Wren
What the hell was this guy’s name?
I liked to think of it as a special talent of mine that I could make friends anywhere I went. People could surprise you sometimes if you gave them a chance. Frat Bro, though—as I’d affectionately taken to calling him in my head—was a true exercise in patience. He was objectively good looking, but he was easily the least interesting person I’d ever met.
I’d really thought I could regale him with a story about Germany’s Oktoberfest. It was my go-to story for all the guys like Frat Bro who made it a point to hold their fancy foreign beers with the label facing out. I needn’t have bothered. Frat Bro was content to stand there staring down my shirt regardless of whether I was talking. Also, I had a feeling he wouldn’t have been able to even point Germany out on a map.
My mind flickered back to Carter Scott. In person, he was even better looking than his pictures. I’d never dreamed that would have been possible. It was the muscles you noticed first. They rippled all over his body, making him impossible to overlook. His shaggy—almost bordering on unkempt—haircut, clear blue eyes, and easy smile only made him that much more appealing.
I’d been tempted to jump him on the spot. Only pure willpower had managed to stop me.
Carter had been haunting me in my dorm room. It wasn’t his fault, but his boisterous sister had apparently never taken a picture alone in her life. We had one of those suite-style dorms, and photos of her with her brother had popped up all over our living room.
It seemed like everywhere I looked—there was Carter Scott. Now there was a name I needed to forget.
I forced my attention back to the conversation—or lack thereof—at hand. I threw my voice into an exaggerated valley girl accent and asked, “So, like, what’s your major?”
Frat Bro’s eyes actually met mine for the first time since he’d cornered me. Clearly, he couldn’t be bothered to care about anything I had to talk about, but he sure lit up when I asked him about himself. Go figure.
“Sports Administration.” He said it with the same amount of pride as you would expect from someone who was attending medical school.
“A lot of athletes are in that, right?”
“Definitely, yeah.”
“So, do you play a sport, too, or…?” I let my question trail off because I genuinely couldn’t imagine the lanky dude actually playing competitive sports.
“Not me, no.”
“Did you play in high school or something?” The guy was seriously perplexing—and not in an interesting kind of way.
“Nah.”
I stared at him, waiting for some sort of explanation. Surely even he could understand my confusion. There was something odd about a non-athlete studying a career field that revolved around athletics. No dice. His eyes simply drifted back down to my bra line. I truly pitied the woman he someday ended up with. There would be no boomboxes outside her window or conversations that kept them up all night talking. Shame.
The feeling that I was being watched sent goosebumps over my arms.
I turned, scanning the room. Almost immediately, Carter caught my eye from the other side of the room. I felt myself wilt under his intense stare. He was watching me.
I cursed my light complexion as my cheeks flooded with heat. I couldn’t help but wonder if he always seemed so serious about everything. The sudden urge to see him having fun distracted me so much that I hadn’t realized Frat Bro had started gyrating against my leg.
“Okay…” What the hell was his name? “…you. Just a suggestion, but maybe you could stop humping my leg like a dog that hasn’t been neutered? I’m not a bitch in heat, in case that was somehow unclear.”
Frat Bro stopped cold.
I could hear him saying something about me being, “a bitch alright,” as he stepped around me. It released me from the most painful attempt at conversation that I’d ever experienced. I was glad to see him go.
The party hadn’t been my idea in the first place. Getting a feel for a place’s social scene was a good way to acclimate, but a fraternity party hadn’t been what I’d had in mind. I was chalking it up to the quintessential college experience, but I had no intention of going to any more of them.
I was starting to think my dad had grossly overestimated how much Kelley U would appeal to me. Maybe a west coast college would have been better.
“Uh ‘scuse me.” Someone brushed past me to get to a seat on the sofa I’d been partially blocking. It effectively broke me out of my introspection.
I could feel Carter’s eyes still on me as I turned and fled in the opposite direction. There were a whole slew of reasons I needed to avoid Carter Scott—not the least of which was that it didn’t seem like a great idea to be wondering what my roommate’s brother looked like naked. Regardless of how insanely good looking the guy was clothed.
The attention I got as I moved through the party wasn’t lost on me. My copper colored hair always made me stand out in a crowd. As I worked my way towards the kitchen, I also overheard people talking about my juggling display. It was a party trick I’d picked up years ago from a Russian circus member.
It didn’t matter where you went, people were always impressed by someone who knew how to juggle. It was one of life’s great mysteries.
Years of traveling had taught me all sorts of ways to make friends. Damian’s juggling trick, though, was by far the most useful. I hadn’t actually talked to him in years, but I was certain I would never forget him because of it.
“There you are!”
Rose let out some sort of animalistic shriek as she launched herself at me. Luckily, she was a relatively small person. Otherwise, she might have knocked me over completely in her enthusiasm.
“Here I am!” I answered.
And I only felt slightly guilty about how drunk Rose had ended up after we’d done shots at the beginning of the party. I’d tried to warn her that I would outdrink her. Especially considering I’d eaten beforehand and I was pretty sure she had not.
“I hope you don’t mind, I called and invited my brother out.” Rose’s head bobbled around on her shoulders. “Or actually I called and told him he needed to come make sure we got home safe.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “I was expecting you to seem way drunker.”
“Like you?” I teased.
“Like me,” she repeated, though in a much whinier voice.
To be fair, Rose was only eighteen. I knew she’d had alcohol before. She’d been pretty overt about that when she’d told me stories about the wild high school graduation parties she’d been invited to. It seemed safe to say that none of those had been quite the caliber of a first-weekend frat party.
“Actually, since your brother is gonna make sure you get home, would you mind if I maybe wandered off for the night?”
Rose’s laughter drew even more eyes to our already raucous exchange. “Is that code for having sex?”
Her mind had greatly exaggerated my sexual activities. I had a collection of scrapbooks that I traveled with, and they’d made the trip to school with me. One of them had fallen out of a box while I’d been moving in. It was just a collection of photos with friends I’d met briefly when I’d been traveling. Somehow, Rose had decided my vast social experience translated to vast sexual experience as well.
No matter how I tried to explain, she was convinced that I’d slept with all the men from the photos—and maybe some of the women, too. She swore they all looked like they were in love with me. I told her at best I’d been a passing fancy for those friends.
Rose was unconvinced, but we’d had fun laughing together as I told her the stories of how I’d met some of them. To her, everything I’d done was so exotic and adventurous.
Obviously, people didn’t want to hear the boring stories. The days I’d spent alone in secluded train cars. Or the times I’d choked down barely edible meals so as not to offend whoever had offered it to me. Those sorts of thing didn’t make for very good stories.
“I don’t intend to have sex with anyone I met here tonight.” My voice was firm, but my eyes surveyed the crowd around us. I’d thought I might catch sight of Carter again. I discreetly pinched myself as a reminder to not do that.
“I’m not slut-shaming you or anything.” Her voice was getting progressively louder. “I’m just hoping you’ll stay my roommate long enough to teach me your ways!” She bounced on her toes excitedly. “You can be like my Mr. Miyagi, but for sex!”
I slapped my hand over her mouth and offered a nervous smile to the people closest to us. All the people who’d heard her loud comment looked on in a mix of horror, amusement, and interest.
“Maybe let’s not announce that to a room full of horny frat boys, okay?”
“Fine, fine, fine. More drink?” She raised her empty hands to show me she didn’t currently have one.
“Sure,” I told her, though I fully intended to give her a cup of plain juice. No way was I spending my first college weekend with a roommate in the hospital for alcohol poisoning.
I’d barely taken a few steps when I realized Rose had disappeared on me again. The girl seemed to have some serious attention span issues, and being drunk had only amplified it. I’d have to remember to figure out where we’d put the aspirin when we got home. She’d definitely be needing them in the morning.
I went by myself to get another lukewarm beer from the kitchen. It wasn’t all that great tasting, but it gave me something to do with my hands. Opening weekend was supposed to be about getting to know each other, but it seemed like everyone knew someone except me.
Normally I was so good at talking my way into friendships, but I’d been thrown off my game after the unexpected run-in with Carter.
“Hey!”
Startled, I turned towards the voice too fast. I watched in horror as my full beer cup went sailing. I tried to grab for it but it was too late. It bounced off his handsome face, right between those perfect blue eyes.
Carter sputtered as the amber liquid drenched him all the way down to the midsection of his white t-shirt. I could practically hear the collective sigh from the female population of the house as well-formed pecks came into view from beneath the wet fabric.
“Holy shit.” I stared in horror at what I’d inadvertently done. “I’m so sorry.”
Carter just stood there staring down at himself. It looked like maybe he was in shock. Someone appeared with paper towels. Without thinking, I grabbed a handful of them and started trying to wipe away some of the liquid from his chest. Carter’s big hands closed around my wrists, stopping me.
He cleared his throat. “Maybe I should do that.”
Once again, my cheeks started burning red. I’d basically been rubbing him. I thrust the soggy paper towels at him, too embarrassed to say anything.
“Normally I’m the speechless one,” he chuckled to himself as he did his best to clean himself up.
Rose had mentioned her brother had been a reserved kid. Most of her childhood stories were of her being wild while he did his best to protect her.
“I’m sorry,” I felt compelled to say again.
Carter gave up trying to dry himself. “Don’t be sorry. I’d say I deserved it, sneaking up on you like that.”
The idea of him sneaking up on anyone was laughable. He was huge all over, definitely not the kind of guy who got away with sneaking anywhere. Even at that very second, just the sheer size of him was enough to draw attention. The funny thing was that the attention seemed to make him uncomfortable. His leg was bouncing with nervous energy.
It seemed almost too natural for me to reach out and touch his thigh. The shaking stopped. My hand froze against the worn material of his jeans. A few inches to the left and I’d be grazing his…
My wide eyes found Carter’s. “I’m gonna stop touching you now.”
He nodded patiently, even as I stayed frozen for a few seconds longer. Realizing that, I jerked my hand back as if I’d been burned.
The last time I’d felt so frazzled around a guy I’d been at my first girl/boy party for Abby Carmichael’s eleventh birthday. Abby had kissed my middle school crush during spin the bottle, and I’d never spoken another word to her. She moved away a year later, anyway.
Carter reached up to tousle his hair. A nervous habit, I guessed. His eyes roamed over my face. “It’s fine. You don’t have to stay.”
“What?”
“You’re making that face.” I waited for clarification. He looked away from me before finishing, “That face people make when they’re trying to think of an excuse to get away.”
That wasn’t what I’d been doing at all, but he’d given me an easy out. I wasn’t quite sure what to do. Fate turned out to be on my side for once and made the decision easy for me. A small group of giggling girls stepped between the two of us. Once we were separated, the concept of bailing didn’t seem so bad. I waited until I’d made it to the very edge of the room before glancing back.
Carter was still standing where I’d left him, dripping wet. Instead of looking mad, like I’d expected, he just looked sad. As I slipped away, I tried to convince myself I hadn’t really cared.
* * *