by M L Sparrow
“Damn it, I thought you’d say your favourite colour was the shade of my eyes,” he joked, batting his eyelashes at her. “Come on,” he grinned at her after a moment, reaching out to gently tug at a loose strand of hair, “that was funny.”
“Sorry,” she murmured, trying to muster a smile.
“Don’t bother fakin’ it.” He leant his head back against the wall, closing his eyes as if settling in for a long stay.
“You can go if you want,” she suggested.
“Nah, I’m good here,” he replied without even bothering to open his eyes.
“Surely you have better things to do? You could go hang out with the others, you know, in your own room.”
“I prefer it here.” He wiggled slightly, making himself comfortable, and crossed his arms over his broad chest.
“Seriously,” she shoved at his leg, scowling, “get off my bed and leave. I want some alone time. I like to be alone.”
One hazel eye opened to glare at her. “Bullshit. Don’t lie to me.”
For a moment she was too shocked to say anything, and then she felt her cheeks heating. He could read her like a damn book!
Sliding off the bed, Parker stretched his arms up over his head, wincing slightly as he did so. “I’ll go,” he conceded, “but I’m not buyin’ your reasons.” At the door, he paused with one foot out in the hallway, “If you need me, you have my number.”
As he closed the door behind him, Chloe reached over to the bedside table, where she’d placed her phone. Picking up the slim device, she turned it over in her hands, remembering that Parker had taken it last night to program in his number. Now that he was gone, she suddenly felt very lonely. Putting her phone back down, her fingers brushed the frame which held the photo of her and Jack and she felt a familiar pang in her chest. Though familiar, it still hurt like hell, as if someone had shoved a knife into her heart and twisted it to cause maximum pain. The breath hitched in her lungs.
Feeling the panic attack coming, she scrambled to the edge of the bed and sat bent double, with her head between her knees, forcing herself to breathe deeply until it passed.
When Riley returned late that evening, Chloe pretended to be asleep, curled up beneath the sheets, with music playing softly in the background and her hot water bottle hugged tight to her chest, making her sweat. Rolo sat on the pillow beside her head, but none of it was of any comfort.
Having only turned on her own bedside lamp, Riley clonked around in the semi-darkness, getting ready for bed. She must have stubbed her toe, because she swore through gritted teeth, hopping around, but Chloe still couldn’t summon the energy to say anything.
She felt the same way the next morning, but the bright light that flooded the room when Riley threw open the curtains forced her out of bed. “What time is it?” she asked groggily.
“Eight,” Riley answered. “Are you feeling better?”
“Yeah,” she lied, pushing back the covers and sitting up, scrubbing her face with both hands, before scraping her hair back into a messy bun.
“Good. In that case, get your butt out of bed, we’re going to explore.”
Reluctantly, Chloe did as she was told. A quick shower washed away the lingering sleep, but not the vague sense of detachment. It would be gone by the end of the day, she knew from experience, however, the feeling still terrified her deep down, because what if she didn’t snap out of it? Was this depression? Was she losing it?
Finding a pair of denim shorts and an old top, she pushed her feet into a pair of trainers and proclaimed herself ready to go.
Riley looked at her dubiously for a moment. “Don’t you want to put some makeup on? Or at least brush your hair?”
She shrugged. “Nah, it’s fine.”
“But you don’t know who we might meet…” Riley argued, but Chloe was already out in the hallway, heading towards the stairwell.
As it turned out, Riley’s idea of exploring meant shopping in the nearby town, which was only a short drive away from campus in Riley’s little convertible, which happened to be bright pink. Though the car was cute, Riley’s driving was absolutely terrifying.
When they arrived, the mall was already full of students enjoying their last day of freedom, most of them cloistered around tables in the food court or walking around weighed down with bags.
“So, what do you need?” Chloe asked.
“Nothing particular,” Riley answered blithely, peering into a shop window. “That skirt’s cute, let’s go in here.”
“Why are we shopping if you don’t need anything?”
“You sound like my sister. Shopping’s fun!”
Pressing her lips together to hide her smile, Chloe rolled her eyes without a word and followed Riley into the shop and around the aisles as she collected a mountain of clothes, which she then proceeded to take into the dressing rooms.
After giving a little fashion show, she brought all of the clothes she’d picked out and then they headed towards the cosmetics department, where Riley used her as a life-sized doll to try out various types of makeup. She did a good job to be fair, but the sales assistants looked less than pleased. They got over it quickly enough when Riley went and brought a truck load of products.
“You’re a shopaholic,” Chloe accused as they sat down with a fruit smoothie each from a nearby stand.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Riley grinned over the top of her plastic cup, before taking a slurp of the shocking green liquid.
Chloe stirred her own drink, a more sedate vanilla colour, and then took a small sip, tasting banana. “So, did you get everything you wanted?”
Laughing, Riley reached over the table to pat her hand consolingly. “Oh, poor baby, you think we’re done. How wrong you are! This was just the first quarter.”
Her face must have dropped because Riley laughed once more, throwing her head back, causing several guys at the next table to look over. Noticing the attention, her friend’s smile widened and she flicked back her hair.
The guy’s turned to talk amongst themselves, before three of them pushed back their chairs and sauntered over. Clustering around their table, the guys grinned down at them. It was actually kind of creepy, Chloe thought.
“Hi, I’m Joey, these are Derek and Kel. Mind if we hang with you for a bit?”
Flashing the tall, dark haired guy who’d spoken a flirtatious smile, Riley answered before Chloe could even open her mouth. “Go ahead, some company would be nice.”
“Cool.” Joey clapped his hands together and sat on the only spare chair at the table, whilst his friends dragged more over. “So, do you girls have names?”
Chloe rolled her eyes; of course they had names, they hadn’t gone this long without them.
“More importantly,” the one with reddish-brown hair butted in – she thought it was Derek – “are you single?”
“I’m Riley and this is my roommate Chloe, and yes, as a matter of fact, we’re both single.”
“Didn’t I see you dancing with Parker Mitchell the other night?” Joey asked with a frown, studying her face closely. The other guy’s heads whipped around to look at her too.
“Yes, but there’s nothing going on between us,” Chloe admitted.
Joey still didn’t look convinced, but Derek didn’t seem to care, instead he exclaimed, “Great accent. Where you from?”
“England.”
His face screwed up. “I’ve got an aunt from New England, but she don’t talk like that.”
For a moment her mind went blank and her brows drew together, but thankfully, she didn’t have to say anything, because Joey hit the back of his friends’ head and snapped, “Not New England, you idiot. Britain.”
“How was I supposed to know that?” he flushed, rubbing the back of his head.
“Idiot,” Joey repeated.
Across the table, Riley caught her eye, biting her lip to hold back her hysterics, shoulders shaking. Ducking her head, Chloe hid her own smile.
They spent the rest of the day with the
guys; Joel and Riley appeared to be getting quite cosy, which left Chloe with Derek and Kel, which was awkward to say the least. Derek talked non-stop, but most of what came out of his mouth was complete nonsense, whereas Kel barely spoke a word to her.
By the time they returned to their room, Chloe was glad to be rid of them. Kicking off her shoes, she dropped the bags she was carrying and flung herself onto her bed. Sitting next to her, Riley crossed her legs.
“Isn’t Joey great?” she gushed.
Opening one eye, Chloe peered up at her, but didn’t say anything. Personally, she thought he was a bit of a dick and he smelt kind of funky, but she didn’t feel like she knew Riley well enough yet to be brutally honest.
Luckily though, Riley didn’t require an answer; she just breezed straight on. “He’s taking me to a party on Friday night, to celebrate the first week of school being over. I might wear the little black dress I brought today, or maybe the blue one. You know the one with the lace? And those dangly earrings.”
Chloe zoned out for a while as Riley chattered about her wardrobe choices, but when her friend said, “Derek likes you,” she snapped to attention.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
Seeing the excited gleam in Riley’s copper coloured eyes, she shook her head. “Don’t get any ideas. I’m definitely not interested in Derek.”
“Because of Parker…?”
If she’d been wearing waders and towing around a fishing rod, she couldn’t have been more obvious. “Quit fishing,” she frowned, “and it has nothing to do with Parker. Derek’s just not my type.”
“That’s fair enough,” she shrugged, “he is a bit slow.” She tapped the side of her head to make her meaning clear. “But very hot. He has nice biceps.”
Closing her eyes again, Chloe brought an arm up to cover them. “Riley, I’m seriously not looking for a boyfriend. I just want to focus on school.”
“Classes aren’t the only thing that’s important. You need to have the whole college experience: parties, friends, boys.”
“And I will, but I don’t feel the need to cram it all into the first week.”
“Fine,” Riley sighed, bouncing off the bed and beginning to pull clothes out of bags.
A few minutes later, she heard a phone beep. Coincidently, they both had the same message tone, but Chloe’s phone was in her pocket and she hadn’t felt it vibrate. Propping herself up on her elbows, she watched as Riley read and typed a quick response.
Looking up, she caught her looking and grinned. “Get your shoes back on, we’re meeting the others.”
Chapter Eight
The first few days of class were pretty uneventful and laidback – being in the third year there were few people in his classes that he didn’t already know, except for a transfer here or there, but the professors still insisted that they spend the first class of the term getting to know their fellow classmates. Though he found those exercises ridiculous, he was dreading getting down to the hard-core stuff. He’d barely scraped through last year and he couldn’t afford to fall behind; his football scholarship was dependent upon him keeping his grades up.
On Friday, Parker shouldered his rucksack as he walked towards the dorms after his last class of the day, glad it was all over for a couple of days. Next week, the real lessons would begin. He should probably get in some studying so that he didn’t start the term too far behind everyone else, but he hadn’t seen Chloe since Monday night. None of their classes coincided and he was dying for a glimpse of her. It was pathetic, but he dreamt of her, like a horny bloody teenager, and they hadn’t even had sex.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, the first thing he did was text Jet to ask if he and Terri were hanging with Riley, since Chloe usually tagged along with her roommate.
Jet saw right through him, replying with, WE’RE GOING TO THE BETA PARTY. DON’T KNOW IF CHLOE’S COMING.
Going back to his room, he chucked his rucksack on the floor by the door. After Chloe’s comment about him being a slob, he’d made an effort to tidy up a bit, but it was stacking up again. Changed into a pair of grey sweats, he decided to hit the gym to clear his head before they went out tonight.
Inside the gym, it smelt like sweat and hard work. Pop-music played over the sounds of people talking and machinery whirring. Walking past the bikes, he also bypassed the running machines – if he wanted to run he’d do it properly and go outside – ending up at the weights, where he found Dawson.
“Hey,” his friend panted, arms trembling slightly as he lowered the weights back into the cradle.
“Should you be lifting that much?”
“It’s fine,” he huffed.
“You’re gonna kill yourself one day,” Parker warned, even as he set the weights on the bench next to him and lay down.
By the time he’d been there an hour, he was dripping with sweat, his arms were burning and Dawson had managed to muscle his way to coming to the party with them tonight.
There was about an hour before he was due to meet the others, so he took his time heading back to his room, grabbing a burger on the way and eating it as he walked, watching the guys playing ball on the quad. Several of the girls, who were also watching, turned to wave at him as he went past, but he didn’t bother to wave back.
In his room, Parker had a quick shower and scrubbed his teeth, before digging out the least scruffy pair of jeans he owned, along with his only button down shirt. Jet had come back while he was in the shower and was now tapping furiously at his laptop, leaning forward until his nose almost touched the screen.
“Dude, we’ve only got ten minutes, don’t you need to get ready?”
Lifting a hand, Jet waved it vaguely at him, “Yeah, yeah, just a minute.”
Rolling his eyes, because there was no talking to Jet when he was feeling inspired, Parker found his shoes under the bed and when the minutes ticked by, he stood up and told his roommate to meet them at the party before leaving.
Walking over to Willow, he knocked on Terri’s door first, because she was on the first floor. Emerging from the room in a short black dress that clung to her like a second skin and sky-high heels, Terri’s sharp gaze instantly went over his shoulder.
“Where’s Jet?” she asked with a small frown.
“He was totally out of it, so I left him.”
Understanding immediately lit her eyes, along with disappointment. He wondered if Jet was the reason she was all dressed up when she usually just wore jeans and a tank-top. Maybe she was trying to win back his attention, since he’d been so fascinated by her sister lately.
“I’ll go see him.”
“Don’t bother, it’ll only take him longer. Let’s go get Chloe and Riley.”
“You think I’m walking up the stairs in these heels?” she snorted derisively. “Yeah, right. Just text them to come down.”
“Don’t be bitchy, Terri, it’s not pretty. Wait out front if you want.”
Leaving Terri in the hallway, he tramped up the stairs to the sixth floor. Riley answered almost as soon as he knocked, standing framed in the doorway looking like a runaway model, all bare legs and a mane of light brown hair. Sure, she was striking, but it wasn’t her he was itching to see.
“You almost ready?” Riley called over her shoulder.
“Just a sec,” Chloe’s muffled reply came from the bathroom.
A minute later she appeared and Parker craned his neck to get a glimpse of her around Riley’s body. Taller than Riley, she was almost his height in heels, so he wouldn’t have to stoop down to kiss her if the chance arose. And that dress…
Whistling low, he pushed his hands into his pockets. “Looking good, ladies.”
“Damn right we do,” Riley exclaimed, strutting out into the hall, patting his chest as she passed.
Shutting the door, Chloe glanced at him, before concentrating on putting her keys back in her bag. Parker took the opportunity to look her up and down. Unlike the first dress he’d seen her in, this one was silky,
green and tied around the neck. Whereas the other had been skin tight, this one flared from the waist down to the tops of her knees and she seemed far more comfortable in it. It left more to the imagination, which he both loved and hated, but it also pushed up her tits. He was more of an ass guy himself, but he could appreciate a nice pair of breasts.
Looking up, she caught him staring. He couldn’t very well pretend he hadn’t been, so he grinned and said, “Lovin’ the dress.”
“Thanks,” she murmured uncertainly after a moment.
“It’s just a compliment, sugar, no need to look so worried.” Moving to her side, he put a hand on her back, making her jump, and gave her a gentle push to get her moving. As they navigated the stairs, Chloe hanging onto the handrail for dear life as she teetered along, Parker asked, “So how was your first week?”
Instantly, he saw her eyes light up as she answered, “It’s been good. All my teachers seem really nice and the syllabus looks interesting. I can’t wait to really get starting. I mean, I worked so hard to get here, so it feels great to finally be getting down to it.”
“You’re here on a scholarship, right?”
“Yeah. You’ve got a football one too, haven’t you? So, is that what you want to do, be a football player?”
“It seems as good a career as any. It’s the only thing I’m good at.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” she said, touching his arm lightly.
“Well, I’m pretty good at sex too…”
Immediately her hand fell away and she shot him a chiding look, but didn’t try to carry on the conversation, instead turning her focus to getting down the last flight of stairs safely. He didn’t offer to help her, though he wanted to, since he already knew she’d say no; she was trying to keep him at arms length. Inwardly, he grinned to himself, it wasn’t going to work.
Outside the building, they found Terri leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. “What took you guys so long?” she griped, pushing away from the wall and walking off in the direction of Beta house. The three of them shared a look before following her.
What had crawled up her ass?
