6. Rose
Rose
Rose heard the thumping bass coming from the house a few blocks from campus long before she saw it. There were already people mingling on the lawn with plenty of discarded drink cups. If the MU class system was anything like Westmont’s, come morning, they would dispatch the freshmen to clean up.
She climbed the steps to the old house behind Ainsley and Harper.
The men’s soccer team was hosting and everyone was on a high from the football team’s first game, their first win.
She’d already caught a few sideways looks that lingered a little too long on her legs, on Ainsley’s and Harper’s too, and she tried like hell not to let her skin crawl when they stepped through the front door.
Rose pushed through the tightly packed partygoers, gripping Harper’s clammy hand.
At least she wasn’t the only nervous one.
“We should get drinks,” Ainsley yelled over the music pumping through the two-story house.
She wiggled her hips to the music, her pale blonde hair streaked with purple and now also green and pink, swaying with the movement.
Her chin nudged toward the kitchen, and Rose nodded, tightening her hold on Harper’s hand when the crush got tighter.
This at least felt normal. The athletes’ house parties were familiar, almost always on the structured end of wild. Turns out if a bunch of high-pressure people need a release, the same things happen no matter the school or sport.
“Do you guys have a plan?” Rose asked as they weaved their way through the living room.
“Not really; we don’t hang with the soccer crowd, but we always wanted to come, and you gave us the perfect excuse.” Harper bounced a bit on her toes. “Thanks for helping us cross a party off our list.”
“Whatever I can do to help,” she murmured too low for them to hear, but Ainsley smiled at her anyway as she dragged them into the kitchen and handed them each a red cup. Rose set it back on the stack.
Harper leaned into her. “What’re you drinking tonight?”
“Soda or water,” she said, and Harper nodded.
“Colored or clear?” Harper asked, with no judgement or leading questions as she poured herself a cup of beer.
“Clear,” Rose responded, and Harper grabbed a can out of the fridge and handed it over with another smile.
“So, where are your teammates?” Ainsley asked as she slid down the counter, still jiving with the music.
“No idea.” She glanced around, hunting for a familiar face or two. “They don’t talk to me much.”
“They’re missing out,” Harper said, and Ainsley nudged her, a smile playing around her mouth. “What?”
“Look at you socializing,” Ainsley said, her gaze wandering over the crowd as she tugged at her graphic T-shirt and flipped her hair over her shoulder.
“We live together. I doubt this counts.” Harper rolled her eyes and leaned toward Rose. “She’s been trying to make me into an extrovert since freshman year. It’s never going to work.”
“A valiant effort, though,” Rose said, lifting her soda and tapping it against Harper’s red cup.
“You’re talking to someone at a party. Last time you stood in the corner sipping a seltzer and texting; this is already an improvement.” Ainsley beamed, clapping her hands awkwardly while holding her cup. “Next step is talking to Harrison.”
Harper groaned. “Is that why you picked these outfits?”
“It’s hot, you’re hot, show it off a bit,” Ainsley objected. “Ripped short shorts with a worn tee is a great end-of-summer look and a lot of guys are already looking your way. Maybe Harrison will too.”
“Gross,” Harper murmured, and Rose chuckled under her breath.
“Let’s go dance.” Ainsley pointed toward the living room, then didn’t let them argue.
She simply grabbed Harper’s arm, who grabbed Rose’s, and dragged them into the fray where bodies danced to the thumping music.
It made her ribs ache, hot pain renewing itself while Ainsley and Harper danced with their cups raised over their heads.
Rose kept her thumb over her can’s opening, swaying as she forced herself to breathe through the pain and the panic.
After nearly elbowing a couple of people, Harper stuck to bouncing in a circle and letting Ainsley do most of the work as they danced together.
Rose kept an eye on anyone who got too close to their threesome, ensuring she kept her distance when someone started showing a little too much interest. She let her roommates dance as she swayed beside them for a while before she got away for a quick bathroom break.
It took three tries to find the bathroom.
She was coming down the stairs wondering whether Ainsley and Harper were still dancing when her attention snagged on two groups of her teammates.
A few of them were standing around the beer pong table beyond the back doors.
Laurel and Maya were competing against a couple of guys she didn’t recognize.
The other group was on the edge of the dance floor, laughing and dancing together, intermingled with a handful of guys she could only assume were the men’s soccer team.
Her heart squeezed at the sight. She should have been doing that with her own teammates at Westmont, with the girls she once hoped to count as her friends.
“Jackson! Callaghan!” A deep voice sounded from the front door just before the bass drop pounded through Rose’s bones, and she paused her descent down the stairs.
Her head snapped toward the door, following the eyes of most of the girls in the room to the owner of the voice, then back to the kitchen where Kirin was standing with a couple of guys.
All three of them turned toward the guy who called out, but only Kirin raised his hand in greeting, a red cup in it and a smile splitting his features.
He then turned away, leaning forward and nodding at something one of his friends said.
The lanky guy was almost as tall as Kirin, probably closer to her height.
His round glasses and messy curls, styled on top of his otherwise close-cropped hair, contrasted nicely with the third guy.
She recognized Leon Jackson. He had piercing blue eyes; his amiable smile seemed like it was a permanent feature on his face; and his cropped buzz cut was dyed a platinum blond, which only made his dark skin glow.
“Who’re we looking at?” Ainsley asked, making Rose jump. She slammed a hand over her heart as Ainsley’s eyes lit up. “Damn, I said your name like three times.”
“Sorry, it’s loud,” she offered as Ainsley threw her a look that said she didn’t believe it.
“Who are we looking at?” Ainsley repeated. “Wait, I bet I can guess.”
“It should be obvious. There are only three guys worth a second glance in this house,” Harper muttered, and Ainsley’s smile dropped as she looked around and seemed to snag on the same three guys Harper and Rose were looking at.
“So, its gotta be Leon Jackson, a solid choice with those blue eyes; Theo Harrison, sexy as hell in a nerdy-serious way,” Ainsley mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. Harper stiffened, and Rose rolled her eyes at Ainsley, who smirked and finished. “Or it could be Kirin Callaghan.”
“No commentary on Kirin?” Harper asked, leaning around Rose.
“Have you seen him?” Ainsley asked with a scoff. “He doesn’t need the commentary. That face speaks for itself, but I think Rose is secretly a nerd lover. I’ll bet she was staring at Harrison.”
Harper’s head snapped to Rose, and Ainsley chuckled. “It’s so easy to bait her.”
“Be nice,” Rose muttered as she gave Harper a look. “I’m not interested in Harrison, but I can see the appeal.”
“Harrison is gorgeous and smart, he’s a bio or neuro major, I think?
He’s always in the labs or with that hunky professor that looks like a viking that started last year.
I think he only goes to like one party a month.
Might be worth it, because holy crap, that guy is going to do something world-altering.
” Ainsley sighed and waved her hand like it meant nothing, “But he’s barely a blip on my radar; he and Harper are probably meant to be.
” Ainsley grinned. “We’ll know for sure when she gets around to talking to him. ”
Ainsley winked, and Harper scoffed.
“Yes.” Harper leaned around Rose again, sarcasm heavy in her tone. “I’m sure we are truly destined for each other.”
Rose glanced between Harper and Harrison. “You haven’t talked to him? He seems nice enough with that wholesome round wired-rimmed glasses and blond curls look he has going on, like Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory in one.”
“Not yet, and he is nice, or he was in the single class we had together.” Harper winced and glared at Ainsley. “I don’t have to talk to him, it’s not required.”
“Wimp,” Ainsley said around a snort.
Rose looked back at Kirin. She heard just as much about Leon as she had about Kirin, though she never gave the quarterback a second look.
She would have to meet him and Harrison eventually if they were going to go through with this plan for their class.
And they were supposed to interact today.
Selling this to the people closest to them was going to be key to their success. Even though it felt like a lie.
“I can introduce you.” The offer was out of her mouth before she could take it back, and the looks she got from her roommates should have concerned her, but she rolled her eyes. “They’re human. We can talk to them.”
“Do you know them?” Harper hissed. “Oh no, you do, don’t you? Please don’t tell Harrison I have a crush on him. It’s nothing really, and if he knew, I’d never be able to leave my room again.”
“Like you’d need an excuse,” Ainsley hissed back, and Rose bit back a smile when Harper stuck her tongue out. In moments like these, she felt her younger sisters were channeling through them.
“Let’s go.” She descended the stairs and edged through the crowd, Ainsley and Harper close on her heels as she came up behind Kirin and hesitated.