by Dawn Doyle
The group burst into laughter again, and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Eastyn watching us.
“You’re funny, Shay,” Will said, shaking his finger. “There’s hope for you yet.”
When they left, Lara turned to me. “Yeah there is. Well done, babe.”
“Thanks, I think.” Since Lara had become my roommate at the beginning of junior year, I’d been breaking out of my shell bit by bit. It was cracking, and had definitely gotten easier to breathe in, but there was still a long way to go. I missed having my own dorm sometimes, but sharing had given me the push I needed to socialize again.
“Now we just have to get you out to live a little. I can’t believe you’re a junior and you’ve never been to a single college party.”
“I have.” I never dwelled on the memory, but it had happened.
“When? I would’ve remembered seeing you.”
“Freshman year, after orientation. I decided it wasn’t for me,” I said.
“How can you say that? Everyone loves to party at college.”
“Not everyone,” I replied with a smile. “When you’re standing on your own in a huge room, it doesn’t feel like fun.”
“I doubt you were on your own, Shay,” she snorted. “I didn’t see you, so you must’ve been with someone.”
I shook my head. “Nope. I was standing by the entrance for a while.” I shrugged. “To be honest, I was just nervous. I barely said more than a few words.”
The fact was, there were too many moving heads to look over, too many different directions people were going and not knowing who any of these people were scared the crap out of me. It never used to, but coming from having a lot of friends to having no-one, I was terrified.
I’d been standing on my own for more than an hour, so it was better to get out of there without anybody noticing. I’d left that party, then found my way to my dorm and unpacked my stuff.
“Well, if it’s the last thing I do before this year is over, is to get you to party hard.”
I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t stop the smile pulling at my lips. “Let loose? Have fun?” For me, that was a blank page and my imagination.
“Exactly.”
“I can think of other ways to have fun.” I lifted my eyebrows and then picked up speed, breaking into a jog.
Lara’s eyes bugged, then she grinned. “Ooh, tell me more!”
I laughed and said nothing else, leaving her to wonder what I was talking about. I had a sense of being watched, so I flicked my eyes over to the guys, just once, and saw that they were watching. Not enough to think I was intentionally seeking them out; I wouldn’t want that, but enough to see Eastyn looking away with a scowl.
*****
“I think it’s great somebody’s finally spoken up about this shit.”
I’d been running for ten minutes when I heard the first comment about the paper. I didn’t know that it would’ve been the topic of conversation, but it sure was right now.
“Yeah, the admin do nothing but sit on their asses. The guy who wrote this is a fucking legend.”
Guy?
I’d purposefully softened my usual style in favor of a less abrasive tone while ensuring maximum effect.
Lara tapped my arm, then pointed to Max and Casey. They were the ones doing the talking, their voices carrying over to us. “Listen to them. Oh my god, they read it. What did you write?”
“You didn’t read it?”
Lara shook her head. “I didn’t know it would be published yet, so I didn’t check.” She grinned, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “What did you say? They sure seem happy about it.”
“I kinda, maybe, said too much?” I cringed a little, making a face.
“I’m telling you, you gotta read it,” Casey said, tapping his phone and laughing. “Look at this.” He began reading out parts of the article. “‘What is happening at Stampton College? I’ll tell you—not much.’ This dude knows what’s going on. There is nothing going down around here.” He pointed to the screen and continued. “Is it because the students are required to pay to use a gym facility other colleges provide for free? Probably. Just what is the administration doing with the money that we, the students, are forking out on top our already over-inflated fees?’” He laughed loudly. “Listen to this… ‘I’ll tell you, not handing any over to the sports teams, that’s for sure. Considering the annual turnover from college football and baseball, the ones holding the checkbook seem to have it held tightly in their hands, refusing to hand over a dime to look after their best source of income. Which brings me to my next point—the event this weekend.”
Lara’s eyes snapped to mine as Casey continued reading my admin bashing article. “You wrote about that already?”
“Of course,” I replied. “If it helps you in any way, I’ll do what I can.” Lara raised her brows, and when she smiled, this time it was genuine. “Any way that I feel comfortable.” And I never once mentioned the girls who were still trying to grab for attention.
“I hear the kissing booths are already popular. Herpes sufferers excluded. That’s a gift that can’t be returned—that shit stays with you forever.”
While the guys laughed, I saw Eastyn’s mouth slowly pull into a smile.
Lara shook her head and smiled. “You couldn’t resist, could you?”
I grinned. “Sorry not sorry?”
The article pointed out that the gym wasn’t free and that the staff were pretty much invisible, but instead of focusing on just tearing the college higher-ups a new one for sitting on cash that could be put to good use, I deflected a lot of the attention to the fundraiser. The sports department needed the long overdue upgrades, and it would lift a declining morale with the students. I just hoped my personal remarks didn’t affect it.
Eastyn
There she was, walking across the green, weaving in and out of the students helping set up the stalls for Sunday. Shay looked around as though searching for somebody to talk to. That was strange because I’d never once seen her willingly interact with anybody before. If she spoke to somebody, they always went to her first, and even then it was with great caution.
I chuckled to myself, wondering why the hell people were scared to talk to her. What did they think she was going to do? They obviously didn’t see what I saw when I looked at her, and that made my laugh halt in its tracks.
“Not helping out?” Justin asked from beside me and hoisted up the box in his hands.
“Not yet,” I replied, still content on watching for a few minutes longer. “Did you find what you needed?”
“Yeah.” He opened the flaps of the cardboard and reached inside the box, pulling out a handful of balloons. “Why the hell did we have all of these anyway?”
I shrugged. “No idea,” I replied, still watching Shay walk around with nothing to do. The balloons had been a huge order placed from the last baseball game, the kind that could be filled with helium and used to make arches and shit like that. The rest had been lying around in the coach’s store room, and he’d said he was gonna get rid of them, but never got around to it. He should have, though. Some may or may not have been stolen and used as water, and flour bombs, the ingredients mixing to make one hell of a sticky mess.
“Well, they came in handy,” Justin said, jerking his head to flick his hair out of his eyes.
“Why don’t you just fucking cut it?” I asked, turning to him but keeping my arms crossed over my chest. I kept my shoulder against the wall, my ankles crossed lazily.
“Girls like something to grab on to,” he replied, pumping his brows. “Long hair is in.”
“That’s debatable,” I replied, turning my focus back to the green.
“So, what’s going on? See something interesting out there?” Justin scanned around, but he couldn’t see where I was looking because of my aviators.
I shrugged, the movement causing my arm to lift a little. “Just watching. I’ll go over and help if they need me, but they seem to have everything covered.”
He walked away from me, bypassing the tall guy who had his arms up, gesturing like a conductor and pointing to where things were going. I caught sight of Shay just as she disappeared into the main building, her head down as she went.
I dug my phone out of my pocket and tapped on the screen, accessing my text messages and typed.
‘Wanna get out of here for while?’
The reply was almost instant.
‘Fuck, yeah! Meet you in five.’
I pushed away from the wall and walked toward the dorms, going past and into the parking lot behind. The campus was small, so I didn’t have to go far. The green was central to everything, and where most events were held, unless it called for a game. That’s when the bleachers came out around the main field at the back. The locals were crazy for college football, and the covered stands were always tightly packed.
I reached my car and pressed the fob to unlock it. When I got inside, I checked my glove compartment, double checking that my locked box was in its place.
“Where to?” Casey asked, jumping in next to me. “And how far away?”
That’s what I liked about him. He only needed logistics and not the reason why. I just had to get off campus for a few hours, the swarm of extra people getting to me. I knew the other guys were busy with their football practice, but Casey and I were the two that just sat and silently supported.
“Beach.”
“No problem.”
I pulled out of the lot and drove toward Charlton beach. The area would be packed tight with people, but Casey and I had a quiet spot we went to.
I parked and we both got out, slamming the doors behind us. Casey raised his hand to his face, shielding himself from the sun. We found a spot near the dunes, protecting us from the harsh winds whipping off of the water.
I unlocked my case and took out some of the contents. “Here.” I handed a joint to Casey, and he put the rolled up paper between his lips, lighting the end and taking a long drag.
“Fuck, East, this shit is good!” he sighed, then lay back on the sand. “Where do you get this stuff? It’s nothing like our regular stash.”
“I can’t say,” I replied, plucking it from his lips and sucking the glorious fumes into my lungs.
“Can’t or won’t?”
I smiled as I blew out a cloud of smoke. “I don’t recall.”
He sat quickly, gesturing to the joint. “What would happen if you got caught with that shit?”
I shrugged. “It’s legal here, so nothing.”
Casey shook his head. “Yeah, but still, East. With your history—”
“Nothing will happen,” I said, shutting him up. “I can’t get arrested for this, Casey, you know that. Plus, we’re out of sight of little kids and we won’t leave anything lying around.”
He nodded, his mouth turning down a little. “True.” He snatched the joint from my mouth that time, lay back and took another pull. “You can’t blame me for worrying though, dude.”
I watched him for a few seconds while he closed his eyes. The guys were great friends of mine and understood me—the reason I shared any of my crap with them. Our black and silver decorated cuffs were proof that I had their support. I just hoped that if anybody found out about what I’d done, they wouldn’t judge me as bad as they should, but I knew that wouldn’t be the case. Guys like me were always frowned upon, no matter what. It was just as well that I wanted no fucker to know shit about me. It was my business, and only those closest to me got to know. Hell, only Casey knew the whole damn story but the others knew enough.
“Ya know,” he said, breaking my thoughts. “This fundraiser is going to be fucking awesome.”
“How do you figure that?” I wasn’t looking forward to the booth in the slightest.
“We get to have outsiders on campus,” he said, waggling his eyebrows. “Local girls coming in to get a piece of the college boys.” He laughed. “Not that we can’t go out to sample the local delicacies, but on campus… Yeah, I’m liking this a hell of a lot.”
I snorted. “We’re not boys.” Fuck, I was a man, and it pissed me off when I was referred to as anything but. It made me feel like I was back in that place I wanted to forget.
‘Boy! Come here, boy, Look at me when I’m talking to you, boy!’ A slap stung my face, followed by another when I didn’t respond in time. The fucker took great pleasure knowing I couldn’t do shit in return, even though I would break every fucking bone in his body if I got the chance.
“Earth to East.” Casey waved his hand in front of my face. “Snap out of it. Here.” He handed me the joint. “You need this more than I do right now. Give me your keys, and I’ll take us back after you’ve relaxed some more, okay?”
I handed over the keys to my Mustang and lay back. “Thanks,” I said quietly, and Casey slapped his hand on my knee.
He knew, and I was grateful for what he’d done for me—what they all did for me.
Chapter 3
Eastyn
I was not prepared for this shit…at all. Elise, Chloe, and Kyra were fixing balloons to the booths, giggling and chatting, their high-pitched laughter piercing my delicate ears. After we’d gotten back from the beach and the other guys had finished practice, we’d hit the campus bar and had knocked back too many beers to count.
I rubbed across my forehead, praying the Advil would kick in soon.
“East!” I heard Chloe yell.
Fuck.
“What?” I grumbled.
She walked over to me, practically bouncing on her toes, her tits jiggling under her white tank. She ran her hand over her red ponytail, pulling it over her shoulder to the front. “What do you think?” Her upper body twisted side to side, and it seemed like she was asking me what I thought about her pushed-up cleavage.
“About what?” Whatever the fuck she was trying to do was nothing I hadn’t seen before.
“The booths, silly!” she replied, her mouth widening with her overly happy grin. She swept her thin arm around. “The balloons look great. We blew them all ourselves.”
My eyes snapped to her as she winked at Elise and Kyra. Oh, she fucking knew what she was doing, but it had no effect on me at all. “Great.” I turned to walk away, but a hand curled around my bicep and I looked down at it. The tips dug in as though attempting to stop me from going anywhere.
“Um, which booth do you want? You can pick any.”
Four of them were set up, the burgundy fabric making them look like we were gonna start telling fortunes. “I don’t care, Chloe,” I replied, pulling out of her clawed hand. I fucking hated those pointy nails; they looked ridiculous. “I’ll be there before it starts, and so will Will.”
We were up first, and so was Elise and Kyra. A soon as Linc had sent me that text, I was fucking relieved. After what Elise had said about spending her cash, being on duty at the same meant at least Will and I were safe.
I didn’t know if he gave a shit about it, but I did, and they knew. I had a feeling that he’d set us up that way for my benefit, coming through for me again.
The other guys were around somewhere, getting ready to help out with games and food. Some other guys from outside campus were brought in, too. It was going to be a busy day, and a ton of cash was expected to roll in at the end of the four hours.
“Hey, East,” Max said, jogging up beside me. “We’re gonna start roping off the booths, soon.”
“Okay, what do you need me to do?”
He shrugged, and that’s when I noticed the t-shirt he was wearing. “Just help us out making the lines. After the first half hour, there’s gonna be a break, so we need to be able to cordon off the area at a certain point.”
“No problem. What’s with the T-shirt?” It was old and worn, with tiny tears around the edges of the sleeves.
“Last season’s sh
irts—the ones that need replacing. We have a ton and we thought it would be good to wear one. Ya know, show how much we need this.”
Mine was still good. I never wore it often because it was only to the games my friends were in, but theirs were in need of lighter fluid and a naked flame. “Of course. Whatever you need.”
He grinned. “Excellent. Have you seen Lara around? I need to ask her to switch me.”
I paused. “Switch?”
“Yeah. I need to be on at the same time as Elise. Fuck, if she meant what she said, I don’t want any part of it.” He ran his hand over his hair and blew out a breath, his worried expression intriguing.
“What did you do?” I asked like a concerned parent, narrowing my eyes at the guilty as fuck child who knew he’d majorly fucked up.
“Shit, East, I was out of my fucking mind. Remember last weekend?”
I did. “You were smashed, Max. So were most of us, but you disappeared for a while.” Yeah, he had all right. One minute he was talking to Linc, the next he was gone, with one person saying he’d gone upstairs of the student house we were in. He gave me a sheepish look. “Fuck, you didn’t.” I dropped my head back.
“Yeah, and it was the biggest fucking mistake of my life.” His eyes widened. “Shit sorry, I never meant—”
“Don’t sweat it.” I brushed him off. “Continue.”
He sighed miserably. “I came out of the bathroom and saw Elise on the landing. She started flirting with me, her top was low enough that I could see her tits practically falling out, and she asked to talk somewhere quiet because the music was so loud.” He groaned and shook his head. “Jesus, East, one minute she was grabbing my hand and leading me off, then next I’m fucking her over a shitty dresser. It wouldn’t have been so bad if she left it at that, but she’s been texting me and calling… What the fuck should I do?” I laughed. “What’s so damn funny? She was a good fuck, but that’s where it stopped. That girl is a pain in my ass.”
“Just tell her you’re not interested.”
