She laughed, abruptly. “You’re honest, that’s for sure.”
“Hey–hey!” Wade popped his head into the room, then stepped fully inside. “You’re here! I thought you changed your mind.” His eyebrows pulled down, and his gaze skirted from Skylar to me and back. “What’s going on?”
“I was–” Skylar started.
I heard the apology in her voice, and I stepped in, “I was asking if I should order food or not. Or do you guys already have some?” I checked the clock. I’d not eaten all day and it was nearing four. I moved past her, past him, and saw the same girls who had been talking with Wade the other day. They were spread out at the end of the table with a couple guys in the middle. They stopped talking when they saw me, and I went to the opposite end of the table, putting my bag down. They had snacks on the table. Some fruit. Couple bags of chips. The guys had beer and the girls had plastic cups with drinks, I was guessing mixed drinks or just juice.
I pulled my phone out. “I’m starving. Anyone else want pizza?”
In the kitchen, Skylar smothered a laugh.
The irony was not lost on me either.
16
MARA
It wasn’t until after the pizza showed up, and another hour into studying that I needed a break. I headed to my place for the bathroom and when I was coming back, one of the girls was waiting for me in the kitchen.
“Hey.”
She was the one I invited to the Alpha Mu house.
“Hey.” I paused, waiting to see where this was going.
“I couldn’t go to the party because–well, it doesn’t matter, but my friends went. They gave your name at the door and said you never vouched for them.”
I was trying to remember. “Right. Yeah.” I relayed what the door guy had told me.
“So why didn’t you vouch for them?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You serious? You wanted me to babysit them when I didn’t know them?”
“You could’ve just vouched for them, and not have to babysit them. They’re not children.”
Okay. Yeah. Because that’s how it worked.
“Uh huh.” I made to move around her.
Further discussion was pointless. She didn’t want to put herself into my shoes. I relayed everything to her, and hoped she’d be like, “Oh yeah, you were going to leave and my two friends that you don’t know just showed up. Makes total sense that you wouldn’t claim them considering their new rules.” She didn’t do that, and there was no “aha” moment with her. She had a bone to pick with me. And I literally told Skylar hours earlier that I’d try better with confrontations. Though, this girl didn’t seem like the type to pick, pick, pick, target, bully, and so on. She seemed just mad that she hadn’t gotten into the Alpha Mu party, or in this case, that her friends hadn’t gotten in.
I frowned. “Why do you want to go to one of their parties so much?”
“What?”
I repeated my question.
She moved back a step, still frowning.
“Is it some weird fixation with a fraternity? Because if so, there’s better frats to party with, safer frats. Some are amazing and great. This one–”
“This one has connections the others don’t. They have senators as alumni. Fortune 500 CEOs. Professional athletes.”
I could list three other fraternities on campus with better reputations, and which had the same resume, but she seemed dug in on the Alpha Mu fraternity.
“Is there a particular guy you want to bone or something?”
She blinked at me. “What?”
“Your other reason doesn’t make sense. So, is there a particular guy you want?”
She continued to stare at me, a look of panic flaring for a brief moment. “No.”
Liar. She was so lying.
“Who is it?”
“It’s no–”
“Just tell me and maybe I can introduce you–”
She rushed out, “Leander Carrington.”
Now I was taken aback. “The door guy?”
“What?”
“The door guy. He’s Flynn Carrington’s brother? That guy?”
Her mouth pressed closed, and she lifted a shoulder before saying tightly, “I don’t know if he was the door guy, but he’s a freshman. And Flynn is his older brother.”
“Why do you want to be set up with him?”
Her mouth went flat once again.
“I’m not reaching out until you tell me.”
She sighed. “You know at orientation, they put us in clubs?”
No. I never went. “Sure. Yeah.”
“Well, he was in the club that I was in charge of and…” Her cheeks got red. She lowered her head.
She was being shy. The guy she wanted to meet was the guy her friends had met. But it was fine. He seemed like a nice enough guy. “I can introduce you.”
Her head whipped up. “You serious?” Her chest rose, and held… It was still holding.
I frowned, willing her chest to move. “What’s your name?”
“Susan.”
“What time do you do breakfast on Tuesdays?”
“Breakfast?”
“You want to meet him or not?”
“I can meet you at nine.”
“Done. Campus coffee shop. Get there early and grab a table.”
“Are you serious?”
It was an easy enough thing to do. “Sure. Yeah.”
“Oh!” She began waving her hands in the air. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. My advice, move on to a different guy at a better frat.”
Her hands stopped moving, but she held them stationary in the air. “Why do you hang out with them?”
“I’m currently asking myself the same question.”
I started to go around her but paused when my phone buzzed in my pocket.
She moved around me, hurrying back to the room.
My phone had either been on silent earlier, or I hadn’t had cell service for the last hour. Either way, I was just now seeing an unknown number had called me thirty times.
That wasn’t right.
The phone had been by me the whole time. Thirty times was possible, but all without me getting one notification?
I knew I was going to regret it. It was a hunch, but I hit call back.
It rang, and rang, and rang. I let it go, expecting a voice message recording to start but it never did. Then, after the sixteenth ring, it was picked up.
Loud music and voices were heard first before a girl asked, sounding harassed, “Yeah?”
“Who is this?”
“Who is this?”
“You called me.”
“No, bitch. You called me. I was strolling by, and the phone wouldn’t shut up, so what do you want?”
It was Vegas. I hadn’t put the area code together till just now.
Vegas.
I knew what Vegas meant.
That bark was back in my throat, and I swallowed over it, needing to speak. “This is on a payphone?”
“Yeah. Listen, your gripe isn’t with me. I gotta go.”
“No, wait.”
“What?”
“Did you see anyone on the phone before you walked past?”
She was quiet. My heart started to thump. Hard.