“Who’s your friend?” He nodded toward the bodies ofpeople, and when I turned around to look at Rina, I found her dancing with three strangers.
Oh, to be as social as her…
If she hadn’t practically adopted me as her friend, I would’ve never even talked to her.
“That’s Rina.”
Ming smiled to himself, then slapped it off his face. “Is she single?”
Do people really go to these parties just to find someone to fuck? If yes, I wasveryglad that I was in a relationship.
Going out every weekend to be with yet another stranger sounded like an actual nightmare to me. I couldn’t fathom how that was such a normalized experience.
Relationships were a great thing. Who wouldn’t want to have that one person in their life who loved you unconditionally? That one person you could confide in? That one person who you could always count on?
Reece was all that to me. He made my heart flutter with love when I looked at him, even if he didn’t look back. I could be myself with him, mytrueself—something barely anyone had ever met outside of my close family. He made life easier.
Who wouldn’t have wanted a Reece in their life?
“She is,” I answered. “But she’s not into you.”
Ming’s eyes snapped to mine, shock on his face. His shoulders dropped, and his expression followed. “Not at all?”
I shrugged. “What do I know? I’ve only ever had one boyfriend in my li?—”
“Exactly!” Ming wrapped an arm around my shoulder after turning me back toward the crowd. “You metoneguy and were like ‘Man, he’s kinda cute. I’ll keep him forever.’ Teach me how you did that, Brooke. I want that.” He pointed at Rina. “With her.”
I laughed. “That’s not how it works.”
“I want her to have my babies.” He leaned his head against mine. “How do I make her fall in love with me?”
25
REECE
“Hey, hey!” Fynn pushed a red cup into my hand as soon as I entered the Delta Chi house. “I was starting to think you wouldn’t show up.”
I set the cup down on one of the tables they set up for extra drinks and snacks that were already almost entirely gone.
It was fairly early for one of the frat parties, so it was a bit of a surprise to me to see the food almost gone. Then again, I didn’t really care because I would’ve rather died than touched anything one of the members of Delta Chi prepared.
“Have you seen Brooke?” I’d been trying to find her for the past ten minutes, but she wasnowhere.I looked inside the living room, the kitchen, the bathrooms, and even checked the backyard… but it was like she vanished from the face of the earth.
“Brooke who?” He took a huge sip of his drink. “Tonight’s party night, Reecie-poo. Relax a little. Find a hot puck bunny and get freaky for once in your life. Fuck Brooke.”
“That’s my plan.”
His mouth hung open. “I approve of cheating.”
So badly I wanted to punch my fist into his average-looking face, then say my hand slipped or something, but I had to stay calm.
We had a huge game coming up next weekend in Boston. If I wanted to play, I couldn’t afford to get into fistfights with anyone—especially someone who was also on the same team as me.
“I plan to fuck Brooke, like you suggested,” I said. My eyes wandered over the crowd of dancing bodies, paying extra attention to anyone with blond hair to hopefully find my fiancée amongst them all.
I stayed unsuccessful.
“That’s not what I meant.”
