Bad Rep (52 page)

“I'm so sorry guys,” I told them softly.  Gracie and Vivian each reached out and took one of my hands. 

“Don't you dare be sorry, Mays.  This whole thing has just shown me who my true friends are.  I don't think I can stomach paying dues to be a part of a group that will attack and humiliate one of their own the way they did you.  It doesn't sit well.”  I squeezed her hand.  “Plus, you're my girl.  If you jump, I jump.” I laughed, a deep, from the belly laugh.  Damn Gracie and her ridiculous Titanic obsession.

Vivian looked over my shoulder and froze.  I looked behind me and my heart leapt up into my throat.  Jordan walked in with a few of his Pi Sig brothers and got in line for his lunch. 

It had been a few weeks since our messy break up and this was the first time I had seen him.  It was like a fist to the gut.  He looked amazing.  Gone was the tired, miserable looking guy who had shown up at my apartment drunk and desperate to win me back.  The man across the room looked like his old, confident and charming self. 

I couldn't look away.  Where he went, my eyes followed.  After getting his lunch he headed toward the Pi Sig table, which was beside the normal Chi Delta table.  I noticed with irritation, that Olivia and Milla were there. 

Jordan sat on the end, Olivia on the other side of the aisle.  She waved and smiled at him in that sickeningly sweet way of hers.  Jordan nodded but otherwise didn't acknowledge her.  Much to my sadistic delight. 

“Hmmm, I'm surprised he's eating over there,” Vivian said, more to herself.  I turned back around to look at her. 

“Why?” I asked, curious.  Vivian tore apart her brownie and placed it into tiny piles. 

“Well, it's rumored that he's quitting Pi Sig.  He hasn't been staying in the house for weeks and hasn't been to a mixer since the one when school started,” Vivian answered.

“Hmm, well I don't take a whole lot of stock in rumors, Viv,” I said, stabbing my hamburger with my fork.  Gracie made a face at my lunch. 

“Do you have to mutilate it?” she asked, pulling my fork out of my sandwich.  

“But what Vivian said is true.  A bunch of the Pi Sigs were bitching about it last week.  Talking about how Jordan came into their chapter meeting, saying he would pay his rent up until the end of the month and then he was out.  Said something about moving in with Garrett.  And that he would be withdrawing from the fraternity.  It's caused quite an upset,” Gracie reported, bunching up her napkin and dropping it in her empty salad bowl.

He was dropping out of Pi Sig?  I wasn't entirely surprised by that.  He had been disenfranchised with the whole thing for a while.  But still.  It seemed kind of sudden.

I looked over my shoulder again and watched Jordan as he engaged in conversation with his soon to be ex-brothers.  As if feeling my eyes on him, he looked up and met my gaze from across the room.  I wanted to look away, but I couldn't.  One heartbeat.  Two heartbeats.  Three. 

Then he looked away. 

That hurt.  So damn much.  Vivian and Gracie were looking at me knowingly but politely didn't comment.  When it was time to leave, we unfortunately had to pass behind the Chi Delta and Pi Sig's table.  So much for riding under the radar.

One minute I was walking with my tray, the next I was falling forward, my tray flying from my hands as I ended up sprawled out on the floor, my face having made painful contact with the hard linoleum.  “Maysie!” Gracie gasped as she and Vivian helped me to my feet. 

I heard riotous laughter and realized both the Pi Sig and Chi Delta tables were laughing their asses off.  All of them, except for Jordan.  His eyes simmered with heat but he was otherwise unreadable.  I brushed off my pants and picked up my tray. 

“Oops.  You okay?” Milla asked, snickering.  Stupid bitch had tripped me.  Oh, that was it.  I took a deep breath, the laughter ringing in my ears.  Then I looked right at Milla. 

“Oh, I'm just fine.  Wish I could say the same for you,” I said sweetly.

Milla frowned, her lips screwed up in a hateful smirk.  “And what is that supposed to mean?  Is this more whore talk that the rest of us can't even begin to understand?” she mocked and the group laughed even louder. 

I dropped my tray onto the Chi Delta table.  Milla laughed again.  “What are you going to do?  Jump me like you did Olivia?  Because sweetie, you'll find
I
fight back.  To the death.” She dropped her voice, her eyes hard. 

“I have no desire to fight you, Milla.  In fact, I think leaving you alone is the best punishment there is.”  Milla snorted and Olivia frowned.  I leaned in over the table and smiled at the girl who had made it her mission to destroy me.   I knew without a doubt that the rumors began and ended with her.  She was the one who had those posters hung up all over campus.  And her entire motivation was jealousy.   She was really one of the saddest people I had ever met.

“God, it must be so exhausting pretending that you like her.  That you're her friend.”  I said quietly, never dropping my eyes from Milla's. 

“What?” she scoffed, though her eyes darted sideways to Olivia, who was particularly quiet. 

“I know you've been trying to get in Jordan's pants for years.  And he has rejected you each and every time.  I've also heard how you would go to all of his shows, going to Garrett's parties.  Even going so far as to fuck every single one of his band mates, hoping he would pay you some attention.  That you liked to call out his name while screwing their brains out.  And you have the gall to call me a slut?” I asked in disbelief.  Milla's jaw clenched and she started breathing heavily.  Her neck flushed a bright red.

I leaned in closer, my comments for Milla and Milla alone.  “But the problem with that Milla, is he never wanted you.  After all of your efforts, he never looked your way.  You've always hated Olivia for having the guy you've wanted for years.  And then you hated me for the same reasons.”  I saw Olivia pull in a sharp breath out of the corner of my eye but I didn't move my focus from Milla, who was fuming. 
“No, bitch. I hate you because you are a backstabbing whore,” Milla spat out.  I laughed.  A real and true laugh. 

“At least I don't pretend to be someone's best friend the entire time I'm scheming to steal their boyfriend.  You are a sad and pathetic person.  Starting false rumors about me and Jordan, hanging those posters all over campus.  Doing whatever you could to get me booted from Chi Delta.  And it worked.  You got to me.  I know you're proud about that.”  Milla's chest puffed out. 

“Damn straight I'm proud.  You were a cancer.  You needed to be taken out,” she sneered.

“Milla!”  Olivia said sharply but Milla didn't hear her, her eyes glued to mine.

“But the thing is.  None of that made a bit of difference because Jordan still doesn't want you.  He will never want you.  And that eats you up inside.  Olivia is more popular.  People love her.  And Jordan loves me.  She and I have everything you have always wanted.  But Milla, people like you will never win. Because in order to win, you have to get something in the end.  And you have nothing.  No guy, no real friends, no self-respect.  And I don't give a fuck if you like me.  Or if the Chi Delts think I'm the biggest whore this side of the Appalachian Mountains.  I am done worrying about what everyone thinks about me.  Because all that counts is that
I
like me.  So the rest of you can go to hell.”  I straightened and picked up my tray.  Damn, that felt good.

I was just about to make my grand exit when Jordan got to his feet.  “Maysie, wait!” he called out, stopping me.  Then he turned back to the table full of Pi Sigs and Chi Delts. 

“The bunch of you make me sick.  You've been torturing Maysie for months.  Making her life miserable.  And no one.  Not a one of you did a thing to stop it.  All because some stupid bitch filled your head with a bunch of lies,” Jordan said loudly. 

I realized the commons had become quiet.  We were the focus of every pair of eyes in the room.  Jordan looked down at Milla and Olivia.  “Maysie's right, I would never touch you.  You disgust me,” he sneered at Milla and for the first time her face started to crumble.  I almost felt bad for her.  Almost.

Then Jordan turned to Olivia.  “And you.  How could I be so wrong about someone?  I thought you were better than this,” he said with obvious disappointment and Olivia's eyes brimmed with tears.  But Jordan wasn't done.  Finally he turned to the table full of his brothers. 

“
And the bunch of you can seriously fuck off.  I told you I was done with Pi Sig.  Well I'm done as of right now.  Fuck the lot of you and your hypocritical bullshit.  You sit around spouting brotherhood.  You don't know the first thing about being a brother.  Or being a man.  Because a real man sure as hell would never have disrespected a woman the way each and everyone of you have disrespected Maysie.” 

Jordan climbed up onto his chair and addressed the rest of the room.  “And if the rest of you can't do more with your lives than talk shit about someone you don't even know; then maybe you need to look a little closer at yourselves and ask what kind of person does that make you?  And if I hear of one more person saying something derogatory about Maysie Ardin, you'll need to take it up with me.” 

You could have heard a pin drop, the room was that quiet.  My eyes widened as Jordan climbed down and looked at me.  “I'm sorry Maysie.  I should have done that a hell of a lot sooner.”  And with that he picked up his bag and tray and left. 

I looked back down at the table where my former sisters were sat, looking shell shocked.  Well, damn.  “Okay then, have a nice day,” I said and turned on my heel and left.  Gracie and Vivian followed me outside. 

“That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen!” Vivian shrieked, hugging me.  Gracie was grinning from ear to ear. 

“You freaking rocked!  I wish I had half your courage!  And, god, the way Jordan stood up for you in front of everyone?  That was the most romantic thing ever,” Gracie gushed. 

I smiled wanly, scanning the quad, looking for him.  But he was gone.  And I knew he may have stood up for me, but that didn't change the way things were between us.  Not a damn thing.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“I know he's off tonight. It's safe to go to Barton's.  Not that you should be avoiding him like you're in middle school or something,” Riley snarked, pulling me by the arm up to the front door of Barton's.  I hadn't been inside my former place of employment for months.  Not since my first, magical date with Jordan.  I should have known this place was the beginning of the end for us. 

Too much bad mojo.  Maybe I should suggest to Moore to let me smudge the place with some sage or something.  “So the place is Jordan Levitt free.  Meaning we can commence in getting ridiculously drunk,” Riley singsonged, shoving me through the door. 

Walking inside was like a bad case of de ja vu.  My eyes drifted over to the bar out of sheer habit.  Lyla and some other guy were slinging drinks to the customers.  My eyes caught sight of Gracie and Vivian, who were waving us down.   Jaz hurried up and gave her normal squeally greeting.  After being embraced far too tightly, she let me know she'd join us as soon as she got off. 

I looked at Riley who shrugged.  “I thought you could use a good old fashioned girls' night,” she said, seeming a little embarrassed at being caught doing something thoughtful.  I grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“You're good people Riley Walker,” I told her. 

“Shh.  Don't tell anyone please,” she threw back but smiled anyway.

We made our way to the bar and I was stopped every few feet by the other employees who acted genuinely happy to see me.  I felt a distinct pang in my stomach and realized I missed working here.  When we got to the bar, Gracie got up and gave me a big hug.  “Hey girl.  Guess what?” she asked, bouncing up and down. 

“I don't know.  What?” I asked, laughing at her excitement. 

“Viv and I withdrew from Chi Delta today.  We went apartment hunting earlier in the week and found a place a few streets over from you.  Vivian's staying around next year, wanted to take a year off, so I won't have to search for a new roommate when she graduates. Isn't that awesome?” Gracie asked jovially.