“He has risen,” he joked, taking the cup to his mouth.
“Fuck off,” I replied. I grabbed my own cup, and silently praised the heavens that the coffee was still fresh.
“Did you have a bad night, pumpkin?”
Reid was joking, I knew that, but my sense of humor had yet to make a re-appearance after last night. Or perhaps it was chilling at the bottom of the empty Jack Daniels bottle I left next to my bed.
I flipped him the bird from over my shoulder, and then added milk and two sugars to my cup. Reid chuckled, and mumbled something under his breath. I would have asked him to repeat it, but I didn’t have the energy. Not to mention the fact that even talking hurt like a motherfucker.
“You disappeared last night,” remarked Reid. He emptied his cup, and rinsed it before turning back to face me.
When the caffeine made it possible to talk without hurting my head, I replied, “I got over it, so I went up to my room.”
I avoided his gaze, and shrugged, as if he’d accept that as a good enough explanation.
“Did it have anything to do with Kennedy showing up here last night? Because you were fine before she came. In fact, I seem to remember walking in on you with some brunette’s mouth around your junk.”
I frowned. “Don’t be stupid,” I replied, biting back my sudden annoyance. “Why the fuck would I care if Kennedy was here?”
Reid’s brows arched, and he crossed his arms. “Because you kinda threw that chick off like she was a disease as soon as you heard Kennedy’s voice.”
Fuck. He had me there because I did in fact throw Misty off me when I thought I’d heard Kennedy’s voice. She wasn’t impressed, but it’s not like I promised her more than getting the chance to suck me off. I might have hinted at the possibility of reciprocation, but the moment Kennedy showed up all bets were off.
“That’s what I thought,” Reid added. He pushed himself off the counter, and stopped at the mouth of the kitchen that led back into the living room. “We need to get going. You calling the cleaning service to come clean this place up before we lock up?”
I nodded, and then looked away. My jaw ticked, and my body was rife with agitation. Pushing that aside, I called the cleaning company I used after every party I had, and made arrangements for them to come clean up before Reid and I headed back to the university campus. They’d clean up, and cover all the furniture with cloth, and that’s how the house would stay until I needed a place to crash when the dorms closed over break. My parents moved out shortly after I graduated high school, and honestly I couldn’t blame them. It was no longer a home for us, and only held the memories that hurt.
My mother needed to get away, so my father took her with him on a few business trips, and when they came back I found out he’d bought another house for them a few hours away in Dallas. He couldn’t bring himself to sell our old one, so he’d left it vacant.
I used it for my parties, which were almost a nightly occurrence this past year, and sometimes I’d come back just to be alone. To remember. No matter how hard it was.
But, it was time to pack up again, and start my second year at Brighton University. I was studying a Bachelor of Science in Architecture, a decision I made because it was what I’d really wanted. I learned that life is too short to do what others wanted you to do, and you should follow your dreams instead of living out the plans someone else had set out for you. Too bad my douchebag of a father didn’t get that memo. He’d had his own dreams for me, and while we might have agreed on them at some point, fate had other ideas. And I listened.
“You ready to start packing?” Reid asked as he came back into the kitchen. I’d been so busy staring out the window that I hadn’t even noticed the cleaning service’s arrival.
“Let’s do it,” I replied. “Do you remember what dorm we’re in?”
“Yeah, McDonald Hall I think.” He wriggled his eyebrows, and grinned. “Co-ed.”
I shook my head, fighting the smile on my face. “And you accuse me of acting like a horny fifteen year old boy.”
Reid shrugged. “What can I say brother, girls can’t get enough.”
“Please,” I snorted. “You’re just waiting until Jade decides to give you the time of day.”
Surprise flashed across Reid face before he asked, “What makes you say that?”
“I’ve seen the way you look at her, and the way you watch out for her when she parties with us. I also know you guys got pretty close last year.”
Reid sighed, and then pulled his fingers through his hair. “I won’t deny that I care about her, but we’re both having fun right now. I don’t think she’s ready for more.”
I slapped him on the back, and started walking towards my bedroom. “It’ll happen if it’s meant to, you know that. Besides it’s a new year, and a fresh start. Who knows what’ll happen.”
I left Reid in the kitchen, and grabbed a few boxes before we hit the road.
I thought about what I’d said to Reid, and realized that a fresh start was exactly what I needed. I just hoped that nothing came along to derail my newfound determination to make a change for the better.
CHAPTER FOUR
Kennedy
JADE PLUGGED HER phone into her docking station, and started playing music while we unpacked. We’d arrived at the university campus a few hours ago, and had been getting ourselves settled into our dorm all day. Not that it was a dorm, really. It was more like an apartment. It had three bedrooms, an open plan kitchen that connected to the small but spacious living room, and a bathroom that looked like it had come from a catalogue. All three bedrooms were kitted out with double beds, desks, and matching dressers, along with a small closet built into the wall. There was a small window behind the bed that overlooked the sports fields, and part of the main road that had convenience stores, a few bars, clothing stores, and book shops. Being located an hour away from the actual town of Brighton, it could have easily passed for a small town on its own.
The buildings had that old Southern charm, having been designed that way when they were built, but they still reeked of wealth. It was all elitism at its best, and only the wealthy could afford to attend.
Our building was one of the smaller ones, with only eight floors, and six double rooms on each floor. It was the newest, and the nicest. We’d definitely struck gold.
Jade started humming along to Meghan Trainors’ ‘All About That Base’, and after a while we were both singing along at the top of our lungs. It was all horribly off key, but that didn’t stop us in the slightest.
We stopped unpacking, and started dancing around our dorm as if we hadn’t a care in the world. For those few minutes, it felt like I had nothing to worry about, that my life outside of school wasn’t in complete shambles.
Jade started twerking, and I laughed at the way her face morphed into a duck face. I followed suit, and it wasn’t long before I felt eyes on us. It was then that we realized our front door had been open the entire time, and we’d attracted an audience. Until now, our floor had been quiet, but more and more students had started arriving.
The song changed, and we tried catching our breaths after our little performance.
Someone started clapping, and Jade and I whipped our heads in the direction of the sound. Reid stood at our door, and walked in with an idiotic grin on his face.