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I narrow my eyes at her. “You do?”
She nods. “Yes, and it’s perfect for you.”
I set my hand in hers, nervous about where she’s about to take me. But I am desperate and in need of her random act of kindness. Maybe I will even make it to the masquerade party. Maybe I will get my kiss from Finch.
Shawn
I lose shit all the time.
And not just the usual misplaced wallet or keys. Nope, when I lose something, like my textbook or the stupid ass meal plan Coach is making me follow until the end of the season, it takes me days to find.
So, of course, I can’t find the one thing I need for tonight, the only required part of my wardrobe for the masquerade party we throw at the Delta Sig house every year.
Digging through my drawers, I glance over at my roommate and fraternity brother, Mark Montgomery. “Did you see my mask?”
He rakes a hand through his short, auburn hair and slings a duffel bag over his shoulder, his muscles flexing beneath it. “Nope. You can borrow mine if you want. I’m about to head out for the weekend and have no plan on using it.”
Annoyed, I slam the drawer shut, still trying to figure out where I left the mask, and straighten the lapels of my suit jacket. The thought of me in a suit causes me to laugh to myself. I feel as out of place in this outfit as Mark looks in whatever his new girlfriend must have forced him to wear. Tonight, he has on jeans, a T-shirt that fits tight against his chest and arms, and…loafers.
I almost laugh aloud when I realize he’s wearing fucking loafers. He looks like everything he hates. Unlike the other rich guys in our fraternity, Mark is more like me than the rest of them. Seeing him dressed this way makes me want to give him hell, because I know he’d do the same to me. But I won’t. It’s as if we’re both trying way too hard to be people we are not.
“This is the third time this month you bailed on a party. What could be better than hanging out here?”
He shrugs, unaffected, and shoves his hands into his jeans pockets. “I have better things to do than fuck off with you idiots every weekend.”
I narrow my eyes at him, a smirk slowly forming. “Like our Law and Ethics professor.”
Mark hesitates and then walks past me, but I don’t miss him wink at me as if issuing a silent answer.
By now, everyone knows Mark is hooking up with Professor Ford. He stares and licks his lips at her all through class. She’s hot, so, props to Mark on getting a woman like that, but he has denied it for weeks. Mark was never the settling down kind of guy.
I shake my head, thinking about what has happened to my fraternity brothers over the last few months. First it was Hunter and Luca and now Mark? On top of that, my teammates, Bash and Clay, are both just as pussy whipped and practically married to their girls. No matter where I go now, I am the fifth wheel.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re just mad because your grades suck.”
Following behind him and into the hallway, I lock the door and walk toward the stairs alongside Mark. “I’m not failing. Well, at least not yet. That class is so boring it’s hard to stay awake.”
“I have no trouble,” Mark shoots back.
“That’s because you’re too busy blowing kisses at Prof.” He knows I’m right, and ignores my comment, so I continue, “You’re only passing her class because of your extra curricular activities.”
He laughs but doesn’t say a word. Like me, Mark couldn’t afford this school without help. He has street racing and whatever illegal activities he does when he leaves the house, and I have a combination of scholarships—one for football and one from my fraternity, both of which I will lose if I don’t get my grades back on track.
“Is that my shirt again?” I ask, eyeing up his green Delta Sigma Phi T-shirt.
Mark is around the same height as me—six foot four and about the same muscular build. We often wear each other’s clothes without realizing they don’t belong to us until one of us can’t find our phone, and it buzzes in the other’s pocket. The school hands out a lot of standard issue hoodies and T-shirts to all the athletes on campus. Combine all the promotional shirts with our fraternity clothes, and it’s easy to forget what belongs to who.
Unlike Bash and Clay, who live in the off-campus football house, I’m stuck rooming with sixty dudes instead of my teammates. The old Victorian smells of ball sweat, sex, and old food more often
than not, and has far too many people living under one roof. But I can’t afford to live like a baller like my rich friends. So, I’m stuck here until graduation in a few months. If I even pass, with how bad I am doing in school.
Mark takes a cursory look at his shirt, as we make our way to the first floor. “Yeah, I guess it could be yours. Who the fuck can tell them apart, anyway? I’ll give it back when I come home on Sunday night.” Mark reaches into his pocket and hands me the mask as we descend the stairs. “Before I forget, take it. Luca will get mad if he sees you without one.”
I nod and take the black and gold mask that reminds me of something a Roman Emperor would have worn to a party. Before we reach the bottom landing, I slide the mask over my face and adjust the strap at the back of my head. Everyone in our fraternity has to wear the same one to set us apart from our guests.
The living room is dark, with a trace amount of light from the colored lamps angled at various parts of the large, open space. We’re not even thirty minutes into what is usually the party of the year before the entire house fills up. Scoring an invitation is one of the most sought out things on campus.
Girls line up for the chance. I never bring a date to our parties, and I wasn’t about to start for the last leg of my senior year. In the sea of people, I spot Luca, our president, and Hunter, my teammate and fraternity brother, with their girls.
