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Vivian shot him a look.
“Hey, Jason,” she said. “How far are we?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
“Great. Roomie, I have an idea.” Almost turning her whole body, she faced me. “Let’s play a game. It’s called, ‘I Think, You Think’. First, I say what I think is true about you, and then you reveal if it’s really true. Then you say what you think is true about me, and I reveal my truth to you. You go first.”
Thishadto be a trap—though as much as I wasn’t into her first impression, shewasmy roommate.Friendswas a stretch, but I had to make some effort to be friendly.
“Okay, uh…” I paused to see if the guys were listening in on our awkward icebreaker, but they were absorbed in soccer facts and figures. “I think your favorite food’s a cheesesteak with bacon and marinara sauce on the side.”
Her jaw just hit the floor.
“I’m kidding,” I said, pinching back the laugher building up in me. “But not sorry.”
I was a sarcastic little bitch. Couldn’t help myself.
Jason glanced at us in the rearview. “What happened?” he said.
“Nothing.” Vivian fluttered her eyelashes as if it were her way of dusting herself off. “Funny, but not true. My turn.”
“Bring it,” I said, offering a smile.
Tapping my fingers on my thigh, I waited as Vivian turned to Luna, who whispered something into her ear. Apparently this was a team sport. A couple giggles later, she turned back to me with a fat smirk on her face.
“I think you have a really sweet voice,” she said, “but you’re too quiet.”
“Oh,” I said, pretending to ignore the second half of it. “Thanks. Um, I like my voice. I don’t know if it’ssweet.”
“Ohmy gosh, stop.” Vivian leaned into Luna for a quick second. “She’ssocute.”
Eric caught my eye in the rearview as I leaned my forehead on the window. He hadn’t said a word to me since yesterday. Maybe these weren’t my people after all.
“This is it,” Jason said, rolling down his window. Music with a heavy bass-line exploded into the car. He gave a whoop as two boys jumped down the stairs of the house as we pulled up to the curb. “I got some friends with me, Mark,” he called out to one of them.
I lifted my head off the window. “You know these people?” I asked.
“Some.”
That was it. He switched off the motor and pushed open the car door. Eric followed suit and moved to pull open the backseat door for Luna to exit. Vivian followed. What a dick. Rolling my eyes, I pushed open the door on my side, stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut behind me.
It was a small two-story house from the fifties, nothing special for a North Carolina suburb. Fairy lights were strung around the columns supporting the porch while music blared from the open windows and let out pot fumes. It was a hot night, and a bunch of people were sprawled out on the lawn smoking and talking. They all seemed older than us, mostly juniors or seniors. Jason led us past them up to the porch.
I hadn’t come to college expecting to show up with a full face of makeup and tight-fitting clothes to a party on my second day, but here I was, stepping over crushed plastic cups and bumping shoulders with people I’d never seen before. There was the cliché couple making out against the doorframe leading to the kitchen, the clique of girls dancing to the beat of the shitty pop music, and the sweat—God, it reeked, mingling with the pungent scent of hard liquor and beer.
“Fuck yes,” Jason said, stopping in the center of the living room where a punch bowl sat on a plastic folding table. He grabbed two plastic cups. “Eric, you want some?”
“You don’t know what they put in that, dude,” Eric replied. “I’mgonnaget a beer.”
“Suit yourself.”
Jason set down one of the cups and ladled the punch into his own cup until it reached the brim. He took a swig and coughed.
The liquor sprayed all over me.
“Fuck,” I muttered, taking a step back from them. Someone yelled, and I whipped around to find that I’d stepped on a girl’s foot.
“Watch it,” she spat.
