Sharing Is Caring
Something strange happened the next day. To my great annoyance, Bella hadn’t missed a single one of our Film and Literature classes all semester. But the week after I started dating Zac, she was conspicuously absent. I didn’t want to assume that the two things were related, but it seemed like a pretty odd coincidence.
Her absence made it easier to focus on the class for once, though, and by the time an hour and twenty minutes had passed, I had completely forgotten about the mystery of the missing sorority sister. When class ended, I grabbed my bags and headed toward the library to print out a paper for my class that afternoon. I was still, amazingly, in a good mood, which was unusual for me on the days I had to share a class with she-who-should-not-be-named.
It didn’t take long to sign up for a computer, pull up the document in my email and print out a copy of it. I was just grabbing the page off the printer and scanning my student ID card to pay for it when I felt like I was being watched. That was never a good feeling, and it was even stranger to realize that the culprit was a girl who looked like every other cookie cutter sorority girl on campus.
The longer I looked, though, the more familiar she became. She was one of Bella’s sisters, I realized. That realization made me stuff the paper in my bag even faster and book it toward the door, but I stopped in my tracks halfway there when I heard a voice.
“George? Georgina? That’s your name, right?”
Against my better judgment, I spun around, and sure enough, it was the bleach blonde. “Yeah? And you are?”
“Kenley,” she replied. “I was, umm, at the party?”
“The party. Right.” I rolled my eyes. “Such a good time, really. So glad to be dragged there against my will.”
“Look, that was what I… well, I wanted to apologize for it, actually,” she replied, glancing around. “I should get some lunch before class; can we walk and talk? I don’t want to cause a scene in here or anything.”
She didn’t want to cause a scene? That seemed outside of the norm for someone who lived the Greek life, but who was I to argue with her? I certainly didn’t want to cause yet another scene this week, so I simply nodded and began walking toward the door again. She could follow me or not; I didn’t really care either way.
Kenley didn’t speak again until we had walked down the steps and onto the sidewalk in front of the library. She cleared her throat and said, “I really am sorry about the whole party thing. I don’t even know why I’m apologizing; it was Letitia’s idea, really. The tall one, you know? She really can’t stand Bella.”
“And what does that have to do with me?”
“Well, you’re with Zac, aren’t you?” She asked. “I mean, that was what Bella thought. Everyone thought she was paranoid and jealous but—“
I stopped walking and shook my head. “I’m sorry, she was jealous of me?”
“Because you got both of them,” Kenley replied plainly. “Zac broke up with her, and she couldn’t seem to get Taylor’s attention no matter what she did. So Letitia thought it would be funny to rub it in or whatever. It was petty, but honestly, we were all so annoyed with her that it seemed like a good idea. I’m not so sure it was, and so… yeah, I’m sorry.”
“Well,” I said, finally managing to move my feet again, though I was still in a shocked and confused daze. “That’s… I mean, I guess I appreciate the apology and the honesty. It doesn’t change anything, except perhaps my opinion of sorority girls, just a little bit.”
“We’re not all Bella,” Kenley replied. “Or Letitia, for that matter. I don’t want to be part of their games, and obviously you don’t either, since you’re not even Greek.”
“Damn right I’m not,” I mumbled.
“But you are… I mean, Bella was right? You’re with Zac now?”
I nodded, smiling at her in spite of myself. “Yeah, I am. I really am. I don’t know about Taylor, but I can promise that Bella doesn’t even the tiniest chance with Zac now.”
“Did someone say my name?” Taylor himself asked, sliding between us and putting an arm on each of our shoulders. He seemed to have materialized out of thin air, but that was such a Taylor thing to do that I wasn’t even surprised. “It’s not nice to gossip about people, you know, but I do appreciate you doing it within my earshot. It’s so much more fun when I can comment on the accusations.”
“I aim to please,” I replied.
Taylor winked. “You certainly do, darling.”
“Do you have any actual contributions to this conversation or just general sleaziness?” I asked.
“General sleaziness,” Taylor replied with a grin. “I like that. I’ll have to use that. But anyway, I just had to confirm—you are, in fact, dating my darling baby brother?”
“That’s the rumor,” I said.
Taylor gave me a surprisingly genuine smile, which was more than a little unsettling coming from him. “Well. Good for you two. Seriously. Even if it does mean, I suppose, that you and I are—“
“We are.”
“Oh, well.” Taylor heaved a sigh. “I suppose I’ll survive. Heartbroken, of course, but I’ll survive.”
“I’m sure Kenley is really enjoying this conversation and all the gossip fodder it’s no doubt providing,” I remarked, nodding toward her.
Taylor turned and gave her a long, appraising look that made even me feel like I was naked. Judging by the way she blushed, I think she felt exactly the same.
“And here I thought I knew all Georgie Girl’s friends,” Taylor said.
“Oh,” Kenley stuttered out. “We uh, we just met, really. I’m one of—well, I’m a Delta.”
“Delta Delta?”
She nodded.
“Ah, home of Georgie’s arch enemy,” Taylor remarked.
Kenley giggled, then seemed to think better of it and tried—unsuccessfully—to stifle it.
“She was actually just telling me how She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has, in fact, wanted you this whole time.”
“Sharing is caring and all, but contrary to popular belief, sleeping with one Hanson brother is not actually a good way to land another,” Taylor replied. He turned back to Kenley and added, “You can tell Bella Dearest that I’m really, really not interested. I’m not one to judge anybody for their promiscuity but I am one to judge people for leading my baby brother on and breaking his heart. If she ever had a chance with me at all, she blew it.”
“Is that…. I mean, do you want me to pass that message along?” Kenley asked, looking scared but a little bit gleeful at the prospect, too.
“Would you be so kind?” Taylor grinned.
Kenley just nodded, a bit wide eyed, then mumbled something about needing to get to some sort of meeting. She scurried off before either of us could say anything else. I stared in disbelief as she vanished. Was it really that scary to be in Taylor’s presence? Sure, I knew he was popular, but he was always just Taylor to me. Maybe it was weird that a dork like me was friends—with or without benefits—with someone like him, but it was something that just sort of happened. It had been a reality of my life for so long that I never really thought about how strange it must look or how other people must see Taylor as this intimidating figure whose approval we must all seek.
If they all got to know him the way I knew him, I had a feeling they wouldn’t look up to him so much. At the same time, I was slowly realizing that he really was a good friend and even a good person. He wasn’t perfect; he was just a human being like the rest of us.
And he was staring at me, evidently waiting for me to say something.
“What?” I asked. “What do you want now?”
“To know how long you and Zac have been official, for one thing. A stiff drink, for another. But I’ll settle for the first, since it is a little tacky to drink before noon.”
“Since this weekend,” I replied. “You missed most of the story, but apparently we were pawns in some weird sorority chess game intended to embarrass Bella because she really wanted you but couldn’t even hang onto the less popular Hanson brother? Also known as my boyfriend. I don’t really think I’ll get tired of calling him that, by the way.”
“I would tell you to bring the excitement down a few notches, but it’s really kind of cute. Sickeningly so, but cute nonetheless.”
“Sorry,” I replied, but I wasn’t really. Not even a little bit.
“You know,” Taylor said, “I might have wanted to know about this change in our relationship. I mean—well, you know.”
“Relationship?” I replied, raising an eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware that we had a relationship; I thought we were just bumping uglies. Isn’t that what you called it?”
Taylor chuckled. “I guess I did. I’m just saying, it’s generally frowned upon to get into a relationship with someone else before you’ve officially broken it off with your fuck buddy.”
“Next time I’ll send formal notice on embossed, personal stationary. Dear Taylor, I’m doing your brother now. Sincerely, your former fuck buddy, Georgina.”
“That’ll do.”
“So we’re good?” I asked. Even though I thought I had made it pretty clear that I didn’t want things with Taylor to drag on, I supposed I had made a mess of it all when I started sleeping with Zac too. It was the sort of situation that seemed better suited to someone like Bella than someone like, well, me. But here we were, and here I was nearly apologizing to Taylor Fucking Hanson for not ending our friends with benefits situation before I began dating his brother.
I was seriously tempted to glance around just to be sure I was still on campus and not in the Twilight Zone.
“We’re good,” Taylor replied. “We’re always good, Georgie Girl. I just like honesty, that’s all. And I like you, but let’s be honest—we’re better off as friends. And you and Zac are disgustingly perfect for each other. It’s honestly a relief that he finally pulled his head out of his ass and noticed.”
“Good,” I replied, heaving a sigh of relief. As much as I hated drama and didn’t want to be involved in any, it seemed to follow me around. Of course, some of it was my fault, I supposed, but I was doing my best to fix things.
“This may be weird to say given everything we’ve done this semester, but Georgie, you’re like my little sister. You can annoy me, do some dumb shit, sometimes really piss me off—I’m getting away from my point. My point is, we’re always going to be okay in the end, no matter what happens. At least, I hope you feel that way, too.”
I looked up at him, tilting my head to the side a bit. It was still strange to see such a genuine side of him. After a moment, I nodded. “Yeah, yeah I do. You’re not so bad, you know. But I won’t go spreading that around or anything.”
“Wouldn’t want to give me a good reputation,” Taylor replied with a smirk.
“What’s going on here?” Zac asked, his shadow covering mine as he appeared behind me. “I’m not so sure I like seeing the two of you together.”
“Jealous?” Taylor asked. “Oh, come on. We’re in broad daylight. Even I have a few standards.”
“Somehow, that’s not very reassuring.” Zac rested his head on my shoulder. “I trust her, though. You, I’m not so sure about.”
“At least I passed the test,” I replied, nudging the side of Zac’s head with my own. “Believe it or not, we were talking about Bella, and how she’s apparently seething over the fact that she couldn’t get or keep either Hanson brother, and I—well. You know.”
“Poor Bella.” Zac snickered, then put his arm around my waist and gave my side a squeeze. “I hate to take pleasure in another person’s misery, but I’ll make an exception for her. And I think the good news calls for a celebratory off campus lunch.”
“Taco Bueno?” I asked.
“But of course,” Zac replied. “Hell, Taylor can come, too.”
“How generous of you,” Taylor remarked.
With that decided, we headed off toward the parking lot for Zac’s dorm. Given the stupid grin pasted on my face, we probably looked pretty silly, but I didn’t care. I never thought, after everything that had happened this semester, I would be happy to walk around campus sandwiched in between my crush and his annoying older brother, but a lot had changed in the last few months—even just in the last few days.
“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” Taylor said, as he skipped ahead to claim the passenger seat. “We should Instagram a photo of this little lunch date. I know someone who would just love to see a picture of this little threesome!”
Well, maybe not everything had changed.