One was speaking into a walkie.
“Door duty?”
The other gave me a resigned look, nodding. “Yeah. All night. We kinda messed up with something.”
The other one finished on the radio and jumped into the conversation. “It’s better than bathroom duty and there’s worse than that too.”
“I don’t think I want to know what those are.”
“Good call.” He indicated down the hall. “Miller’s in the basement.”
The place was in full party mode. There were people everywhere. Music was blasting, along with neon lighting inside.
“There’s a girl I invited to come with me from my abnormal psych class. It was last minute. I didn’t catch her name so she might show up and give my name.”
“Right on. We’ll ask everyone coming in if they’re in abnormal psych.”
I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not, but I added, “I told her to come with at least one friend.”
“The more the merrier.”
The doorbell rang so I moved on, hearing them open the door. “Any of you currently in abnormal psychology?”
I glanced back, laughing, and saw they were serious with the question.
“Daniels. What up, woman?” A guy I knew from last semester was in the kitchen, waving me over when I got there.
He was mixing drinks, and handed one over to me. “Drink?”
“Thanks.” Normally, I liked to bring my own booze, but I knew this guy. He broke down crying one night about his family. I knew how much he missed his grandpa and how he went home every Sunday night for dinner with his grandma. When I learned how he doted on his sister, that cemented it. He’d go crazy if anyone slipped something in her drink. I held up the cup, glancing around. There were some Kappa girls here, and some…nope, all were giving me dark looks. Okay, then. Seemed that whole drama with Burford wasn’t in the past. I shouldered through, going into the basement.
Two guys were guarding the doorway. When they saw me, they gave a nod behind them.
I ducked past, seeing a large screen mounted on the wall. It was huge, almost theater size, and was high up on the wall. The game hadn’t started. The guys were still in warm-ups, and I paused before anyone knew I was there. Cruz was doing his thing. He liked to bullshit. It was almost part of his pregame ritual. I’d noticed that he’d either try to converse with someone from the opposing team, the ref, or if none of them were available, he’d stand on the red line and talk with a couple of his teammates. Wes Barclay and he were tight, so it was usually Wes, but tonight he was talking to one of the other team’s guys.
“What’s he doing?” One of the guys gestured to the screen. “He does this every game.”
“Who cares? He always dominates.”
Someone else said, “He’s getting in their heads. Setting them up for later total annihilation.”
Gavin laughed. “You all are idiots. You even know Cruz? He’s not that type of guy. He’s chill, so he’s being chill, and when they’re all trying to get hyped up for the game, he’s interfering with that intensity.”
“Soooo, what I just said.”
“He’s not doing it intentionally. Just him being him.”
A girl added, “I heard he’s super intense. This is all a facade or something.”
A bunch of guys broke out laughing.
I could hear Gavin rolling his eyes. “Girl, why you in here?”
“Dude!” One guy broke into harsh laughter, coughing at the same time.
There were other murmurs, a couple girls, but one shoved through the last guys in the doorway and went past me, hurrying upstairs. I was guessing she was the one who made that comment.
From another girl, “You’re such a dick sometimes, Gavin.”
“What?” He was laughing. “Did I say something?”
A second girl came through, and I pointed upstairs. “That way.”
She was angry, but clipped out, “Thanks,” before she went upstairs too.
There was a second room that ran the length of the main room. Alpha Mu used it as a weight room and at the end a Skee-Ball was set up with an arcade basketball game next to it. It attached to that main room at the end, so I went that route, coming to the doorway and getting a scope of the room before actually stepping into it. The game would start soon, the ice was emptying. There was a large U-shaped couch, which was full of people. Mostly guys. A few girls. There were other guys lounging on beanbags in front of the couch.
A bar was set up in the back where I was standing. Some of the guys saw me, lifted a hand in greeting.
“Hey.”
“Daniels!” Miles and Gavin both heard me, looking back from the couch.
Gavin threw his arms in the air, like the guys at the front. “What are you doing back there? Get over here, woman!”
Miles was standing up. He waved me over. “Here. You can sit where I was.”
I frowned, going around the couch and sitting in his spot. “Are you sure? Where are you–”
I stopped asking because he took a seat in front of me on the floor, and he moved back, leaning against my legs. He rested one arm over my knee, sipping his drink, but as he did that, he put a little space between me and Gavin. He glanced back, gauging my response. I gave him a little grin in thanks.
He grinned back, hiding it as he took another sip.
Gavin was frowning at him, then poked my arm. “Where’d you disappear to last night?”
“I went to my room. Why?”
He was scanning my face and I waited for him to tell me that he came up, knocking on the door, but he didn’t. He shrugged, ducking his head. “No reason. I was just checking on you.”
“I was okay.”
Miles had stilled, overhearing our conversation.
I elbowed Gavin and indicated the screen. “Didn’t know you and Cruz were so tight.”
He harrumphed. “What? It’s Cruz. He’s partied here. He’s a good guy.”
“Everyone, shut up!” One of the guys stood up, yelling. “Game’s starting!”
The guys were back and skating up for the face-off. After that, it was on.
It was during the second and third period when I headed back upstairs for a refill. I was hoping the same bartender was in the kitchen still, but as soon as I got to the top of the stairs, a different guy saw me. “Daniels, you got two chicks at the door saying they know you.”
I veered that way instead. The door duty guys were still there.
One saw me coming, the walkie in his hand. He waved at me. “They won’t say if they’re in your class or not, so I’m hoping you can vouch for them?”
I looked at them, not recognizing them. “Who are you?”
The two guys threw their hands in the air again.
“Come on! Seriously?”
I heard the other on the walkie. “We might have a problem here.”
One of the girls leaned toward me. “Our friend said we were invited via you. She’s in your abnormal psych class.”
I was about to wave them in when the walkie guy stepped up behind me, touched my shoulder with the walkie, and gestured inside. “One sec,” I said to the girls, following him, and once there, they closed the door.
A cry of protest came from the other side. The other guy was speaking over them, but he was sounding stressed.