Better Off Red (3 page)

We scampered ahead up the steps and opened the heavy white door. The house was filled with girls, but the mood was strangely subdued. Pop music was playing from one room, and from another we heard an episode of the hot new
90210
coming from the TV.

“Look what I found lurking on the front lawn,” Cleo yelled.

Danni came walking into the foyer. She looked great in a simple pair of jeans and her ABO colors.

“Hey. You’re early.”

“Yeah, we just—” I started.

“Ginger was getting bored at the Xi O house so we just came over here,” Amy finished.

“Shut up. I wasn’t bored. I just—”

“You missed us, didn’t you?” Danni said, winking at me.

“Something like that.” I swallowed when she took a step closer.

Danni gently pinched my arm. “Well, come eat.”

We followed her into the kitchen where a bunch of girls were already diving into the pizza Cleo had spread out on the counter.

There were a handful of prospective new members mingling in with the sisters, but not as many as I’d expected. At all the other houses I felt like a cow being packed shoulder to shoulder into the slaughterhouse. Not at the ABO house. I could breathe, move around, find a seat. Everything was just so casual. I wondered for a moment if we’d missed a big crowd earlier.

• 20 •

Better Off red

After we grabbed our slices, we followed Danni into the living room. A few would-be pledges were playing cards with a few of the sisters at a round cherry wood table behind the huge sectional couch. Other girls were parked around the TV. Some were talking, answering questions, and giving out actual information about the sorority while others were just vegging out. It felt…normal.

Paige, the beautiful stern-faced brunette we’d met that afternoon, was there on the couch. It turned out she was the chapter’s vice president, a role that didn’t quite seem to fit with her penchant for stroking other people’s nipples in public. She made room for us on the couch before liberating a slice of pepperoni from Danni’s plate. “You ladies pick your house yet?” Paige asked.

“That’s it, Paige. Get right to it,” Cleo said. Amy blushed uncontrollably, glaring at me for support.

“Oh no, don’t give me that bug-eyed look. This is your party,”

I said.

“It’s okay, Amy,” Danni said as she reached out and touched Amy’s hand. “It would be kinda hard to keep a sorority going if no one new wanted to be a member. Tell us where else you guys have been looking.”

Amy swallowed nervously. “Well, we went to a few places, but my mom was a Xi O, so—”

“Bitches,” Cleo coughed.

“They flat out told Layna over there”—Paige pointed to a caramel skinned black girl with blond streaks in her hair who was playing cards—“that they didn’t take her kind.”

“Wow.” Amy gasped. I bit my tongue. There was no way we were going back there.

“You look pretty pissed about that, Ginge.” Cleo’s eyebrow went up as she looked at me.

“My brother’s black,” I said. “We’re both adopted. I don’t know what I would do if someone talked to him like that.”

“I knew I liked you.” Cleo chuckled, swatting my thigh. I let her encouragement calm my rage as Amy filled them in on the

• 21 •

reBekah WeatherspOOn

other houses we’d visited that night. In return, they gave us their honest opinion of each sorority, pointing out legit pros and cons and throwing in bits of gossip that would interest anyone whether she gave a crap about rush or not.

The big-chested Asian girl, Barb, joined in halfway through our conversation. She was the chapter president, but in a refreshing twist, Barb didn’t walk around with that same “I can’t wait to make you wear adult diapers to class” attitude the other chapter presidents wore proudly.

“I’m supposed to ask,” she said, “Have you picked a major yet?” This time the question didn’t annoy me. Barb’s tone made me feel like she actually cared.

“I’m going for a BS in exercise science. I’m trying to get prereqs out of the way.”

“What are you going to do with that?” Paige asked, looking at me with the same bored expression she’d worn all night.

“Teach gym,” Amy said.

“No,” I shot back.

“It’s okay. Heather is majoring in gym too.” I looked in the direction Cleo nodded. A pretty girl with chestnut brown hair greeted us as she plopped on the floor between Cleo’s legs. Cleo leaned over and kissed her gently on the forehead. Thoughts of how close they really were had me shifting in my seat.

“I want to be an athletic trainer in the NFL. MU has a good relationship with the Baltimore Ravens.” I was from Massachusetts and admittedly a bandwagon Patriots fan.

“Oh, wow. That’s cool,” Barb said.

“I know,” I said, playfully glaring at Amy.

A while later, I excused myself on a legitimate search for the bathroom. When I came back into the room, I noticed immediately that the number of people had grown by one.

A stunning girl, dressed all in black, had pulled Barb into the corner and was talking quietly in her ear. I’d never considered whether I had a type before, but looking at this girl with her spiky midnight black hair made me think I had one now. The black tank top she wore showed off her perfectly toned arms and the low-cut front

• 22 •

Better Off red

showed off a generous amount of cleavage. The bright red lipstick that would have screamed five-dollar whore on anyone else looked amazing against her golden skin. The shade matched perfectly with the ruby studs in her ears. The shape of her eyes, her nose, and her high cheekbones said she had some sort of Hispanic blood flowing through her veins. Her bright hazel eyes that were focused directly on me said something else.

She continued to whisper to Barb, but her eyes stayed on me.

For a moment, I noticed her nostrils flaring as if she were trying to catch a scent in the air. My face grew hot. My stomach tingled, and I didn’t miss the fact that my underwear had suddenly become wet.

I swallowed nervously, all the while trying to catch my breath. I’d never had that sort of reaction to anyone.

It was the perfect moment for Barb to catch me staring. Feeling the heat of embarrassment crawl up my neck, I scampered back over to the couch and took my seat next to Amy.

The conversation continued to flow, but I couldn’t resist glancing back at this new mystery girl. I waited a few seconds then pretended to fix my ponytail. When I peeked back over my shoulder, she was gone.

“We should get going,” Amy suddenly announced. I was a little shocked. We were having such a good time. I had to agree though. I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost midnight. Danni and Cleo walked us to the door and hugged us good-bye.

“Do you guys need a ride? We can get the boys to take you.”

Cleo pointed across the street to the Omega Beta Alpha house. I hadn’t noticed, but the house where their brother fraternity lived was just as big and breathtaking.

“No. We’re right over in Cramer. We’ll be fine,” Amy said. I wasn’t sure I’d heard her right. I didn’t need “the boys” to drive us anywhere, but Amy seemed like she’d been waiting her whole teenage life to get into a car with a fraternity boy.

“Okay. Well, come back tomorrow around nine,” Danni said.

We happily agreed.

❖

• 23 •

reBekah WeatherspOOn

On the way back to the dorm, Amy explained to me how the rest of rush would go. Every night we would narrow down our options and skip the places we decided to drop off our list. Come Friday, Bid Day, we would get invitations to join whichever sorority wanted us for the next round of initiation, a round that Amy would go through solo. I agreed to keep her company through the rest of the week on the grounds she would actually back off after Bid Day and we would never set foot near the Xi O house ever again. She was more than okay with those terms.

So every night, we went to one less house, mingling with Jessicas and Kaitlins. I went through my colorful collection of low-cut, v-neck tees. Amy was smart and kept her mouth shut about my wardrobe choices.

We crossed the Betas off the list when one of the girls referred to my favorite talk show host as “a nasty fucking dyke.” The Kappas counted us out when I actually yawned out loud during their philanthropy presentation. The rest of the time, I nodded and smiled, just counting down the minutes until we could hang out with the girls of Alpha Beta Omega. Somehow, they actually made the idea of joining a sorority, well, at least their sorority, sound appealing.

I actually listened during their more informal info sessions and bothered to retain a few bits of history.

The sorority had been formed in 1863 as a literary club for ladies in Washington, DC. It was one of the oldest sororities around, but only counted twelve chapters at various universities across the country. Maryland University was home to the Alpha chapters of both ABO and OBA. Alpha Beta Omega had the biggest house on the Row, but the least amount of members. Danni told me they capped membership at thirty-six. This year they had room for only twelve new girls. Xi O boasted a roster of one hundred and seventy-four sisters. How did you get to know one hundred and seventy-four girls well enough to call them sisters?

Aside from the added bonus of small numbers, Alpha Beta Omega didn’t charge for membership. That included the semester dues the other sororities and fraternities required. ABO had a collection of financially successful alumnae, and the families of the

• 24 •

Better Off red

founding members had invested millions in every chapter to ensure the sorority attracted girls who truly wanted to belong and not just girls who could afford to.

Their charitable hours were spent supporting Types of Hope, a foundation that catered specifically to women and children with HIV/AIDS. The teardrop ruby necklaces represented not only their bonds of sisterhood, but their support for those they pledged to help.

It was hard to hate girls like that. You couldn’t make fun of people who actually cared and actually managed to be themselves.

I started noticing the girls of ABO around campus more and more. By Wednesday, Amy and I were joining Cleo and Danni for lunch and hanging around the quad with them between classes.

I knew people thought we were trying to kiss up to the chapter’s recruitment chairs, but I sure wasn’t. I genuinely liked them. And I still didn’t want to be in a sorority.

Even though joining Alpha Beta Omega would cost me nothing but time, time wasn’t something I had a lot to give. I was determined to get a 4.0 my first semester, and joining any sort of organization that would demand so much of my nights and weekends was something I couldn’t swing. Still, I found myself wanting to be around Danni, Cleo, and the rest of the girls. They made us feel welcome, and they made me feel more open to being myself.

During the hours we spent with the girls, they seemed to become more and more comfortable being physically affectionate with one another in front of me and Amy. In some cases, like with Heather and Cleo, it seemed like they were just close friends. Things were different with Danni. By the time Thursday night rolled around, I was convinced she was sleeping with Paige, if not Layna and Barb too.

They were always touching and kissing. Nothing so intense that it made me feel like a sick voyeur, but just enough to make me a little wet in the pants. Amy was as straight as could be. She was back on the prowl as soon as she learned the Chi Nu in her econ class had a girlfriend. I thought watching Paige feel Danni up would have made her uncomfortable, but she barely seemed to notice.

I found all the girls of ABO very attractive, but that type of intimacy always made me think of the girl with the spiky black hair.

• 25 •

reBekah WeatherspOOn

I found myself thinking about her constantly. Constantly would have been a lot if she and I were dating. What I was into was a tad obsessive considering we had never said a word to each other. I ended every night we spent at the ABO house disappointed because she never made an appearance, as if she owed me the chance to just look at her again. I never saw her around campus either, but her lips and caramel-green eyes were always featured in my fantasies. And every time I pictured those eyes and considered the possibilities of those full red lips, my body reacted as if she were right there with me, watching me the same intense way she had that first night of rush. I did my best to spare Amy from the feelings this nameless girl sparked in me. Okay, I masturbated like crazy whenever I had the room to myself, and still every night after I was sure Amy was asleep, snoring somewhat softly across our tiny room, I couldn’t stop myself from conjuring up images of that gorgeous face, that amazing body, and all things I wanted her to do to me. I tried to fight it, but eventually my fingers would slip past whatever pajama bottoms I’d worn to bed, into my underwear, through my short curls.

The shock at just how wet she made me faded the second my fingers passed over my clit, all sensitive and hard.

I had to swallow heavily to choke down my gasps and my sighs as my body rocked eagerly against my hand, aching for so much more than a warm-up, but dreading the cool, foolish thoughts that snuck up on me as soon as I came.

Every time it started the same way, in the same place. I would find her back in the ABO living room, but in my imagination, we would have the place to ourselves. No other girls, no interruptions or pointless conversations about majors and stupid boys. Mostly, she was silent as she beckoned me across the room with her crooked index finger. The one night I’d driven myself crazy, wanting more than a fantasy, my imagination forced her to speak. She asked me my name, and even though her voice sounded exactly like mine, it was that one thing, her just wanting to know me, that keyed me up even more.

I would walk to her, and every time, she would kiss me, deep and slow, letting her warm hands gently trail along my sides, up

• 26 •

Better Off red

my back, and if I was feeling secure in my squeaky dorm mattress, around to my breasts. She’d flick at my nipples, pinch them through thin layers of cotton until an almost shrill moan from me made her stop. I would tease my clit as I liked to do before my fingers moved to my opening. One of her hands would follow the same path, spreading my wetness around. Her other hand rested at the small of my back, holding me in place as she pulled her lips away from mine and kissed a hot, wet path down my neck.