by Kira Blakely
“Callie,” I replied, plainly.
“Well, Callie, sorry to say that you have your work cut out for you,” he said, glancing to me and then to Devon sitting beside me.
“What?” I asked, but instead of answering me directly, he walked away, back to the front of the class.
“The person you’re sitting with is your lab partner, everyone.” He looked around the room. “Make sure you get acquainted with them.”
My mouth gaped. To say that I was pissed would have been a huge understatement.
The guy was a fucking idiot. A meat-head. A cocky meathead, at that, and he didn’t even have a reason to be! He wasn’t even smart enough to know the basis of genetics!
“I won’t screw it up for you,” he whispered, leaning in. But I didn’t want to hear it, nor did I believe him, based on the production he’d just made to screw up his first day in lab.
I groaned. I couldn’t believe it.
I was partnered with the token dumbass in class.
Chapter Six – Callie
I growled with every turn of the page. My Biology book had been something of a treasure to me right after I purchased it. Now it only seemed like a constant reminder of how terribly I was going to end up doing this semester. I mean, seriously, how was I going to do well enough to pass with a sure-fire fail in lab? I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but somehow, I just wasn’t really able to. I mean, it was clear he wasn’t going to take science seriously.
Hell, by parading around the halls naked, I could tell he wasn’t taking school in general very seriously.
A peck at my dorm room door sounded, but my head didn’t move. Probably another one of Lindsey’s friends, I thought. It was getting dark, so I’m sure they were about to set out for ‘pre-gaming’ for the third night this week.
“Hey, Lindz!” I heard a voice squeal from behind me. I didn’t even need to glance behind me to know who it was. I shuddered. It had to be Kara. I knew as soon as I’d glance over my shoulder, I’d see her with her stupid, peppy face plastered with make-up and a nasty sort of back-stabbing smile permanently stuck on her face. I knew that I’d be immediately pissed off when I saw her gorgeous, long, blonde, flawless hair, size 0 – hell, maybe even 00 – body and all the other perfections she seemed to possess. It wasn’t that I was jealous necessarily, just more so annoyed at her existence. How anything that perfect looking could exist, and be so god damn annoying just astounded me. I shook my head and glanced over my shoulder, immediately wishing I hadn’t.
Not only was she standing there, perfect, just like I thought, Devon was also standing right there.
Fucking Devon – the last person I wanted to see.
The guy that basically ensured that I would flunk out of the class I was looking forward to the most.
His arm was slung over Kara’s shoulder, and he donned a cocky smile just like he usually did, it seemed, and hadn’t bothered to notice me at all. Something told me, though, that he was usually too wrapped up in himself to notice much of anything. But in the moment, as I stared them down, it seemed at the very least he wasn’t just caught up in himself. He was actually focused on Kara’s neck. His mouth trailed over her flesh, and by the nasty sounds eliciting outward, he was sucking on it.
My eyes widened as he pressed her against the wall just next to my desk.
She giggled flirtatiously, and then it was all over.
He pulled back and took her lips with his own.
I groaned, annoyed – probably a little more vocally than I thought.
Who the hell just made out in public? Let alone in someone else’s room. And, where in the fuck was Lindsey? And, why the hell were they in my room without at least her there to babysit them?
I glanced all around me, still flabbergasted by the fact that they hadn’t even noticed that I was sitting there watching them basically screwing next to me.
They didn’t even seem to hear me groan, which I continued to do angrily as I watched them devour each other.
The sound of wet slaps sounded in the air, and I felt my stomach begin to churn.
“You guys are such a cute couple,” Lindsey’s high-pitched voice entered the room.
My head whirled around, daggers stabbing out in her direction, and I scoffed loudly, just before reaching for my headphones and making sure I made as much fucking noise as possible.
Kara and Devon’s lips parted – a sloppy spit-covered sound between them as they did. Devon’s head snapped in my direction, and his eyes grew wide. He pulled himself away from the blonde bombshell whom I just noticed was dressed in an expensive-looking, tight, black dress.
“Uh… Callie, right?” he asked, finally seeing me for the first time since walking into my dorm.
“Uh, yeah, and you’re making out right next to my desk. So, could you guys go elsewhere?” I usually didn’t make a big deal out of things, but this was annoying.
“Are you studying for bio already?” he asked, his eyes narrowing as he pulled away from Kara completely, and turned his broadly-toned physique toward me. His fingers grasped at the edge of my book and flipped it to the cover to get a better look. “You are!” He started giggling, and I immediately rolled my eyes again just before grabbing hold of the cover, snatching it away and back to the page I had it on.
“Yeah, because I actually take it seriously!” I snapped.
“It’s the first week of school, weirdo.” Kara said, laughing from behind him.
His brows twisted, and his eyes looked me up and down. Not in a sexual sort of way – in a way that I couldn’t quite place. He looked almost sad. “She can study if she wants to,” he said, sighing over his shoulder.
I smiled.
“Whatever,” Kara said in her best valley-girl impression before walking toward Lindsey. “We’ll meet you down there. We need to go grab Madison and Sarah.”
He nodded. “I’ll catch up.”
“See ya, Cal!” Lindsey tossed over her shoulder. I waved, a little upset that I didn’t have a roommate with her own personality.
“Do you want to come to the TKE party after rush tonight?” he asked, his brows raising.
I scoffed – something I seemed to do a lot of since meeting these people. “Get real.” I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder. “I’m going to the library.”
He chuckled. “Wait, is that the big building with all the books?” He was following me out of my dorm room and, when I shut the door behind us, he stayed.
“You have the strangest personality,” he mused behind me.
“No. I just have one,” I said, turning on my heels.
Chapter Seven – Devon
It was the second time she’d left me staring after her, blinking in her wake as she walked away from me. The second time in one goddamn day.
She was right about something. She definitely did have a personality. I mean, first, she gave me the vibe that she wasn’t going to give me the benefit of the doubt, no matter how hard I tried in bio lab, and now? Now, she got me interested in talking to her, only to leave me hanging at the last second.
There was something about her though. Something about her that I couldn’t quite place. It intrigued me.
I shook my head, smirking as I watched her disappear down the hall and into the stairwell. She really was a strange one, and for some reason, a part of me was really looking forward to getting to know her.
Catching up to Kara was hard to do, not because of where she was, but because she was already three shots and two beers in by the time I found her. But luckily for me, once I caught up, it meant a good time was waiting upstairs for us.
The music had basically been drowned out by the door, surprisingly, and it was actually quiet enough to hear each other and hear her disappointment just after grabbing hold of my cock.
“Do we need to do this another time?” she asked, and as soon as I realized what she was talking about, I felt like I’d just died and gone to hell.
What the fuck was happening?!
I wasn’t hard!
“Just give it a minute,” I said, closing my eyes, hoping to get into the moment.
But, that moment never came.
“It’s the alcohol,” I stammered, feeling embarrassed for the first time in my entire life.
What was going on? Was my body actually rejecting someone as hot as Kara?
***
I staggered down the stairs, still feeling hammered beyond belief. Kara was pissed, but I didn’t care. I was going to let her blow off steam while I went and enjoyed the party. I didn’t for the life of me know why I couldn’t get it up. I’d never had that issue before. But all I could do was hope that it was the alcohol, and get my mind off of it.
As I descended the stairs, I heard yelling. An argument.
My pace quickened, although the wooden steps of the staircase hadn’t quite come into full focus as of yet, and the room was spinning. I could barely even stand, hell, I couldn’t even get an erection, but somehow I was running down stairs. Go figure. I guess I just really wanted to see what was going on. As soon as the living room came into view, though, my breath caught in my throat.
Aaron…
I stood by, cringing, not really knowing what to do or say as I watched my large fraternity brother, Roger, looming over him with death daggers directed right at him. His short blonde hair was spiked on end, and it almost gave the same impression as a dog’s hair spiked on its back when it was displaying aggression.
Roger was a hot head. I knew that from the first moment I met him, and I couldn’t believe Aaron had already had some sort of altercation with him. It was still early; and beyond that, this was Aaron.
Skinny, nerdy, stay to himself Aaron. What the hell could he have possibly done?
“Come on, you pussy…” Roger, said aggressively before pushing my skinny ex-roommate backwards. I had almost forgotten him that I invited him in the first place. Had I remembered, I probably would have been hanging out with him all night trying to get him laid. He needed it. God did he… He’d always been so wound up. And now, watching this terrible display, only made me wish that I had been near him to keep him in check.
“I’m not fighting you,” Aaron said quietly, holding his hands up.
“Because you’re a puss!” Roger pushed him again.
“Rog – calm down,” a blonde girl behind him said just barely over the music, which had been lowered, I noticed. Probably so that everyone could hear the stupid argument.
“Not when this little bitch thinks he can tell me what to do!” His face was contorted in nothing short of pure anger.
I took one step forward, wondering how the hell I could stop it all without drawing too much attention to my soft spot for the least popular guy in the room.
“All I said was that you couldn’t drive her home like that!” Aaron yelled. “What is wrong with that?”
“You’re being a fucking cockblock, bro!” Roger said. “But I guess a little bitch like you wouldn’t understand that!”
Another brother, Steven, pushed through the crowd just to slam his hands on Aaron’s chest, causing him to lose balance and fall backwards, right on his ass. “Go home and stop making trouble, bitch!” he yelled, clearly only coming to the defense of his brother. It was obvious he had no clue of what had transpired. I wasn’t sure anyone did, really. All they could do was erupt in laughter, making fun of poor Aaron.
I felt a knot well up in my stomach just before I cringed again. I felt my body instinctively walked over to his fallen form, as if I was going to help him up, somehow, but the logical part of me stopped me.
I couldn’t.
I knew that I’d never live it down if I helped him up; if I stuck up for him.
I turned on my heel, ready to walk away from him and the entire situation.
“Dev!” Roger bellowed, and I immediately grimaced. “Can you believe this fucking little bitch that you brought here? He said you invited him!”
I groaned and turned to face Roger. Aaron had made his way to his feet and walked toward me. “Yeah, Devon, can you believe what you brought here…” he sighed, his head hanging low. His shirt was stretched out around the neck, and I could tell that someone had been gripping ahold of it. Even his short, buzzed hair, was even messed up. I didn’t even know that was possible.
“Let’s just get back to the party, guys!” I yelled. “Hey, Mike!” Mike was the resident DJ. “Crank that shit up!” And so he did, and within seconds, Roger and all the other brothers and crowd forgot about whatever was happening. Roger was making out with his chick, Steven was already drinking another beer and everyone was dancing.
“You’re better than this, Dev…” Aaron said, almost judgmentally as he walked over to me.
“Excuse me?” I scoffed. “He’s just drunk.”
“It’s not about that loser. It’s about you being in here with them, acting like all of them. You’re better than the life you’re leading. You’re a good guy, whether you believe it or not.” He shook his head and tried to move passed me, but I guess he forgot that I was double his size. All it took was one sidestep in his direction to stop him.
“What the hell are you even talking about? You don’t know me. Don’t pretend like you do.”
“And they do? We may not be roommates anymore and we may not have been roommates for long, but I feel like the real you is someone I wouldn’t mind being friends with. And I don’t say that about a lot of people.”
I chugged the drink almost as quickly as I’d poured it.
Where did he get off saying that kinds of shit to me?
And where the hell was Kara?
Chapter Eight – Callie
The sound of girly, wailing, squeals filled the halls of my dorm as I walked toward the elevator. It was rush night. All the plastic clones were giddy with the excitement of the unknown. Which sorority were they going to be in? Which sisterhood would they be a part of for the rest of their lives? All that bullshit. It had been a non-stop snooze-fest on my part, hearing Lindsey go on and on and on about her hair, her clothes, her make-up, her this, her that – so on and so forth until she’d left that night.
I’d zoned out earlier if I was being honest. I really couldn’t have cared less.
“Okay, Lindsey,” I had finally said, “I really don’t get into any of this, so I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “I guess we just don’t have anything in common.”
We really didn’t, and I wasn’t about to argue with her. So instead, I’d decided to read my biology book until she was ready to go. I was actually looking forward to a quiet night in with the dorm being deserted and all, but when all that was left was Devon and I in my room, I realized that I wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of dodge.
I couldn’t help but look at him and get pissed off at myself.
He was an idiot.
But somehow, I still felt a heat develop deep within me; one that I couldn’t quite understand.
So, the library seemed like a good option.
Sinking into a corner off by myself, and allowing the quiet to just sort of take hold of me, seemed like the best deal ever. But that’s not what ended up happening.
Instead of quiet, I encountered something pretty much the complete opposite. It was like a frat party in the library with meat-head guys crowding around, tossing paper wads, cheering, jeering, and carrying on like total idiots.
I should have stayed in my dorm room. I mean, it was like a frat party was going on in the library! The one place that was supposed to be a sanctuary! Where the hell was the staff!?
I growled and leaned in closer to my physics book. The homework assignment was giving me a little more trouble than I had initially thought it would. Physics was usually easy for me. That’s why I’d waited until after studying biology to even look at it.
And now I was basically in full panic mode, realizing it was due the next day. I couldn’t focus enough to even so much as hear m
yself think.
A hand brushed my forearm. My head snapped up away from my book, and I groaned as soon as I saw him. There he was. His cocky smirk plastered all over his face. “Have you seen Kara?” he whispered, leaning down to my level.
“No point in whispering,” I grumbled. “Your friends are making this place loud as hell.”
“My friends?” he asked, chuckling.
“Clearly, they’re your kind.” I reached my fingertips to my temples and massaged myself in small, circular motions. “Seriously, was the TKE party moved here?”
He smiled, his eyes growing wide for a moment as he stood up so that he was looking back at me. “My kind?” he asked, almost offended. “What does that mean?”
“Partiers.” I sighed and looked back at my book, ignoring him.
“Seriously,” he said, just before flipping my book closed, “what does that even mean?”
I glared up at him, hoping I had daggers in my eyes. “What are you doing?” I snapped.
“I asked a question–” he trailed. “And, have you seen Kara?”
“No, why would I have seen your girlfriend? She’s probably rushing a stupid sorority! Or at the party you guys were supposed to be going to!” I snapped my book back open a little more forcefully than I probably should have.
“She’s not my girlfriend, and no, she left the party–” his voice trailed off as if he was thinking about something, but he didn’t budge from his spot.
I thought to myself for a second. Hadn’t Kara called Devon her boyfriend? And, hadn’t his tongue just been down her throat? I mean, I knew it wasn’t a necessity to be dating everyone you snagged, but I assumed by the possessiveness Kara had displayed that they’d been dating for a while.
Guess I was wrong.
I groaned and tried to ignore the fact that he was standing there – lingering around, hovering over me like a fucking fly that just wouldn’t leave – but I couldn’t.
His buzz was too obnoxious. Although he was silent in all reality, the silence was almost deafening. And fucking awkward.
