Frat Rats
Just a few days later, it was the weekend and time for the stupid Tri Delta party. In that time, I hadn’t managed to come up with a good reason not to go to the party, and so on Saturday night, I found myself in my dorm room trying to make myself presentable.
I hated to admit it, but all of Bella’s little comments about my looks and fashion sense were really starting to get under my skin. Yesterday, she had offered to take me to her hair stylist. It was such an offhand comment that I didn’t even know what to make of it. What was wrong with my hair? As I stood in front of the mirror, I picked up a limp strand and stared it down. It was just hair. Just like the rest of me, it just was; there was nothing special about it.
Peyton had tried to assure me that Bella’s comments came from a place of jealousy. But what did she have to be jealous of? My friendship with Zac? It was just a friendship. There was nothing there for Bella to be jealous of, especially not with the way Zac looked at her sometimes.
Finally, I tired of staring at myself. It didn’t matter how long I stared; I wasn’t getting any prettier. I turned away from the mirror and sent Zac a quick text to let him know that I was ready for the party. He texted back that he was on his way, and sure enough, only seconds later there was a knock at the door. It was crazy that we didn’t see each other more often considering how close he lived, just a floor away.
I didn’t want to think about all of that, though. I didn’t think there was any way I would possibly enjoy this party, but there was no reason for me to be in a bad mood for it. As silly as it sounds, that bad mood was gone the second I saw Zac, anyway. He wasn’t any more dressed up than usual, in just a t-shirt and jeans with his hair as messy as ever, but it didn’t matter. He still gave me those stupid butterflies in my stomach.
“Come on, George,” he said, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “Let’s go get this party started.”
Did he have any clue what he did to me? I doubted it. If he did, he would probably never touch me again. It just wasn’t fair to keep giving me these little, meaningless touches that made me feel like I was going to die. He couldn’t possibly know what an arm around my shoulder did to me.
Cuddled up against Zac like that, the walk across campus to the Greek neighborhood didn’t seem far at all. As we approached South Garfield, where the Tri Delta house was located, it was clear that parties were already raging at nearly every fraternity and sorority house. I had to wonder how strange all of us—Zac, myself, Elijah, Peyton and Molly—must have looked walking into the fray. This was a part of town, just a street off campus, that none of us ever really ventured into and I think it was pretty obvious we didn’t belong there.
Then again, no one at the party seemed to notice. We were admitted into the house by a girl with bleach blonde hair and a huge Tri Delta badge on her shirt, who put our names down on a list that I assumed would help them assign points to the pledges. Once we were inside, someone else rushed up with a tray of jello shots and offered one to each of us. None of us were heavy drinkers, but we all took the shots like champs anyway.
“It’s not so bad is it?” Zac asked as he steered me toward the bar to get drinks for both of us. I didn’t really want a full drink so soon, but Zac was too stubborn to refuse.
I shrugged. There were tons of people in the house, dancing and drinking, but we seemed to be flying under their radar. As long as we could just do our own thing, I supposed it wasn’t too bad. After taking a sip of the punch Zac had poured for me, I replied, “I guess it’s okay. We don’t have to stick around for long, do we?”
“Just finish your drink, then we’ll talk about leaving,” Zac replied. “You girls think you’ll be okay without me for a bit? I see some of the guys from my floor; I’m gonna go say hi.”
We all nodded and assured him we were fine, even though I wasn’t sure that I was. I knew that he played WoW with a bunch of guys on his floor, though, so I couldn’t get too mad if he had other friends and wanted to go hang out with them. I was sure he would eventually come back to me.
It wasn’t long, though, before Molly wandered off, practically vanishing into thin air. Gradually, the whole group seemed to disperse around the party, leaving me all alone. I couldn’t hang out by the bar, because it was a busy place and people kept shoving me aside. With nothing else to do, I poured myself another drink and started walking around the party, hoping I would spot someone I knew… preferably Zac.
Because it was so crowded, I ended up wandering down a hallway just to get away from some of the crowd. It seemed to run the width of the house, just behind the kitchen where a lot of people were congregating, since that’s where most of the drinks were being handed out. On this side of the wall, though, there was less crowd and noise.
“Hey, sexy,” some voice I didn’t know slurred. “You look like you’re lost.”
I turned around and found myself face to face with some preppy looking guy sporting a popped collar like it was still 2004 or something. He seemed to be surrounded by a cloud of beer fumes and I reeled back away from him. “No, I’m not lost. I was just…” I trailed off, because I was just wandering aimlessly, even if I wasn’t lost.
“You looked pretty lost,” he pointed out, trailing a hand down my arm.
“I really wasn’t, but I should probably… I mean, I need to get back to my friends…” I stuttered out. This guy wasn’t even attractive to me, but I couldn’t think straight. That was the alcohol, I supposed.
He started nudging me back toward the wall, and since he was so much larger than me, I really couldn’t stop him. When my back hit the wall, he planted his hands on either side of my head, effectively holding me there. “I’m sure they won’t miss you, so why don’t we just hang out back here for a while?”
I tried to wiggle away from him, especially when I saw him closing in on me to try to kiss me. He didn’t seem to notice at all or maybe he just didn’t care. In the split second before he made it to my lips, I decided to just let it happen, even if I had no clue what this guy’s name was. He was a frat guy. Frat guys weren’t interested in me, and based on the way Bella talked, no guys were interested in me. Well, I would show her. Not that she was around to see it, but at least I would know she was wrong.
After a breathless, sloppy kiss, he pulled back and mumbled, “Why don’t we find a room?”
I knew that was a bad idea. I tried to stutter out some sort of reply that would turn him down without letting him know that I was a nineteen year old virgin, but I wasn’t sure any actual words came out of my mouth.
“Trevor, what are you doing back–” A familiar voice began to ask. “Georgie? What are you doing?”
“I was just… I…” I stuttered, glancing around Trevor at Taylor, who had just appeared at the end of the hallway.
“Yeah, I know what you were just,” he said to me, a smirk on his face. “Come on, Trevor, you know she’s mine. Hands off.”
To my surprise, the guy who was apparently named Trevor, backed off and put his hands up in defeat at Taylor’s words. Backing away down the hallway, he said, “Alright, alright. It’s all cool, man.”
“Come on,” Taylor said, holding his hand out to me. “Let’s get you out of here.”
“Why?” I asked, scowling and crossing my arms. “You didn’t need to rescue me or whatever. I’m not helpless.”
Tay laughed. “Yeah, Georgie, you are. You’re also shitfaced. Let’s get you out of here before any more frat rats try to get into your pants, okay?”
“Yeah, like that’s going to happen,” I said, reluctantly taking Tay’s hand. Even though I didn’t want to admit to him that he had kind of rescued me… well, he had. I didn’t want to sleep with that guy Trevor. I barely even wanted to kiss him. Still, it was nice to be wanted by someone.
Tay pulled me closer as we made our way through the crowd. Just barely audible over all the voices and the music, he said, “You just don’t know, Georgie. You just don’t even know.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, the words coming out a little slurred. Maybe I was drunk.
“Nevermind,” he said, suddenly steering us in a different direction, toward a crowd of people that I realized contained my roommates. “Hey, guys, I’m gonna walk Georgie back to campus, alright? You guys let Zac know she made it back okay—shitfaced, but okay–when you see him.”
I blinked, and as they all came into focus, I realized that Zac wasn’t with them. That was strange, but I didn’t feel like thinking too much about it. I was sure he was around somewhere. Once Taylor had assured them all that he would tuck me safely into bed, I had all but forgotten about Zac’s strange absence.
Taylor practically had to carry me back down the street toward campus. I leaned heavily on him. As I did, I thought about what he had said to Trevor.
“Hey, Tay,” I said. “Why’d you tell that guy I was yours?”
He shrugged. “It got him to leave, didn’t it? Give me your card and your key.”
“Huh?” I asked, not thinking that was a good enough answer.
“Give me your card. I can’t get in your dorm without it.”
“Oh,” I replied, suddenly realizing that we were standing in front of the door to Zink Hall. I wasn’t sure how we had made it back there so quickly, but obviously we had. I fumbled in my purse, which I was surprised I had been able to hold onto, until I finally located the key chain that held my key and my student ID card and handed it to Taylor.
A few moments later, Taylor was steering me into the suite and toward my room. Nudging me along, he said, “Come on, Georgie. I’m not gonna help you into your pajamas, too. Zac would kill me.”
“Zac’s not here,” I said, pouting. “Where did he go?”
“He’s still at the party with everybody else,” Taylor replied.
I leaned against my bedroom door, letting it hold me up instead of Taylor. “I wish he was here.”
“Sorry I’m such a poor substitute for him,” Tay said, pretending to look offended. At least, I hoped he was pretending.
“I didn’t say that,” I replied.
“Yeah, you kinda did,” Taylor said, smirking. “I know you’re hopelessly in love with him, though, so no offense taken. Why don’t you get in there and sleep that alcohol off, huh? I have a feeling you’re gonna feel like shit tomorrow.”
I sighed. “You’re probably right.”
“I could always stay and take care of you…” he offered, still smirking.
“Not necessary!” I ducked into my room and closed the door behind me, even going as far as to turn the lock, before Taylor could say something even more perverted.
“Alright, alright,” he said from the other side of the door. “Your loss. We could have had a fun game of doctor and patient, but you just remember, you turned it down.”
“Go away before I open the door and hurl on you!” I called out.
From the other side of the door, all I could hear was Taylor’s laughter, gradually fading away as he, I assumed, left the suite.