That Boy (28 page)

“Danny,” I say diplomatically, “in the last eight days, I've gotten dumped by my boyfriend for a slut, buried both my parents, AND,” I smile at him, “just recently learned one of my best friends has a sick perversion for me. I really don't think
I
could handle a relationship right now.”

I'm totally lying, I could so handle a relationship with Danny, well, I think I could. Really I don't know. But I let him off the hook because I don't want to ruin our friendship either. I seriously don't know what I would do without him and Phillip.

Especially now.

He kisses me on the cheek and gets off the hammock, being careful not to tip me. “You know you love me.”

“Yeah, I know. And you're damned lucky I do.”

Cuz he is.

“Here's a thought,” he adds seriously.

“Yeah?”

“You'd be good with Phillip.”

And with that, he left.

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

The rest of my senior year flew by. I slowly adjusted to not having my parents around, but it was hard. Sadly, what they say is true. Life
does
go on all around you, whether you want it to or not. I'm trying to take it day by day. Some are better than others because I have this constant empty ache inside of me, but I keep going. Phillip and Danny's families have been awesome though, and I haven't ever felt completely alone, like I was so afraid I would. Before I knew it, I was a high school graduate and then down in Lincoln and
officially
a college girl!

Choosing the University of Nebraska as my college was pretty much a no-brainer. It has a beautiful campus, outstanding academics and well, the Huskers. I mean I couldn't imagine myself at another school, going to a football game and cheering for their team. Especially now that Danny
is
the starting quarterback. Phillip is here too, so that made the choice even easier.

I'm living in a dorm with a pretty cool roommate, at least she seems that way so far. We went through rush together and even though we pledged different sororities, we are getting along well. We have similar backgrounds, having both grown up in small towns. We like boys and clothes, and
thank God
, she hates mornings almost as much as I do.

Oh, and newsflash….I've started going by my real name, Jadyn, instead of JJ. I think it sounds much more mature.

Phillip blew out his knee playing basketball this past summer and isn't going to walk-on the Husker football team as originally planned. He's okay with not playing football anymore. He went through rush and ended up pledging the same fraternity that our dads were in. Our dads always had great, wild stories about their time here, and I'm sure we only heard the watered down, tame versions of most of them. Tonight I'm going to experience a wild fraternity party first hand.

At least I hope it's wild!

Phillip's frat is hosting a party tonight, and evidently most fraternity parties have some kind of theme. Some of the themed parties they're hosting this year are:
Secs and Execs
(everyone dresses up as business people),
Get Lei-d
(obviously a Hawaiian party),
Heaven and Hell
(where's Mary Beth Parker when you need her?),
Around the world
(which has something to do with drinking a different shot in every room of the frat house), and of course, the timeless favorite,
Toga.

This one is called
Frosh Frenzy.

All week, Phillip has been
forced
to interview freshmen girls. I say forced because they have to, but it's not like Phillip minds. Interviewing is a great excuse to start talking to a cute girl. He has this little notebook, and he has to fill out a sheet on each girl he interviews. They're kind of like the slam books that we had in ninth grade. The pledge asks each girl a variety of questions. Innocent things like name, hometown, high school activities. And what they call
vital
statistics
, like cup size, height and weight, hair color, phone number. And then personal information, like what you like in a guy, your idea of a great date, how far you will let a guy go on the great date, things like that. This part varies and tends to border on the risqué.

The interview process is supposedly a time-honored tradition. I remember Dad telling me that he met Mom when he interviewed her, but I had always thought maybe he worked for the school newspaper or something.

Now I understand, and quite frankly, I
really
wish I knew what she said because my dad was a
total
catch.

Phillip told me the interviewing process helps the pledges get to know their fellow classmates. I pointed out to him, very sarcastically, that if they really were trying to get to know their fellow classmates, they would interview a few
fellows
. But he just laughed at me.

Of course all freshmen girls, me included, are intrigued by the fraternity system and eager to answer the questions.

Especially from adorable Phillip.

And he is adorable. I mean Phillip has always been a very cute boy, but he seems to be getting even better looking the older he gets. He's leapfrogged the line separating cute from hot and has landed deeply into the hot category. I swear if he keeps this up, I may just have to keep him for myself.

Anyway, I've had to endure sitting by him in the student center, while he does his interviews. I hope I never gush like that over a boy. And some of the answers these girls give. I'm sort of embarrassed by them, and I don't embarrass easily! Sometimes an active will see a girl he thinks is hot and specifically tell the pledge to interview her. The active writes his initials at the bottom of the page, which lets everyone know that he saw her first.

And they say girls play games!

The party is a
meet and greet
party. Only interviewed freshmen girls are invited. It's held under the guise that they are trying to make their pledges more social, but I really think it's so the older guys can hit on the young, naive, freshmen girls.

As we walk down to the frat house, Phillip is telling me a whole bunch of rules he thinks I need to follow for the evening.

I swear, you'd think he was my father!

I'm half listening and half thinking about the cute guy I met in chemistry class today. Somehow I need to get him to be my lab partner. That would make Chemistry 101
a lot
more interesting!

I hear Phillip saying, “Don't go upstairs with anyone.”

“Don't go on any so-called
tours
of the frat house.”

“Don't drink anything that you didn't pour yourself.”

“Never leave your drink out of sight.”

“Check in with me every half hour.”

I'm bored by Phillip's rules, and my mind wanders back to chemistry boy. I wonder if we get to pick our lab partners or if they're assigned? Maybe by alphabetical order? Shoot, I think, when I realize I still don't even know the cutie's name.

“Are you listening to me?” I hear Phillip ask.

“Uh, of course.” Now what did he just say? “You told me about checking in with you. I'm listening,” I lie. “Please, go on.”

So he does.

On and
on
and
on.

“No getting drunk.”

“No table dancing.”

Like I'd ever do that!

“Don't get into a game of quarters.”

Well, maybe…

“Be wary of the upper classmen.”

No way!

“Stick by me……….”

Boring!

I thought at college you were supposed to abandon all rules. At least the ones you had to follow in high school. My mind wanders back to chemistry boy again.

I can't help it!

Maybe we can choose our chemistry partners based on CHEMISTRY, get it? Of course, I'm not sure if we have chemistry because all I did was smile at the boy, but he did smile back. It's a good start. Now I just need to find out his name and then……..

“
Ahh
!” I scream.

Phillip stops walking and steps directly in front of me. I awaken from my daydream to collide and then nearly fall over the top of him.

“
What
are you doing?” I yell at him, as he grabs my shoulders to stop me from falling and taking us both down.

God, he is strong. When I finally marry my prince, I hope he has strong arms like Phillip's. Oh, and great abs too. I wonder if many princes come to school here. Now
that
would be something useful to put in the student directory and a good recruiting tool, I would think, as well.

Phillip is talking loudly to me.

“What are you thinking about, and why are you spacing off? This is important stuff.” He sighs big at me.

“I appreciate that, Phillip.” He's still holding my shoulders and is totally in my face. I'm half tempted to kiss him, just to throw him off guard, but he'd probably get mad at me, and I don't need that right now, so I don't. “But you know, I'm not exactly the best rule follower. Why don't you just pick the most important one, and I'll do my best?” I say, with a wave of my hand.

He lets go of me, gives me that eye and says, “
Fine
. You're leaving with me.” He pauses for effect, “
Have you got that
?”

I nod my head.

“Repeat it,” he bosses.

Being the smart ass that I am, I raise my right hand up, like I'm taking an oath in a courtroom and say, “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I will leave the party with you.”

“Continue.”

I sigh. The boy knows me too well. “Even if there is a cute boy that I would rather leave with.”

Then thinking of a possible loophole, I say, “Hey Phillip, what happens if I don't want to leave the frat house. Depending on how it goes, maybe I'll want to
stay
.”

Phillip is getting irritated with me, I can tell. I kind of like seeing him a little irritated and fortunately, I seem to be able to irritate him easily. He is usually so reserved.

Shoot!

I just realized that I am also very dumb because I
really
should have kept that loophole to myself. I may have needed it later.