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Chapter 1
Riley
KET Work Week
Saturday, August 17th
Standing on the porch,I wave goodbye to my parents with one hand and dab beneath my eyes with the other to put on an emotional effect for them. I do this until the Volvo disappears around the corner. Then I break out into my happy dance and sashay my ass inside to get to work decorating what is now our home for the year!
My sorority big, Ellie; my bestie, Leah; and her sorority big, Grace, along with Cody, will be staying at Casa Costello. We had a sixth roommate, Nalani. She was supposed to transfer to Lincoln from Hayward with her boyfriend, Koa, who’s a kick-ass hockey player, but for some reason, she’s not. I haven’t gotten all the details about why this happened, but I’m sure I will.
Did I mention my parents have no idea that Cody Warren is living here? No, of course I didn’t tell them. I just don’t want to deal with the questions, or worse—Mom meddling and trying to make him a possible love interest in the story she’s crafted about my life that she has going on in her head. They weren’t on board at first because it doesn’t fall under student housing. I had to convince them it was a wise financial move, but in a way that they thought it was their idea.
They know rent is three hundred dollars less a month than they were paying for the dorms and even more of a savings than if I moved into KET, our sorority house. They know I’m ecstatic to have my own room, that I’ll be sharing a house with my favorite people, and that they are no longer required to purchase a meal plan. They still insisted on me keeping the lowest cost one, because I’m more a takeout girl than a chef.I swear I’m going to learn how to cook, though. It was never about not wanting to learn. I mean, who doesn’t love food? It was more about my schedule that was always so packed that I just didn’t have time.
Mom and Dad are both anesthesiologists and practically live at the hospital, so they didn’t have the time, either. Both my brother and I are expected to follow in their footsteps and become doctors of … something.
My parents insisted on seeing a lease and, well, there was none. It was an agreement between friends. But they are all about legalities and contracts, so Dean’s … whatever Drew Daniels is to him—his best friend? Occasional lover? Who knows? All I know is Drew and Cody Warren were his rocks when his grandfather Costello died, and Dean was ‘burdened with his family’s billions. They hardly left his side.
Others weren’t so kind. Hell, some had zero empathy.
One night, Dean threw one of his epic parties, and I heard whisperings of how “lucky” he was to have that kind of money while he was still grieving and stop being a bitch about his first world problems. It was some asshat frat bro, and it was like a switch flipped inside of me. I went off on him in an epic way.
Apparently, Dean heard about it, and I became his “little sister.” I understand it is a burden to be someone everyone else expects you to be. Those expectations we carry are hefty. Clearly, that asshole didn’t understand that. He didn’t understand that Dean’s whole path changed in the middle of his senior semester; his life is no longer his own. He can’t play hockey, chill with friends and watch movies, or throw parties without worrying that once he signed the dotted line that all that “burden” is in his massive hands, he could 1) let his family down along with all they employ and now count on him, and 2) open himself up to … “Opportunistic hoes and frat bros who want to suck off big daddy Dean’s dick. Little bitches like you are now the enemy. So enjoy your top-shelf freebie while you can, bottom sucker.”
That’s the night, he offered Casa Costello to us. Dean didn’t want a dime. He simply stated, “Pay the utilities and occasionally throw a party when the Bears play. Take care of her; she’s given me the best memories of my life.”
We were adamantly against it because we’re not “hoes or frat bros.” When my parents insisted on a contract, emotional support Drew “drew” up a lease agreement that she adjusted to a sample agreement she found on the internet, had her father’s lawyer look at it, and made sure it was beneficial to all parties.
Dean graduated and bought The Brooklyn Bears, an NHL team, so he could continue being part of a sport he not only loves and was so good at that he was named the goalie of the year. Leo Stone, Evan Smith, and Bass Giulietti—all Dean’s best friends—are now signed with his team, with eight-year contracts. Emotional spend, for sure, but you do what you have to do, and Daddy Dean was doing what he had to in order to keep his “family together,”
And my parents have a fit when my Amazon cart is over a hundred bucks.
The house is amazing. The outside is white and gives off all the historical New England feels that every house on Athens Lane gives. The best way to describe it is that it’s grand. I must admit it never seemed so grand at parties I attended, but that was probably because the house was always packed with students celebrating a Lions win, especially last semester when both the men and women’s hockey teams won their national championship games.
You’re greeted by the brick front porch with pillars and a balcony over it. Mom was astonished by the entrance and the grand staircase that is open all the way up to the second story. The fireplace in the living room is stunning, but I never noticed that one—there are two. If memory serves me right, there was always a bar set up in front of it. There’s also a theatre room and the downstairs suite that Dean rarely slept in … because he rarely slept alone and chose to leave that room for family if and when they visited “unsullied.” He locked those two rooms off during parties. After his grandfather passed, he and Drew, and sometimes Cody, would hang out in there for hours watching 90’s rom-coms, but mostly Adam Sandler movies.
The room Dean normally slept in when he had his usual “guest or two” was upstairs to the left of the stairs, and it faces east. He said he preferred to watch the sunrise over sunset. He’s not alone; I prefer them, as well.
Ellie took his room, and I have the one right beside her. Grace and Leah are across the hall, facing west. Between each of our rooms, we have a shared bathroom, which will make it so much easier to get ready in the mornings. The two rooms on the opposite side of the stairway also face west. The front balcony is between them, and there’s a full bath on the east side, closest to Cody’s rooms.
The flooring throughout the house was just refinished and, apparently, the original wood flooring, except the bathrooms, are subway tile. The walls are all a light tan, and now that Dean’s “artwork,” a collection of hockey memorabilia and trophies he’s won through the years, is gone, they may seem bare. But the massive L-shaped couches, huge screen televisions, two fireplaces —now fully exposed— and a bar area beyond the stairway draw the eye.
The kitchen is insane. Mom, who is never at a loss for words, just stood there with her mouth agape until she finally said, “Spectacular.”
She’s correct. It’s all professional grade and “supersized.” Honestly, until we began moving in, I didn’t realize how massive the kitchen island was. It looks so much bigger when it’s not littered with red Solo cups.
I picture us having sit-down meals, playing board games, cooking! I want to host themed parties and possibly trade the red cups for maybe wine or rocks glasses—plastic, of course, because these floors are too pretty to get scratched up.
My family home is amazing, but this place is next level, and now standing in the center of it, I want to knowherhistory. I want to know how it is that Dean Costello owns this massive home at 673 Athens Lane when every other house is either owned by a sorority or fraternity.
I sigh. “Someday.”
After attaching the “Welcome Home Lions” banner I ordered from Etsy—the Lions are wearing little Brooklyn Bears pins—to one of the fireplace mantels and a Brooklyn Bears Banner—the bears are wearing little Lincoln Lions pins—to the other, I look at the clock and realize I only have a little over an hour before my roomies are supposed to arrive. Well, the girls, anyway. Cody isn’t one to really chime in on the Costello Casa group text so I have no idea when he’ll arrive.
* * *
My brandnewto meblue RAV 4 is filled with balloons—forty, to be exact—twenty in Lions colors, and twenty in red and black for the Bears—as I pull out of One Buck Chucks, a knock-off of Dollar Store owned by a man named … you guessed it—Chuck. With a vehicle full of balloons, I smile my happy ass all the way to Pie Zones to pick up the pizzas, wings, and the subs I ordered.I’ll learn to cook another day. Then I hit Lou’s Liquor Store. Using my fake ID, I grab a few bottles of cheap champagne and of course my favorite—peach White Claws.
