Saving Ever After (Ever After #4) (3 page)

“Uh, okay.”
Maybe this whole college thing would be easier than I thought if all it took
was walking out my door to make new friends.

On the walk
down to the dining hall, I learned that they were all, in fact, juniors. Jillian,
who sometimes went by Jill, Heidi and Dawn had been rooming together since
freshman year. Jill and Heidi were both from New York, but didn’t meet until
coming to school here, and Dawn was from Springfield. I had no idea where that
was on the map, but they made it sound like it wasn’t that far from Boston.
Derek and Leland were best friends from Connecticut and met the girls when Derek
and Dawn dated last year. According to them, they were just friends now and the
whole group was pretty tight, but none of them dated each other now.

Somehow in
the short walk, on top of sharing their whole group dynamic, they managed to
extract most of my background, at least the basics. I didn’t divulge anything
really personal, but I told them I was from Seattle and that my dad ran a
software company and my oldest sister lived here in Boston, which is why I
chose to go to school here. I left out our family drama, my past mistakes, the
fact that my sister was dating a rockstar and that I’d met all of the members
of basically the hottest band in the world right now. I wanted to make friends
without having to use that tidbit.

Half way
through our dinner, I was feeling good about my new group of friends. They
didn’t seem to mind that I was a lowly freshman, and were perfectly happy to
take me under their collective wing. They filled me in on all of the important
goings on, which events I had to attend and which were better to skip. I got
the impression that they were all pretty social and very opinionated. They had
a lot to say about the different clubs on campus as well as the fraternities
and sororities. They seemed to be anti-pledging, but pro-partying with the
Greeks. Vi, Sadie’s friend, had pledged a sorority while she was here and said
she would put in a good word for me if I decided to pledge, but I hadn’t
decided yet.

When they
started talking sports and about how good the lacrosse team was, I started to
mention Bas’ name, but then thought better of it. They would no doubt know who
he was, not only because he’d been the star of the lacrosse team when he went
here, but also because of his very famous brother, Christian – sexy rockstar,
drummer extraordinaire, and someone I was better off not thinking about,
something that on most days proved too difficult for me.

Instead, I
kept my mouth shut and just listened to them prattle on about campus life, and
tried to navigate through their questions about me. They reminded me a lot of
some of the kids from my private high school. Jillian was actually a lot like
Lexi, my semi-best friend who’d been behind the wheel. That thought hurt for a
brief flash, but I reminded myself that this was all about second chances and
letting go of the past.

 At the end
of our meal, I was surprised when they invited me to tag along with them to a
party. I knew there were first year student activities and mixers going on in
each of the dorms, but Jillian insisted they were lame and I should skip them.
I was relieved and excited to have made some friends already, and didn’t want
to come off as a lame freshman, so I agreed to go with them. After all, college
parties were a part of college life. It didn’t mean I was going to mess up
again or turn into the party girl that I was before.

I wasn’t
that girl anymore.

Mia

The party
was off campus, at some house that belonged to friends of theirs. The girls
invited me to ride with them and I accepted, thinking it was better than
driving myself since I still didn’t know my way around the city very well. On
our way to their car, I looked down at my relaxed attire. Spending the day
unpacking hadn’t inspired me to put a lot of effort into my appearance, so I
was rocking a pair of simple, but designer jeans, a limited edition Ashes and
Embers t-shirt, from their very first tour, that Ace had hooked me up with when
I begged for one, and a pair of crocheted Toms. I didn’t know what kind of
party we were going to, but Jill, Heidi and Dawn were a little more glammed up
in heels, with their hair and make-up done to perfection.

“Should I
change before we go?” I asked.

“No, you
look fabulous. I wish I could get away with wearing jeans and a t-shirt and
look that hot,” Jill said, making me feel much better and more confident. I
wasn’t usually overly self conscious, but I knew I stood out next to them. I thought
of myself as pretty, but I’ll admit that I felt a little less so next to
Jillian, Heidi and Dawn.

“I agree
that she looks hot,” Leland threw in his opinion, making my cheeks heat, but my
confidence rocketed up even more. At 5’7 I was taller than Heidi, making me the
tallest of the four of us girls, but that wasn’t Amazon tall. I was thin and my
boobs were a little, okay a lot, on the smallish side, unlike Jillian and
Dawn’s. They had serious boobage going on. My hair was naturally a light
strawberry blonde, and I loved that I didn’t have to use any product to get it
silky soft and straight. Keeping it short made it very low maintenance, without
looking low maintenance.

We split up,
the girls climbing into Jillian’s sporty, but not brand new, BMW and the guys folding
themselves into Leland’s late model Mustang. Maybe they wouldn’t have impressed
some of my former classmates who would roll up in Porsches and Ferraris, like
the one Lexi had been driving, or the Benz that was currently parked a few rows
down where I’d left it earlier, but I knew these weren’t typical college kid
cars either.

When we
pulled up outside the party, it became apparent that this wasn’t a typical
college party either, and by that I meant that it wasn’t thrown in a fraternity
or house rented by college students. The house was big and in an upscale
neighborhood of nothing but big houses. Whoever lived here had money, or
parents with money.

We climbed
out of the car, and the guys were right behind us. “Come on, little Mia,”
Leland moved toward me with deliberate and confident strides. “Let’s have some
fun. I promise to show you a good time on your first night here.”

“Leland,
back off and give the girl some space. Like you said, it’s her first night,”
Jillian chided. She grabbed my hand and pulled me along. The rest of them were
close behind us as we made our way up the drive, toward the house. She didn’t
stop to knock once we reached the door, she just opened it and pushed her way
inside.

As soon as I
stepped into the entryway, I was hit by the loud music and smell of alcohol and
weed. The further we made our way into the house, the louder and stronger it
became, until we entered the large open living room that ran right into the
dining area and kitchen.

There had to
be at least twenty people, probably closer to thirty, that I could see, and I
could hear the sounds of more people in a back room down a short hallway. I
didn’t need to ask if I was the only freshman here. It was pretty obvious that this
was a little bit older crowd, but nobody seemed to mind as Jillian tugged me
around the room, introducing me to people. There were so many, that I couldn’t
keep anyone’s names straight, but a lot of them were too drunk or high, or
both, to remember mine, so I didn’t worry about it much.

Derek and
Leland had wandered off, but reappeared minutes later, hands laden with bottles
and mixed drinks. They held one out to me, but I shook my head. “No thanks.”

“Oh, so
you’re one of those girls,” Leland smirked.

“One of what
girls?” I wrinkled my brow.

“A good
girl,” he answered.

“I’m trying
to be,” I answered honestly. “This is my first night here. I think I should
take it slow.”

“Come on,
one drink won’t hurt.” Dawn took one from Derek’s hand and waved it in front of
me before tossing it back and draining most of the contents of the cup in one
drink.

“Don’t
pressure the girl,” Jillian gave her a little shove, but then grabbed her own
drink and looked at me. “If you don’t want to drink, it’s cool. You can just
hang out and make sure we don’t get into too much trouble.” She smiled like she
was joking, but watching the way Dawn was downing drinks, I thought she might
be kind of serious.

Everyone was
laughing, and having a good time. A few of the more drunk ones were dancing
while others were on couches or in the corners of the room making out. One
group was debating sports and politics and the meaning of life as only
opinionated drunks can, and another was congregated just outside the patio
doors off the kitchen, smoking joints. It was a lot like every high school
party I’d been to, just with a more mature crowd. Maybe.

The only
difference was, for the first time in my party history, I was one of the few
sober people. It was a new experience for me and a little awkward. I seemed to
be the only person who didn’t already know everyone else, and without the
liquid courage to loosen me up, I felt out of place. Jillian and Leland tried
to make sure I was included in their conversations, but the more they imbibed,
the more out of place I felt, until I found myself just sitting there quietly,
observing the party and everyone instead of actually being a part of it.

After a
while Leland got up to go for another drink, and I decided that they were
right. One drink just to help me relax around everyone and kill the nerves
wouldn’t hurt. “Hey, can you grab me one?” I asked him. He just smiled and
nodded his head almost a little too enthusiastically.

One drink, I
told myself. Just one.

One drink
was definitely enough, because whatever sweet concoction Leland brought me, was
plenty strong and packed one helluva punch. By the time I saw the bottom of the
cup, I was feeling much more relaxed and comfortable around this crowd. I was
laughing and joking with them. Alcohol always loosened me up, and as long as I
didn’t drink too much, I would be fine. Before I knew it though, Leland was
taking my empty cup and replacing it with another full one.

“No, that’s
okay,” I tried to stop him.

“Come on new
girl, live a little. You’re a college girl now.” The conversation around us had
paused and a few others were watching our exchange.

“I really
think I’m good for now. Maybe I’ll have another in a while.”

“Mia, you’ve
got four, maybe more, years of tough classes, hard work and long days and late
nights of studying ahead of you. You gotta learn to cut loose and have fun when
you get the chance, so live a little tonight. Classes haven’t even started yet,
you can be responsible then.”

I sighed.
What the heck, I told myself. It wasn’t like anyone at this party was getting
out of control. Everyone was just hanging out. Another drink wouldn’t hurt
anything. I was with friends. New friends. It was my first night as a college
student. I had every reason to celebrate.

“Okay,” I
said and felt a little flutter at the beaming smile I got in return. He brought
me back a full cup and I held it up, “To new friends and new experiences!” I
toasted and the group around me all cheered and held up their cups and bottles.

Whatever
Leland put in my second drink was even stronger than the first one. The night became
a blur. I vaguely remembered my cup getting refilled a few more times, and then
stumbling into my room around two in the morning, but everything else was a
little fuzzy the next morning.

I tried to
recall as much about the night before as I could, and piece together events. I
had memories of dancing, lots of dancing. I was pretty sure I danced with both
Leland and Derek and then with the two of them together. There was a third face
in my mind as well, and I think he had joined us, but not much in my head was
very clear. I hadn’t had a drink since New Year’s, and then last night I drank
a lot. Too much. Way more than I intended.

The alcohol
was out of my system now, leaving behind a killer headache and a level of
embarrassment that fell somewhere between a four and an eight. I would know for
sure how embarrassed I should be after talking to Jillian, in hopes that she
could fill in some of my missing pieces.

Disappointment
settled in my gut. Last night wasn’t supposed to happen like that. It was just
one night, I told myself, but that didn’t erase the feeling that already I had
failed at something. I was not off to a great start, but on the flipside, I was
okay and in one piece, so nothing too terrible could have happened, and I had made
friends.

At that
moment, someone began pounding on my door. I groaned and dragged myself up out
of bed, if only to tell whoever it was to quiet down. I pulled my door open to
find some of those new friends. Jillian, Dawn and Heidi were dressed, although
not quite as dolled up as they’d been yesterday, and looking expectantly at me.

“Come on
Mia, what are you still doing in your pajamas?”Jillian asked.

“Why
wouldn’t I be in my pajamas? It’s only nine in the morning and I feel like I
went twelve rounds with Jim, Jack and Jose last night,” I whined groggily.

“But we’re
getting breakfast,” Dawn said as if this was something I should already be
aware of.

“Clearly she
doesn’t remember,” Heidi pointed out to the other two. “Not surprising
considering last night,” she chuckled.

“Someone want
to fill me in?” I looked at each of them questioningly.

“Let’s just
say we made good on our promise to show you a good time, because damn girl, did
you have a good time. I knew as soon as I met you that you were going to be
fun, and I was right. You were dancing and singing. You even stood on the
coffee table and did a little dance for the guys at one point. They loved that.”
Her tone and expression intimated just how much, while internally I cringed at
the thought of climbing up on the coffee table and putting on a show. I decided
I was definitely closer to an eight than a four.

“You have to
go to the next party with us,” Jillian insisted while I tried to call up the
number of people who had been at that party and could have witnessed my awful Miley
moment. That was so something old Mia would do, and had done before. I did not
want to be the girl who danced inappropriately on tables.

It was
just one night,
I tried telling myself again.

“Come on,
let’s go get breakfast. Derek and Leland are already down there.” Jillian
pulled me out of my room by my arm, not even allowing me the chance to go back
in and change out of my sleep shorts and sweatshirt. I was terrified to look in
a mirror. I could only imagine how ragged I must look. My head was still
pounding and all I wanted was to crawl back under the covers only to realize
last night was just a bad dream.

That didn’t
happen though. I allowed the three of them to drag me down to the dining hall
where I was met with good mornings and amused smirks from Derek and Leland.

“Having a
rough start to your day?” Leland teased and I dropped my head down to the table
and groaned.

A repeat of
last night could not happen again. I wouldn’t let it happen again. The partying
was out of my system now. I had my embarrassing college story. One was enough.