Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
ANOTHER MAN’S JEANS BY ASHE
I wake up to my phone buzzing right next to my ear.
I sit up instantly. My eyes can barely focus on anything as I come out of my haze.
I slap the bed, my hand haphazardly searching through my large white comforter until it finds my cold phone.
I see the time first, and then the call coming in from Sienna.
I answer, and tuck the phone between my ear and my shoulder, using my hands to pull my hair up and out of my face.
“Hello?” I take the phone in my hand now.
My clothes are sprawled every which way across my bedroom.
I’m not gross. Most of these clothes are clean, I just hate putting them away after I try on outfits that don’t make the cut.
Hence my laundry chair, and the fact that you can’t see my bedroom floor anymore due to clothes.
I sift through the clothes, and I can’t find anything I want to wear.
“I’m almost at your place.”
I fully forgot that I had set up a ride to the party with her yesterday.
“ETA?” My eyes frantically search the room for the outfit pieces I’m imagining in my mind.
“About six minutes. Are you good?” She asks.
I laugh a breathy laugh into the phone, “Wonderful, I just woke up.”
She’s the one laughing now, “Why did you take a nap?”
I find the jeans I was looking for, and tuck my phone once more, the device resting between my cheek and my shoulder.
“I didn’t mean to. I sat down in my bed, and next thing I know I woke up to a phone call. Don’t worry, I’ll be ready with a minute to spare.”
I’m always late. I think it’s inevitable at this point.
“Sure you will,” She laughs, and the line goes dead.
I slide the jeans I grabbed from the floor over my waist, the jeans feeling a lot looser than normal.
I move to the clothing rack in my room and grab one of the only things actually hung up.
I tear off my baggy shirt and pull the tight black long sleeve shirt on my body to replace it.
The material hugs my body perfectly while the jeans hang loosely.
I put matching black and white sneakers on my feet quickly.
I run into my bathroom almost falling as I make it through the door.
I let my hair fall back down. My black hair hangs right down to my belly button, loose second day curls making it look effortless.
I spray it down with one of the million things scattered on my counter, and then I brush it out, trying to untangle the rat's nest that’s settled on the back of my head while I slept.
My skin is tan, and most of my makeup from earlier today is still sitting fine.
I take the stick of eyeliner and haphazardly draw black on my waterline.
I run blush over my cheeks, and retouch my lips with lip gloss.
I’m messily put together and have no time for anything else.
My phone vibrates again, a text from Sienna telling me she’s here.
I snatch my phone from the counter as well as the lipgloss, and I run into my bedroom, my hands grasping at my bedside drawer.
I reach into the box of condoms, pulling two out to stuff into my purse, and then I run out of my room, and then my place.
I walk with purpose down the hall of my apartment, and down one flight of stairs, going straight to the lobby, and out the front doors.
Sienna is parked in front of the entrance, her blue Honda a comfort to me. I open the door and jump in.
“Five minutes… One minute to spare,” I shimmy my shoulders toward her.
I might have skipped a few steps but it’s fine.
“You look hot too. I’m not surprised. You always pull it off,” She says and I smirk. “Are those your jeans?”
The pants are baggier, yes, but they’re mine, right?
“Um. I think so. Why? Do they look bad?” I’m out of breath from my sprint down the stairs.
“No they look really good on you, they just don’t look like yours.”
I run my hands over the material and furrow my brows. Hmmm.
“Wait a second,” I press my lips together and unbutton them. “Check the tag.”
I pull the waist up, loosening it more than it already is.
“I’m driving!” She keeps her eyes on the road.
“Who cares, it’ll only take a second,” I wait for a second and feel her chilled fingers graze my skin.
“Levi’s, men’s sizing.”
My tongue swipes the inside of my mouth, pressing to the inside of my cheek. Oops. Realization blooms inside my head while I button the pants again.
“These aren’t yours are they?”
I nestle myself back into my seat at her question and buckle up once more.
“Do you know Jayden Cavilarro? He’s on the lacrosse team,” I ask.
Sienna nods at me, “Yeah, he has that big lion tattoo, right?”
She nails it right away. I knew she would know who I was talking about.
“Yeah, that’s the one. We fucked last night and-” Sienna practically chokes on my words, but I continue.
“I told him not to stay, and then we were kinda hanging out after, and this morning I woke up and he stayed so I got mad, and snapped and he ran out of my apartment, and I guess he forgot some things.”
She replies by laughing so hard that her chest shakes, “You say he left some things like his pants aren’t something crucial. Did he run out in his underwear?”
I try to replay the events in my head but come up short. I wasn’t paying attention to him.
“I don’t know, I told him to get out and he did. Maybe I scared him.”
She nods quickly, “Yeah you probably did. You’re intimidating.”
“Well, they look better on me, and he can’t have them back.”
They really are comfortable. I look back toward the road instead of at the stolen bottoms.
“God, your sex life is like a book in itself. I fucking wish,” Her eyes are amused as she looks at the fast moving asphalt in front of her.
“Men are simple minded creatures. If you want to get laid, make sure he’s single, and it’s easy from there.”
Sienna shakes her head, her pretty naturally curly hair bouncing as she does, “I am not confident enough for that.”
“You should be. You could literally get anyone you want Si, you’re like the epitome of perfection,” I boost her the way she always does me. I mean it too, every word.
“I know I’m hot. I know I could probably get anyone, but I don’t want anyone. I don’t do hookups.”
I furrow my brows at her. She’s got highlights in her natural hair.
Her brown skin is dewy per usual. Dear god, I need her skincare routine.
She’s wearing dark brown lipstick to match her shimmery eyeshadow.
Normally when she’s on the field she takes out all her piercings, but right now she has her septum in.
I could never pull it off, but she does so well.
“I know that’s a lie, there’s gotta be somebody. Everyone is attracted to someone.”
“Not true, some people aren’t,” She’s trying.
I can give her that, but she won’t win with me.
“Okay you’re right, some people aren’t but I know you’re not one of them,” I fight back.
“Okay so maybe Lawson Bennet is the hottest person I’ve ever seen,” She’s correct about that.
I clap my hands together in excitement, “I fucking knew it… Perfect choice. He does have a nose ring, which is always a red flag, but he’s only being used for sex so it shouldn’t matter.”
He’s always up for a hookup or at least he’s rumored to be. He has dirty blond hair, meaning he’s not my type, but he’s attractive, to say the least.
“Problem one, he plays football, and I hate football players. Problem two is that I feel like I would never have time… Not with school, and lacrosse… I don’t do hookups. I’m bad at… at all of that kind of stuff,” She spills.
I know she hates football players because of her shitty ex. Thank god that she dumped him two years ago. Even with that, she doesn’t have the closure she needs to move on just yet.
“Well, you don’t need that much extra time to have fun and see where things go. It doesn’t have to be serious. I think you should at least try. I mean, I would. Lawson Bennet is hot and available. I’ve also heard that he’s fantastic in bed. Hookups are easy!”
“You have bigger balls than I do but, I’ll think about it,” She promises.
She’s not the kind of person that would say something just to get me to shut up. Sienna is incredibly hard headed. She will always do what she wants. I like that about her, she never puts up with bullshit.
The apartment complex we pull up to is a bit farther from campus.
This place is far too expensive, and somewhere I would never be able to afford alone.
A lot of the students here don’t pay for their housing, their parents do.
Leah Ashley is one of them. We aren’t friends in the slightest. She only invites me to these because she knows I will get the buzz going about the event.
Sienna and I get out and walk inside the building together. The elevator takes us to the 10th floor which is the very top of the building. We’ve both been here plenty of times before. It seems to me that Leah is always throwing a party.
The moment we walk through the unlocked door my eyes land on the typical groups.
The people on the couch, half watching whatever is on the TV despite having no sound on, and the other half far too infatuated with the other person to even come up for air.
There’s a group of rowdy boys, most of them football players in the kitchen.
There are the wall huggers, cups close to their mouths which is normally what I am.
Then there are the scattered talkers, some people bouncing, and some just standing still.
Leah’s place is giant, big enough that people could disappear together and no one would notice for the night. I’ve done it a time or two.
“Look who’s over there,” I point out Lawson, and Sienna only looks for a second.
“Alcohol first, then I will talk to him,” She directs me to the kitchen.
“I like the way you think.”