by R. M. Lynn
My arm drops, and my eyes trail down her body. “I shouldn’t,” I murmur. “You’ve had a lot to drink. I’d be a hypocrite if I went in with you, as much as I want to.”
She nods and turns back to her door, sticking her key into the deadbolt. She pulls the keys back and tosses them back into her purse. When her hand goes to her doorknob, I stun the both of us when my hand grabs her bicep gently. I swallow, hesitate, and watch her hurricane eyes search mine.
“What did you say your name was?” I finally ask.
She bites her lip as a smile forms, and she murmurs, “Alivia. With an A, not an O.”
I grin and give her a nod. “Well, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of each other, Alivia with an A, not an O.”
“Maybe we will,” she replies with a grin.
I release her arm and watch her dip into her apartment. She spares me one more smile before closing the door behind her. I stare at it momentarily. Cursing myself, I turn away. Why the fuck didn’t I take her up on the offer? She was willing to give me everything that I wanted to gain out of the night out. Pondering it further, though, I knew it would end in regret for both parties. I couldn’t hop into bed with a girl who couldn’t even make it up the steps without my help. My mother would fucking kill me if she ever found out I did such a thing. And, trust me, she’d find out. She’d go on an endless rant, too. I could almost hear it in my head already.
“Kyler Michael Parks, you were raised better than that,” she’d say.
I walk the five feet from her door to apartment 3C. As I fish my keys from my pocket, I bite back a grin once more. Yeah, I’d be seeing Alivia with an A around quite a bit. Maybe I’d even help her home again. That’s what neighbors are for, right?
◆◆◆
Chapter Two
Alivia
Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Want to Have Fun screams from my phone, jolting me out of a deep sleep. I sit up quickly, my head immediately protesting, and I reach to my nightstand and fumble with the device until Cyndi’s voice is no longer filling my bedroom. Laying back down, I scroll through all the alerts. My roommate texted a few times, but upon further investigation, it seems she began to ignore me at some point in the night. There was a text sent to me at two in the morning to tell me she was back in the apartment and didn’t want to wake me. When I see the number seven next to Scott’s name, I cringe and toss my phone to the foot of my bed, the screen dark against the pale pink of my bedspread.
I squint down at my legs, just now noticing I’m still in the clothes I wore from the night before. My memory is fuzzy, and at the moment, the last thing I remember was having my third drink after taking an unknown amount of shots with Mackenzie. My hand goes to my head to find a rat nest of hair.
“My head,” I groan to myself as I lift my aching body out of bed.
I stumble out of my room and across the hall to the bathroom. Thankfully, Mackenzie isn’t in there. I shuffle in, locking the door behind me, and immediately strip. Yanking the shower curtain open, I crank the shower on, and I move back to the sink. I look at myself in the mirror as the steam begins to fill the small space, fogging the reflective glass in front of me. My makeup is smeared causing me to resemble a raccoon hooker, if there is such a thing. I bite my lip as I recall this past weekend.
I hadn’t planned on going out the night before classes began. However, when you’re left with a bomb blowing up life as you know it, what better way to get over it, right? Okay, that’s dramatic. After all, it was only an inkling, but nonetheless, I was unsure how to react. I had mistakenly grabbed Scott’s phone when I heard the ping of a message coming through the night before last, thinking it was mine. When I spotted the text message from a girl by the name of Indigo, I had immediately put the phone back on the coffee table. When Scott had returned back from the bathroom, I feigned a headache, and, thankfully, he left. Mackenzie suggested we go out to this party in order for me to not think about it. She said it would give me a chance to decide if single life was for me or not. The guy she was talking to was renting the house with some friends, and he invited her along. I decided to ignore Scott for the entire night and tried to have as much fun as I could. As far as I can remember, I had a great time, which was a good thing.
I step into the shower, relishing in the steaming water hitting my face and shoulders. I wanted to take my time, but knowing I have class in an hour, I decide this shower needs to be a quick one. Once out of the shower and wrapped in a towel, I comb out my hair and do it into a braid down my back. After brushing my teeth, I take one more look into the mirror.
“Your boyfriend could be cheating on you,” I mumble to myself. “It’s time to face that shit.” I sigh. “School is more important, though. Let’s focus on that.”
I roll my eyes at myself before heading back to my bedroom. I had been with Scott for eight months. We met at a party neither of us had an interest in being at in the first place. However, we hit it off. Laughing and chatting in the corner, we made a connection. When the night was over, he asked me to coffee. Coffee dates quickly turned into lunch dates and then dinner dates. Soon, we were a full-blown couple, and I was so happy with him. I hope for the sake of everything that I’m just overeating. Perhaps, I misread the text. I sigh to myself as I yank open my closet doors. Or perhaps, maybe I didn’t.
I throw on a Coldplay t-shirt and my favorite ripped, blue jeans. I add my black booties and debate on whether to wear my glasses or put in my contacts. Feeling like I just want to hide my face from the world, mostly Scott, I decide to slide the black framed glasses onto my face. As I’m packing up my backpack, I can hear Mackenzie moving around in the kitchen down the small hallway. Grabbing my things, I head out into the living room. Mackenzie beams at me from across the small table that separates the living room and kitchen.
“Good morning, sunshine, you look darling,” she says overly cheery.
“How are you this chipper right now?” I ask with a laugh. “Did you not come home at two?”
She rolls her eyes and replies, “It’s nine now. That’s…” She pauses to do the math, making me bite my lip to hold in a giggle. “That’s seven hours of sleep, which is close enough to eight.”
I watch her pour us each a mug of coffee. She brings one over to me as I plop myself onto the couch.
“Thank you,” I tell her with a smile.
She grins back and hums as she heads back into the kitchen to scrounge around in the refrigerator. I met Mackenzie at our freshmen orientation. She was the first person to talk to me, and we remained friends even though we stayed in different dorms. We decided our sophomore year to move into a four-bedroom apartment with two other girls we met throughout our first year, but this being our junior year at Edgewood University, we decided to move into a two-bedroom for ourselves.
As I sip from my mug, I decide now is as good a time as any to check the messages from Scott.
Scott: Hey where have you been?
Scott: Liv, where are you?
Scott: I haven’t heard from you all day. Can we talk?
Scott: You’re starting to piss me off.
I roll my eyes at that one. If only he knew.
Scott: Look, whatever I did, I’m sorry. Call me.
Scott: You’re at a party? WTF, Liv?
Scott: We need to talk!
Damn Mackenzie and her obsessive need to post everything and anything she does all over social media. I sigh and type out a quick message to Scott telling him that if he wants to talk we can meet for lunch that afternoon. I stuff the phone into my backpack and stand as I make a glance at the time on the stove.
“We should get going if we want to find a parking spot and make it to classes on time,” I say to my roommate.
Mackenzie glances at the time and immediately begins to scramble around the kitchen. She shoves a piece of toast in her mouth and waves her hand at me.
“You go to the car, I’ll be right there,” she shouts to me as she heads down the hallway to her room. “I have to
pack my bag still!”
I hold back a sigh and sling my backpack over my shoulders. I decide to do as I’m told and wait for her at her car in the lot three floors down. I’m glancing down at my feet, heading toward the staircase, when I slam into something hard. My glasses fall off of my face and crash onto the ground.
“Fucking great,” I snap.
“Fuck, sorry about that,” the brick wall I slammed into replies and bends down as I go to retrieve my glasses.
Our fingers brush, but he reaches the glasses first and lifts them up as we stand straight. My cheeks flame as he slides them over my nose. Instinctively, I smack his hands away.
“I’m capable of putting my glasses on by myself, thanks,” I shoot at him and finally get the courage to look up at him. “You’re lucky they didn’t break.”
“You’re totally right, my bad,” he says with a smirk.
My eyes are immediately drawn to his lips and then up to his hazel eyes. They look greener with the dark green tint of his t-shirt. As soon as our eyes meet, his smile broadens, and I’m hit with memories from the night before.
“Oh, God,” I mumbled to myself, my cheeks flaming all over again, the warmth spreading down to my neck and chest.
“No, it’s Kyler, but girls like to call me that, too,” he teases, and despite my embarrassment I still roll my eyes at him.
“Clever,” I retort. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get going.”
“Sure thing,” he chuckles out and steps aside so I can access the stairs. I halt two steps down as he adds, “By the way, I think I deserve at least a thank you for getting your drunk ass home last night unharmed.”
Looking over my shoulder at him, I force out a “thanks” and hurry back down the steps. I heave out a sigh and fan my face with my hand, willing the heat of embarrassment to dissipate.
“Thanks? That’s all you could say?” I groan quietly to myself. “Nice, Liv, real nice.”
I’m leaning against the passenger side door of Mackenzie’s Ford Focus for only about thirty seconds when I see Kyler coming down the stairs with two other guys. The three of them are some of the most attractive people I’ve ever seen. I can’t deny, however, that Kyler is the most attractive to me. He’s tall, much taller than my five-seven stature. He’s probably about six-one or two. The other two with him are just as tall. His light brown hair is short around the sides and a bit longer on top, which he seems to like to run his hand through based on watching him for the mere seconds I have been. His jeans are dark and fitted, and on his feet are black boots with the ties done messily, like he didn’t care to retie them. I can see the muscles straining under his shirt as he moves, and I can’t help but drool a little at the sight of his arms.
I recognize one of the guys next to him from the night before. He’s not as broad as Kyler, but he’s definitely hiding something under his thin, white t-shirt. I watch as he nudges Kyler’s shoulder with his hand while saying something, which in turn causes all three of them to laugh.
What a sight, I think to myself.
They’re beautiful. All three of them. I watch as the third one pulls car keys from his back pocket and leads the pack to a parked Dodge Challenger. He’s dressed similarly to the other two. He’s tall and built like them, but while Kyler and the other from last night have darker hair, he has a dark blonde. I look at the ground as they pile into the car, music blaring when it’s started. Mackenzie comes barreling down the stairs not a moment later just as the crew pulls out of the parking spot and out of the lot.
“Ready to go?” she asks when she reaches me, breathless.
I smile and pull open the car door. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
We get onto campus and find a parking spot relatively quickly compared to past attempts. Parking is one of the worst things about living off campus. But with more freedom comes more sacrifices, I suppose. With some extra time to spare, Mackenzie and I stop at a small café to grab ourselves some more caffeinated drinks. Cups in hand, and Mackenzie’s other wrapped around a muffin, we make our way to the center of campus where most of the lecture rooms are held in limestone buildings.
“So, did you have fun last night?” Mackenzie asks as we walk past a group of anxious freshmen looking up where their classes are located on their phones. “Also, how did you get home? I’m so sorry about losing you, by the way. My phone totally died, and I had to wait for Tanner to get back from the liquor store so I could make my move.”
“I think I had fun with or without you. But I’m slowly remembering that I was a complete disaster,” I tell her before taking a sip of the warm coffee. “Literally, Mack, I’m pretty sure I threw up in Tanner’s bathroom with some stranger there to hold my hair.”
“Well, at least she was being a girl’s girl,” she replies with a causal shrug as if vomiting in stranger’s homes is a regular past time for most.
I shake my head at her and say, “No, Mack, it wasn’t a girl. It was a boy. No, scratch that. It was a man. A full-blown man.”
She grins like the Cheshire cat, and hums happily. “Ooh, a man. Was he hot?”
I sigh, catching myself before it comes out sounding too dreamily. “He was so hot. He is so hot. Worse, Mack? I’m pretty sure he might be our neighbor.”
Her eyes widen. “No. You’re kidding.” Then she bursts out laughing. “Only you, Livy, only you.”
I roll my eyes and give her a gentle shove in the shoulder. I then recall the night to her and cringe when I have to repeat the telling of my throwing myself at him before puking my guts my out. Now that he may or may not be my neighbor, how am I going to explain myself to him? I’ll have to see a lot more of him, and I’m too mortified to even apologize. How can I tell him that last night wasn’t an accurate representation of myself without actually having to look him in the eyes to do it?
“And now, he probably thinks I do this every weekend,” I sigh out to Mackenzie.
“Who cares?” she snaps back. “He’s a neighbor, not anything more.”
She’s right, of course. So, for now, I can let it go. He’s just some guy, and I’m being sensitive.
“So, besides the dramatics with the neighbor, have you decided what you’re going to do about Scott?” Mackenzie asks me as we near Carson Hall. “Please tell me you’ve decided to dump his ass.”
I shrug and say, “I don’t know yet. I told him we can meet for lunch today, so hopefully it’ll work itself out. I’m not sure if confronting him is the right thing to do. I could’ve misread the situation.”
Mackenzie groans as she hefts open the door of the building leading us inside with staircases on either side of us. “Liv, I just don’t think this is a situation you want to be in.”
I brush her off with a wave of my hand and mutter, “I’ll get it figured out.”
She gives my arm a pat before saying, “I’m on the fourth floor. It’s a smaller class. Will I see you after?”
“I have a class right after this one across the way. I’ll text you after my meeting with Scott, ok?”
She nods, flashes me a smile, and hurries up the staircase on the right. Her blonde hair moving with her as she takes quick steps up. Sometimes, I find myself envying her. Her blonde, straight hair is always perfect. She’s always putting effort into her clothing and makeup, whereas I just put just enough effort in to not look like I just rolled out of bed.
I shift my backpack and head down the staircase and head down the wide hallway decorated with photos of musical showcases and awards associated. I push the doors open to the large lecture hall, one of two in Carson Hall. I take a breath and keep my head down as I take a few steps down into the lecture hall to find an empty seat. This is a class I’ve been excited about taking. This songwriting class is advanced and designated for upperclassmen. Majoring in music with a concentration in composition and songwriting, the class is a requirement, but I don’t mind it. I hear the professor is great, and I’m excited to show off some of my talent through the mandatory projects she supposedly
gives the class.
I take a seat at the end of a row near the back, but close enough to make it easier to pay attention. The seats on either side of me remain empty, which I’m slightly grateful for. I enjoy my personal space, and these lecture rooms tend to be overly cramped. I’m slightly early, but as the clock ticks to five minutes until class begins, the room begins to fill up. Fifty students in seats and then close to a hundred. I know this because the lecture room supposedly seats one hundred and twenty students.
I’m looking at my laptop as it’s turning on when I hear chatter behind me. Deep voices chuckling and bantering back and forth. When a large body sits in the seat next to me, I shift slightly to my right in order to give myself some space.
“Are you following me?” a deep voice suddenly asks.
I scowl and look up. Immediately, I regret the decision when my eyes connect with hazel ones. Slamming my eyes closed, I take a calming breath.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I mumble.
“I wouldn’t joke about stalking, sweetheart,” Kyler says with a chuckle.
“Why are you here?” I snap, opening my eyes.
He shrugs and replies casually with, “Well, it’s a requirement. I’m pretty decent at the subject, so I figure it’s about time I get it over with.”
I roll my eyes and retort, “Not in the class. I mean, why are you here, next to me?”
His smile is mocking. “No other seats left. I would’ve been here earlier if we didn’t have to stop and pick up a buddy on the way into campus.”
“Who is we?” The words fly out my mouth before I can stop them.
“Me and the guys,” he tells me and dips his head back slightly to gesture to three guys behind us.
“The guys,” I repeat lowly. “There’re more of you.” I point out exactly what I already know. Two of the guys are the ones I saw this morning in the parking lot, and the other is who I assume is the buddy they had to pick up on their way in. While earlier I was practically drooling at the sight of him and his friends, his constant presence only fuels the embarrassment of last night. This in turn fuels my annoyance. Especially since I know he’s just trying to get some sort of reaction from me.