Crap. My day started out hopeful, downgraded to monstrously bad, and now this… figures.
I need to get out of here. As more male voices gather at the door, I launch myself out of the window, only to get stuck with my feet off the tile floor of the bathroom. Nothing to push against to launch myself the rest of the way through.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see someone approaching. Before I can say a word, he grabs me under the arms and pulls me out. Setting me on my feet, he says, “Well, what do we have here?” With a playful laugh, he leans against the Porsche.
While I stand here, with my mouth opening and closing, my sweater sporting a dirty smear of silt from the windowsill, my pant leg ripped on a nail, I survey my… rescuer… or would it be jailer, since I can’t move around him. He’s tall, muscular, dressed in black dress pants, a blue button-up, and a black tie. It’s his face that makes everything in me freeze.
Iknowhim.
But the force of the knowledge doesn’t match a single memory. I can’t force a name to my mouth.
“Are you trying to rob an art gallery, or are you trying to crash Eric’s birthday party? Honestly, both those options sound… sad.”
My thoughts are jumbled, as I keep my words to myself. He shakes his head and lets out a light laugh before adding, “Do you have a name?”
If one Rockefeller Amherst student staring me down wasn’t bad enough, we’re soon joined by JJ, a blonde, agitated-looking guy, and a redhead sporting a goatee. “Biz?” JJ’s voice is drawn out as he takes another drink of his bubbly. “What’s going on?”
“What kind of name is Biz?” Snob number one asks.
The blonde snob’s face twists with disgust, “Were you the one in the bathroom?”
The ginger shakes his head. “This isn’t even the strangest thing to happen tonight.” When all of the guys glare at him, he shrugs and adds, “The damn birthday boy didn’t even show… so…”
I let JJ steer me away from the others, still gawking at me like I’m an alien crash-landed on Earth. “Darlin’, now’s not a good time to be sneaking into a party.”
I’m mortified he’d think I would do that, especially dressed like this.
“Wha–no, no… I needed my backpack, and I tried to reach you. I thought you could run it out to me, but you didn’t answer. No one’s answering… and I shouldn’t be here. You’re right. I-I…” Against my will, I choke on a sob. My hands fly to my face. I want to tell him. I really do. Tell him that nothing matters much anymore if all hope is gone.
Rock Am snob one walks up behind JJ. In a concerned voice, he says, “Josh, do you know her?”
I let JJ pull me into a hug, supporting the back of my head. He whispers in my ear, “Let’s get that backpack.”
For a minute, I consider ditching the main reason I’m standing here. I just need to get back to my dorm room, regroup, and cry into my pillow until sleep claims me.
All the guys follow us back into the gallery, but the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I catch the mean look from the blonde.
I learn Rippley Maxwell, a friend of JJ's, was the strong one who pulled me out of the window. The cranky blonde is Hart Crawford, another Rock Am student and friend of JJ’s, and the redhead is Soren Bonlowry, also a Rock Am student and friend. Four astonishingly good-looking men, but I’m not prepared for the shock of walking into the brightly lit gallery.
Milling about the rooms with flutes of champagne in black-tie attire is proof that money can polish up anyone… they all look unreal.
I’m stopped short when I hear a jovial voice to my right. “Hey… it’s Elizabeth. Call me Bizzy.” Turning to see the cutie from the airport, my face flushes hot.
“And you’re… Everett. Call me Rett.” If I sound breathy, it can only be blamed on the assault to my senses.
I stick out like a sore thumb dressed like this. The added lights make me squint, the overwhelming eye candy, the very smell of money, a heady and delicious mix of perfume, cologne, expensive fabrics.
My stomach bubbles dangerously. The reactions I’m having make me desperate to get out of here. I mumble a quick hello before hightailing it to the back room, where my backpack lies by a half-empty crate.
JJ steps into the room and closes the door behind him. “Did something happen to you today?”
Just tell him.
I shake my head. “Sorry, I’m trying to stay on top of things… I can’t fall behind in my classes.”
He doesn’t believe me, I see it in his eyes, the twist of his lips, but he doesn’t call me on it. “How do you know Rett?”
“We were on the same flight together when I moved here.” I could expound on that, but why bother? It certainly doesn’t matter. I don’t really ‘know’ him.
