“Yes, I’m sure you are. I see we have nothing to talk about tonight. Stay out of trouble, Juliette.”
“Yep. Love you. Bye.” I hung up the phone and closed my eyes. I wished I could say her remarks didn’t slither under my skin, but I’d be full of it. How could she think I really sucked as a daughter? I mean, did I? I did everything she always told me to do, and the one time I push back, she pulled that. I repeated Dr. Ahrendt’s mantra. I am the key to my own happiness. Ha. Looked like my personal mantra lock was busted.
I parked my Subaru in the parking lot at a quarter to ten. I needed to get this Mom-phone-call-funk out of my system, and being in a place too loud to even think clearly was the perfect escape. The bass thumped through the house, and my senses went on high alert. My body instinctively swayed to the beat as we made our way to the side door. It was propped open with a brick, no bouncer in sight. During the school year, the doors were manned by the fraternity guys, usually freshmen, making sure random people didn’t creep into the house. During the summer not as many people were on campus, and most people didn’t wander down Greek row if they weren’t college students.
The dance floor was packed, sweaty girls grinding on guys. Spilled beer sloshed onto my sandals as I walked the perimeter of the dance floor with Payton, looking for Ryan. Most likely he’d be with Blake. The beat of the song bounced through my ribcage. Normally, I’d dance all night, only stopping to sip beer and flirt with the guys, but tonight I’d rather hang out in one of the guys’ rooms, someplace where I could actually have a conversation without having to shout over the music but still be inundated in the party atmosphere.
Payton grabbed my hand and led me over to the far wall where Ryan and Blake were talking and drinking out of red Solo cups.
Ryan’s gaze met mine and his lips pulled into a smile. “Long time no see.” That grin ignited a fire in my veins.
I still couldn’t believe he had a unicorn tattoo on his ass. I shouldn’t find that sexy, but having something so stupid inked permanently on his skin made me fall a little more. Not that I was falling. Just fun, no feelings.
What a load of horseshit. The more I got to know him, the faster that sentiment dissolved.
I bumped his arm, his warm skin brushing against mine. He reached for my hand and laced our fingers together, sending my heart into overdrive. I swallowed and ignored the pulse that hammered in my ears. “How’s that bruise doing?”
He squeezed my hand and whispered, “Ready to be flashed to innocent bystanders.”
“Want to play some beer pong in the room?” Blake said, curling his arm around Payton.
Ryan looked at me, raising his brow.
I shrugged. “Sure, sounds good to me. I’ll play with water, though. Losing team pays for munchies at the Super E.” I could really go for some Oreos right about now. Payton thought she was being sneaky by stealing from my stash at home, but I knew whenever she did because she never closed the container all the way. Whatever. I snuck some of her chocolate-covered coffee beans, so I figured we were even.
We walked to Blake’s room, a plywood table painted gold and blue set up in the middle of the room, taking up the majority of the space. He grabbed a set of plastic cups from his closet, along with beer and a bottle of water from the mini fridge.
He said, “Boys versus girls or couples?”
I snuck a glance at Ryan. He didn’t seem to flinch at the word. I’d mark that down in the progress column.
Ryan said, “Couples sounds good. You ready to kick some ass?”
“Hells to the yeah.” I cracked my knuckles. I sucked a big one at beer pong, but he’d find that out soon enough.
He put his arm around me. “That’s my girl.”
If I could make a soundtrack of those words and listen to them on repeat, my heart would go into cardiac arrest from palpitations.
Ryan lined ten cups in formation, and Blake followed suit on his side of the table. I filled the cups with beer and water, then tossed the cans in Blake’s overflowing trash. After winning the throw-off, Ryan tossed me the ball.
I lined up my shot and said, “Better be good at this, DeShane. I’m definitely not going to be the one carrying this team.” To make my point, my ball bounced off the cup and landed in Blake’s laundry hamper.
“My heart will go on if we lose.”
I smiled as Ryan lined up his shot. Joking around never got old with him. The best part was, it never felt forced, something that I always struggled with when I’d dated other guys. Either they didn’t get my humor or they couldn’t keep up. Ryan and I were completely in sync.
Blake and Payton gave each other an odd look, probably wondering why Ryan had brought Celine Dion into a conversation about beer pong. But that was our thing, not something the golden couple would understand. I bumped him with my hip and bit my lip.