“Right,” Josh said. “But, Ethan, what about your plan?”
“My plan?”
“Yeah weren’t you going to go to parties, meet girls, and whatnot?” Kellan asked.
I blinked at my friends. Ihadtold them about my plan for the semester at some point over the summer. I didn’t think they would remember it better than I apparently did.
“We’re just saying,” Josh said. “Maybe you’re a little overinvested in this Grey person.”
“You’ve been man-crushing on him for, like, three days,” Kellan chimed in helpfully.
“I—”
They were right. I’d forgotten the vow I’d made over the summer. If I kept going this route, I would likely end up wasting my sophomore year man-crushing on some random guy I’d met one time. My friends’ words finally sank in. It was a stupid waste of time.
“You’re right.” I got to my feet with such ferocity that Josh leaned back. “And to get my mind off things, we should go out and hit on some girls.”
“That’s my guy!” Kellan finally put away the Switch.
“It’s Monday,” Josh pointed out, ever the model student.
“Your point?” Kellan asked. “It’s only the first day of the semester, and Kappa Pi is hosting a party tonight.”
“No, no point, I guess,” Josh mumbled.
“Then it’s settled.” I went to the kitchen and opened a beer. “Let the pregame commence!”
We rolledup to the frat house with a healthy buzz. It didn’t take long for Kellan and Josh to wander off to find someone to talk to, leaving me alone to fend for myself. It wasn’t a foreign situation to me. My friends were way more popular with girls than I had ever been, but it still felt like borderline abandonment.
I made my way to the table where drinks were being served. The house was packed with people dancing in various stages of drunkenness and undress. From the smell of things, at least one person had already vomited. Music thudded around me, andlights flashed in time. It didn’t feel like a place people could live, more like a nightclub than anything.
At the table, one girl stood with a guy. She drew away from him, looking incredibly uncomfortable and shot me a look as she saw that I was likely the only person paying attention to the situation, then mouthed, “Help me.”
I sighed and poured myself two drinks and approached the scene. I really hoped I wasn’t about to get my ass kicked by some drunk guy.
“Hey, babe, I got this for you.” I held out the drink to the girl.
She grabbed onto the red Solo cup like it was a lifeline. “Thank you so much,dear.”
“Oh shit,” the guy slurred. “This is your girl?”
I nodded grimly.
“My bad, man. I’ll head out.”
And just like that, he left. I almost couldn’t believe he’d been so compliant.
“Thanks for that.” The girl set down the drink.
I could appreciate her not drinking it. Sure, I’d just come to help her, but for all she knew, I could be much worse than the other guy and had spiked the drink or something.
“No problem.” I took a sip from my own cup. The drink was awful. “I’m Ethan.”
“Piper.”
“I assume he wasn’t taking the hint.”
“You know, I’m pretty sure he was so drunk, he thought I was someone else,” Piper said.
