by K L Wood
R: Yes.
T: Okay, it’s a frat party, but before you freak out, it’s more
of a welcoming thing. We’re only going to stop by to be social, and we made a pact we wouldn’t leave each other.
R: You are NOT going to a damn frat party. Jesus, Tabitha, you just got there. You don’t even know these girls or whether you can trust them.
T: It’s fine. If they aren’t who I think they are, I’ll leave.
R: Not by yourself, you won’t.
T: Campus police have escorts on campus to walk you if you need to.
R: I don’t give a fuck. You’re not going. Just go to the RA thing. Check it out first. You may really like it.
T: Since when have you been promoted from fake brother/cousin to fake dad? I’m going to the party.
R: I’m about five seconds from heading over to your school and dragging you back home. FUCK. I warned you this past summer about dickhead frat boys and their parties. Why don’t you ever frigging listen to me for once? Do you want me to go to jail for murder, because I promise you, I will if any one of those fuckers hurt you or take advantage of you in any way, especially after you’ve been drinking.
Nine minutes later
R: Do me a favor? Text me when you get there and when you get home and promise me that if you don’t feel safe in any way or these girls ditch you, you’ll call me and get the hell out of there. And please, please, please don’t get drunk. In fact, not drinking at all and keeping your head would be even better.
T: Reed, I’m a virgin. My first time isn’t going to be with a random frat guy plus a hungover walk of shame the next morning.
R: That better not ever be your scene, virgin or not.
T: It’s not. This is a new experience for me, and I want to be social and meet people. I promise I won’t get trashed.
R: And you should get to experience things without me being so damn overprotective. I know that, but it’s killing me inside. Drink out of a beer bottle and hold your hand over the top. Watch it like a hawk.
T: Okay, DAD.
R: I’m pretty sure your dad has never sat you down and had the watch-out-for-scumbags-who-slip-girls-roofies talk.
T: No, but he did warn me to stay away from frat parties and instead do the ice cream socials and movie nights…like someone else I know. ;)
R: Haha, very funny. Have fun, but just be careful, okay?
T: Okay, thanks for looking out for me.
R: I’ll always look out for you, Tabitha. Anytime, kid.
T: No. “Kid” will not now nor ever be your pet name for me. That’s what my dad calls me.
R: Lmao. I know. I’m messing with you.
Eight hours and twenty-seven minutes later
R: It’s already 8:30. Are you there yet?
T: No, just getting ready now. We plan to head over around nine. We don’t want to be the dorky freshmen who are the first to show up.
R: Dorky is cool. Stay dorky.
T: You’re the dork. Gotta go.
R: Don’t forget to text me.
One hour and thirty-three minutes later
T: Checking in, Dad.
R: I’ll promise to never call you kid again if you stop calling me dad.
T: Deal.
R: What’s the vibe?
T: Epic game of beer pong going on already. Loud, but mostly tame. No one is too drunk yet. My roommate is trying to get me off the phone. Talk later.
Two hours and twenty-three minutes later
R: How are things going?
Thirty-four minutes later
R: You had better be all right or that place is going to burn to the ground when I’m through. Tabitha, are you still there? Just check in with me and let me know everything’s good.
Four minutes later
R: For fuck’s sake, look at your damn phone once in a while.
Three minutes later
R: I just tried calling. If I don’t hear back from you soon, I’m going to assume the worst and call the damn cops…
Two minutes later
T: Hey, sorry. I didn’t hear my phone with the music blaring. The other girls from across the hall wandered off, so my roommate and I are trying to find them. She’s only had one drink, but you’d think she’d had five. Total lightweight.
R: Let them look out for each other. Take your roommate back to the dorm.
T: She’s talking to some guy. He says she shouldn’t go back drunk or she’ll get in trouble.
R: FaceTime me. NOW.
Tabitha
Reed didn’t give me a chance to call him through FaceTime. He called just as I read his text, and I accepted. His blue eyes were dark and fierce, and I knew joking with him right now would not go over well. When his lips started moving, I could barely hear him over the noise. I shrugged and mouthed, “What?” His jaw clenched as he reached for something outside the camera frame. He looked down as if writing and then held up a sticky note for me to read.
Take your roommate and that guy and go outside where you can hear.
I leaned closer to the guy. “Hey, would you mind if we took this outside? I need to talk to you for a bit.”
He smiled, flashing his white teeth. He was a bit tall, with brown hair and eyes and a kind face. He didn’t give me creepy vibes at all.
“Sure, follow me.” He led us through a sea of people and out the back door. There were a few people on the corner of the porch smoking weed as we headed down the stairs.
I looked down at my phone. “Now what?”
“Give him your phone. I want to talk to him.”
I gritted my teeth. “Seriously?”
His eyes narrowed. “Yes, seriously.”
I let out a sigh and held up a scary Reed in the guy’s direction. “For you.”
He scratched the back of his head. “Ah, hey.”
“What’s your name?”
“Mike.”
“And your last name?”
“Porter.”
“What year are you?”
Mike hesitated, furrowing his brows in confusion. “Sophomore…I’m sorry, but should I know you?”
“No, but you will get to know me very fucking well if those two girls don’t get safely back to their dorm in the next thirty minutes. Are we clear?”
Mike laughed. “Who are you? Her dad or something?”
“Her boyfriend, and I’ll be visiting often.”
Boyfriend?
My heart stilled and my stomach fluttered. I loved the sound of that.
Mike went pale and swallowed before clearing his throat. “Hey man, I’m not in a dorm. And if your girlfriend’s roommate shows up like this at the door to show her student ID, she’s gonna get bagged.”
“I’m sure you’re smart enough to figure it out, Mike, so figure it out.”
Mike looked up at me. “There’s one way, but you’d have to risk sneaking her in the side emergency exit on your way to your room.”
“I can do that,” I said.
“So we’re good?” Reed asked.
I turned the phone back to me. “We’ve got a plan. I’ll call you when we make it in.”
“Okay.” Reed side-smiled. “Love you, Pookey Bear.”
“Pookey Bear?” Shelly, my roommate, snorted out a laugh and shoved my arm, stumbling a bit in the process. Mike caught her before she fell.
I got back at Reed for the nickname. “Love you, too, Monkey Butt.”
Reed held a hand over his mouth, hiding a smile.
“Talk soon, Honey Buns,” he added.
I gave him a warning glare before ending the call.
Mike eyed me wearily as we headed toward the road. “Your boyfriend is, ah, pretty intense.”
“Yeah, he’s a bit on the protective side.”
“A bit?” He shook his head.
Shelly leaned into him. “You know what I’m all about?”
“Huh?”
Shelly started singing the lyrics to “All About That Bass” at the top of her lungs.
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br /> “Stop.” I grabbed her arm and started walking faster. “Make a scene and you’ll get caught, and they’ll probably call your parents for underage drinking, got it?”
She nodded and then saluted me with a, “Yes, sir.”
“How many drinks did she have?” Mike asked.
“Only one that I know of.”
“And two Jell-O shhhhots. Maybe three?” she slurred.
Ah, that made more sense.
“I’ll give you some advice,” Mike offered. “Stay away from the Jell-O shots. They’re lethal.”
I looked over at Shelly, who was still grooving to an imaginary song. “So I’m gathering. Thanks for the tip.”
“No problem.”
Mike shoved his hands in his pockets as we walked. “So, how long have you and your boyfriend been going together?”
I smiled. “Can I make a confession?”
“Yeah…”
“He’s not really my boyfriend.” Although I wished he was. “He’s my best friend’s brother. I’ve known him since I was seven.”
He laughed. “Now I get the overprotective thing.”
Hope sprang in my chest. “You do?”
“Well, yeah. I have a little sister myself and would have probably done the same thing…” He thought a moment before shuddering. “Minus faking being her boyfriend.”
My hope deflated like a balloon.
Little sister? Was that how Reed really saw me?
It made sense. He only ever came near me over the past summer when other people were around. It was as if our kiss never happened, and he made sure it wouldn’t happen again.
But another thought came to me—if Reed did think of me as a sister and nothing more, then why did he pretend to be my boyfriend? He could have just said brother.
I had to milk this idea for all it was worth. Who knew? By the time I saw him again on my next break, things could change.
December 15th
Text
To: Reed
From: Tabitha
T: Pretty sure I aced my 20th Century American Lit final. Not so sure about biology. I’m hoping for a solid B.
R: Nice. I wouldn’t worry too much about biology. As long as you keep your GPA up and do well in your English and lit classes, you’ll be fine. Once freshman year is done and all those mandatory classes are over with, it gets better.
T: I’m heading home in a couple days, and you still haven’t come to see me. Maybe you could pick me up and we can drive home together?
R: I want to, I really do, but I can’t be alone with you. You have no idea how many nights I had to talk myself out of surprising you with a visit. I miss you so damn much, but I need to keep my head with you.
Five minutes later
R: Can’t. Have plans that weekend and going home a little later.
T: Oh, okay. Maybe next time.
R: Not a good idea. Gotta go. Have lots of research to catch up on.
T: See you soon.
February 2nd
Text
To: Tabitha
From: Reed
R: Happy birthday, Pookey Bear! :p
T: Aw, thanks, Monkey Butt <3
R: Ha!
T: Do you realize we’ve been texting almost three times a week since Christmas break? I know you miss me, but I didn’t think you missed me THAT much. ;)
R: There isn’t a day that passes that I don’t think of you. If you think I’m all dreamy eyed while imagining you on a bed of rose pedals, think again.
T: How did you know about the rose petals? I never told you about that.
R: Oops.
T: OMG. You read more of my diary after that day!?
R: Guilty ;)
T: Please keep in mind that I was fifteen when I wrote all that. I have a new fantasy now…
Three minutes later
T: Do you want to hear it?
R: Fuck yes. No.
Five minutes later
R: I must be a frigging sadist, but I won’t be able to concentrate on a damn thing until you tell me. No more rose petals?
T: I thought you weren’t interested.
R: I’m hoping you graduated from rose pedals to something a lot less cliché.
T: Oh, this is so much better than rose pedals.
R: Don’t you dare tease me now. TELL ME. And?
T: It’s a warm summer night. I open the sky view of your lair to let the moonlight pour in. You take my hand, and I kneel down on that small, lumpy mattress we used to sit on for hours while we read. “Just Like Honey” plays softly in the background, and you lean forward and kiss me. But this time you don’t hold back…and you make love to me, right then and there beneath a sky full of stars.
Two minutes later…
R: Do you have any idea what you do to me or how badly I want that? I want to taste you, inhale you, explore every part of you. You’re the sun, Tabitha, untouchable and radiant…too pure for my black soul. All I would do is cast shadows over you. I love your light, and I’ll protect the fuck out of it…even it means staying the hell away from me.
One minute later
T: I just revealed my heart to you. Please respond.
Three minutes later
T: Too much?
R: Jesus, Tabitha, why can’t you be like normal girls and have fantasies about Chris Hemsworth or some other celeb?
T: And why can’t you just get over the protective brother thing? I felt it in your kiss. I know you feel something more for me. You don’t like it?
R: I’m in love with it. We went through this already. We need to keep this in the friend zone, or the texts stop.
T: No! Don’t shut me out now. I can keep it in the zone. No worries. :)
R: And you better not ever have that fantasy about anyone else in MY lair.
T: Jealous, are we? Not even with Chris Hemsworth?
R: NO ONE
T: There could never be anyone else but you. So bossy!
March 13th
T: Serious question: have you ever sexted before?
R: ?
T: You know, text sexy stuff to a girl to get her off?
R: For fuck’s sake, I know what sexting is, Tabitha. I’m just confused about why you’re asking me at 1:30 in the morning.
T: I want to try it. Do it with me?
R: You’re killing me here. Have you been drinking?
T: What does that have to do with anything? I’ve wanted to do it for a while.
R: Don’t you have a roommate?
T: She’s over at Mike’s again, so I have the place to myself for the night.
R: Not happening.
T: Want to know what I’m wearing?
R: Yes. No.
T: The Killers T-shirt you gave me…and nothing else.
Three minutes later
T: Did I at least turn you on a little bit?
R: You have no idea how much. Jesus, Tabitha. Go to sleep!
T: That’s not an answer.
R: Stop now or I’m going to go over there and ravish the hell out of you. And I’m not giving you one.
T: It totally turned you on. Guess where my hand is right now.