“GODDAMN IT!”
I throw my phone across the room with a roar, watching as it bounces off Skyler’s bed and plops down to the floor anticlimactically. Having a shatter-proof phone case is not helping in this moment of rage.
Skyler pokes her head out of the bathroom, curling wand still wrapped around one strand of hair as she eyes the phone and then cocks one eyebrow at me. “Bad horoscope again?”
“No,” I huff. “Jarrett got a job.”
“And that made you hurl your phone at my pillows?”
“Not a job here. They offered him a job at the nonprofit agency he’s been interning at all summer. And that fucker took it!” I punch my pillow, crossing my arms over my chest like a child. I’m whining like a little bitch, but I can’t help it.
Skyler drops her curling wand on the counter and pads over to me, hopping up onto the bed as Ashlei leans a hip on the doorframe. She’s still brushing her teeth, all of us getting ready to go to the first Omega Chi party of the year.
“This is a good thing, Jess. He’s worked hard and it’s paying off now.”
“Yeah, but this was supposed to be temporary — this whole long-distance thing. Now he’s there for, what? A year? Two? Forever?” I flop back against my pillows and pull one to cover my face, muffling my next selfish whine. “I don’t want to be in a long-distance relationship.”
It’s silent a moment before the pillow is pulled from my face and I find myself staring up at Ashlei, her blonde hair straight as a pin and falling all around her face as she points her toothbrush down at me. “You love him, remember? You’ll make it work. It’s going to be hard,” she concedes, glancing at Skyler who nods with a sympathetic smile. “But he’s crazy about you, Jess. And you’re crazy about him. Don’t make him feel guilty for following his dreams.”
I sigh. “I know. You’re right. But I’m not ready to admit that to him, yet. Right now I just want to be mad and whiney and drunk. I’ve got the first two down so can we work on that third?”
Skyler grins and Ashlei pops her toothbrush back in her mouth, speaking around the bristles. “Now that we can do.”
We finish getting ready just before eleven, and without even trying to convince Erin to come with us, we sneak down the stairs and out the back kitchen door, waiting to pull on our high heels until we’re safely outside.
Skyler and Ashlei chat as we make the short walk to Omega Chi, Skyler telling us about the national poker tournament she’s thinking of entering while Ashlei talks about how nervous she is to start her internship next week. It reminds me that since I changed my major so late, I won’t even be able to intern until next summer, at the earliest. My boyfriend is off kicking ass and taking names, already working in the government sector for a top nonprofit, and I can’t even apply to be someone’s intern bitch yet.
It’s not that I’m not happy for him, because I am — I know he deserves this and I know it will make him happy. It’s just that I want to make him happy, too. And I’m not sure how long I can do that from more than a thousand miles away. Still, I try to remind myself that a plane ride to New York City is short, and it doesn’t have to be hard. If we both put in the effort, it won’t be. It’s fine. It’ll all be fine.
I need to seal that mindset with a shot.
“SKYLER FUCKING THORNE!”
We don’t even make it up the sidewalk and into the house before Clinton comes barreling out, throwing Skyler over his shoulder and spinning her around as she squeals and kicks. I laugh, and instantly I feel back at home. I can always count on Palm South University for drunken shenanigans and distractions from girly feelings.
“Alright,” Clinton says, dropping Skyler’s feet back to the sidewalk. “Let’s get you three to the kegs. Time for the KKB girls to get this party started.”
We throw our fists into the air with a shout and follow him through the house, the three of us lining up on the backside of the kegs, hands braced on the cool metal handles. Clinton grabs Skyler’s ankles just as two of his brothers slide up behind me and Ashlei, and the next thing I know, our feet are in the air, taps are in our mouths, and every thought of Jarrett is erased.
At least for now.
“I love you two,” I slur with a smile.
“Aww, we love you, too, babe,” Ashlei says, but when she turns and finds me staring down at my two beautiful boobs, she snorts. “Oh, my God, you are not talking to your rack right now.”
“What? I do love them. I mean, seriously, have you seen them?” I shimmy my top down a little more and push my chest toward her. “What’s not to love?”
“They are always there for you.”
“Always,” I agree, hugging them again. “Through thick and thin. I can’t even stay mad at them for the boob sweat terror of the summer.”
Skyler giggles, handing us another Jell-O shot just as a loud chant begins to break out in the backyard.
We follow the noise, arms slung around each other and still giggling as we take our shots. When we reach the back, there’s a large crowd gathered around the trampoline that surfaced at the Omega Chi house sometime over the summer. Everyone is staring up, and when we follow their gaze, we find a freshman perched on the roof.
Well, I assume he’s a freshman, anyway, judging by the fact that he’s in nothing but his tighty whities and is wearing a pirate hat.
“Do it, do it, do it!” the crowd chants. I glance at Skyler, whose face is twisted up in concern as she stares up at the naked pirate.
“This isn’t a good idea,” Ashlei says, her voice soft, but neither of us have time to respond before Clinton pushes through the crowd to join the three of us.
“What’s going on?”
I nod up to the freshman. “I think he’s going to jump from the roof down to the trampoline.”
“What?” Clinton turns, and then his eyes widen as he screams out, “No!”
But it’s too late.
The pirate jumps to the roar of at least a hundred people, all of them throwing their red plastic cups full of beer into the air with approval. He hits the trampoline, body flailing as he tries to gain control, but the bounce is too high. He flies forward as the cheers turn to gasps, and then he hits the concrete with a sickening crack.
“Oh, my God.” Ashlei covers her mouth with her hands as Clinton curses and pushes through the screaming crowd, rushing to the side of the freshman and hollering for someone to call an ambulance.
Skyler pulls out her phone. “You guys gather up any KKBs you see and get out of here. There’s too much underage drinking going on and Erin will flip her shit if any of our sisters get caught here.”
“What about you?” I ask.
“I’m going to stay back with Bear. Don’t worry,” she says when Ashlei and I both start to protest. “I’ll be out of here by the time the cops show. I just need to calm Bear down.”
We both nod, jogging off in the opposite direction as she runs toward Clinton and the now lifeless pirate. We gather all the sisters we see, ditching drinks and shoving them toward the door until we’re all stumbling back up Greek Row. When we get to the house, we all take our shoes off and tiptoe inside, retreating to our rooms or to the chapter room where sisters are camped out in sleeping bags for recruitment week.
“You going to be okay?” Ashlei whispers when we make it upstairs. “I’m going to wake Erin and tell her what happened. She needs to know before the morning and I can tell her we got all our sisters home safe.”
“Yeah, I’m going to wait up for Skyler. I’ll see you in the morning.”
We hug, both of us sobered up from the chaos, and then I retreat to my room, chucking my heels into my closet and falling onto my bed with a sigh.
The silence is deafening, my ears ringing from the music blasting all night as my thoughts race to the sound. I hope the freshman is okay, I hope Skyler gets out of there, I hope the Omega Chi brothers don’t get suspended. That last one is a futile hope, because after the shit they pulled during Spring Break last year, the ice they’re skating on is thin enough to crack with a finger flick.
My phone lights up with a text from Skyler that she’s safe in Clinton’s room but that she can’t leave yet. I sigh with relief, firing a text back and telling her I’ll wait up, then I find Jarrett’s number and request a video chat.
“Jess?” he croaks out, voice thick with sleep as his dark screen comes into focus. He flicks on a low lamp beside him and sits up in bed. Shirtless. “Everything okay?”
“Oh, shit, I’m sorry,” I whisper. “It’s late, I can call you in the morning.”
He leans up more, a sleepy smirk on his beautiful face. I trace every feature — the stubble on his jaw, his lazy, sexy brown eyes. I’ve missed him, and seeing him sends an ache through my chest at the realization that this may be the only way I see him for a long time.
“I’m up, beautiful.” His face falls a little. “Are you okay? Are… are we okay?”
I sigh, propping my head on one palm as I balance my phone in the other. “We’re okay. I’m sorry I even made you think otherwise. I was being a selfish, whiney bitch and I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” he says, rubbing a hand over his smooth head. “It’s a lot to think about. For both of us. I know I should have talked to you about it sooner, but it was a decision I needed to make on my own.”
“I know,” I assured him. “And you made the right choice. I support you, Jarrett. One-hundred percent.”
Jarrett smiles, his eyes soft on mine until he trails them down to where my cleavage is in full view of the camera. “You went out tonight.”
“I did.”
“You look amazing,” he says, shaking his head. “God, I miss you.”
“Hold that thought.” I pause our video chat long enough to text Skyler, asking for an ETA. When she says she’ll be there for at least another hour, I smirk, pulling the video chat back up as I slide one strap of my dress down off my shoulder. I bite my lip, eyes on Jarrett’s as I slide the other strap down and shimmy the fabric down to rest just below the hem of my bra. Jarrett swallows, running a hand down his chest and abs before it disappears out of camera view and he moans, flexing his hips.
“Show me just how much you miss me.”
Jarrett moves his phone down, the new angle showing me his hard-on through his boxer briefs as he strokes it under the fabric with one hand. I groan, eyes on his tattoos as I flip until I’m on my back and slip one hand under the lacy fabric of my panties.
We tease each other with our words and touches, sending chills through the airwaves with our moans, all the while fucking ourselves and imagining we’re fucking each other.
And maybe this is all I have for a while, but I’m okay with it. Because Jarrett is mine, and I’m his, and that’s all that really matters.