Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 120176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
The front desk clerk came over, beginning to sterilize it, but her eyes trailed behind me. “Hey.” She leaned forward and indicated where I had just come from. “You know Cruz Styles?”
“Yeah.”
She bit down on her lip, an almost shy look coming over her. “He single?” Her eyes came back to me, sharpening. “I mean, it didn’t seem like you and he were together, but if you are, hands off for me.”
My teeth clenched together. “As far as I know, he’s not attached.”
Her eyes lit up. “Could you put a word in for me? I’m, you know, down for whatever.” A sheepish grin showed. “I slipped him my number earlier, but he wasn’t making eye contact with me.”
“Yeah.” My mouth was so dry on that word. “Sure. I can let him know.”
“Thanks.” She was beaming now. “He’s so gorgeous. About wet my pants when the team came in.”
I gave her a thumbs-up.
Right.
When I got to the house, yelling was coming from inside the house. There were extra cars in front of the house, so I guessed they were having a few more friends over. I headed up, just getting into my apartment when there was a sudden burst of footsteps on the house stairs. They were coming up and coming fast.
I paused, waiting.
The hallway door opened, and it was Wade. He saw me, jerked his chin up as he raked a hand over his head. “Oh, good. Glad I caught you.”
I eased the door back but moved so I was in the doorway.
He motioned downstairs. “We’ve got another study group going on for class tomorrow. Friday was a bust. You wanna join?”
I considered it. I’d been planning on studying by myself until Cruz showed up, but if he was still playing laser tag… I shrugged. “Sure. Thanks for the invite.”
His smile widened. “Cool.”
He went down, and I shut the door.
I grabbed my stuff before checking my phone.
Me: Studying in the main house with others. If you want to still do S/S today, I’m down. Just let me know.
His text came through before I got to the first floor.
Cruz: I’ll come over later.
I didn’t respond because we were in uncharted seas now since laser tag. For the normal human, it might be all cool, but to me, I knew better. When you started easing up on the rules, more and more boundaries started lifting and soon we were close to texting like we were “checking in” with each other. If we were friends, totally fine. Normal. But what we were, rules were different.
Going in through the kitchen, I saw Skylar and Zoe.
Zoe had her back pressed against the counter, by the sink. Her hands were on Skylar’s elbows while Skylar’s were holding onto Zoe’s hips. They were kissing, and as I paused, Skylar pulled Zoe closer against her.
They kept going, clearly not knowing I was there.
I started edging backwards, but Skylar’s head lifted. “Oh!” Her eyes went wide.
“Sorry. I wasn’t sure of the protocol here.”
She started laughing.
Zoe eased back, but rested her side to Skylar’s front, who wrapped her arms around her. “Everyone is preoccupied. We’re not used to remembering you’re here too.”
“I get that.”
Skylar was taking in my bag. “You’re here for the study session?”
“They’re studying abnormal psych?”
“Yeah. They’re in the dining room.”
“Thanks.” I started to go past when Skylar called my name. “Yeah?”
Zoe squeezed Skylar’s hand, giving her a reassuring smile before heading past me.
Skylar straightened, now a little self-conscious. “Uh.” She ran a hand through her hair, smoothing it out before taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry I’ve not come up to talk about what happened last weekend.”
I shrugged. “It’s cool. I mean, I’m the one who got into it with your friend. I apologized, but I meant it.”
“No, I know. I was, well, I was surprised when you apologized. I was so mad about the eating disorder comment. Allie was being a bitch, but Allie’s been a bitch lately. A lot. No one knows why and Hawah told me later what all Allie was doing. I wanted to clear the air since they were my friends.”
“Uh, sure. Yeah. I’m sorry.”
Skylar stared at me for a little bit with a funny look before she blinked, clearing it. “I–uh–I heard that you had an altercation with a Kappa girl last semester.”
Oooh. I was seeing where she was going now.
Two fights. The apology was cool, but now she was wading in to see if I was a problem roommate.
“Look.” Okay. She needed to understand some things. “I’m shorter than other girls. I have good tits, some ass, and I’m petite. Guys like me. I also don’t come across as high-maintenance and I’m just keeping it real, but I like sex. Guys know that from looking at me. Girls see that and your friend was the last in a long line of girls trying to take me ‘down a notch’ or something. I’ve had some say they wanted to teach me ‘a lesson.’ I learned the sooner I stop it, and if I go overboard a bit, they actually shut the fuck up. In high school, I became friends with the bitchy girls. I did it on purpose so they wouldn’t fuck with me. Not that I’m proud of who I ran with back then. I’m a freshman. New place, new people, and new bullshit until people learn not to mess with me. I’d like to say it won’t happen again, but it’s just not true. It might. I don’t have a problem with food, so your friend didn’t trigger me, but just hearing the venom coming from her, no matter what she would’ve been saying, I probably would’ve still reacted. But I should’ve tried harder or in a better way because she’s your friend. If she’s here, or coming here, I can take off if you need?” I shifted back on my feet. “Ball’s in your court. You want me to leave?”