January in coastal New England seems like possibly the last time of the year you'd want to throw a toga-themed party, but nevertheless, the festivities are in full swing by the time we get there.

The fraternity house is just off campus, and it’s pretty much exactly the place you'd imagine it to be -  a little grungy, a little dirty, smelling a lot like beer, and full of people.

There’s another flash of apprehension as we move through the front door and into the crowd as people start to to turn and see us, but I force myself to relax. We’re both wearing masks, and Liam’s even wearing a white spandex sports sleeve over his tattooed arm under his toga. No one knows who we are.

"So, ready to party?" I grin as I grab Liam’s hand and drag him through the front door.

He looks bewildered and a possibly more than a little out of his element amongst the throngs of college-aged kids chugging beer and grinding to hip-hop music, but really, so am I. He squeezes my hand back and shrugs like it’s nothing.

“What, this?" He rolls his eyes dramatically and grins back at me. “I’m going to show these kids how it's done."

I laugh and wrap my arms around him, peppering his cheek with kisses.

We went to a shopping center earlier a few towns over earlier to buy sheets for tonight, and someone had mistaken us for father and daughter. It wasn’t totally unbelievable considering he was more than double my eighteen years, but I was determined that tonight, no one would have any illusions as to the nature of our relationship, and they could think whatever they wanted about it.

Besides, it isn’t like it’s going to be hard keeping my hands on Liam Martin all night. I mean he’s gorgeous for one, and honestly in probably better shape than half the frat guys cavorting around the place in bedsheets. I grin to myself as we walk in, seeing him already turning heads as we move into the crowd, and I know it isn’t just that he’s by far and away the oldest guy in the room. He looks hot, and I know that more than a few of the looks he’s getting are from girls my age. The looks he draws are checking him out, rather than wondering who he is and why a guy their father's age is at this party. Liam isn’t like all the other shirtless jocks high-fiving each other and crushing beer cans, with their waxed chests and cheesy tribal tattoos. No, Liam is a man, complete with hairy chest and without cliched tattoos.

As we move into the back room, looking for the keg, a girl I recognized from one of my classes but who’s never spoken to me catches my arm while Liam’s head is turned the other way.

"Oh my God, Ellie!” she whispers conspiratorially as she arches her brow and runs her eyes up and down Liam’s muscled back and arms; "Who is that?"

I grinned, feeling the warm glow tickle up my whole body. "Oh, my boyfriend." I say it as nonchalantly as possible, but inside I’m practically jumping up and down.

"Oh- wow." The girl gives me a big grin, as if she’s looking at me in a whole new light before she gives Liam one more hungry look and moves off into the crowd, leaving me on cloud nine.

“Ellie!”

I turn as Ally came pushing through the crowd towards us.

"Hey, Ell- Oh!" Ally stumbles over her words as her jaw drops, and she looks quickly between Liam and I with a big grin on her face.

Oh hi!" She gives me a quick 'are you fucking kidding me' look before she drags her eyes back to Liam.

"You must be…”

“Matt,” Liam says with a chuckle.

"Well, Matt, I'm very glad to meet you! You've got a great girl here you know, and you better be nice to her!" She prods Liam’s bare chest, exposed in the toga, and then falters as she keeps her hand on his hard, chiseled muscles a moment longer than necessary. Anyone else and I might be insanely jealous, but this is Ally after all.

He smiles, winking at me. "I plan on it."

Well, I think to myself, at least she didn't say anything totally embara-

“This is the total hottie who took your virginity?" I cringe and blush scarlet as Ally's slightly drunk "whisper" belts out loud enough for people around us to look over with raised brows.

“Ally!”

"Sorry! Sorry!" She brings her hands to her mouth and gives me an over-the-top apologetic look.

I look up at Liam over her shoulder, but he’s grinning and looks more amused than anything else.

Ally in tow, we move through the crowd towards the back room where the keg is apparently being kept. Liam grabs us three cups, but as he reaches for the tap handle, suddenly a sweaty, shirtless frat-looking guy with a backwards baseball hat and a toga half-hanging off his torso butts in front of him.

He turns and gives Liam a cocky once-over. "Brothers get to cut the line, pal." He stops suddenly in his clearly half-drunk state and peers closer at Liam, as if suddenly actually seeing him.

"Hey, DAD, who the fuck invited you anyways?" He turns and smirks at the two guys who’ve butted the line with him as if he’s just had the line of the century.

"My girlfriend did." Liam says without missing a beat. His voice is even, but I see the muscles in his forearm clench for a moment. He nods towards me, and I feel myself go a little red, even though I’m wearing a mask. The frat guy turns and looks me up and down before turning back to Liam with a smirk on his face.

"Ooooh, it's like that, huh?" Suddenly he pushes Liam a step back as he laughs and turns back to me. "Hey babe, how about you ditch the old guy and come get some of thi-"

In a flash, Liam has the guy's arm twisted behind his back and frat-guy is suddenly whining as he’s forced to his knees on the floor. The crowd around us goes a little quiet, and I tense as I see a few other frat guys suddenly start to push their way through.

Liam glances up and seems to see them coming, but his face is dead even, almost casual. As I watch, with Ally clutching my arm, Liam calmly reaches down and plucks the guy's beer out his other hand. And then, just as the other frat brothers break through the ring around us, Liam grins at them, tilts the cup back, and chugs down every drop of the guy's beer.

I tense, feeling Ally grab my arm even tighter as the circle around us goes quiet. Suddenly, the frat guys around us just start cheering.

Wait, what?

Bewildered, Ally and I watch as a bunch of them crowd around Liam, slapping his back, shaking his hand, and even pouring him a fresh beer.

"What the hell was that all about?" I ask him as the bros start to disperse back into the crowd and the music starts up again.

Liam, looking more than a little smug, shrugs sheepishly. "I was a jock in college, guys," he grins at Ally and I. "I guess I speak the language."

We crack up before I snag his arm and drag him into the dancing crowd.