Alex rolled her eyes when I said I didn't want to go to the frat party that Friday night. “Come on,” she told me. “I know you've got your thing with Mr. English Guy, but that doesn't mean you have to stop having fun. You're a sophomore in college! And anyway, I bet he hasn't called since you saw him on Tuesday, has he?”
“He texted me a couple times,” I said defensively.
“Did he text you, or did he just respond to some texts that you sent him?” Alex asked archly.
“It's the same thing,” I muttered. “Anyway, we agreed that we're officially boyfriend and girlfriend...”
“And I'm happy for you,” Alex said. “But at the same time, I still think this whole thing is kind of strange. For all you know, he has a mistress that he's living with the rest of the time, when you're not seeing one another.”
“He doesn't seem like that type of guy,” I protested.
“He still hasn't kissed you, though, has he?” Alex asked. “Or made any sort of move? What kind of guy does that?”
I shrugged a little. “I'm sure he has his reasons,” I said. “For all I know, he's just got out of a serious relationship with someone and wants to take things slow, or-”
“Guys have needs,” Alex said. “And they act on those needs. If he's not acting on his needs with you, there must be someone else.”
I blushed a little, thinking back to the night I had woken up to a sexy dream about him. I couldn't help wondering if maybe that was what he was doing as well: dreaming of me and getting himself off. Maybe there wasn't another woman, maybe he was just...taking things slow with me. Letting the anticipation build.
Alex rolled her eyes. “Come on, you have to go to the party. Because I want to go to the party and I'm not going by myself. But this could be the one and only time that I ever get invited to a frat party, so really, you can't crush my dreams like that...”
“How did you manage to get invited, anyway?” I asked. “And can't you ask your boyfriend or fuck-buddy or whatever it is that you have going on to go with you?”
Alex scowled at me. “You don't bring a dude to a frat party,” she said. She tossed her hair a little. “Anyway, I'll have you know that my boy-toy is a member of this specific frat and, yes, that's where the invitation came from, but because we're not officially dating or anything like that, I can't just go there with him. Especially not because he'll be hanging out with all his friends for the majority of the night, so I need to bring some friends that I can hang out with while he's doing that.”
I shook my head. “God, I'm so glad that I'm not having a college romance,” I said. “I don't think I could handle it. Because that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.”
Alex snorted. “Yeah, it's a bit shit,” she said. “But you are so having a college romance too. Otherwise, you would have tumbled into bed with your Prince Charming already!”
“I don't think that's how it works in the real world,” I told her.
“Sure it is,” Alex said. “I've seen it happen like that in all the movies.”
I laughed a little. “And that makes it legitimate, does it?” I asked.
“Of course it does. But anyway, you're going. So I expect you to buy a nice, sexy outfit this week that you can wear to it, because we both know that anything you currently own isn't going to cut it. And while I'd love to say that you could borrow some things from me, we both know that my things wouldn't fit your size-zero form.”
I sighed. “Fine,” I said. “I'll go. But only if I don't hear anything from Ben before Friday.”
“I mean, I kind of don't want to make that deal, because I want the best for you and I really do want for you to hear back from him,” Alex said. “But at the same time…yeah, deal.” She reached out her hand and we shook on it.
And that was how I found myself walking nervously up towards the Zeta Beta Nu house that Friday night, dressed in a skimpy black dress and heels that I could barely walk in now, sober. I was kind of dreading how the night would go, but I figured I owed it to Alex to go along with her. And she'd rustled up some of the other girls from our dorm to go as well, so we should have a fun night. It had been pretty fun getting ready to go out with them all, at least.
This so wasn't my scene, though…
We rang the bell and a guy opened the door. He whistled at us. “Looking good, ladies!” he said, eyeing our legs. “Looking very good. You know, technically there's a five dollar cover to enter, but-”
“Don't bullshit me, Jerry,” one of the other girls, Ashley, said, tossing her hair back and giving him an unimpressed look. “You know that none of us are going to pay the cover fee. But you also know that you would be an idiot to turn away eight unescorted babes from what is shaping up to be the hottest party of the semester.”
Jerry put a hand over his heart as though wounded, but he was laughing. “Yeah, you're right. Get in here, babe, and get this party started.”
We slipped inside and hung up our coats on the racks next to the door.
“Let's go look for drinks,” Alex suggested, probably guessing how nervous I was about this whole thing. This just wasn't the sort of place that I normally found myself. But with a couple drinks in me, I would probably be feeling a lot more social—and I trusted Alex to take care of me and get me home if necessary.
Hopefully, that wouldn't be necessary.
We made our way through the crowded house towards the kitchen, and Alex convinced some guy to mix us a couple white Russians. “Trust me, you want to get your drinks mixed for you until everyone runs out of their personal stashes,” she said to me under her breath. “After that, we're all going to be stuck with beer and jungle juice, and I don't know about you, but I hate beer and jungle juice is, like… Well, it's good once you're drunk enough to appreciate it.”
“I don't think I've ever had jungle juice,” I confessed.
Alex ogled me sidelong. “What, did you grow up under a rock?” she asked. “Did you never go to a party in high school? Scratch that, have you not made it out to a single party yet this semester?”
“I've never been much of a drinker,” I admitted. “Just, in high school I was always-”
“Let me guess, you were focused on your grades and on your cross-country and track times,” Alex said, rolling her eyes. “Oh my god, I might have known that. Well, we're going to have fun tonight, okay?”
She steered me out into the living room and deposited me on a couch with my drink. “Make some friends,” she said, waving to the boys on either side of me. “I'm going to go find Trevor and say hi, just so that he knows I made it and that I'm waiting for him...” She winked down at me and then slipped off through the crowd.
I wondered what had happened to the rest of the girls we had come with. And wondered if maybe I should go looking for them. If they were all trying to chat up guys, I didn't want to interrupt that, but at the same time…
“So what's your name?” the guy on my left asked me, having to shout so that he could be heard above the thumping bass beat.
“Rachael,” I told him. “You?”
“Dan,” he said, reaching out to shake the hand that wasn't clutching my drink like it was a lifeline. “You look like you need to chill out a little,” he said.
I grimaced. “Sorry, parties are just...”
“Yeah, a bit overwhelming, I know,” he said. “Come on.”
Against my better judgement, I followed him through the crowds of people, back through the kitchen, and out the back door onto a nice porch. There were people out in the backyard as well, but it was way more chill than it had been in the living room. And I could actually hear myself think.
Dan led me over to a porch swing and sat on it, and after a moment's hesitation, I sat down next to him. He grabbed a blanket from one side and wrapped it around us. “It's a bit chilly out here,” he explained. “But with the blankets, it's kind of nice.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, snuggling down into the wool.
“So Rachael, was it?” Dan asked. “What brings you to the Zeta Beta Nu house?”
I shrugged. “My friend Alex, the one that was with me in the living room? She's sleeping with one of the guys at the frat, so. He wanted her to come but she didn't want to come by herself, which is dumb because she's the one who ditched me anyway, and-” I broke off, ducking my head a little. “Sorry, I don't mean to rant.”
Dan laughed. “Nah, it's fine,” he said. “I totally get that frustration. I've been dragged along to more parties than I can count.”
“You seem to know the house pretty well, though,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, I'm a member of the frat,” he said. “Shocker, I know.”
I blinked over at him, taking in his collegiate appearance. With his square, hipster glasses and the little bit of scruff around his chin… “Honestly, it kind of is,” I said. “You don't really seem like the frat guy...type.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Dan said. “But not all frat guys are dicks, you know. That's just a Hollywood stereotype. We actually do a lot to give back to the community, and our main aim is just to...have fun and build connections between our members. We're not out to rape and pillage and whatever else that you might believe.”
I smiled a little. “I mean, I don't think that all frat guys are the devil incarnate or anything like that,” I said. “Just...” I trailed off, not really sure how to word what I thought.
“No, I get that,” Dan said. He was still smiling, though; he didn't seem to mind. “So you got dragged along to this party by your friend. You want to go home?”
To be honest… “Not really,” I said, looking around the yard. Someone was just starting a fire pit over in one of the back corners, and someone else had got out a guitar. It was peaceful, and I had a feeling almost like I might make some friends there. Which was totally not what frat parties were about, as far as I knew, but I couldn't help thinking that this was nice.
“Good,” Dan said, adjusting the blanket and scooting a little closer to me. I leaned into his warmth, still a bit chilly given the damp autumn air. “So what do you study?”
“History and French,” I told him.
“Oh!” Dan said. “I thought you looked familiar. I'm studying French as well, but I think you're in one of the lower levels…?”