Ground Rules
“You’re gonna drop it!”
That was Zac, his voice going up in pitch until it was almost a screech, as he scolded–
“I’m not gonna fucking drop it!”
–his older brother Taylor, who had thankfully seen fit to take time out of his busy social schedule to help me move back into my dorm. Zac and I were both sophomores at Oklahoma State, while Taylor was a senior… again.
“All I’m saying is that I will laugh my ass off when you drop George’s new tv and she kicks your ass,” Zac said.
“I’d like to see her try,” Taylor replied. I peeked my head into the living room to see Taylor barely navigating the couch, walking backwards as he was. He gave me a wink and added, “No, really, I would. Sounds sexy.”
“Eww, don’t talk about George like that!”
Zac had called me George for as long as I could remember, even though my name was actually Georgina. When we were little and played soccer together, I didn’t mind the tomboy nickname. Now it was too late to get him to change, it seemed. Sometimes I thought that nickname was just a symptom of a larger problem–to Zac, I might as well have been just another dude.
Just as Zac and Taylor eased the tv box into the floor and began the process of setting it up, the suite door opened and my best friend Molly called out, “Lunch is here!”
Following behind her was our other roommate, Peyton, both of their arms loaded down with boxes of pizza, breadsticks and wings. The promise of food was half the reason the boys had agreed to help, I was sure. As soon as the pizza boxes hit the counter in our tiny suite kitchen, Zac jumped up and practically sprinted that way.
“Thanks for helping,” I said as I handed him a freshly unpacked plate.
“You’re welcome,” he said. “I don’t know how you managed to pack so much into that little Nissan. What do you need so much crap for anyway?”
“It’s a girl thing,” Taylor quipped, leaning against the wall.
“You would know,” I replied, smirking as I handed him a plate.
“If you think I’m a girl,” Taylor said, leaning down to smirk in my face, “then you really need some biology lessons. And I am just the guy to give them.”
“Seriously, Tay!” Zac shouted around a mouthful of meat lovers pizza. “You’re gonna make me barf, and if I do, I’m aiming for you.”
“Georgie knows I’m kidding,” Taylor said, plucking a few pieces of pizza out of the box and depositing them on his plate. He shot me a grin over his shoulder. “Right, Georgie? You know I’m just kidding.”
“Sure, Tay,” I replied, deciding it was just better to ignore him. Taylor was always a huge flirt, although he usually treated me like a younger sister. He only flirted with me because he knew how much it grossed Zac out.
“So,” Zac said, leaning against the counter. “How much more do we have to carry in?”
“Umm, just a couple boxes of books, I think,” I replied. “We can get those while you set the tv up.”
“Good, then we’ll be right here to meet your fourth roommate,” Taylor said.
Last spring, Molly, Peyton and I had signed up for a four person suite. They were the best rooms offered to underclassmen, with a tiny kitchen and living room, a bedroom for each person and two bathrooms. After Peyton’s disaster of a roommate last year, we were determined to all live together rather than just across the hall from each other. Unfortunately, we hadn’t had a fourth person to ask to room with us, and the college had not seen fit to send us a letter telling us who they had picked. With all the activities going on for freshmen, we figured there was no point bothering the housing director about it, so we were left waiting for our new roommate to show up.
“I hope she’s nice,” Molly said, picking at a slice of pizza.
“I hope she’s hot,” Taylor replied.
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, clearly we’re going to have to set some ground rules here. Taylor is not allowed to sleep with any of the women who live in this suite.”
“Including you, Georgie Girl?” He asked.
“Especially me,” I replied.
Taylor held his hand over his heart as thought I had really hurt him, but everyone else was laughing. Once the laughter passed, the five of us went back to eating our pizza and discussing the upcoming semester. Taylor and his roommate were apparently already planning a big ‘welcome back to school’ party for their entire hall, but that didn’t interest me. It didn’t interest any of us, really; we were all more the nerdy, studious type than the cool, partying type like Taylor. Even Zac rarely went to parties, aside from occasionally the ones that Taylor threw. Other than a slight resemblance in looks, he and Taylor couldn’t have been more different in personality, yet they were somehow still good friends.
Zac was my best friend, though. Molly was my best girl friend, but Zac and I were even closer. We met in our youth soccer league and had been inseparable ever since, even during the years when boys and girls barely interacted at all except to awkwardly try to flirt. We might have been awkward, but we never flirted. Even though people always joked about us being a couple, we never were. We were just best friends. Simple as that.
Well, maybe not quite that simple…
We were just polishing off the pizza and cleaning up our mess when the suite’s door swung open once again. Every head turned to see who it was, since it was obvious it could only be the mysterious fourth roommate.
“Hello?” A syrupy sweet voice called out. “Anybody home?”
Seconds later, a tall, thin figure appeared in front of us. I recognized her from one of my gen ed classes–Bella Brown. She was a Texas pageant girl, with huge, perfectly curled hair and huge boobs. Said boobs were on display in her little tank top, and her cut off shorts showed plenty of leg, too. Other than what lay beneath her troweled on makeup, Bella left very, very little to the imagination, and judging by the looks on Zac and Taylor’s faces, they were imagining it.
I cleared my throat. “Umm, hi. I guess you’re our roommate.”
“You’re Georgia, right?” She asked.
“Georgina,” I said.
“Right,” Bella replied, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “Well, which one of you boys is going to do my heavy lifting?”
“I saw her first,” Taylor hissed after Bella had walked away before even waiting for one of them to answer.
“You can keep telling yourself that while I’m carrying her stuff in,” Zac said, scrambling to follow Bella into her room.
I glanced at Peyton and Molly, then at Zac and Taylor both scurrying down the short hallway to Bella’s room, which was located right next to mine. I had a feeling this was going to be a very… eventful semester.
A few days later, since the first week of classes was a short one, we were relaxing during the first Friday afternoon of the semester. Even though he had a perfectly good television of his own, Zac insisted that my new flat screen was better, and so he had brought his xBox over and hooked it up, intent on gaming all night. I was happy just to veg out and re-read my newest book obsession, Divergent, to the sound of Zac killing zombie soldiers.
“Of course I’m going to the party!” Bella’s voice rang out as she walked into the suite. I glanced up and saw that her phone was glued to her ear, because she was apparently too lazy to just walk down the hall or to the next dorm to actually talk to her friends. It seemed she was always calling or texting someone. “No, I know. It’s going to be a really big deal. We have to go.”
Her mindless conversation continued in the same vein for several minutes as she shuffled around the kitchen. I couldn’t focus on my book anymore, so I tossed it onto the coffee table and stretched out across the couch, spreading my legs across Zac’s lap. He didn’t even notice.
“Yeah, okay,” Bella said, sipping on her sweet tea. “Yeah. I’ll see you later. Oh, and you have to let me borrow that pink dress for the party! Later.”
Her conversation evidently finished, Bella flopped down onto the empty chair in the living room and eyed the television screen.
“What’s this?” She asked. Without waiting for an answer, she continued, “Looks gross. So, are you guys going to that party tomorrow?”
“What party?” I asked, even though I was pretty sure I knew the answer.
“You know, in Sitlington? I think your brother is hosting it, Zac.”
The way she drawled his name caught Zac’s attention and he quickly paused his game so he could look her way. “Oh, that party? I think Taylor did mention that.”
“I’m sure he did, it’s going to be huge,” Bella said. “You should definitely go.”
I could tell by the way her eyes were trained on him that she really didn’t care if I went to the party. Her invitation was for Zac alone, and from what I could tell, he was hanging on her every word. I felt like I was going to hurl.
“Oh, you should come, too,” Bella said, finally seeming to remember that I was in the room. “I’ll help with your makeup.”
“That won’t really be…” I mumbled, trailing off as Bella steamrolled right over me.
“I can’t believe you might not even go to your own brother’s party,” she said, turning back to Zac. “Not that I can even believe you two are brothers. But I’m sure you hear that all the time.”
“Not really,” Zac replied, even though I knew that he did and had even thought it myself. There was something about the way Bella said it, though, that I really, really didn’t like.
She giggled. “Oh, you know. You two are just so… so different. Anyway, I’ll let you get back to your little game.”
I glared at Bella’s back as she walked out of the room. Zac’s eyes were on her, too, but I could tell he wasn’t looking at her the same way that I was. That only made me angrier, but I couldn’t express that anger to Zac. How could I explain that I was jealous of how he obviously ogled my roommate? Admitting that would mean admitting that my feelings for Zac weren’t entirely friendly. That was something I was just nowhere near brave enough to do. Every time I considered it, all I could picture was Zac laughing in my face and reminding me that I was just one of the guys.
“Earth to George.” Zac chuckled.
I glanced back at him and realized he was now looking at me. “Hmm? What did you say?”
“I was just saying that maybe we should go to Tay’s party,” he said.
“Why?” I asked. “Since when are you into beer pong and slutty sorority chicks?”
Zac chuckled. “I’m not, but I did promise Daniel I would get you to loosen up a little this semester.”
Daniel was my older brother. He was the same age as Zac’s oldest brother, Isaac, and had been friends with him before I ever met Zac. Daniel and I were as different as Zac and Taylor; even though we both played soccer as kids, that was where our similarities ended. He went to college on a soccer scholarship and now had a job coaching at one of the middle schools back in Tulsa. I, on the other hand, had only needed one season to realize I was a danger to myself and the rest of my team. Zac might have thought of me as just one of the guys, but I wasn’t good at being a tomboy… or being a girl, really. And Daniel just thought of me as his nerdy little sister who really, really needed to get a social life.
“I can loosen up just fine without your help and without Bella’s help,” I huffed, crossing my arms.
“Okay, okay,” Zac said. “I just thought it might be fun. If it’s not, we can leave. Promise.”
“You realize we’ll only be there for five minutes, right?”
“As long as I can tell Daniel you went,” Zac replied. “I don’t see what your problem with Bella is, though.”
“Of course you don’t,” I said.
“What?” He asked. “So she’s a little… talkative. And popular. You’re going to hold that against her?”
“Why not?” I shot back. “Girls like her always hold my lack of popularity against me.”
Zac gave me a gentle nudge. “Doesn’t make you any better than them if you judge them for it.”
“It’s not the same.” I pouted, scooting away from his touch.
Maybe he had a point, though. She might have been annoying, and annoyingly popular, but I supposed she couldn’t help that any more than I could help being the awkward bookworm that I was. Aside from the times when I was certain Bella was flirting with Zac, she really hadn’t done anything to earn my contempt. Somehow, though, I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be long before she did.