Common Ground (The Common Ground Trilogy Book 1) (15 page)

“Welcome to Christos,” she said in a high pitched voice. “My name is Ileana and I’ll be your server tonight. Have any of you been here before?”

Liam and Damien nodded once without looking up from their menus. Before Annie or I could say no, she continued on with the specials for the night, which she ran through rather quickly. When she finished, Liam stopped her before she could walk away and give us a few minutes.

“I think we’re ready to order now,” he said, putting down his menu.

Ileana looked flustered for a second. Her eyes briefly traveled to another table next to us before she pulled out a flip book and pen.

“I’ll have the lobster-stuffed raviolis with garlic mashed potatoes. (Restaurants generally don’t serve a starch like potatoes with pasta.  I would suggest changing what they eat.) How about you baby?”

“I’ll have what he’s having,” Annie said absentmindedly. The redness in her cheeks had nothing to do with blush.

She turned to Damien who ordered the lasagna and then finally turned to me.

“And for you miss?”

My hands were shaking while the entire table watched. I could feel Liam’s smirk burning through the top of my head. I hesitated for a moment but then remembered that Liam was paying for the night. I quickly flipped the menu to the main entrees section and found the most expensive item on the menu.

“I’ll have the seafood platter please,” I said smugly, closing the menu and handing it to her.

“Excellent choice,” she smiled.

I picked up my water glass and took a sip then looked over at Liam and gave him a victorious smile.

“She’s right, it’s excellent,” Liam said coolly, giving me a surprisingly pleasant smile back.

Maybe it was the fact he didn’t care it was expensive, or maybe it was because the night had been so awkward already, but for some reason, I let out a soft giggle. Annie looked at me suspiciously, then back at Liam whose gaze lingered on me for an extra second. She sat there for another few moments looking between the two of us before she relaxed a bit.

While we waited for the food, the guys proceeded to talk about everything fraternity. Most of the conversation was focused on the last party they had, or about Chase and Tyler who they said were perfect candidates for their house. They never spoke or even referenced us, which made it even more difficult to listen to. Our food finally came when I looked desperately over at Annie in a silent plea to change the topic to anything else.

“I’m sorry, are we boring you?” Liam asked suddenly with his familiar smirk.

“What? No… I love hearing all about your fraternity,” I jeered.

“Damn man, I can see what you mean about her!” Damien added out of the blue, again throwing his snake-like arm over my shoulders.

“Excuse me?” I retorted, freezing my burning gaze in Liam’s direction. Annie just shrank back in her seat and picked at her raviolis.

“Oh, come on Zoe, I was just kidding with him. All I told him was that you aren’t really the biggest fans of our, uh, style of life, and felt that we were overly pompous,” he chuckled. “You can’t possibly deny that that’s how you feel, can you?”

“Well, no, not really. But still, I don’t appreciate being talked about behind my back, especially with strangers,” I said, glancing at Damien.

“Lighten up Zoe,” Annie mumbled, as everyone stared at her. “They’re just playing with you, don’t be so defensive.”

Annie’s intolerance was not only infuriating, but somewhat hurtful. She always stuck up for me before, and in a situation like that, she’d usually be the one to get our stuff together and leave the jerks at the table. But, the new Annie was different and I knew why.

“Fine, fine, whatever,” I pouted, crossing my arms.

Annie gave me a quick look and then turned it towards Damien. I knew she wanted me to talk to him, which immediately destroyed any appetite I had.

“So Damien, did you and Liam know each other before coming to ULV?” I asked in a bored voice.

“Yeah, we have been tight for years,” he said, shoveling a massive piece of lasagna into his mouth. Sauce splattered all over his lips and shirt and it was the most disgusting display I’d ever seen. “We grew up together in a small town in Oregon.”

“Wait, you guys are from the Northwest too? Where in Oregon?” I asked, mildly surprised.

“Yeah, we are, but I wouldn’t even call Sisters a town, it’s so small,” Damien replied, chuckling behind the ridiculous amount of food still in his mouth.

“What brought you to Vegas then?” I asked, trying to maintain calmness.

“Well, that is kind of a long story, but I’ll give you the quick version,” he said, as Liam had tuned us out and sat there playing with Annie’s hair. “Back in the day, we were next door neighbors. We hung out all the time, day and night. His parents traveled a lot to Seattle for business, so he stayed with me most of the time. He was the little brother I always wanted, without the annoying factor.”

At the mention of his parents, Liam became very rigid. He shot an extremely cold look at Damien, wordlessly telling him not to continue. Damien didn’t even notice. He was in his own little world, eating and laughing, carrying on the conversation without a care in the world.

“Anyway, it was sometime during seventh grade when my parents decided to move to Las Vegas because my dad had gotten a new job. So, when we were getting ready to move, Liam had the choice to come with us or stay behind,” he said, flinging his fork around, which luckily was empty. Liam just glared without blinking.

“I was glad that he didn’t really like Sisters either. His parents let him come with us because they were never around much in the first place. We went to high school here, got into ULV and the rest is history. Except for senior year when your parents came down and surprised you, remember that? It was crazy!” he laughed.

“That’s enough.” Liam finally said in a stone-cold voice. His eyes were blacker than I’d ever seen them and he looked absolutely furious. It was all clearly stuff he didn’t want anyone to know, including Annie, who looked outright scared.

“Dude, relax, I’m not telling them anything…” Damien tried to say, not remotely fazed by Liam’s shift in attitude.

“That’s enough,” he said again as he stood up. Even though seeing him on his heels made me feel a little better, watching him angry was quite frightening. It reminded me eerily of the toga party.

I just looked back and forth between the two guys, like watching a tennis match, not knowing what to do.

“Come on man,” Damien laughed uncomfortably. “Sit back down, let’s get some dessert.”

“No, I think I’m done for the night,” he said sharply, throwing a roll of twenties on the table. He grabbed Annie’s hand, and gestured to the two of us that it was time to go.

The car ride back to campus was a scary ordeal. Liam was driving at least 70 miles an hour down the same back roads he took earlier. Nobody said a word and even Damien looked edgy as he hid in the opposite corner of the backseat. Every time I looked at Annie, her gaze was fixated on Liam.

He dropped Annie and me off at our condo, gave her a quick kiss goodnight and tore off around the corner towards the Beta house. Annie stood on the spot watching worriedly as the enormous roar of Liam’s engine faded into the night. There was an awkward silence that filled the void between us. I walked over to Annie, grabbed her softly on the elbow and pulled her towards the apartment.

“I don’t know if you should be around Liam much anymore,” Annie mumbled as I opened the door to my room.

On any normal occasion, that would have been music to my ears. But after witnessing Liam’s emotional breakdown, I was curious. Anytime Liam was challenged, he seemed to clam up and pout. There was something more to him, but I couldn’t figure it out. Annie didn’t look in the mood to talk about anything, so I agreed.

“Okay Ann, whatever you think is best,” I said in my best attempt at sincerity.

“Well, I don’t feel very good, I think I’m going to hit the sack…” she yawned, slamming the door behind her without another word.

**************************************

“So, it ended pretty badly huh?” Steph said the following Monday over breakfast after I finished retelling the date.

“Ended badly? The whole night was a disaster!”

“And you haven’t seen her since then?” Hope asked.

“No, I have, she was in and out all weekend but we didn’t talk at all. She came in, changed out some clothes and left again. I think she’s pretty mad at me.”

“What’d you do? Doesn’t sound like you did anything,” Steph said.

“I don’t know. Maybe it was because I took a few shots at Liam about their fraternity? All I remember was she was so latched onto him, that anything offensive I said she took personally. It’s getting kind of scary how much of a stranglehold he has on her.”

“Hmmm,” Steph said thoughtfully, “let me talk to her. I’ll find out what’s going on.”

It was strange to hear that someone else besides me would be talking to Annie about her problems. Things were not the same, and I was slowly losing my best friend because of some jerk.

“See, this is why I don’t date!” I yelled, throwing my fork down. “I get dressed up in that fancy dress, let you guys make me over, and everything still goes to crap. My date was a slob, Annie’s date was a jerk, and my best friend is mad at me for some unknown reason! I don’t get it.”

“Relax,” Hope said, looking around uncomfortably at the many students who had looked over at my latest public nightmare. “Forget about it for right now. Let Steph talk to Annie and see what’s going on. You can’t do anything else until then. Just go to class and focus on something else for a while.”

“You’re right,” I panted. “It’s just that he’s ruining my life!”

“We know,” Steph added remorsefully. “Let’s just take it one step at a time, okay?”

I nodded shortly and bade goodbye to Hope and Steph before heading out for another Monday of classes. Normally, Mondays always seemed to be much more solemn on campus for all students. A majority of them had unkempt hair and bags under the eyes, and were trudging along to class silently. But, the mood on that specific day was more depressing than any other one before. It seemed like my mood had spread to everyone else as I walked slowly towards class. Sour faces greeted me with every new person, even the professors seemed unapproachable. A haze of gloom had spread across campus that morning, and it wasn’t until Professor Woodward’s class started that I finally understood why it had been magnified more than ever.

“Good afternoon class,” Professor Woodward said that morning, as he strode into our classroom with his briefcase in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other. “I hope you all had a good weekend and didn’t spend it all studying,” he joked. His happy-go-lucky attitude was not greeted with the normal chuckles as everyone in class just stared blankly at him.

“If any of you haven’t noticed, Halloween is next Friday. But, before you all leap out of your chairs in excitement, let me remind you that it also means it’s time for mid-terms!” he continued, not taking notice of the flat lining class.

A huge collective sigh emanated from the desks around me, and many students slouched deeper into their desks. With all of the craziness that had been happening, the idea of getting ready for midterms caught me completely off guard.

“I’m sure you will have midterms in most of your other classes too. However, in this class, I like to do something a little different than a traditional exam,” he said, standing tall in front of his podium at the front of the room. His announcement seemed to intrigue the class enough that most of them sat up fully and refocused their attention on him with curious glances.

“Most professors prefer to give essays, multiple choice tests or extensive projects. That’s not my style. I favor more unconventional ways to challenge you,” he continued.

Students looked around at one another, trying to decide if he was pulling their leg or not. A few actually looked excited as though he was about to announce there would be no midterm at all.

“Before you get too excited, I want to remind you that you still do have an exam,” he reassured, turning his back to the class.

He took a few long strides towards the two white boards behind the podium. He picked up a marker and scribbled a few words that nobody could see. The moment he turned back around, and the board became visible again, another collective sigh filled the room.

ORAL EXAMINATION

Maybe I missed out on some bad joke because most of the class had pulled out their planners and started hastily jotting down notes. An oral examination didn’t seem so bad, but since I’d never actually taken one, seeing everyone’s immediate reaction didn’t bode very well. Timidly, I raised my hand.

“Yes, Zoe,” he replied pleasantly.

“Um, what exactly is an oral exam?”

“I’m glad you asked. It is exactly as it sounds. Instead of having you sit down with a paper and pencil, each of you will come to my office individually where I will ask you questions and you, in turn, will give me an oral response. The test usually takes about half an hour, depending on your preparedness and quality of answers,” he said, looking around the class again.

“So, do we get to use notes?” a tiny girl in the opposite corner of the room had asked without raising her hand.