn't the flirting per se - it had been funny - but there was something about the way the change in Alex had been so... effortless. She couldn't quite put her finger on why it was so unsettling, although maybe - and she hated herself for thinking it - it had something to do with his father. A man who had, after all, fooled the whole of the British public for a very long time indeed. Not that she suspected Alex of having multiple personalities or anything like that, but...
He did this thing. This thing where he made everyone like him. It was nothing so blatant as the over-the-top flirting, but not entirely unrelated. Something so subtle that she wasn't even sure he knew he was doing it.
And he was always so in control. Despite frequently getting carried away by enthusiasm, he always chose his words with care. It just wasn't normal.
Of course being 'not normal' was something he admitted to quite readily.
But in spite of that - or maybe because of it - he seemed able to just do whatever he wanted, moving through university life as if rules were an excellent thing, but something that only applied to other people. All in all, when looked at in a suspicious light, it was pretty worrying.
She sighed deeply, and with great stealth opened the door to her room. She was getting paranoid. Which was ridiculous, because - despite being impossibly clever - he was quite obviously just a guy. His friends (who wasted no opportunity for cutting him down to size) were a definite proof of that. And really, if she wanted a comparison in the peculiarity stakes she needed to look no further than her older brother, Toby...
No, it wasn't him that was the problem. The problem was the fact that she was spending entirely too much time thinking about him. And she didn't know what to do about that.
Chapter 5.