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I gripped the top of the hand rails and lowered my left foot down onto the first step.
“Seeya,” Leo said, puckering his lips and blowing a kiss.
“You’re not coming down?” I asked, imagining him crouching over the edge of the roof, stalking every person who walked by beneath us for the sole sake of judging each and every one of them. If he had nothing to do, that would definitely be his default course of action.
“Nah,” he said, batting his hand at me. “Immastay up here a bit.”
“Suit yourself,” I said, smiling as I descended. “Weirdo.”
Just before my head dipped past the edge of the roof, I stole a quick glance back up at him to that he was still standing there, watching me. His gaze had softened.
“You’re cute,” he said.
“I know,” I replied, though it came out sounding more like a question. He chuckled at my sudden awkwardness. Shaking my head, I continued climbing. I wanted him to say it again—you’re cute. Just to make sure I’d heard him right.
Bitch.
Loner.
Slut.
He’d called me all sorts of things, even came up with a few colorful names of his own that I couldn’t remember—but nevercute. Never anything remotely positive, nothing close to a compliment.
This wasn’t respect, but it was something.
Going down the fire escape took a lot less time than it did going up, and I even hopped down to the ground past the last couple of rungs and ran back around the corner of the building, past the trash collection bins and up the ramp to the main campus. I tried, unsuccessfully, to smooth out my hair as I headed around the dorm building to the driveway. It was dark, except for the street lamps and screens of cell phones glowing against students’ faces as they wandered around the parked cars.
There, Elliot’s Mustang sat rumbling at a rough angle to the curb, as if he’d tried parking and re-parking a few times before giving up. Like before, his arm hung out the driver’s seat window. The second I started approaching the car, I saw him twist his head to watch me. He didn’t even bother using the rearview.
“Hey,” I said, pulling open the passenger-side door and sliding into the seat as if I’d done it a million times before. In retrospect, it felt like I had. “Sorry, I—”
He pulled me toward him, and my lips met his. The kiss was fast, but deep. He pulled away first, leaving my head to almost fall into the crook of his neck, and left me feeling almost tipsy.
“Wow,” I said, blinking as I reclined back into my chair.
Did heknowhow much power he had?
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he muttered, revving the engine a few times before pulling out of the driveway and out onto the street.
“Where’re we going?” I asked, a little more breathlessly than I would’ve liked. This was way too much action for one night—but I wasn’t exactly complaining.
He pulled over the car almost as soon as we’d left the campus, parking smack in front of an enormous house. White columns, clipped hedges and everything. I recognized the atmosphere right away—even though all the windows in the car were rolled up, I could hear the pulsing of a beat drop that define most shitty pop hits these days. But as Elliot pushed open his car door, it became clear to me that this wasn’t just any party.
“Come on,” he said, and ran around the side of the car to open the door for me. “I’m going to show you what a real party looks like.”
I felt that tug in my chest again, my nerves telling me that something exciting was on the horizon. I was at the top of an emotional roller coaster. The tipping point.
I stepped out of the car.
“It’s not a frat,” Elliot said, closing the door behind me. “It’s my cousin’s place. His parents are out for a few days, so.”
“Why are you bringing me here?” I said, leaving out,as opposed to any other girl?
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Who are you, again?”
I blew out a laugh, rolling my eyes as we walked past the other cars toward the house. “Good one.”
We headed around the side of the house, where the door was left ajar. Multicolored light poured out across the clean stoop and dark blades of grass. Elliot pushed the door aside, and wefound ourselves in the midst of the rich and glam—twenty-somethingsdripping Ralph Lauren bags and Balenciaga sneakers. Unlike the frat party, this place smelled of cologne more than weed, and all of the guests sipped from shot glasses and champagne flutes rather than plastic cups.
