chapter Six
“Was rush this exhausting when we did it?” I collapsed on my bed after the final night of rush. It was pref night, or preference night if you wanted to be formal. That was the night when the freshman ordered their top houses and the actives made a bid list of the girls we wanted. I hated it. I absolutely hated knowing we’d probably be hurting a lot of girls the next morning. Juliet and Cara hated it too, and that’s why we were meant to be friends. People say sorority girls are callous and mean, but they don’t know us. Stereotypes are dangerous.
“This was worse.” Cara lay down next to me. Her bed was a few feet further into the room.
“Agreed.” Juliet kicked off her black heels and squeezed in on my other side.
“It was hard not knowing, but at least it wasn’t in our hands.”
“You didn’t mark anyone negatively did you?” Juliet asked.
“I did.” I put my arms behind my head to prop myself up, careful to avoid elbowing either of the girls.
“Really?” Cara and Juliet both turned their heads to look at me.
“I didn’t want to poison anyone’s chance, but I had too.”
“Why?” Juliet narrowed her eyes.
“I saw her making fun of another girl. That shows bad character. She doesn’t belong in our house.”
“And that’s why we love you.” Cara patted my arm.
“Yeah, what can I say? I’m awesome.”
Juliet laughed. “And modest too.”
I yawned. “What do you say we go to sleep?”
“We can’t.” Cara yawned next.
“You guys go without me. I don’t need to meet the Kappa pledges tonight.”
“Yes, you do.” Juliet sat up and tugged on my arm.
“I kind of miss bitchy, moody Juliet.”
She rolled her eyes. “Come on. When else do you get to hoot and holler at a bunch of hot guys?”
“Wow, you’re right. My life dream is about to come true.”
“Did you two switch bodies?” Cara looked between us. I’d been a half-full kind of girl freshman year, and Juliet was the sarcastic moody one. Things really had changed. I needed to snap out of my funk.
I laughed. “Seems that way, huh? Sorry. I’m just out of it.”
Juliet slipped her shoes back on. “It’s because you’re thinking about your Colt, admit it.”
“The guy from back home?” Cara reapplied her lipstick in front of the mirror. Juliet made me recount the story once more when Cara showed up.
“I’m not thinking about Colt.” I hadn’t been at that exact moment. Guilt over hurting him still gnawed at me though, and I was surprised he’d stopped calling so quickly. It had been over a week since we last spoke. I guess that’s just part of being a girl. Even when you wanted a guy to leave you alone, in some small place inside, you kind of wanted him to keep trying.
“Then is it Tanner?” they asked in unison. Of course this made us all laugh.
“It’s not a guy.”
Juliet pulled me up off the bed. “Sure, sure.”
I straightened out my long hair with my fingers and followed the girls out of the room.
The fresh air woke me up. I felt reinvigorated as we walked down the block toward the Kappa house. We’d been so busy with rush that I hadn’t been back over there much. I knew my friends were still scheming of ways to make sure that changed now that rush had ended.
The crowd outside would have deterred some people, but Juliet pushed through them, and I followed behind. I guess it’s easy to be that confident about it when you’re dating the president of the frat.
We walked right inside, and Juliet and Cara immediately began their perusal for their other halves. I’d like to say I wasn’t jealous, but I was. I wasn’t into either of their guys, but the idea of having a hot older guy fawning over me sounded pretty nice.
“Hey, Mallory.” Tanner held up his hand in greeting.
“Hey.” We’d talked a few times that week, but we’d been too busy to really do anything.
“Reed!” Juliet giggled as Reed surprised her from behind.
“They’re sickening, aren’t they?” Tanner whispered in my ear.
Although I hadn’t seen Tanner much during rush, he always managed to send messages to me through my friends. I wasn’t sure what to make of his interest, but I decided to see where it went. “Yes, but it’s better than when they were broken up.”
“They were broken up?” He put an arm around my shoulder. I wasn’t certain if it was so he could hear me better or because he wanted an excuse to touch me.
“Yeah… for months. It’s a long story.”
“Gotcha. Hopefully they had good make up sex.” His hand moved down my back slightly.
“Yeah…”
“I like this on you.” He gestured to my spaghetti strap black dress. It fell just below the knee but had a small slit up the side.
“Thanks.”
“But I wouldn’t mind seeing you in something sexier. You’ve got a great body. You might as well show it off.”
“It’s better to leave some things to the imagination.” I was all about looking sexy, but Mom had left that message with me loud and clear. The best rule of thumb is to just go sexy in one spot. If you’re showing cleavage, no short skirt and vice versa.
“Classy. I like it.”
“So how’s the new pledge class?” I wanted to move the spotlight off my dress.
“They’re pretty cool. Young though. You know? I feel old.”
“Well, you are a senior.” I laughed. “I felt that way too during rush though, and our girls are only a year younger than me.”
“Are you going to the mixer next week?” He took a swig from his beer.
“Yeah. I’ll be there.”
“Nice. Maybe we can go to dinner first?”
“Ah, sure.”
A triumphant smile spread across his face. “Nice. Want something to drink?”
“Do you guys have fuzz tonight?”
“Yeah. I guess you’ve spent a lot of time here.”
“When your best friends are dating brothers, it happens.”
“You haven’t dated anyone here though, right?” He seemed really interested in the answer.
“I went to a date party with Ryan.”
“But it didn’t go anywhere?”
“No.”
“He’s an idiot then. I have a feeling I won’t be settling for one date with you.” His hand brushed against my ass. I wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not. “Let me get you that drink.” He walked off.
Cara laughed from behind me. “I thought you weren’t into Tanner.”
“Who says I am?”
“You did by agreeing to dinner and not slapping him when he got frisky.”
I shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Minutes later, Tanner returned. “Here you go.” He handed me a plastic cup of fuzz. The actual ingredients were a closely guarded Kappa secret, but whatever it was usually tasted really good and sweet.
“Thanks.” I took a sip.
“I’m glad you came tonight.”
I smiled, not wanting to seem too interested. You had to play those kind of things cool.
“Ow! Ow!” Cara called. I followed her gaze to where ten guys, all dressed in black t-shirts, walked down the stairs.
“Don’t drool, baby,” Aaron teased Cara.
“None of them could compare to you.”
“What about you, Mallory? Are you drooling?” Tanner’s words barely registered with me. I felt my head spinning.
“Are you okay?” Juliet grabbed my arm. “You look really pale.”
“I’ve got to go.” I absently handed Tanner my cup as I tried to maneuver to the front door.
“Mallory, wait!”
I wanted to ignore the voice, but I couldn’t.
“What are you doing here?” My chest tightened. I had to be dreaming.
“I’m a pledge. I kind of have to be here.” Colt stepped toward me warily.
“I mean here. At Harrison.”
“You really didn’t read my letter.” He put his hands in the pockets of his khaki colored cargo shorts.
“You’re supposed to be at USC.”
“I got off the wait list.”
“Oh.” That’s all I could muster.
“Do you two know each other?” Tanner caught up with me. He put an arm around my shoulder again. It normally would have bothered me that he was getting so touchy feely, but at that moment, it was keeping me vertical.
“Yes.” Colt looked Tanner in the eye. “You’ve got your arm around my girl.”
Without dropping his arm, Tanner looked me straight in the eye. “Is that true?”
I couldn’t speak. I could only shake my head.
Tanner laughed. “Ouch. Sorry, pledge.”
“Come on, Mal. Don’t be like this.”
“Like what?” I knew I sounded bitchy, but I had no choice.
Colt gritted his teeth, but then his face relaxed. By that point, we had an audience. “That’s not what you said in the hayloft the other night.”
My chest tightened, my face heated, and I wanted to be sick. I shrugged off Tanner’s arm and ran outside.
“Mallory, wait up!” Juliet called, and I already knew Cara was with her. I didn’t turn around. Instead, I kept running as fast as my three inch heels would let me back to the house.
“Mal, talk to us.” Cara touched my shoulder just as I messed up the code to the house.
“I need to transfer.”
“What?” Juliet took my hand and led me over to the porch swing. “Why? Because Colt’s here? That was Colt, wasn’t it?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“If it makes you feel any better, he’s hot.” Cara sat down on my other side.
We rocked the swing a little. “Why would that make me feel better?”
“Because it’s completely understandable that you want him.”
“I don’t want him.” I pulled my knees up to my chin.
“You do. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be upset.” Juliet spoke softly, a significant change from her usual louder voice.
“That has nothing to do with it. I’m humiliated.”
“Why?” Cara asked like she had no clue.
“A Kappa pledge just told his whole house we hooked up in a hayloft.”
“So?” Juliet asked with a little smile.
“So? That’s humiliating.”
Juliet leaned back against the wooden swing. “Hooking up with a hot guy from back home is embarrassing? Or where it happened?”
“He’s a pledge, a freshman.”
“Yeah?” Cara used her feet to get the swing moving more. I hoped it would hold all of us.
“You know what? Forget it. You’re both practically married to seniors. You don’t get it.” I stood up and headed to the door. Thankfully, I got the combo to the door right and made it inside on the first try.
I ran right upstairs, ignoring the questioning looks I got from two of my sisters sitting on the couch.
I flopped down on my bed without bothering to unstrap my sandals. Closing my eyes, I tried to comprehend what Colton’s presence and his jerk move meant for me.
My phone rang from where I’d left it in my purse. I ignored it. A minute later, I heard the door open.
“We love you, Mallory.” Juliet sat down at the foot of my bed.
I opened my eyes. “Love you too. It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have flipped out on you.”
“What we don’t get is why you’re so upset.” Cara crossed her arms.
“Oh and why you never told us about your propensity for sex in barns,” Juliet smiled. I knew she was trying to lighten the mood.
“That wasn’t me. You guys know me. I don’t do farms, and certainly not barns. I don’t do farm boys.”
“I’m not going to correct you on that one…” Juliet smiled again.
I groaned. “Do you think this ruins my chance with Tanner?” Suddenly, the date with Tanner sounded even better. If I was dating an active, no one would listen or care what a pledge said about me. It was perfect.
“So you finally admit you’re into him?” Cara asked.
“Yeah.” I did find him attractive, and a date with him was appealing. “Do you think he’s going to cancel?”
“No, but I can find out for you tonight…” Cara smiled.
“Without making a big deal out of it?”
“We’ll be very discreet.”
I sat up, the dark cloud partially fading. “Maybe Colt got it out of his system and he won’t bother me again.”
“He’s going to be so busy with pledging, Mal. I wouldn’t worry.” Juliet’s words rang true. And if all else failed, I could have Aaron tell him to lay off. He was the pledge master, after all.
I let out a sigh of relief. “You guys can go back.”
Juliet clasped her hands together. “No, we’ll stay.”
“I’d rather be alone.”
Cara shook her head. “No you don’t.”
“I do. I’m going to take a shower.”
“You should come back.” Juliet had to be kidding.
“Not a chance.”
“Yes. Staying away says you have something to be embarrassed of. You don’t. We go back and act like we needed to change out of our heels.” She got up and walked over to her closet, pulling out a pair of red flip flops.
“Everyone saw me run out.”
“No they didn’t. And even if they did, they’d be too drunk to remember.” Cara tried too hard.
“All right.” They were right, and I knew it. I had to show Colt I wasn’t going to let him mess with me and show Tanner I was interested.
I unstrapped my heels and put on some black flip flops. I could do it.
With a friend on both arms, I walked back into the Kappa house. My stomach churned as I caught sight of Tanner and Colt talking. I really hoped the conversation wasn’t about me, but I knew it was. The trick was acting like I didn’t care.
I let go of my friends’ arms and headed straight for the bar. I smiled at the active standing behind it. “Fuzz, please.”
“Sure thing, Mallory.” He ladled some of the vat into a plastic cup.
I took the cup and walked straight over to a crowd. No one seemed to think anything weird of me being back, so I decided to let it go.
A hand slid around my waist, and I knew whose it was. “Hey, Tanner.”
“Hey. I’m glad you came back.”
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “Can’t keep me away.”
He leaned in. “He’s not going to bother you.”
“Oh, good.”
“You think I’m going to let a pledge stop me from getting what I’ve wanted from the moment I laid eyes on you?”
A shiver ran through me. “And what was it that you wanted?”
“You.”
“You’re not getting anything from me tonight.” I’d made the mistake of having a random hook-up once already.
He settled his hand on my hip. “I get that, but we’re still on for dinner, right?”
“Yeah. We’re still on.”
“Great.” His lips brushed against my ear. “I’m getting another drink. Be right back.”
My phone signaled a text, so I pulled it out. Sorry. Colt only wrote one word, but it made me feel guilty. I searched the room for him and found him quickly. He was watching me with sad eyes.
He pointed to his phone, and I glanced down to see another text. Forgive me?
I nodded, and he smiled.
See you soon, pumpkin.
I gulped down the rest of my drink. It was going to be okay. I glanced up once again, just in time to watch Colt blow me a kiss before turning around to talk to some of the other pledges.
“You doing okay?” Juliet asked, saving me from standing around alone.
“Yeah. I’m okay.”
She leaned in. “I told you it would be better if you came back.”
“You’re always right.”
She laughed. “Unless it’s about my own life. I was pretty dumb about that last year.”
“Yeah, you were.” I smiled.
“I’m going to sleep at the house tonight.”
“You sure?” I tried to keep the excitement out of my voice when I asked. I was definitely looking forward to some company.
“Yeah. I want to.”
“That would be nice.”
“Want to head back now and put on Keeping the Faith?”
“Yes!” Juliet and I had a shared love for chick flicks from the 90s. Cara didn’t mind watching, but it wasn’t her thing.
“Okay. l already said good night to Reed, but do you need to find anyone?” She raised her eyebrow, and I definitely noticed that she didn’t use a name.
“Tanner was supposed to come right back, but he disappeared. Let’s go.” Sometimes you had to leave a guy hanging. It kept him coming back for more.
“Sounds good.” Juliet linked her arm with mine, and we left. I didn’t look back.