Chasing Forever

by Lisa Cardiff

  “Kind of pathetic,” the guy said in a lazy drawl, cocking his head toward hers.

  “Excuse me,” she replied, her voice uncertain. She couldn’t believe he would actually bring up her attempt to hide in a corner at a party all by herself. Yes, admittedly it was pathetic, but stating the obvious to her face seemed beyond outrageous.

  He nodded in the direction of the girls dancing on the kitchen counter. She blinked at them until it finally clicked in her mind that he was talking about their cheesy exhibition and not her. The scene had morphed into total chaos as the girls rubbed against each other while the guys chanted in the background.

  “Oh, them,” she said noncommittally.

  He laughed, and his deep voice traveled the length of her spine like a light caress.

  “Yes, them. Who did you think I was talking about?”

  She shrugged in response, not wanting to share her thoughts or expose exactly how uneasy she felt being at this party.

  “I’m Lucas,” he said, putting his hand out to shake hers.

  “Regan,” she replied, taking hold of his hand.

  The gesture seemed a little formal for a frat party, but what did she know. She’d never been to one of these parties before. As his warm hand slid around hers, she looked up at his face.

  Wow.

  It took all of her willpower not to stare at him. He was even better looking up close with all his mesmerizing beauty focused on her. He had one of those flawless angular faces that were made for the cover of a magazine. A hint of stubble dusted his jaw line. Thick, wavy brown hair just brushed the collar of his black t-shirt that was stretched to perfection across his toned chest and stomach. His dark jeans rode low on his narrow hips, making her want to sneak a peek at the abdominals hidden from view.

  Realizing he was still holding her hand as her eyes traveled the length of his body, she quickly snatched it back, and looked at his face again hoping he hadn’t noticed her blatant examination. Seeing the corner of his lips twitching, she nearly groaned out loud. It clearly hadn’t gone unnoticed. Undoubtedly, he received the same reaction from most girls, and she hated being like most girls.

  “So, I haven’t seen you at our frat house before,” he commented, leaning against the wall.

  “Yeah.” She paused to clear her dry throat as she scanned the room. “This is my first time here. Actually, this is my first time at a fraternity party.” She sipped her beer, trying to avoid his eyes. She could get lost in those eyes.

  His gaze landed on her mouth. “A virgin, huh?”

  She coughed, nearly choking on her warm beer. “What?”

  He laughed again, and the sound wrapped around her like a warm fuzzy blanket making her feel faint. “I meant you’re new to these types of parties. This is your first time at a fraternity house. I wasn’t talking about the actual state of your virtue, but we can discuss that if you prefer.”

  She tugged on the bottom of her sweater feeling heat burning up her cheeks. “No, I think I’ll pass. I prefer superficial conversation.”

  He took a long drink from the bottle in his hand. His gaze floated around the room. “So, are you alone?”

  “No, I’m standing next to you.”

  His smile widened if that were possible, and she was sorry she noticed. He really did have the most mind-blowing smile she had ever seen. Watching that mouth could be addictive.

  “I meant, did you come here alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “It probably isn’t a good idea to come to your first frat party all by yourself. You know, the buddy system and all that. You never know what sort of person could be lurking in the corner bent on leading you astray.”

  “Is that a general warning or are you telling me you intend to lead me astray?”

  “It could be arranged.”

  Feeling blindsided by the banter she purposely redirected the conversation. “I’m meeting my friends here. They said they would be here an hour ago, but I still haven’t seen them.”

  “Who are your friends? Are they in the sorority?”

  “Erica and Ava. This is their first year in the sorority. We’re freshman.”

  “Ah,” he commented, tilting his chin up as if that explained everything.

  “What about you? What year are you?”

  “Senior. I graduate this spring.” He sighed. “I only have a semester and a half of freedom until I join the real world.”

  Her phone vibrated alerting her of an incoming text from Ava.

  BRT. Don’t even think about leaving!!!

  Without looking up at Lucas, she typed a quick reply.

  You have 5 mins b4 I’m gone.

  As she finished texting Ava, she sensed Lucas leaning over her shoulder reading her messages, and she inhaled his spicy scent. “Spy much?” she commented as she slid the phone back into the front pocket of her skinny jeans.

  He laughed. “Just when I want information. You didn’t want to come to this party?”

  “It’s not really my scene,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders.

  “What is your scene?”

  Twirling her hair with her fingers, she wasn’t sure what to say. Lately, she hadn’t done much of anything except deal with the fallout from her dad’s behavior and study. In fact, there hadn’t been much time for herself lately. That wasn’t something she wanted to share. “I don’t know. Most of the time I’m either studying or hanging out with friends.”

  “Do these friends include a boyfriend?”

  “Huh?” she replied, shocked that he’d ask about a boyfriend. Was he serious or was he teasing her? She couldn’t tell. She wasn’t unattractive, but she couldn’t fathom that he thought she was in his league. Unlike most of the girls at the party, she never tried that hard. Generally, she claimed to embrace the natural look, but that was basically a lie. Her mom never taught her about makeup or fashion because her dad said it was unnecessary and it wasn’t her mom’s thing anyway. She had a nice smile and clear skin, wide green eyes, dark auburn hair, but she was petite, not really model material and this guy definitely qualified as drool worthy. Maybe he considered her an easy target as a freshman.

  Amused, he smiled faintly. “Boyfriend. You know what one is, right?”

  She shivered and an unnatural laugh escaped her mouth in a pitiable attempt at covering her reaction to his question. “Yes, but I’m confused why you’re asking. Did you want to audition for the part?” His warm eyes met hers, and she was almost positive she melted under his stare.

  “I don’t know. I guess I need to know whether the position is available and then I’ll decide whether I’m interested in auditioning.”

  “Maybe.” She smiled coyly, hoping he couldn’t hear her heart pounding against her chest.

  He nodded and then grabbed her left hand. “What’s this?” he asked, pointing to the red piece of string tied around her wrist.

  She blushed. “My mom’s really into alternative healing and spiritual stuff. She’s convinced that tying a red string around your wrist has some power.”

  “Like?” he questioned, arching his eyebrow.

  “According to her, it can shield you from the bad energy people either consciously or unconsciously direct at you.” Regan lowered her face feeling uncomfortable with the topic. “She also thinks it can attract your soul mate. She tied it around my wrist earlier today and I forgot about it.”

  “All that in a little piece of string,” he commented as he twisted it repeatedly around her wrist.

  “I don’t know. I guess it’s a little Kabbalah mixed with the Chinese Legend of the Red String of Fate. She’s fascinated by religion, myths, and legends,” she said distractedly, her breath coming faster with every brush of his fingers.

  “May I?” he said, untying the knot and slipping it off her wrist.

  “Regan! There you are. We thought you left,” Ava yelled from across the kitchen as she and Erica skipped toward Regan, their arms linked, an alcohol-induced glow surrounding them.

  Sav
ed by her drunken friends. Glad to know their overindulgence was good for something. She wanted to kiss them both for interrupting before the conversation dipped too far into unchartered territory.

  Regan’s gaze darted to Lucas one last time and she smiled. “It was nice talking to you. See you around.”

  Grabbing her phone from the front pocket of her jeans, he leaned toward her while he typed something into her phone. Towering over her five feet three inches by at least a foot, she hadn’t noticed how tall he was until he suddenly invaded her space. Vaguely, she heard his phone vibrating in his pocket.

  Giving Regan another one of his devastating smiles, he dropped her phone into her outstretched hand. Then, he wrapped his warm hand around hers, giving it a quick squeeze before releasing it.

  “We’ll talk soon, Regan. Be careful tonight,” he whispered as he leaned into her, his warm minty breath tickling the side of her face. He turned and walked away fading into the mass of people crowding around the kitchen island.

  Regan blinked, trying to recover from her Lucas induced coma, and then turned to look at Ava and Erica. Their eyes were wide almost as if they were in shock.

  “About time,” Regan said, putting her hands on her hips. “I thought I was going to be here by myself all night.”

  “It looked like you were doing just fine by yourself,” Ava commented, a bright smile on her face.

  “Yeah,” Erica added. “So spill. How do you know Lucas Evanston?”

  “I don’t.” She pushed her hair behind her ear.

  “Oh, okay. Riiight,” Erica said with wide eyes, her tone patronizing. “So that wasn’t Lucas Evanston you were just talking to, and it wasn’t Lucas Evanston who just put his number in your phone.”

  “No, that’s not what I meant. I just met him. He started talking to me while he filled up his drink. Do you know him?”

  “Everyone knows Lucas,” Ava replied, rolling her eyes.

  Regan shook her head. “All right, and why is that?”

  “He’s the president of the fraternity and he’s on the baseball team. Just look at him. He’s like the King of the Panty Droppers.”

  “Um… Okay. And your point is?”

  “My point is,” Ava practically shouted. “Everyone knows who he is, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s absolutely gorgeous and rumored to be from a wealthy family from Northern California.”

  “And,” Erica interrupted. “He was talking to you. He has your phone number. He said he would talk to you soon. He’s fucking hot. You are so lucky.” She marked each statement by grabbing a different finger on her hand.

  “Whatever. We’ll see,” Regan said, smiling faintly at Erica’s animated display.

  “I thought he was with Olivia Reynolds,” Ava said. “But who knows. Maybe they’re finally over for good.”

  “Who’s Olivia Reynolds?” Regan asked, hating the emotional poison turning in her stomach. She didn’t know Lucas. He might have joked about auditioning for the role of her boyfriend, but that didn’t mean anything. He was probably making conversation, humoring the pathetic freshman hiding in the corner. Nothing more.

  “The president of our sorority and captain of the dance team,” Erica offered. She searched the room. “There she is.”

  Regan’s eyes followed Erica’s pointed finger. Of course, Olivia was none other than the brunette marking Lucas as her territory earlier. “Right. I think I saw them talking earlier.” She quickly looked away from Olivia. “So what’s the plan for tonight? You promised me you’d make it worth my time if I ventured out of the dorm room.”

  “This is it,” Ava said. “We mingle. We dance. We drink. And if we’re lucky maybe we find a guy.”

  “Oh goody,” Regan said sarcastically as she raised her eyebrows. Between studying and the notoriety of her dad’s extracurricular activities, she didn’t have the time or the desire for a guy in her life whether it was for a night or a month.

  “Don’t be so lame,” Ava said, pushing Regan’s shoulder lightly. “We’re going to have fun tonight. End of the story. Absolutely no moping allowed.”

  Regan laughed. “Fine, let’s do it.”

  Ava and Erica quickly dropped the subject of Lucas Evanston and the three of them joined the herd of people dancing. Before Regan realized it, several hours had passed, and it was well beyond midnight. Erica had disappeared hours ago. The crowd had thinned, obviously taking advantage of the rooms upstairs if the steady stream of couples climbing the stairs were any indication. She hadn’t seen Lucas in hours or at least not since she’d seen him walk out the front door with his arm loosely wrapped around Olivia’s shoulders. Which was absolutely fine with her. Lucas Evanston could do whatever he wanted. Truly.

  Chapter Three

  The music stopped, and no one made a move to play another song, a clear signal the fraternity party had ended.

  Regan sent a text to Erica asking if they should wait for her. When ten minutes had passed without an answer, Ava impatiently checked her watch.

  “Let’s go. Erica’s a big girl. She can take care of herself,” Ava blurted out with her hands on her hips.

  “Are you sure? Maybe we should check upstairs. She drank a lot. She could be sick in the bathroom.”

  Ava scoffed. “No way. We are not going upstairs. You don’t just wander the halls of a fraternity. Erica didn’t drink any more than usual. Besides, I think I saw her go upstairs with Mike so she’ll be fine.”

  “Are you sure?” Regan didn’t know Mike, but she had heard plenty about him from Erica. He only showed interest in Erica after partying. He hardly acknowledged her any other time. Erica swore that she was done with him. Apparently, she had changed her mind tonight. From what Regan had heard secondhand from Ava, Erica would never learn her lesson when it came to Mike. He was some sort of illusive obsession that she wouldn’t give up. “Let’s give her twenty more minutes and then we can leave.”

  “Fine.” Ava rolled her eyes. “But you know how she is when it comes to Mike. She says one thing and does the complete opposite.”

  “I’m going to check the kitchen.” Regan pointed at Ava trying to emphasize her point. She liked Ava, but she could be self-centered sometimes. “Don’t move from this spot. I don’t want to walk home by myself.”

  “Fine, but if you disappear for longer than twenty minutes, I will assume you decided to join someone upstairs.” Ava flung her hand in the direction of the wood stairs near the back of the house.

  “There’s not a chance of that happening,” Regan yelled over her shoulder as she walked away.

  Moving against the crowd of people heading toward the front door, she walked toward the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, she cringed at the sensation of her feet sticking to the tile floor, a token reminder of the sugar mixed with spilled beer from the impromptu show earlier. When she looked down, she noticed a piece of toilet paper trailing from her shoe. Nice. She needed to remember to dump hand sanitizer on the bottom of her shoes when she got back to the dorm. The sugar and beer were probably the most benign substances coating that floor.

  Without warning, a person slammed into her back, causing her to fall face first onto the floor. Pulling her now contaminated body from the floor onto her knees, she glared at the perpetrator, a guy wearing a white t-shirt with Greek letters emblazoned on the front.

  “Great,” Regan said dryly. “Now I’ll have to bathe in Clorox.”

  “Sorry about that.” The guy grinned drunkenly and held out his hand to help her up.

  Without thinking Regan wrapped her hand around his and let him help her to her feet. “Thanks,” she mumbled, pulling her hand out of his grasp and wiping it on the sides of her jeans. She turned to walk away.

  “If you aren’t with anyone, you could come upstairs with me.”

  Regan’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

  The guy shrugged. “If you’re interested.”

  “Um, let me think.” Regan tapped two fingers against her chin. “Should I follow some random guy to
a random room after he pushed me face first into a pile of who knows what?” Regan paused, shaking her head dramatically. “No thanks, I think I’ll pass.” Then, she muttered “asshole” under her breath as she turned to leave.

  “Now, Regan. Are you sure about that? Don’t you want to end your first fraternity experience on a high note?”

  Regan recognized the voice teasing her. Taking a deep breath, she turned and saw Lucas Evanston, King of the Panty Droppers, leaning against the kitchen counter, his arms folded across his chest.

  She walked toward him attempting to remain calm in the face of his unnerving presence, even more so now that Ava and Erica gave her the run down on him. She couldn’t decide how she wanted to respond to his comment. Part of her wanted to scream at him, mostly because she was humiliated he’d witnessed her basically licking the floor. In the end, she decided to ignore the comment entirely because she knew he intended to tease the guy rather than her.

  “Is there a towel somewhere in this kitchen?” she asked, her hip pressing into the counter a couple feet from him.

  “No comment on ending the night on a high note?” he asked with his eyebrows raised.

  “How could anything top being shoved into a puddle of mystery liquid?” She saw him smile and she quickly looked away. Was that a dimple on the right side of his face? Clearly, he’d played the genetic lottery and won. “About that towel, could you point me in the direction of one?”

  He walked over to her and pressed lightly on her hip. Shivering, she stepped out of his reach. She certainly didn’t need to be reacting to the innocent touch of the King of the Panty Droppers. He opened a drawer and held up a dingy white towel and then tossed it in her direction.

  “Thanks,” she replied, dabbing the front of her sticky sweater with the yellowed towel. Her sweater was a lost cause, but it gave her something to do other than stare at him like a pathetic fan-girl. At least it was black so she didn’t have to add indecent exposure to her list of cringe worthy events.