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Relief fills me when Keith and his roommate, Samuel, round the corner. I haven’t talked to Samuel much since moving in, but he seems like a good guy. I think the college was playing a game of opposites attract when they roomed them together. Keith’s tall build, blonde hair, and perfect vision must have paired perfectly with Samuel’s stocky frame, dark hair, and thick-rimmed glasses.
“What are you drinking?” Keith asks, peering into my cup.
Taking another sip, I shrug. “I have no idea. Some fruity drink Matt made.”
Keith smiles at that. “I’ll make your next one,” he says with a wink.
I smile for the sake of being polite and look over my shoulder for Rae. It looks like she and Matt have already wandered off. I look back at Keith and Samuel, suddenly grateful to have them here with me.
“So, do you know whose party this is?” I ask Keith over the sound of the music.
He shakes his head and points to Samuel. “Some kid in one of his classes lives here and told him about it.”
Samuel steps closer so he doesn’t have to yell but ends up yelling anyway. “The guy in my class said one of his roommates was having a huge party. I think five or six guys live here.”
The house is huge, so I wouldn’t be surprised. The furniture in the large family room is pushed aside to make room for multiple beer pong tables, and Keith catches my eye as I take everything in.
“Want to play?” he asks.
I’m not sure what else to do, so I go ahead and nod. “Okay.”
14
jackson
Speakers in the distance blare a song with an electric beat that I’m sure I won’t be able to get out of my head for the rest of the night. Standing outside on the back patio doesn’t do much to get away from the noise. With how big this party is, people are spilling out of every cracked doorway and taking over the lawn, too. Spending most of my time with the guys in the band hasn’t exactly made it easy to meet people here. I had never really worried about making friends because I had Matt, but now that he’s obsessed with Rae, he hasn’t been around much.
It’s crazy to think in just a few weeks, I’ll have gigs booked most Saturday nights. The band took some time off when they hired me. They wanted us to rehearse together before we go on stage, but it didn’t take long for them to realize there isn’t much for me to rehearse. I know their songs by heart and could play them in my sleep.
I take another swig from the bottle of whiskey I hocked off the kitchen counter and head back inside. Sitting by myself around this many people just feels weird.
As soon as I walk through the sliding glass doors, my eyes land on Margot. She’s easy to spot with her hair, and even though I’d never give her the satisfaction of knowing, she looks incredible tonight. I usually only see her around the dorm, where she wears T-shirts and leggings. Nothing could have prepared me for the wave of stupidity that slapped me in the face as soon as she walked into her room tonight. She might have terrible taste in music and be annoying as hell, but tonight she’s prettier than the rest of the girls here by a longshot.
She’s about to take her turn in a game of beer pong and smiles at Keith before focusing on the cups in front of her. Her arm goes up and over as she throws the ball, and her shirt rides up enough to show a peek of ivory skin I can’t tear my eyes away from. The way her jeans hug her hips has me thinking things I shouldn’t be thinking, and when my stare makes its way up her body, I find her eyes locked on me.
God damn it.
She frowns, and I hope she didn’t catch me checking her out. The last thing I need is little miss perfect thinking she turns me on. It doesn’t matter how good she looks, she’s still the last person I want to be around. Without giving much time to register her reaction, I take another sip from the bottle and keep walking.
I nearly bump into Izzy, but I guess that’s what I get for walking with a bottle raised. “Oh, good!” she exclaims with too much enthusiasm. “You can be my partner.”
“What?” I ask, but she’s already taken the bottle of whiskey from my hands and set it down on an end table before dragging me with her.
“I need a partner!” she yells over the music, pulling me back in the direction I came from.
By the time I open my mouth to ask what she’s talking about, we’ve stopped in front of the beer pong table, and I once again find myself in front of Margot and Keith.
Her big, brown eyes jump between Izzy and me. “I thought you were getting Jess?”
Izzy shrugs. “I found him instead.”
Margot’s eyes jump to me before she settles back on Izzy with the trace of a scowl. “Are you sure you don’t want to look harder?”
I scoff. “I don’t even want to play.”
Her eyes snap to mine, and there’s a sharpness to them now. “Let me guess, you’re too cool for beer pong, too?” She cocks her eyebrow like she’s challenging me, her lips pulled into a smirk.
“You know what? Fuck it.” I hold out my hand. “Give me the ball.”
