Page 66 of Freshman

16

Monday arrived.

Alfie stretched out his limbs with a groan. He showered, shoved on his jeans and a T-shirt and plodded down the stairs. The pizza box caught his eyes, and he sighed, scratching the back of his head. He shouldn’t have eaten it. He should have thrown it in the bin and called the prison and reported it. Half asleep and seduced by the smell, he had given in and ate the entire lot.

Alfie plucked the post-it from the lid and ran his finger over the word ‘Freshman’. Not Nate’s handwriting, but when he read the word, he heard the purring voice and shivered at its effect. He went back upstairs and shoved it in his bedside drawer, on top of the sketched picture of himself.

All of Monday morning and afternoon, Alfie spent sat on his sofa with his phone in hand, locked in indecision over whether to call the prison, ask for Ryan and tell him about the pizza delivery of the night before.

The box was still on the coffee table and the post-it was upstairs. He’d have to explain about Nate’s nickname for him, and their conversation about the type of pizzas Alfie preferred.

He sighed.

Before he knew it, it was time to get ready for work.

After a long-winded handover by Ryan, Alfie sat in the office, fidgeting as he waited for the hours to tick down for roll call.

He trudged up the stairs to tick names off on his list.

Indulging in anything with Nate was stupid, and he needed to rid himself of the temptation. The means of doing so were in the office, but he couldn’t bring himself to read the file.

“So how was it?” Nate asked.

Alfie scrunched his face and tapped his pen to the clipboard. He knew Nate was asking about the pizza, but he wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

“No idea what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah you do. Hope you saved me half.”

Alfie smiled. “Can’t just accept random food, can I? It all went in the bin.”

Nate laughed. “I don’t believe you.”

Alfie darted a look behind, then moved closer to the door. “How did you get my address?”

“Easy,” Nate murmured. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to share it.”

“Are you watching my house?”

Nate sighed. “No, I’m watching my cell door.”

Alfie hugged the clipboard to his chest and waited for Nate to speak again.

“Look, Queenie got it for me. He cleans Ryan’s office. Your file was on his desk a couple of weeks back, and he wrote your address on the back of his hand.”

“You’ve known where I live for weeks?”

“Yep, and nothing’s happened, has it? So, relax, you’re being a picky date.”

Alfie shook his head. “I’m not your date.”

Nate laughed. “You ate the pizza. That was you accepting the date.”

“How do you know I ate it?”

Nate smirked. “Stop it. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

“I hate you,” Alfie hissed.

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