“Let me guess. Tight end?” she asked, grabbing my ass to test her theory. She giggled at her lame attempt at a joke.
I could tell that getting rid of her wouldn’t be easy, so I had to switch tactics. I smiled down at her and her hopeful eyes widened. I ran my hands down her sides to her ass. “Yours is pretty tight too, babe.”
I bent down and lifted her up. She rested her legs on my hips and wrapped her arms around my neck, giggling into my face. I took two steps forward, deposited her on a bar stool, and ducked out of her arms, which were wrapped around my neck.
“Not tonight,” I said. I turned around to find Sean.
He was already hitting the keg pretty hard, so my guess was Kerri was here already. I looked around and caught sight of her surrounded by three guys from the lacrosse team, but no sign of Red. I went up behind Sean, dropping my hand on his shoulder as he poured another beer and handed it to me. He stared at Kerri as he downed the cup and went in for another refill. This was a bitch move, even for Kerri. It pissed me off. Sean was a good guy. He didn’t deserve this shit.
Just then, I saw Red standing in the doorway to the kitchen. She looked at Sean, then over to where Kerri was holding court. Red’s face twisted with disgust as she marched over to us. Before I even knew what was happening, she grabbed Sean by the back of the neck and kissed him, pulling him against her. Sean seemed surprised at first, then responded, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her back. I had no idea what the hell was happening. I just stood there, staring at them making out in the kitchen while people cheered and raised their glasses.
When Red finally broke the kiss, she asked, “Is she looking?”
Sean looked toward Kerri and nodded. Red took his hand and led him into the other room. I glanced at Kerri, who was fuming. You could practically see the steam coming off of her head.
I headed into the other room and saw Red smiling up at Sean. He leaned down to give her a hug as I walked up to them. “Okay, anyone want to tell me what the hell that was about?” I asked, hooking a thumb toward the kitchen.
Red shrugged. “She needed to be put in her place. I was not just going to stand there and let her rub it in Sean’s face. He didn’t deserve that.” She looked up at Sean, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You’re a good guy, Sean.”
“Thanks, babe,” he said with a smile. He slid an arm around her waist. “You know, I wouldn’t mind a little repeat.” He leaned in to kiss her again.
Red palmed his face, pushing him away. “Nice try.”
Sean just laughed. “Can’t blame me.” He took off into the other room with a bit more spring in his step.
I stared down at her, my mouth still hanging open. I was completely in awe of this girl.
“What?”
“I think I just fell a little bit in love with you,” I stammered.
She laughed. “As long as it is only a little bit.”
The rest of the night was pretty great, actually. Red kicked my ass at beer pong and even got up to sing a horribly off key version of “U Can’t Touch This” with Sean. I left the two of them on the dance floor and went to grab refills from the bar.
I stopped to talk to a hot little brunette in a red dress. After getting the brunette’s number and drinks for Red and Sean, I headed back to the dance floor, but Red was no longer alone. Sean was dancing with the clingy blonde from earlier and Red was dancing with some douche in cargo shorts and an Abercrombie t-shirt. The only thing missing from his typical douche uniform was the puka shell necklace. When Red wrapped her arms around his neck, I saw it. His douche uniform was complete.
I just stood there, watching him rest his hands on her hips as she swayed to the music. Her long red hair was pulled over one shoulder. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.
We had gotten pretty close over the last few weeks. We spent a lot of time together, watching movies, talking, studying, and really just getting to know each other. She was the only girl I had spent more than one night with in a long time. I had always been attracted to Alex, but she was becoming my best friend. I cared about her, what she thought, and if she was happy.
Watching this guy paw at her on the dance floor when I knew she had been drinking was making me crazy. It took every ounce of my self-control not to go over there and get between them. I knew she would be pissed if I intervened. I did my best to shake off my caveman protective instinct, but when that didn’t work, I grabbed a shot from the bar and went in search of a distraction.
I found what I was looking for in the form of a gorgeous sorority pledge. Her short white tennis skirt and her tight pink tank with her house letters stretched across her chest provided all the distraction I needed. I focused on tennis skirt, but kept Red in my line of sight at all times. Lucky for me, tennis skirt was so enamored with the little bit of attention that I was giving her that she didn’t seem to notice.
I saw Red heading toward me out of the corner of my eye, but pretended to be listening to tennis skirt ramble on about her big sister.
“Hey,” Red said.
“Hey there.”
“I just wanted to let you know I’m headed out.” She put her hands in her back pockets, looking between me and tennis skirt.
“Do you want me to take you?”
“No, it’s cool. I’m catching a ride with some girls from my dorm.”
“Okay, text me when you get in.”
“Okay, see ya.”
I watched the douchebag grab her arm. She smiled and talked to him for a minute before she turned and headed for the door. At least she wasn’t going home with him.
“Who was that?” tennis skirt asked.
“Don’t worry about it, babe,” I said, wrapping my arms around her waist. “What do you say we get out of here?” I leaned down and kissed her neck.
“Okay.” She giggled.
Now that Alex had left, I could focus on finding out what was beneath that tennis skirt.
Later that night, I put tennis skirt in a cab and headed back to my apartment. I grabbed my phone to see if Alex had gotten home. Nothing. I looked at the time.
Two forty-five in the morning. I knew it was late, but I had to make sure she was home and safe. I dialed her number and hit call. It rang a few times before she finally picked up.
“Hello.” Her voice was rough and sleepy.
“Hey, Red!”
“Drew? What are you doing? It’s,” she paused, “almost three.”
“You didn’t call. I wanted to make sure you made it home.”
“You were serious about that?”
“Of course I was. I wanted to be sure you were safe.”
“I figured you were with little miss tennis skirt. I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“I was, but I still would have answered.”
She chuckled. “You would answer a call from another girl while fooling around with her?”
“You’re not just another girl”
She was quiet on the line for a minute. “Okay, I’ll text next time.”
“Good. Did you have a good time?” I asked as I lay on my bed.
“Yeah, actually. I think I really pissed off Kerri. She didn’t come back to the dorm, so I guess I will have to deal with that tomorrow.”
“You can always hide here if you want. I mean, Sean definitely owes you one for that little display.”
“Oh, trust me. I plan to collect eventually.”
“I hope you do. So, I saw you dancing with that guy earlier.”
“Yeah. He seemed nice. His name is Peter Russell. Do you know him?”
“No. I know some of the guys from Sigma Kai, but he must be new.”
“He asked me out.”
“Really. Are you going?” I was curious to see if she was really interested in this guy.
“I’m thinking about it. I’m not really into the frat guy type, but I’m supposed to be getting back out there, right?”
“Right.” I did my best to sound on board with the idea. I was going to have to check this guy out. “Well, I’ll let you go back to sleep. Sweet dreams, Red.”
“Night, Drew.”
***
The door to my room opened and I sat up just as Red slipped in. She was wearing my Zeppelin t-shirt, her long legs bare. She moved slowly toward me, stopping just beside my bed as I swung my feet to the floor.