Hazed

by Brittany Butler

CHAPTER THREE

  “Yeah…That outfit isn’t going to work.” Lea scans my body, tapping her chin and shaking her head.

  Frowning, I look in our full length mirror. My jeans are tight, and my gray Beatles shirt clings to me, flattering my unfortunate figure. Then I look at her, shaking my head. Her purple halter top ties at her neck and her black shorts look more like underwear.

  Against my better judgment I agreed to go shopping with her today. It was…interesting, definitely something to remember. She made countless suggestions and I politely declined. She shrugged her shoulders and bought the outfits I vetoed. I ended up buying two dresses, and she teased me calling them Sunday morning dresses, but they’re not something I would show up to church in, or anywhere else.

  “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

  She promised we were going to a laid back bar tonight, but her reluctance with my outfit makes me think that she was lying.

  “Oh, it’s perfect… For your Sunday family dinners! I would be showing my body off if I looked like you! Here, wear this,” she says, tossing clothes at me.

  I wrinkle my nose and stare blankly at her. “What? You’re way skinnier than I am.”

  “Guys don’t want skinny, they want this,” she says, gesturing her hand up my body.

  I cock my eyebrow and inspect the black dress. The cheap material is shiny, too shiny and almost rubbery. Sighing, I walk to the corner to change. The tight dress stretches over my curves. I never thought of myself as fat, but a size six is rare to find on this campus. I can definitely tell that rooming with her might be a problem if she fails to understand we’re different sizes.

  “It’s a little tight,” I say, sucking in my breath.

  “Said no one ever, its perfect,” she says, rolling her eyes.

  She shoves me in front of the mirror. It’s different; maybe if I were looking at someone else this would be sexy. As my eyes reach my face, I know this is wrong. I tug on the hem of the dress, willing it to grow in length. She pulls my ponytail, letting my auburn hair fall down my shoulders.

  She dramatically wipes her brow. “There, now I can take you to a bar.”

  She tugs on my hand, leading me to the hallway. We bump into a pair of girls taking a selfie. The more girls I see scattered on campus, the better I feel about my outfit. If all of us were in a group, I would be the most modestly dressed one. My dad’s voice pushes its way into my head, if everyone else was jumping off a cliff…But I shake that thought. Whatever makes me feel better, right?

  “We’re meeting Hayze at his house,” she says, fumbling for her keys in her satchel style bag.

  She clicks her keys and an older Honda Civic headlights blink at us. When I open the door, water bottles tumble to the ground. I toss books in the back, kick bottles to the side, making a path to sit down. She smiles apologetically.

  “Just push everything over,” she says, scrounging to help make room for me.

  “We are taking mine next time,” I laugh.

  She turns her radio down as she starts the car. She pulls from the parking garage and out into the busy streets. We’re caught at every red light, but she manages to entertain me with lip synching.

  “We’re here! His apartment is ground floor,” she says as she pulls into the near empty parking lot.

  I follow her into the dark hallway and under stairs. She stops at the apartment marked one thousand twenty-two and knocks. Hayze opens the door, a guy, with a low fitting hat, passes by us.

  “Thanks man,” he says.

  “No problem,” he says, looking over us.

  His eyes stop on me, dropping to my bare legs. His eyebrow arches. He lifts his arms, letting us pass under to get inside.

  “Lea, did you dress her? What a damn shame,” he shakes his head.

  “What was that guy doing here?” She asks.

  “He had to pick something up,” he says, grabbing his keys.

  “What did he get?”

  “You should think about changing your major, you would do the police department some good. Where are we going, ladies? Lea, so help me God, don’t say anything that has to do with a dance hall.”

  “The Alley. Cowboys or frat daddies, I guess that’s all that’s in this town,” she says. She walks out the door, looking back at us with impatience.

  “I thought Hayze was in a fraternity?” I laugh, hoping he doesn’t get mad at our teasing, but his face is amused.

  “My freshman year,” he says.

  “Hold on a sec, I need to put on gloss before we go,” Lea announces as she rushes into the bathroom.

  He stops walking and turns to me. “I didn’t mean that back there. You look beautiful. It just doesn’t seem like your style,” he smiles.

  “It wasn’t exactly my first choice.” I bite my lip, letting my eyes fall to my feet.

  He moves to my side; his fingers lift my chin. “Don’t let anyone try to change you,” he says. His warm brown eyes are sincere; they burn through my gaze. My face flushes with intensity.

  My eyes dart around the room, noticing the clock on the wall, I change the subject. “It’s really late, does she always go out this late?” I ask him and to my embarrassment, he laughs.

  “It’s nine,” he says, watching me with amusement.

  “Yeah, I know, I saw the clock. On the rare occasion I could go to the movies or somewhere with my boyfriend, we would leave at like six…I would already be in the bed,” I say, laughing at how I sound.

  “You have a boyfriend?” He asks, missing the point.

  His face is no longer playful, he watches me intently. I don’t know him very well, but I think he’s mad.

  “No, I did…He was the only person I hung out with so I was just using him as an example. I guess I should’ve said ex.”

  A long, awkward moment passes. I look down at my feet, kicking around the rug.

  “She’s taking a while in there,” I say.

  I look up and find him smirking at me. “Lea, you’re taking for-fucking-ever!”

  Lea breezes through the room and flips him off. She walks ahead of us, leaving me alone with Hayze. She walks up to an older black muscle car. Although I know nothing about cars, I stare with wide eyes at this one.

  “Sixty-nine Mustang, I fixed it up myself.” He taps the roof, grinning.

  Lea pushes the seat up, climbing into the back. I adjust the seat in its rightful place before sliding inside.

  “Don’t ask him about it, he won’t shut up,” she says.

  Despite Lea’s effort to change the subject, Hayze talks about the car during the drive. I acted like I knew what he was talking about and laughed at their bickering. After a short drive across town we pull up to the bar.

  “We should’ve taken your car, Lea,” Hayze groans. The parking lot is full. College students fill the lot, stumbling and packed into groups.

  “Mine’s going to get scratched.”

  “And you don’t care if mine gets scratched?”

  She pretends to be offended. I laugh at her, I know little about Lea, but I’m positive nothing can offend her.

  He drives to the back and pulls into a space with an empty slot beside us. I get out of the car, mindful of my new dress. I tug on it and test the heels before meeting Hayze and Lea. I’m already regretting my outfit choice.

  “Ready?” He asks.

  Lea loops her arm through mine and we walk up to the metal building. A covered sidewalk lines the front. People stager through the door in front of us, and Lea stops with a gasp.

  “I almost forgot,” she says.

  She unzips her purse and hands me a driver’s license. I look at it with amazement. My smiling face looks back at me, the laminated, rectangular card holds lies that promise me a good night.

  “Impressive,” I tell her.

  “All is right in the world.” She smiles and drags me into the bar.

  We stop at a tall bar with a man sitting behind it. Lea and Hayze hand him their ID’s, I lay mine on the tabl
e and look away when my nerves get the best of me. He lingers on mine, glancing between me and the license. I want to tell him the truth and apologize while running out the front door, but Lea shoots me a look, telling me to act cool.

  “Never seen you in here before,” he says in a gruff voice.

  “She’s new.” Lea smiles and leans over the bar, earning a smile from him.

  He nods, satisfied with her answer, and hands me the license back. I tuck it safely in my satchel. I look around, the bar is calm, and guys stand around holding beers and talking. Music blasts from a dark hallway. Lea grabs my hand and pulls me in that direction. Hayze reappears with a beer and two drinks for us. Lea grabs her drink while I stand, staring at the drink in his hand. He shakes it in front my face, smiling.

  “What’s wrong?” His smile falls.

  “Nothing.”

  I smile and grab the drink. I take a sip, frowning from the taste. I could tell them I’ve never been drunk, but tonight I decide to let it go. I came to this school searching for a new identity and I’m not spoiling that opportunity the first chance I get.

  He laughs, taking a swig of his beer.

  “What is it?” I ask, with narrow eyes.

  He shakes his head. “You’re cute.”

  Embarrassed, and refusing to be another one of his conquests, I look away. Lea comes to my rescue, her small hands wrap around my wrist, tugging me to the hallway and Hayze follows behind us. We walk through a room leading to the bathroom and end up in a dark room equipped with flashing lights and blaring music. I’m shoved from behind as someone makes their way to the bar. Students line up, yelling their drink orders with impatience. Lea leads us to a table, and she sets her drink down.

  “Welcome to the next four years of your life. Wanna dance?”

  “Not right now,” I say, hoping she won’t ask me again.

  Two guys walk up, one clasps Hayze on the shoulder, the other hands us each a shot of amber liquid. Lea picks hers up, tosses it back, and slams it to the table.

  “Your turn,” she says, smiling.

  I eye her skeptically. I sigh, pick up the small glass and bring to my mouth. I clamp my eyes shut as the liquid scorches down my throat. I set the glass down and swipe a tear from my eye before it falls. The first time must be the worst; Lea took it better than me.

  “You shouldn’t take drinks from strangers,” Hayze says, clearly displeased. His mouth presses into a hard line.

  I shrug my shoulders. “I thought he was your friend.”

  He laughs once without humor. “You definitely shouldn’t accept drinks from my friends.”

  He turns from me and walks away. Before he makes it to the hallway, two girls flock to his side. I fix my gaze on the table; the two guys are standing at the table talking to Lea.

  “This is Taylor. She works at Mystic now. That’s Mark and Derek,” she says, pointing to them.

  Mark, the one that handed me the shot, shakes my hand and moves to my side. “Want another drink?”

  “What kind of question is that?” Lea asks, laughing.

  He salutes her and returns within minutes, handing us both a drink. I look around the room for Hayze, when I realize what I’m doing, I stop. Lea turns her drinks up and slams it on the table. She looks to me, dancing.

  “Let’s go!” She nods to the dance floor.

  I finish my drink, smiling. Suddenly, it sounds like a good idea, I let her pull me to the floor. I watch her for a minute before I sway to the music. We dance one song after the other until she pulls me back to the table.

  Hayze is back, Shelby from class is by his side with a girl I haven’t met. Her red hair is pinned to the side and her makeup is caked on. Their clothes leave nothing to the imagination. Shelby waves at me with a forced smile. Red clutches Hayze’s arm possessively. Her glare makes me question their relationship.

  “The three of us should get out of here,” she says, not so subtly.

  “Nah, I’m with my friends.” He lifts his beer, pointing it our way.

  “You will have more fun with us,” she says, one last attempt to get him to leave with her. She looks at me, then to Lea, with narrow eyes.

  “He said no! Jesus! Leave with some self-respect,” Lea says.

  The table howls with laughter.

  “I’ll go with you,” Derek says through bouts of laughter.

  Red leaves, face flushed and pissed off. Shelby follows behind her, laughing at her friend. Hayze shrugs his shoulders, chuckling. Lea pounds her fist on the table to get their attention.

  “Let’s get out of here,” she says. Hayze and I agree. We leave the bar, searching for fun.