7. Mattie
CHAPTER 7
MATTIE
“Come on! It will be fun,” my coworker and buddy pleaded with me.
“I don’t know about that, Becks,” I groaned, looking over my shoulder at her.
“Please!” She put her hands together in front of her, her dark eyes pleading with me. “I really want to go, but I hate going to this stuff alone. I’m too chicken shit,” she argued. I rolled my eyes even though my lips twitched. Rebecca ‘Becks’ Madrigal was anything but chicken shit. She was the fiercest, most fearless chick I had ever met.
“Becks—"
“You haven’t been to one party all summer long.”
“How do you know? Maybe I went to one without you,” I argued, but she shot me a look that told me she knew as well as I did I was full of shit.
“This one is chill. I promise! It’s cool people, good drinks. I’ll buy you dinner before we go!”
“You don’t have to?—“
“I know, but I want to. Come on! We haven’t hung out outside this bookstore all summer.” She wanted us to go to a party. A frat party. I didn’t party at all, much less on Greek Row. But Becks was my friend, good people, and I knew she wouldn’t put me in a bad spot.
“Fine.” I had no idea why I agreed. Maybe because I missed having girl time and hanging out with friends since most were home for the summer and my own best friend was studying abroad in Japan for the next year, and even though we tried, we hardly ever got to talk or text.
“Sweet! I’ll pick you up at five. We can go eat and then hit the party!”
“Fine,” I grumbled playfully, both of us knowing I didn’t mean it. She hip-checked me before she walked towards a customer to help them. She left me at the register thinking about what the hell someone wore to a frat party and if I even had that in my closet.
Thankfully, despite it being summer and usually slow, the store was busy and our shift went by pretty quickly. True to her word, Becks was at my door at five, dressed to the nines. Becks was gorgeous. Petite with a toned athletic body she got from playing soccer for the longest time. “Oh my god!” she gasped, and I rolled my eyes.
“Beck—” I tried to warn, but I didn’t even get to say her whole name because she cut me off with a shit-eating grin.
“See! This is is what I am talking about!”
“Beck—"
“Turn around,” she demanded, and I giggled. When I did as she’d asked, she gave a low whistle. “Gorgeous! I knew under all those baggie shirts was a banging body.”
“Thanks, but?—“
“No buts!!” she exclaimed. “I’m serious! You should show off your curves more. I would kill for curves like yours,” she complimented, and I ignored when heat hit my face.
“Oh, please.” I rolled my eyes, closing my door behind me. “You’re stunning.”
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “Those frat guys won’t know what hit them!”
“Nothing.” I laughed. “Nothing is going to hit anyone because I’m just going for a drink and hang with you.”
“And meet new people,” she encouraged, because the woman was incorrigibly positive. “Please!” Her dark eyes pleaded with me, and I rolled mine again.
“Fine,” I agreed for god only knew what reason.
We hit up the cute Mexican restaurant that had just opened off the main downtown area. After filling up on guac and chips and the most delicious flautas I had ever tasted, and that was saying something because my grandma, my dad’s mom, was incredible in the kitchen, and maybe slightly bitsy tipsy from one margarita, we found ourselves at the frat house.
The place was filled with tons of people.
“I’m gonna go get us some beers!” Becks shouted over the music, and I nodded.
“I’ll go look inside. There is beer pong!”
“Check it out. You might have fun!” she suggested, and I snorted before making my way into the main living area of the house. I sat down next to a girl with blonde hair who literally looked like a princess from a fairy tale.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” I responded, hating how awkward I was with new people.
“You look familiar,” she mentioned, and I smiled.
“I do?”
“Yeah, I think we were in an English class together.” I opened my mouth to tell her I looked about two years older than her but then stopped myself. “Richardson’s class?” I asked, and she nodded.
“Yeah,” she confirmed quietly. We started to talk, and I relaxed. She was cool. I didn’t miss the way she looked at the linebacker who had been in my sports medicine class. It was cute how they kept looking at one another. It was obvious they were together, and if they weren’t, it was only a matter of time. The way he looked at her reminded me of the way Dylan used to look at me.
Speaking of, I noticed he stood next to the linebacker, and I stopped looking in his direction. Great. The one party I decided to go to all summer, he had to be here.
Just my luck!