“Do I look okay?”

“Do I look okay?”

Rachel and Elise laughed at themselves and each other. Since this was their first college party, they were both a little nervous about looking like they belonged.

Rachel had thought about putting her light-brown hair up but then decided to wear it down around her shoulders in waves she had curled in. Her eyes were a boring hazel that she always tried to bring out with mascara and eye shadow. Sometimes, it worked; sometimes, they were still boring. Since the weather was still nice, Rachel opted for black lace shorts that showed off her still-tan legs. They were stylish and sexy yet comfortable. She paired those with a red V-neck shirt that would probably show off cleavage on anyone else, but on Rachel, it only showed skin. She still thought it was cute, and it went great with her shorts.

Elise wore her long blonde hair down, and her green eyes sparkled with excitement. She was dressed in a pair of skintight black capris that showed off her figure and a silky silver top that was modest yet sexy. At least, there was no cleavage for Elise either, although it was apparent that Elise had boobs, even without a V-neck shirt. On her feet were silver flats that matched her top.

Rachel had wanted to wear high heels so that there wouldn’t be such a height difference between Elise’s five-seven and her five-two, but Elise had pointed out that they might be standing all night. Knowing her friend was right, Rachel opted for a low heel instead. Two inches was two inches when you were short.

“We are way overthinking this,” Elise said.

Rachel twirled around to look in her mirror. “Yeah, but there could be some really cute guys there.” She watched Elise in the reflection as she turned back in her own mirror.

“I hope so. But I have to ask…”

Rachel spun around to look at her friend. “Have to ask what?” She really had no clue what Elise was thinking.

Elise met Rachel’s eyes in the mirror as she picked up her eye shadow. “Does it matter if cute guys are there? Because you seem to be into Sean.”

Rachel sighed. “You could tell, huh?”

Elise raised her brow. “I think my blind dog would be able to tell.”

“You don’t have a blind dog.”

Elise laughed. “You know what I mean.”

Rachel went back to her mirror and picked up her makeup. “Yeah, I’m attracted to him. But I don’t want to be. Have you ever had that with anyone?”

“No,” Elise answered way too fast.

Liar. Rachel chuckled.

She totally understood the feeling, so Rachel wasn’t going to call Elise out on it, but she did wonder who the guy was that made her friend answer no way too fast.

“It’s not like a crush where I daydream about him all the time or write my name with his last name. I honestly don’t even think about him. Then, when I see him in class, it’s like, bam, my heart starts beating fast, and my hormones go wild.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

Rachel shrugged. “Nothing. Like I said, it’s an unwanted attraction. Plus, he’s never shown any interest in me, so I don’t think I have to worry about anything.”

“I guess we’ll see tonight.”

Rachel brushed some blush onto her cheeks. “I guess.”

When Rachel and Elise reached the address on the piece of paper Sean had slipped onto Rachel’s desk Thursday at class on his way to his usual seat, the party was already loud. Music and voices shouting could be heard from the street.

When the two of them reached the door, a guy neither girl had seen before stood there. “Five bucks each,” he told them.

Rachel exchanged looks with Elise, who shook her head. They each had only brought the minimal things to the party—cell phone and dorm key. They didn’t want to lose their purses, and neither of them had much pocket space.

“No one told us to bring money,” Rachel explained.

The guy shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry, ladies. Maybe next time.”

“But, but, Sean personally invited us,” Rachel said.

“Sean and Luke,” Elise added.

The guy chuckled. “Ladies, everyone is practically personally invited. Otherwise, no one would know to come.”

Subtext: you two are not special.

“Can you just go ask him?” Rachel requested.

He snorted. “So, you two can sneak in? I don’t think so.”

Defeated, Rachel and Elise turned away, moving to the middle of the walkway where they stopped to talk.

“I guess we can go back and get some money,” Elise suggested.

Sean and Luke lived all the way on the other side of campus from them, and they had walked there.

“That’ll take, like, an hour. Plus, I don’t have any cash. I was going to go to the ATM today, but I forgot. You? I can pay you back.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Rachel, Elise, what are you two doing out there?” Sean called from the doorway.

Rachel blushed and was thankful it was dark outside. The streetlights weren’t bright enough to show her complexion.

“We didn’t bring cash to get in. We’ll be back in about an hour!” Elise yelled back.

Sean waved his arm toward himself. “Get your asses in here.”

“Awesome,” Elise said.

Rachel sighed with relief. She really hadn’t wanted to waste time in going to get money.

They made their way back up to the door.

When they reached it, Sean looked at them like they were crazy. “Why didn’t you just come in? You two don’t have to pay.”

Rachel glanced behind Sean, but it didn’t feel right to say anything.

“It was my fault, man. I didn’t know,” said the guy who wouldn’t let them in.

“No problem, Liam. My bad. I didn’t tell you I was waiting for them.” To Rachel and Elise, he said, “Come on in, ladies.”

Rachel looked around as she and Elise followed Sean. A few people were here and there on the main floor. Circling a big-screen TV were three couches with one couple talking on one and another making out on second. At the kitchen table, five people were playing a card game, taking drinks when the game called for it. But there weren’t enough people to produce the loud noises they’d heard outside. That all seemed to be coming from the lower level.

Sean led them downstairs where the music was playing from one corner, loud enough to hear but not loud enough that people couldn’t talk. Dozens of people were hanging around. Someone called Sean’s name right away, and he split from them. Rachel suddenly felt awkward, and going by the look on Elise’s face, she felt the same way.

What do we do now?

Movement off to one corner caught her eye, and Rachel saw two girls from her Algebra class. She didn’t know them well, but it was nice to see familiar faces.

Rachel motioned Elise to follow her. When they reached the other two girls, she made introductions. “Hi, Claire, Steph. This is my roommate, Elise. Elise, this is Claire and Steph. We have Algebra together.”

The girls all said hi to one another.

“We’re roommates, too. Two years now,” Steph told Elise, taking a sip from her red Solo cup.

Rachel just realized that they were standing around, drinkless.

Elise must have realized the same thing because she asked, “Where do we get cups? And beer?”

Claire pointed behind them to the makeshift bar. “Keg is over there. We got cups when we paid at the door. Didn’t you?”

Rachel and Elise shook their heads.

“We didn’t pay,” Rachel explained. “Sean let us in for free.”

Claire and Steph exchanged looks.

“What?” Rachel asked.

Claire tilted her head and raised her brow so high, it almost hit her hairline. “Um…these guys don’t just let anybody drink for free. They throw these parties to help pay their rent, and if they let all the girls get away with not paying, they wouldn’t make half of their money. Someone likes someone,” she said the last sentence in a singsong voice.

Elise directed her thumb at Rachel. “Sean likes Rachel.”

Rachel sputtered because, for a moment, her heart skipped a beat. “No, he doesn’t.”

“Then, why did he let you in for free?” Steph asked.

“He let Elise in for free, too,” Rachel pointed out. Although the part of her that liked Sean, whether she wanted to or not, did not like the fact that he might be after Elise. Sometimes, it sucked to be a girl.

Just then, Steph and Claire both smiled and snickered at whatever they saw behind Rachel and Elise. Two full cups appeared in front of Rachel and Elise. Rachel turned to see Sean standing behind her as she took one of the beers from his hand.

“Sorry, somebody needed help with the keg. Here are your drinks, ladies.”

They each took a cup, and after his hands were empty, Sean moved to Rachel’s side. He put his arm at her waist.

“Let me know if you need anything else, okay?” he said, giving her side a small squeeze.

“Will do,” Elise said with a knowing smile.

Sean walked away, and Rachel looked at the three girls.

“Oh my God. Sean totally likes you. I knew it,” Claire said. “I’m so jealous.”

Rachel shrugged. She still wasn’t convinced. Plus, there was the whole not-wanting-to-like-him thing even if that was changing by the second. “Eh…he’s not really my type.”

Steph raised her eyebrows. “Girl, he might not be your type, but in bed, he’s everyone’s type. You don’t have to marry him. Just sleep with him.”

Elise laughed. “What type is that?”

“The type that makes you come,” Steph said.

“Isn’t that kind of a given?” Rachel asked.

“Girl, who have you been dating?” Steph asked.

Rachel had dated a few guys in high school, but she’d only ever had sex with Kevin. And the orgasms had been hit or miss with her ex often not caring if she’d climaxed or not. “Okay, you’re right. Men suck.”

Everyone laughed.

“Well, not Sean. Apparently, he likes making women come.”

Elise nodded enthusiastically. “I can get behind that.” She elbowed Rachel. “I say, go for it, Rach.”

Rachel frowned. “And you would know this because you slept with him?” she asked Steph. There was that stupid jealousy again.

Steph snorted. “Yeah, right. I wish. Sean doesn’t sleep with just anyone.”

Rachel looked over her shoulder to see Sean putting his arms around two girls who’d walked in from upstairs. She looked back at her friends. “Yeah, I don’t know if I believe that.”

“He’s very sociable and a flirt, but he doesn’t fuck everyone, like some guys. He might act like it, but I know plenty of girls who have been turned down by him,” Steph said.

Rachel glanced at Sean again for a moment. As before, she understood he was good-looking, and she couldn’t deny her unwanted attraction to him. But there were plenty of good-looking guys at their college. Sean was one in thousands.

“I don’t get it. There are tons of hot guys at school. What’s so special about Sean?”

Steph leaned into the circle and motioned for them to move closer. It was pointless since the music was so loud, but the rest of them leaned in, too, curious as to what Steph was going to tell them.

“Look, my cousin dated him last year for a couple of months before she transferred schools. She kind of has a big mouth. She said Sean was different from any other guy she’d ever slept with.”

Rachel swallowed and tried not to react, but she couldn’t deny that she was more than merely interested as to what Steph might say next.

“I already told you that he likes making women come, but I wasn’t kidding or exaggerating. He gets off on it. Unlike most guys here who only care about getting their rocks off, Sean loves getting off the girl he’s with. Like, he loves making her come over and over again. My cousin said that she almost passed out once.”

Rachel felt her body flush from head to toe, and she had to pinch the inside of her arm to make herself not look at Sean again.

“Wow,” Claire said. “I’ve heard that story more than once, but every time, it makes me hot.”

Steph nodded. “Exactly. You need to hop on that, girl,” she said to Rachel. “Pun intended.”