by Dakota Lee
"Sleep? What happens if I'm not tired? Is there something planned for that too?"
"A scrabble rematch." I giggle into the phone. He always demands a rematch. My vocabulary outmatches his, because I’ve spent a lot of time with my nose buried in a thesaurus.
"Sounds like a plan."
This is why we've been together for so long. He's never tried to pressure me into anything. I was a bit of a late bloomer, so it's taken me a while to get comfortable with the idea of dating and the things that go with it. I guess that's also the reason naked people freak me out. Logan was right. I can't paint, draw, or sketch it, because I feel panicky looking at it. He said start with someone that I'm comfortable around. Robbie and I are going to sleep together eventually, and I trust him completely. Maybe I could have him take pictures for me.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The professor concluded his last lecture by assigning our first project. He was so excited about it too, waving the sign-up sheet in his hand like a surrender flag. It's a collaborative effort and was the perfect excuse for getting Jordanna to spend time with me.
I stayed seated at the end of the class and waited. The girls flat out ignored her, and every time a guy approached her, I gave a small shake of my head. The last team paired off leaving the two of us as outliers, which means we were teamed up by default.
She looked like she was hoping the floor would swallow her whole when I approached her to set up a time to talk about the project. She barely said three words during the first hour, her attention stuck on her phone. I finally told her the sooner she gave her input, the sooner she could be away from me. That was all the motivation she needed to pull her weight.
Today, she’s fidgeting in her seat and looking at the clock like she has somewhere else to be. She's sitting in the front, safely tucked against the wall. I feel like if the other student's in our art class weren't attached to the current seating arrangement, she'd go out of her to avoid sitting next to me there too.
I know I touched a nerve, making her confront the truth about being afraid of sensuality and her own body. But I'm not sorry for what I said. I really was trying to help. I see Bella staring at me. She gives me a twisted smile and taps her watch. Time is running out.
It's been two weeks since we drew up our contract and she hasn't seen any progress. Telling her not to rush things won't do any good. Bella operates on her own speed and when things aren't evolving quickly enough, she has no problem nudging them along, often with disastrous results for whoever she's toying with. And it's not always clear if Bella is toying with the hunter or the prey.
Jordanna’s practically bouncing in her seat. Her eyes gleam like a kid on their birthday or Christmas. Now what could little miss goody have planned for this weekend that has her spun up like this? She's wearing the look of a girl with a very juicy secret. One that I'd like to know.
Class ends and she dashes out the door. “Catch up with you guys later," I call out to Hal. I keep a respectable distance from my prey so she doesn't realize she's being followed. She rushes to the dorms, faster than she's ever done before and is already in the elevator ascending to her floor when I reach the front desk.
Excited to be in the dorms can only mean one thing. Somebody's coming to visit. I scan the visitor log to see what time mommy dearest checked in. Next to Jordy's room number is a name that doesn’t sound very maternal. Robert Langston. That must be the long distance boyfriend. I thought this was going to be another boring weekend on campus, but things just got interesting.
The seduction was always going to be a problem with this guy in the picture. Now is the perfect time to plant the seeds to get rid of him. A half ass apology floats through my head. Nothing personal, Robbie, but I never lose a bet.
I send out two texts. The first to Kassidy to find out where the out-of-town visitor will be laying his head. The second to the gossip chain to let everyone know about the exclusive, keep it quiet party, that's happening at this very dorm.
The news travels quickly and by five the music is already cranked up, with the room doors open. People spill out into the halls, over the stairs, and crowd the lounge. Jordy’s giving the boyfriend a tour of campus that should end any moment now. I have my spies on the lookout for when they get closer to the dorm.
My phone dings, alerting me they're five minutes out. I grimace at the picture of them holding hands and smiling stupidly at each other. I should feel bad about what I'm about to do to the happy couple, but I don't.
I navigate through the crowd towards room 521 which is party central for the time being, and make myself comfortable on the couch. There's no door squeaking open to alert me of their arrival, but the sharp intake of breath is all I need.
I sip my beer and clap Hal on the back as he tries to suck the cherry out of a jello slice on some chick's stomach. The glob keeps wiggling, and she keeps giggling, making it slip lower. Another few inches and his face is gonna be in her pussy, and that might get messy, since I'm sure she sprayed cool whip down there.
"Jordanna, what's going on?" The boyfriend asks behind me.
"That's what I'd like to know." She steps around the couch, calling for Kassidy. I turn, giving a welcoming smile to the newcomers. "Jordy, hey. Welcome home."
I thrust a beer at her. She refuses to take it, asking instead, "Where's Kassidy?"
I lift a shoulder and hook my thumb towards the door. "Around here somewhere."
"If she's not here, why are you in my room?"
"We wanted to hang and, well, you know how it is. Can't keep a good party down." I eye the guy still gawking at us from the door. "Jordy, don't be rude. Who's your friend?" I wave him over. "Come on in, there's plenty of room and you guys are just in time to see Hal lose this round."
"Fuck you Logan, I got this." Hal says from his perch between the girl's legs.
"Dude, you don't got this. Frankie, shit even Tabitha, would have had that cherry by now."
I check out Robbie over my shoulder. "You want next? There's a whole cooler of jello shots in the bedroom on the right. Grab one, pick a girl and go diving."
Jordanna's eyes widen, because her room is the one on the right. "I need to find Kassidy," she huffs, shoving by me on her way back into the hall.
That's exactly what I was hoping she'd do. I could use a few minutes alone with the man of the hour. I stretch out my hand. "So, you must be Rodney."
"Robbie."
"Right. Robbie. The cousin?"
"Boyfriend."
I smack him on the back. "Just kidding man, yeah I know you're the boyfriend. My girl talks about you all the time."
"I'm sorry, who are you?"
"Duh, I'm so caught up in this game, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Logan McKay."
A flash of recognition crosses his face. Ah, so he's heard of me. Probably from Jordanna complaining about how badly we've treated her. He hasn't tried to take a swing, so I'm guessing she left off the part where I felt her tits. That's smart and useful.
"So, yeah. Like I was saying. She talks about you all the time. I have to put her on phone restriction when we're working on our paper, otherwise we'd never get any work done."
His ears perk up, though he pretends not to be bothered by it. Okay, time to drop another nugget. "She's really talented, that girlfriend of yours, and dedicated to painting. The other night we were over in the art studio working on her class assignment. She's determined to get it right. I had to dial security and let them know not to lock the building, because I thought we were gonna pull an all nighter."
"The two of you were in there, alone, after hours?" He asks, the doubt and confusion evident in his voice.
"Oh yeah. The faculty is good about things like that for creative types, because you never know when inspiration is gonna strike. We just phone the security desk and let them know we're there and then call them again to tell them to lock up. I can't tell you how many nights some of us have just crashed there on a tarp in the back and woken up in the middle of the night
to paint some more. You just wait, Jordy's bound to have a few of those nights too."
"So it was a bunch of you there that night?"
"Nah. It was just me and Jordy. Things aren't that intense for everyone else yet. Like I said, she's a perfectionist when it comes to her art." My phone dings, letting me know she’s heading back this way. I point to Robbie’s empty hand. "Lemme go get you a drink."
I couldn't find Kassidy anywhere on this floor or the one below us, and I dared not venture anywhere else, with all these people hanging around. When I make it back to my room, I can tell something's wrong. I rush over to Robbie. Dear god, if someone broke something.
"Hey, what's happened?"
"I thought you told me you spend most of your nights at the library, the coffee shop or at the dorms."
Okay, so none of Logan's drunken groupies have destroyed any property. That’s comforting to know. "I do."
"Well, that's not what that guy Logan said. According to him, you've been spending late nights together in the painting studio."
"Not that late, and I wasn't with him. He showed up while I was there."
"We agreed you'd stay away from him, Jordanna." He points to the crowd in my living room. "But this isn't staying away, and now I find out you're working on a paper together."
"The teacher paired us up. What was I supposed to do? Tell him I was rejecting his choice for my partner because he and his friends are assholes? I'm not taking an F and messing up my GPA for that."
He backs off a little. "No, geez Jordanna, of course, that's not what I meant, it's just… Are you sure there were no other options?"
"I'm sure that not a single person in class asked me to work with them, so he's who I ended up with."
I slip my arms around his neck. This isn't how we're supposed to be spending our evening. "It'll be fine. I told you, Logan hasn't said anything else since that day."
I can tell there's still something troubling him. "What else do we need to resolve this so we can go back to having a good time?"
Robbie gestures towards the hall. "Is it always like this? I thought an upscale school would be less animal house."
"College students are the same, this is just a different location and a higher caliber of booze and snacks." It's safer not to mention what happens at the off-campus parties. He might dis-enroll me himself.
He can't help but smile at my joke. It's what I do, find humorous ways to deflect tension between us. Because, even though I love following clues and getting to the truth in a story, I hate conflict. "That's better." I head towards my room. "We can get out of here, just as soon as I grab my bag."
"Sounds like a plan."
I'm glad I packed last night. I snatch my bag off the bed and rush back to the living room. My plan is to get Robbie out of the dorm before anyone else starts running their mouth about my life on campus. We press through the throngs of bodies, getting separated over and over again. I keep my head down and avoid making eye contact. The last thing I need is for a drunken frat boy to think I'm interested in playing one of their god awful party games.
A body steps in our path, blocking our exit. "Hey. You're not leaving already, are you?" Logan holds out a beer that I'm sure my boyfriend shouldn't drink. I've been to enough parties to know they pass the bottles around. Who knows whose lips were on it last? I ignore the unwelcome thought that I would drink from it, if it were Logan's lips that touched it last.
Robbie grabs my hand. "We are. This crowd isn't really our scene."
Logan looks confused that someone would dare dip out on his rager. "What? You’re kidding, right? Jordy usually has a great time at these things. I mean sure, sometimes things get a little crazy, but she always handles herself like a pro. We have a good time, right partner?"
He's looking at me like I'm supposed to agree, and Robbie's looking at me like I'd better say he's full of shit. The trouble is, they're both right. This isn't usually my scene, but I have a fun when the beautiful people aren't trying to rope me in on their shit.
Logan continues, ignoring the awkward silence that's descended in the halls. "Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Jordy hates hanging with us, and she's just too nice to say so." He looks at me just shy of a second too long and nods, "Yeah, let's go with that." His sarcasm doesn't go unnoticed.
Robbie tugs my hand, pulling me towards the stairs, Logan's voice calls out, "You two crazy kids have fun."
I think it goes without saying that we have wildly different definitions for the word fun. Robbie's back to sulking by the time we reach the hotel. I order room service and turn on the television. "Did you want to watch a movie or something?"
"What did he mean?"
"What did who mean?" I pretend to be engrossed in the viewer’s guide. I know exactly who he's talking about, but maybe if I feign ignorance we won't have to talk about him anymore tonight. Or ever again.
"He's even got a cute nickname for you. Jordy."
Well, that didn't work. "If you're talking about Logan, he was being an ass like always and finding ways to amuse himself."
"Yeah, but I notice you didn't correct him. I always thought you hated nicknames."
"I do. I take pride in being named after the great-grandfather and great aunt I never got to meet." My mom's grandfather Grandpa Jordan and my mother's favorite aunt Anna.
Summer is the maiden name off a branch of my dad’s family tree that no longer exists, and my mother's named after her great, great, great, great grandmother. All of our names have significance to our family. And even though mom hasn't spoken to anyone in dad's family in years, I like that we have a link to them.
"You know, I'm really not in the mood to get into another debate about naming conventions and social significance. I'd like to save it for my Poly-Sci or Economics class, if you don't mind."
"I'm just saying, be consistent, if you don't want your old friends giving you a nickname, you shouldn't let these spoiled rich kids get away with it either. Don't bow down to the dollar. Demand respect."
"You're right, Robbie. And if he does it again, I'll put him in his place, like I do every other time. So can we drop it?"
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jordanna spent the weekend out, and I had to wait until today to see if she's sporting that freshly deflowered look. Oh, let me tell you, there is a look, and it's visible in the way someone carries themselves. Men with an extra swagger, women with a greater air of confidence.
She's late to class this morning, and strolls in, books clutched tight to her chest, head down. That is definitely not the look of someone feeling empowered or in the middle of a sexual awakening. It looks like my plan worked, and the long suffering boyfriend failed to seal the deal once again. I won't make the same mistake.
I point to the chair beside me. "Saved it for you."
"You didn't."
"No, I really did. Everyone else wanted to sit here, and I told them I reserved it for my research partner. That's you, since I know you prefer to be in the middle of all the action." I hand her the topic outline I completed last night. "Now tell me I did good."
She looks at the paper and sits beside me with a soft chuckle. "You did okay." I take the paper she's holding out to me in return. So no sex and she was doing homework? Damn, this guy is really making it easy to hate him. But, I need to play the role of the nice guy, or else what's the point in her choosing me over him? Which means, I'm apologizing for shit I'm not really sorry for, again.
I wait until Mr. Tucker has his back to us. "I hope the boyfriend didn't take offense to me teasing him Friday night."
"Is that what you call what you were doing?"
"Come on Jordanna, how was I supposed to know you're not allowed to go out and party and shit?"
"I'm not twelve. Robbie's my boyfriend, not my parole officer or father. I don't need permission to hang out with my friends."
"So we're friends?"
"I wasn't talking about you."
"Fair enough Jordy, fair enough."
"Get it
through your head, I don't respond to nicknames."
She'll respond to this one, and any other one I call her when she's surfing my dick. "I noticed, but this one fits you."
She's not convinced. "I wouldn't call you Jordan, because I'd immediately think of MJ, arguably the greatest basketball player of all times. Your name is unique, and any derivative of it should be too. Besides, I can't very well call you pretty Jordanna all the time, so Jordy, works."
She tucks her head, but I can see her lips twitch. Compliment for the win.
"Shh." She scolds without any heat behind it. "I'm trying to hear the lecture."
"Whatever you say, Jordy."
I'm standing up against the wall, wondering if anyone besides me ever asks themselves what's the point of it all. Every weekend it's the same old thing. Party, meaningless hookups, hangovers, rinse and repeat. Kassidy and Jordanna showed up about an hour ago, but the rest of the attendees should already have enough drinks in their systems to start the first round of games.
It's rare that I play anymore, but I've been on edge since she spent the weekend with the boyfriend. I'm fairly certain nothing happened between them, but I also don't sense that there's a wedge there yet. I need to shake things up. A quick round of truth or dare should give me something to work with.
The first few rounds are easy, designed for laughs. The game won't kick up in intensity until Bella wants it to. Which, judging by the look of boredom on her face, will be any minute now.
Kassidy has to make out with Frankie. No hardship there, they've swapped spit plenty of times. Olivia has to flash her tits. Anyone who's ever been to one of these parties has already seen what they look like. Those who select truth have to admit to a lie, they've told or confess how far they've gone with whichever rando they were drunk enough to take home in previous weeks.
Jordanna's on the couch between Kassidy and Tabitha. I take a seat on the opposite couch, watching, waiting for someone to crank up the volume on the truths or the dares.