“It’s like Dirty Dancing,” I gestured. “This is my dance space. That is your dance space.”
Rafael openly frowned now.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Listen, you’re cute, I’ll give you that,” I acknowledged. “You’re no Chris Hemsworth, though, so you might not want to crowd people.”
“Who is Chris Hemsworth?” The accent was still intoxicating.
Playing dumb, however, wasn’t. “You know, Thor?”
“The Norse god?”
“No, the actor who played the Norse god?” Maybe he wasn’t playing dumb.
Rafael still looked confused.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, waving my hand dismissively. “I was just trying to explain to you that I’m not impressed by your dimples.”
Rafael didn’t seem convinced.
I stood my ground, not returning his smile.
Rafael started to move closer. “I think you just need to relax.”
I took a step back. “Thanks, I’m good.”
Rafael furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. I started to wonder if maybe there was a language barrier or something.
“No interested … comprende?”
Now Rafael looked irritated. “I’m not stupid.”
“Then stop acting like it,” I snapped.
Rafael pulled away in obvious irritation this time. He started to move back toward the apartment before stopping abruptly and turning back to me.
“Be careful going home.”
I thought that was a weird thing to say to someone you’d just met. “Is that a threat?” This guy was unbelievable.
“No.”
Rafael slid back into the apartment, shutting the door behind him as he went.
It took me a full thirty seconds to recover and follow him inside. I wasn’t sure what his deal was, but I wanted to just forget about it and have some fun. That was what we had come here for, after all.
I rejoined Paris by the keg, but kept a keen eye out for Rafael. To my relief, it appeared he had left. Okay, maybe I was a little disappointed, too.
I silently admonished myself for even thinking about him. After all, Will and I were finally on the same page – and in the same place – I wasn’t going to throw that away for some random guy. No matter how hot he was. Or how sexy that accent was. Or how great he looked in that T-shirt. I reminded myself he was creepy, too, because he was definitely creepy.
“Did you even hear me?”
“What?” I turned to Paris confused.
“I said that Brittany seems to have gotten over her panic about meeting guys.”
I turned my attention in the direction Paris was looking only to find Brittany drinking from a red plastic cup and hanging on every word as one of Mike’s roommates talked to her. She looked tipsy – and easy. I hoped that wasn’t her way of flirting. Paris and I were going to have to give her lessons.
“We’re going to have to watch her,” I said.
Paris agreed, nodding silently, and slipping a lock of her long brown hair behind her ear.
“She’s one of those girls who’s going to lose her virginity finally and go nuts and sleep with everyone to make up for what she’s been missing.”
Paris nodded again.
“Who is that guy?”
“I have no idea.”
“He looks like Pee Wee Herman.”
“Just be glad we’re not in an adult movie theater.” Paris was still eyeing Brittany and her new friend warily.
I nodded my silent assent as I took another drink of beer. The one good thing about Brittany’s antics? I’d forgotten all about Rafael.
What? I totally had.
Four
Hangovers are a funny thing. When you wake up with them in high school, you try to hide them. When you wake up with them in college, though, there’s no need.
Luckily for me, I hadn’t over imbibed the night before. From the groans I could hear from Brittany’s bed the next morning, though, it didn’t sound like she was so lucky.
While still lying in my bunk and contemplating how badly I wanted to get something to drink to ease my cotton mouth, I heard Brittany vault out of her bunk and rush out of the room. Two seconds later you could hear the door to the bathroom slam shut.
I could hear – and feel – Paris start laughing in the bunk below me.
“We should have kept a better eye on her,” I finally said to no one in particular.
“She learned a valuable lesson,” I heard Tara say sagely from her bunk – which was the first inclination I had that she was awake, too.
Paris stirred and climbed out of her bed. When she stood up and met my eyes I could see she had a fantastic case of bedhead. I smiled to myself – but Paris caught me trying to hide it.
“Your hair doesn’t look any better,” she said.
I could believe that.
Tara, Paris, and I struggled out to the living area where we met Brittany as she stumbled out of the bathroom. “I hate you people,” she mumbled.
“You’ll feel better after breakfast,” I informed her.
Brittany was looking a little green again.
“Yeah. Eggs and sausage, tons of grease, hangover food extraordinaire.” I couldn’t decide if Paris was trying to help or hurt the situation. Sausage did sound good, though.
An hour later, we’d all showered and changed. We went down for breakfast – well, brunch actually – and discussed the evening before. For my part, I decided not to mention Rafael – at least not to everyone. I didn’t know what I’d say anyway. He hadn’t actually done anything.
“Anyone up for going and getting our books now?”
Paris looked at me in surprise. “I thought you wanted to put it off like I did?”
“I do, but I figure we’re not going to do anything else for the next couple of hours anyways, so we might as well get it out of the way,” I sipped my pop and looked at Brittany contemplatively for a second. “Plus, Brittany looks like she’s been reincarnated as a dirty sponge so she’s probably not going to be up for doing anything tonight and will enjoy the company of her textbooks.”
Everyone agreed and we decided to make the walk to the University Center, or UC, to get our shopping done. We’d all returned to the room long enough to get our class lists. We compared them as we walked.
“Ooh, we have astronomy together,” Paris actually seemed excited.
I didn’t know how excited I was. I just wanted something that wasn’t too gross to complete my science requirement. I had a feeling that’s why Paris signed up, too. She was an art major. Cutting open a frog didn’t seem like something that was going to be in her wheelhouse.
When we got to the UC, we were happy to discover that the bookstore wasn’t too crowded. The good news is that three of my five textbooks were available for Kindle so that meant less heavy lifting. Unfortunately, I had to buy textbooks for my math and astronomy classes. Still, it was better than it could have been.
Paris only had to buy the astronomy class book. Brittany, however, bought textbooks for all her classes. When we saw her carrying two large bags full of books over to us, Paris and I exchanged a curious glance.
“They’re not available on Kindle?” I asked.
“I don’t like Kindle books.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why? I like a real textbook where I can underline stuff.”
“You can underline stuff with a Kindle, too.”
“Not with a colored highlighter.”
Well, you can’t argue with that logic. Brittany found herself distracted by the sweatshirts. For my part, I decided I needed a Coke to drive away the remnants of my hangover.
I made my way over to the refrigerated section and found what I was looking for. I slid the door shut after I made my selection and turned around only to find myself running into a wall that was apparently some guy’s chest. I actually wasn’t sure at first. It was far too big to belong to a normal guy.
�
�Sorry,” I sputtered trying to take a step back and banging my head against the refrigerator.
The chest belonged to an extremely tall man – like six-foot three-inches tall – who took a step back to give me a chance to recover myself. As I regained my senses I realized – even though he’d moved back slightly – he was still a little too close for my comfort.
“Are you alright?” The voice that came from the behemoth couldn’t possibly be human – or normal. It sounded like it belonged to a giant or something – like Fezzik in The Princess Bride without that weird lisp thing he had.
“I’m fine,” I grumbled. I didn’t like feeling penned in.
“Here, let me see,” the guy reached his extremely large hands toward my head.
Without thinking, I slapped them away. “I said I was fine.”
I finally got a glimpse at the head attached to the wall of chest and sucked in a quick breath. It was pretty impressive – well, as far as heads go. No dimples and dark skin, but a full head of wavy black hair and some really intense brown eyes.
Did Covenant grow these guys on trees or something? This is just ridiculous.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” the guy rumbled.
I felt a little ridiculous for overreacting – especially since I realized he was hot – so I tried to offer him a friendly smile as an apology.
“No, you just took me by surprise,” I said quietly. Internally, I was adding that he also almost knocked me senseless – but I doubted that would be a good topic of conversation to open with.
The wall of muscles with the great hair smiled down at me. I couldn’t help but notice that, even though he didn’t have dimples, his eyes crinkled at the corner when he smiled and it made him all the more appealing. Cripes, I must be in heat or something.
“I’m Aric, with an A,” he said, pushing his hand out to me in greeting.
What is it with people shaking hands? That whole process annoyed me. Still, I didn’t want to offend him. I placed my hand – which seemed dainty – into it and couldn’t help but smile back. I felt a little goofy for some reason.
“I’m Zoe.”
“Nice to meet you, Zoe. Where are you from?”
Now, here’s the thing, I’m not a shut-in or anything. I don’t go around volunteering personal information about myself either, though.
“Oh, a small town up north. About an hour from Traverse City.” I was purposely vague.
Aric narrowed his eyes. I sensed he wanted to ask more but wisely took a step back.
“I’m from Alpena.”
I bit my tongue so I wouldn’t unleash the sentence that had come to mind when he mentioned Alpena. “That’s nice.” What I really wanted to say amounted to ‘who cares,’ but I fought the urge to be mean. It was a hard battle.
“Are you a freshman?”
“Umm, yeah.”
“I’m a sophomore.”
“Really? You look older.”
“Is that a compliment?”
I shrugged. It was really just a statement.
“I’m twenty-two. I took some time off before coming to school,” he explained. This guy was a major over-sharer. For all he knew, I could be some crazy stalker – yet here he was telling me his life story.
“Good for you.” Really, what else do you say to that?
“Are you here alone?” I noticed his dark eyes dart around the store. I could tell he was trying to get a look at what kind of people I hung out with. It made me sort of nervous.
“I’m here with my roommates.”
“Oh, have you known them a long time?”
Now why did that matter? Luckily I was saved from answering. Paris had picked that moment to come up and join us.
“Brittany is buying out the school spirit supplies.” She didn’t sound happy.
“She’s not decorating with that stuff,” I warned. Covenant’s colors were red and gold. I hated both colors.
“You tell her that.”
Paris finally noticed I wasn’t alone. She wasn’t very observant. She smiled at Aric, though. It was hard not to.
“I’m Paris.”
Aric introduced himself, greeting Paris warmly. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was a little disappointed we’d been interrupted. Or maybe that was wishful thinking on my part.
“So, did you guys go to high school together?” More questions. I tried to give Paris a silent signal not to answer him, but she was oblivious.
“No, we just met two days ago,” she answered.
“It’s good that you like each other.”
“Yeah, it would suck if I was stuck in a room with three Brittanys.”
Well, that mental image was going to give me nightmares. I shuddered as I shook it off.
“So, what dorm do you live in?”
I mentally sent Paris the universal “don’t answer that” vibe. She didn’t get it. She happily told Aric where we lived. I wanted to strangle her.
“Good to know,” Aric smiled. The smile wasn’t directed at Paris, though. It was directed at me. Great. How was I going to explain to Will about the new guy following me everywhere?
“Is it just the two of you?” Aric asked. He really had no end to his questions.
“No, our other two roommates are here, too,” Paris said. She pointed silently to Brittany. Aric followed her finger and I could tell he was fighting the urge to laugh out loud at the pile of sweatshirts in front of her.
“Who else?”
Paris looked around quizzically. “I don’t know where Tara went.”
I found myself looking around for Tara, too. It was like she had just disappeared. “She wouldn’t have left without us … .” Actually, I had no idea what Tara would do. I didn’t really know her at all.
Paris looked doubtful. “No, she would have at least said something.”
Aric regarded us sternly. “Bonded a lot have you?”
“Just with each other,” Paris admitted.
I tried to peer around Aric. It was a monumental task, though. He was big. For a second I couldn’t help but wonder what he looked like without his sweatshirt on. I’d run into him so I knew that wasn’t flab under there. He was hard as a rock – and built like a truck, I was almost certain.
“There she is,” I finally caught sight of her red hair.
Tara was outside. I could just get a glimpse of her through the window. She was gesturing wildly – and she didn’t look happy. I couldn’t see whom she was talking to. She stopped long enough to point – and her finger was aimed directly at me. She seemed to notice that we were all looking at her because she quickly tried to disguise her motions.
Whoever she was talking with walked away from her quickly. All I could make out is that it was a boy and he had close-cut blonde hair. He was gone too quickly to see anything else.
Tara made her way back into the store and smiled brightly at us. I couldn’t help but think it was a little fake. She walked over to us laughing. “I went to high school with him,” she explained.
“Really? You should have come in and introduced him to us,” Paris seemed genuinely interested.
“Oh, I went to high school with him, but I didn’t like him,” she explained. “He wanted to invite us to a party.”
“I don’t think Brittany is up for another party,” I answered. Paris nodded her silent assent. For his part, Aric didn’t seem to be listening. He was still watching the spot where Tara had been arguing with her high school classmate. He looked thoughtful.
“Yeah, I don’t know what I’m up for tonight either,” Tara said with a laugh.
Paris had obviously dismissed the argument. I was suspicious by nature, but even I didn’t blame her for wanting to get away from high school ‘friends.’ That was why I had come here in the first place.
Aric finally seemed to snap to attention. He smiled down at all of us – letting his eyes linger on me a little longer than everyone else. “It was nice meeting you all.”
“You, too,” Paris and Tara s
aid. They both looked a little dreamy.
Aric turned to me expectantly. “Bye,” I said with false bravado.
Aric smiled a small half smile to himself as he regarded me. I could tell he wanted to call me on my attitude, but he wisely refrained from any such action.
“I’ll see you around.”
“Doubtful.”
I thought I’d said it under my breath, but apparently he’d heard me. He turned around briefly before exiting. “You can count on it.”
Despite myself, I felt a little thrill of anticipation. Seriously, what is wrong with me?
Five
Sunday morning I woke up with a mixed sense of dread and excitement.
This was the last day off before classes started. While I was excited to be in college – academia had never really been my thing. Still, I only had five classes – and none of them were gym -- so I was already better off than high school.
As a group, we’d all decided to stay in and just play cards and gab the night before. Brittany was still recovering. I could only hope she’d work up a tolerance. I didn’t want to think of her being such a lightweight the entire year. That was going to make babysitting her a real task.
We all went down to breakfast together as a group – where Brittany proceeded to explain to all of us the benefits of a gluten-free diet. I was only half listening – but I realized quickly that was going to eliminate every cereal I liked – so that obviously wasn’t going to happen.
After breakfast, we returned to our room but left the door open. I figured it was time to get to know some of our floor mates better.
The guys across the hall came to introduce themselves pretty quickly. There were two Ricks, a Greg and a Milton. Yeah, his parents obviously sucked.
They seemed like nice guys – but none of them exactly screamed ‘brainiac’ to me. I think they were mostly here for the parties and women – which was fine with me.
Rick No. 1 sat down next to me and tried to engage me in a conversation. Of the two Ricks, he was clearly the more intelligent of the two, but I was pretty sure that wasn’t saying much. I answered most of his questions in a non-committal way. I was friendly, not gregarious.
For their part, Brittany and Milton seemed to be enjoying a friendly chat. It didn’t surprise me in the slightest.
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