I accepted the handshake. “Same to you.”
“Mallory’s my roommate,” Juliet supplied.
“Is that so?”
“She spends a lot of time here.” Juliet smiled at me.
“Good to know.” He sat on the arm of the couch next to me, forcing me to look up at him.
“She’s also roommates with Cara,” Aaron answered.
“So, in other words, you guys were busy with the Delta Mu pledges last year.” Tanner smirked.
Reed put an arm around Juliet. “Mallory’s single.”
I glared at him. “Thanks, Reed.”
“Just saying.”
“Also good to know.” Tanner blatantly checked me out, and I tried to ignore it.
The next few hours were kind of a blur. We ordered in pizza and spent a few hours drinking and playing beer pong. It wasn’t great, but it was better than the parties I’d been to over the summer. At least this one didn’t involve a field or hay.
“We need to do something fun.” Max, a sophomore I knew, drank another cup after losing the round of beer pong.
“Do you have any specific ideas of what would be fun?” I didn’t partake in the beer pong, and was sitting comfortably on the couch with a cup full of vodka cranberry. One nice thing about hanging out at a frat house—no worries about being carded.
“Let’s play washers.” He headed toward the back door before anyone even said anything.
“How wasted are you, man?” Reed asked.
“You can’t drink and throw washers?” Max pushed opened the door.
“It’s a dangerous game. They’ve outlawed it in some states.” Aaron laughed before hopping off the couch. I followed him out.
“Are you up for the challenge, Mallory?” Tanner asked, stopping on his way out.
“I don’t know. I might just have to watch.” I suppressed a smile.
I took a seat in a rickety old chair on the lawn. “Is this really what our life has come to?”
Juliet pulled a chair next to mine. “It’s pathetic, huh?” She sipped her drink.
I watched the boys toss washers. They sucked at it. For such athletic guys, it was kind of pathetic. Granted they were drunk, but that still didn’t excuse it.
“Enjoying the show?” Tanner asked, stopping next to my chair.
“Oh yeah.”
“Why don’t you take a turn?”
“No, thanks.”
“Why not? I can teach you how.”
I laughed. “Uh, not necessary.”
“You’ve played before?”
When you grow up in a town the size of Gasden, playing washers is something you learn in preschool. “Yeah, I’ve played before.”
“Come on, let’s play.” Juliet set down her drink. She had that twinkle in her eye that meant she was itching for competition.
“Fine.” Turning down a direct challenge like that wasn’t my thing.
I took the washers and waited for Juliet to toss first. Her washer landed a few feet short of the box.
Max laughed. “Nice one, Juliet. Maybe next time you’ll actually hit the box.”
She put a hand on her hip. “It’s not any worse than how you’re doing.”
I loved how Juliet never took anyone’s BS. She always threw it back.
I reluctantly took my turn. When I tossed the washer, it landed directly in the pipe on the first try.
“Damn, you have played this before.” Tanner put a hand on my shoulder. “Remind me to get you on my team next time.”
I laughed. “Yeah, sure thing.”
“You always act like you have no aim or ability to play sports. Can you throw a ball too? Why didn’t you sign up for the softball game during Greek week?” Juliet asked.
I shrugged. “I didn’t feel like it.”
“Well, you’re doing it this year.”
“Maybe.” I smiled, relieved no one had asked more questions about why I was a champion washers player. I didn’t need to emphasize just how small town I was.
Reed and Juliet walked me home after I assured her a million times I didn’t mind sleeping in the house alone. I knew the place would start filling up the next day, and a night of quiet wasn’t a bad thing.
Juliet hugged me. “I’m so glad you’re back. I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
“Want to do breakfast at Queen Street Grocery?” Juliet suggested a cheap local favorite of ours.
“Sounds great. Call me when you’re up.” I was a morning person. Juliet not so much. I planned to hit up the gym before meeting her.
I walked into the empty house just as my phone rang. I braced myself before answering Colton’s call. He’d called twice while I was at the Kappa house, but each time I’d let it go to voicemail.
“Mallory?” His voice was tentative.
“Hey.” I kept my voice even.
“Hey. I’m sorry for sending you so many texts, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine, Colt. Don’t worry.”
“I’m going to worry. We had sex and now you won’t talk to me?” There was a slight waver in his voice.
“It’s not like we talk a lot.”
“Come on. We’ve been friends forever.”
“We’re not kids anymore.” I wanted to keep as much distance from Gasden as possible. I was going to have to find a summer job in Charleston next year. There was no way I was going back for more than a few weeks ever again. Clearly, I managed to find trouble no matter what I did there.
“Obviously not. Kids don’t have unbelievable sex in haylofts.”
I cringed. I couldn’t believe I’d sunk so low. “Let’s just forget it ever happened.”
“You think I’m going to forget that?” he asked incredulously, like I’d just suggested the most ridiculous thing ever.
“At least try. I’m sure you’ll meet a girl at school. Good luck, by the way. Are you rushing or anything?”
“I wasn’t going to, but I changed my mind.” His voice was hard, and as much as I didn’t like to hear him that way, it meant he’d gotten my point.
“Well, good luck with it.”
“That’s it? You’re really going to pretend nothing changed last night?”
“We got drunk and had sex.”
“Don’t pretend you do that a lot…”
“So? That doesn’t mean anything.”