: Chapter 10

“

hat was fucking awesome. You’re fucking awesome.” Chase is lying beside me, wearing a huge smile and nothing else.

“Thanks, so are you.” I can’t believe he just fucked my face. And I loved it.

I’m totally writing this experience into my story.

I want to share this with O, but she’s a high school senior. Although, she reads all my dirty LotR fanfic, so this isn’t much different. But I could tell Tally when I see her in English later this week. What is this life I’m suddenly living?

Chase’s phone buzzes from somewhere in the room. It happened a bunch of times during our oral session, and throughout the night. I guess that’s what it’s like to be popular. Everyone always wants your attention. He rolls off the bed and searches the floor for his pants. He should never wear clothes. His body is unreal.

“Some of the guys are hanging out in the restaurant downstairs,” he announces.

“You should go chill with them.” And I’ll stay up here and continue writing my fanfic. Even though I should really put some words down on my creative writing submission.

He tosses his phone onto the bed and lithely jumps on top of me, covering me like a blanket. “Come down with me. I want you to meet my friends.”

“I should finish my chapter so you have something to read later.”

“You don’t want to meet my friends?” He looks hurt by the prospect.

I bite the inside of my cheek. I see him and his friends in the common room and on campus all the time. They’re the cool jocks and I’m the weird fanfic-writing nerd.

“Please? Just come hang out for a bit.” He bats his lashes. “I’ll eat your precious again when we come back up here.”

“Way to sell it.” I run my fingers through his hair, trying to tame the mess I made.

“Is that a yes?”

“Sure. Yeah. I’ll come down with you. I could use a cold caffeinated beverage right about now, anyway.”

“Awesome! I’ll let them know we’ll be down in a few.”

He rolls off the bed and gathers our clothes from the floor, tossing mine at me. It takes me three times as long to get dressed and I stop in the bathroom to fix my hair and brush my teeth. My lips are puffy thanks to the face fuck.

Once we’re both dressed, I follow Chase into the hall. “Gage can come across as cocky at first, but he’s a good guy and Brody is chill.”

“They seem nice.” I keep the part about Brody’s future sister-in-law being my sister’s best friend to myself. Being known as Essie’s sister was something to be left back in high school.

My palms are sweaty by the time we reach the lobby. Chase links our fingers as we enter the hotel restaurant, where groups of students are gathered. Some have laptops, others are playing cards or talking.

“Chase! My man, you finally came out of hiding!” A guy at a table full of huge guys and pretty girls wearing makeup stands up and waves us over. His gaze snags on our clasped hands and his eyebrows rise.

Chase drops my hand and goes in for a fist bump and a back slap. I get curious looks from the guys. A couple of girls who actively ignore me in the dorm hallway or the bathroom whisper to each other. I suddenly feel like I’m under a microscope because there’s too much attention on me. I shouldn’t have let Chase entice me out of the room with promises of more oral-gasms.

He slings his arm over my shoulder. “Cammie, these are my friends, please don’t hold it against me. Guys, this is Cammie, please don’t talk shit about me to her.”

I wave and am subsequently introduced to every person at the table. Of all the people there, only Brody has said hi to me before in passing. But I don’t really give off an approachable vibe, either.

Chase grabs two chairs and crams us between his friend Gage and some girl who looks pretty unhappy to no longer be sitting beside Chase’s buddy. The girls who ignore me in the bathroom are seated across from us. I’ve already forgotten their names thanks to nerves.

“So what floor do you live on?” the girl with long dark hair asks.

“Third.”

The blonde girl tips her head. “Really? How come I’ve never seen you before?”

I shrug. This is literally the worst. I see them almost every day in the hall or the bathroom.

“I’ve never seen you with Chase before. How do you two know each other?” The dark-haired girl props her chin on her fist and smiles, like I’m suddenly the most interesting person in the world. But she gives me a visual sweep that tells me without words that she doesn’t approve of this pairing.

Chase slings an arm over the back of my chair. “We ended up as roommates last night.”

The dark-haired girl’s eyes flare and she exchanges a knowing glance with her friend. “Right, that makes sense now.”

“Was there only one bed?” the blonde girl asks with a smirk.

“And a pullout couch. But I broke that,” Chase says helpfully, oblivious to the way he’s basically setting me up to be his one-night stand.

“Yeah, you did.” His teammate high-fives him.

I feel like the butt of a terrible joke, even as Chase tries to explain how it happened.

“What program are you in?” the blonde girl asks.

“Kinesiology, right?” Brody, who’s sitting next to the dark-haired girl, asks.

“Uh yeah, but I’m double majoring in English.”

“Double major? But like, doesn’t that mean all you do is study?” the dark-haired girl asks.

I shrug. “I like books more than I like people.” Now is one of those times when blunt honesty does not work to my advantage.

They snicker and turn their attention back to each other.

“How’s Essie? She happy to be back in Toronto?” Brody asks.

Both the girls stop talking to focus on us.

“Who’s Essie?” Chase asks, suddenly interested. Maybe I should have mentioned that Brody and I grew up in the same town.

“My older sister,” I explain. “She misses things about Vancouver, but she missed being away from her bestie more. And it’s definitely easier for her to be here, especially with the wedding and all.”

“What wedding?” the girl beside Brody asks.

Brody doesn’t so much as look their way when he answers. “My brother’s.” He drums on the table, maybe a little agitated since so many people are now focused on us. I relate. “Especially since Ess is Rix’s maid of honor.”

“Yeah. It made sense.”

“Do you two know each other?” Chase asks, glancing between us.

Before I can answer, I’m cut off.

“Wait, isn’t Tristan marrying Flip Madden’s sister? Do you know the Maddens?” One of the girls beside Brody is suddenly super interested in me.

Which is one of the reasons I never mention the several-people-removed connection.

“Indirectly. My sister is friends with his sister,” I explain.

“Did you ever go over to the Maddens’ though? Or did Flip come to your house?” they press. “He’s superhot. And apparently a freak in the sheets.”

I’ve heard all about Flip Madden’s reputation. And Tristan’s, but who knows what’s true and what’s fiction.

“Phillip is like eight years older than Cammie; he would have been her babysitter if anything,” Brody says with a roll of his eyes.

“Oh, right.” The girls go back to ignoring me, and Brody changes the subject.

Someone else jumps in, allowing me to sink into my embarrassment.

Chase and his friends laugh and joke, and I sit there feeling less and less like I belong. And like Essie’s popularity is still something I can’t get out from under. I don’t fit in with these people. His friends seem nice enough, but it’s clear the girls don’t want me here and when we’re back in the dorms, they’ll go right back to looking through me like they always have. Chase keeps his arm around me, but I don’t know any of the people they’re talking about, and he doesn’t explain who they are so I can be in on the jokes.

After half an hour of listening to conversations happen around me, I decide I’ve had enough of being social. These people probably believe I’m just Chase’s current hookup. There’s a good chance I am. I know at least three girls who have made out with him in our dorm alone.

I push my chair back and Chase retracts his arm, still engaged in conversation with his teammates. It isn’t until I stand that his attention shifts my way. His gaze moves over me on an appreciative sweep. “Where you going?”

My heart thunders in my chest as I thumb over my shoulder. “I have a couple assignments I need to tackle.”

He frowns. “Want me to come back up with you?”

I wave a hand around. “Nah, it’s cool. I need the quiet. You stay here and hang with your friends.”

He tips his head, like he’s trying to decide if he believes me. “I’ll give you a little time then?”

I give him two thumbs-up. Cool, Cammie, cool—not weird at all.

The girls across from me smirk and whisper to each other.

Brody crosses his arms and side-eyes them.

I head back to the room where the only person I need to fit in with is myself.