First Kiss (8 page)

"You've been acting kind of funny ever since," Mandy said.

Carla nodded. "So wait, does that mean you're bi?"

Beth groaned. "I was curious. I'd never been to one before. Relax."

Carla shrugged. "I don't care if you are, I'm just asking."

Beth forced herself to smile. "Never slept with a girl, sorry to disappoint you."

"What's this about a party?" Mandy asked.

"Colin's frat is throwing one tonight. Omega Phi Sigma," Beth said. "You guys want to come with me?"

Carla glanced at Mandy and shrugged. Mandy nodded. "Hellz yeah," Mandy said.

Carla nodded. "Guess we're in."

"What about Vanessa?" Beth asked. "Where's she at, anyhow?"

"She had to go home this morning. She'll be back tomorrow," the Latina explained. "Are you sure you're okay to go out again. I mean, after last night. Last week, really."

Beth nodded. "I feel fine. Better than fine, actually. I don't know what's going on, but I don't want to sit around and think about it. I'll just psyche myself out."

"Are you going to dress up like you did last night?"

Beth glanced down at herself. "Um, I don't know, maybe? I don't have many sexy clothes."

"We'll hook you up," Beth said. "Right Mandy?"

"Fuck yeah, you're too hot not to show it off."

"Okay, thanks guys. I appreciate it," Beth said. She stood up and grabbed her shower bag again. "Guess I'll grab a quick shower. Oh!"

Carla and Mandy watched as Beth moved to her dresser and dug through her top drawer. She pulled out a few different bottoms before she sighed and shoved them back in. She turned back to Carla and Mandy and shook her head. "Um, this is going to sound strange but—"

"They're mine," Carla said.

"Huh?" Mandy asked, glancing back and forth between the two of them.

Beth's eyes widened. "I'm wearing your underwear?"

"Holy shit!" Mandy blurted.

"Shut it," Carla snapped at the girl in the doorway. She turned back to Beth. "You wanted something sexy and fun to wear. Something that didn't show panty lines. They're clean. I expect you to wash them before you give them back though."

Mandy walked over and grabbed the elastic waistband of Beth's pants. She pulled it out and stared down at the black thong. "I'll be damned," she muttered.

"Hey!" Beth yelped and tried to back away. Mandy didn't let go in time to stop her running pants from pulling down and falling halfway down her hips. Beth scrambled to grab them and pull them back up.

"You took my advice!" Carla said.

Red faced and glaring at Mandy, Beth was caught off guard. "What advice?"

"You shaved!"

"I what?" Beth gasped.

"Your pubes, duh," Mandy teased.

Beth pulled her pants back out and stared down. She glanced at Mandy and turned her back to her before lowering her pants and pulling the top of her borrowed underwear out. She had shaved. Everything. "Oh my god!"

"Woah, I just suggested a trim, you went all in," Carla said as she leaned in for a look.

Beth yelped and yanked her pants back up. She glared at Carla and then Mandy. "That's none of your business!"

"Chill, sister," Carla said. "I got tired of shaving, I wax. Hurts like hell at first but it gets better."

"No it doesn't!" Mandy said.

Beth spun. "You do it too?"

Mandy shrugged. "Sometimes. It never stops hurting though."

"You get used to it," Carla said.

"Bullshit, you like it rough."

Carla grinned. "Sometimes," she admitted.

"Oh my god," Beth said. She held her hand up and grabbed her shower bag in her other one. "I am not having this conversation. You pervs better be done by the time I get back!"

"This from the girl who took her friend to a strip club and then blew him after," Mandy pointed out.

Beth gawked at her and then shook her head as she stormed out. The sound of her suitemates giggling followed her out the door and down the hall. Beth couldn't keep herself from smiling.

Chapter 12

"Damn, girl! They are going to eat you alive. You do know this is a frat party, right?" Mandy said after she walked into Carla and Beth's bedroom.

Beth looked up at Mandy and gave her a once over. Skinny jeans and a sheer blouse that she could see her bra through. It was cute and complimented her figure. "You look cute," Beth told her.

"And you look like shark bait," Mandy replied. "You've got a guy waiting for you, remember? Give the rest of us a chance to get their attention."

Beth finished touching up her eye shadow and turned to look at herself in Carla's mirror. Carla moved to the side and gave her a wolf-whistle. "Somebody is getting laid tonight!"

"Stop it," Beth hissed. "I'm just trying out something different."

"Girl, if those boys don't trip over themselves to get a piece of you, then we went to a gay frat party."

Mandy shook her head. "I don't know, aren't you worried you're going to be tugging that skirt down all night?"

Beth squatted down, keeping her knees together, and rose back up in a smooth motion. "Ta da, it's good," she pointed out.

Mandy shrugged. "Just don't bend over unless you wore a hair net."

"She shaved it off, remember?" Carla teased.

"Oh my god! Knock it off you two! I thought friends were supposed to be supportive?"

"Bra's are supportive," Mandy said. "Friends let you know when you're about to make a mistake and then they let you do it anyhow."

Beth frowned. "Is that what you think I'm doing?"

"Maybe, I guess we'll find out," Mandy replied. "Either way, friends are also there to pick you up after you screw up."

Carla huffed. "Girl, don't mind her. I got your back. You'll be fine."

"Hello," Mandy challenged. "She's never gone out partying with us, don't you think she should take it easy on her first one?"

"It's a skirt and a tank, what's the big deal?" Carla said. "You always party and talk the talk, but then you chicken out and give every guy the cold shoulder you meet. Maybe you should be the one being a little risqué."

"I'm picky," Mandy argued.

"And I like to experience new things," Carla said.

"Such a slut," Mandy sighed.

"Hey!"

"Ladies, please," Beth said to calm them down. She turned to Mandy. "I won't get in over my head, I promise. But I want to live a little. I've been so introverted and now, for some reason, I just feel like getting out and doing something different. Right here, with you two, I feel comfortable. Out there, in front of a bunch of strangers, I'll probably want to run and hide in a closet."

"I knew you were hiding in a closet!" Mandy teased.

Carla laughed and, after a gasp of shock, Beth joined in.

"All right, but I'll keep an eye on you," Mandy said. She looked down at the low heels Beth was wearing and raised an eyebrow. "What, no hooker boots to go with your outfit?"

Beth looked down at her feet and sighed. "It's about eight blocks, I figured I should wear decent shoes. Boots didn't go with the outfit. I don't have much to choose from."

"I heard, please take me shopping, what about you, Mandy?"

Mandy nodded. "Hellz yeah. Tomorrow good? Shoe shopping is an awesome  hangover cure!"

Beth laughed. "Are you guys ready?"

Carla gave her hair one blast of hair spray and pronounced herself complete. "Let's do this."

They reached the door of the dorm room before Mandy spoke up, "Beth, grab a jacket, it's like literally freezing out there!"

"I'm good," Beth said. "Besides, I don't want to have to worry about where I put my coat while I'm there."

Mandy stood her ground. "What? No! It's cold. And you're from down south!"

"Hey, that reminds me," Beth deflected, "did anyone else notice how the showers wouldn't get warm? There wasn’t that many people in there tonight."

"Got plenty warm for me," Carla said.

"Yeah," Mandy agreed. "I almost burned myself."

"Really? I had mine turned all the way up and it felt the same no matter where it was at."

"You said that the other day too," Carla remembered. "Maybe one of them is broken or something? Did you use the same one?"

Beth frowned. "I don't know. Maybe?"

"Oh shit! Sorry, I forgot, you don't remember last week. That's really weird."

"Try being me."

Carla winced. "Sorry."

Beth shrugged. "Anyhow. Awkward moment, let's go."

"Jacket?" Mandy insisted.

"I'm a big girl, I can make up my own mind."

"Not anymore," Carla teased, reminding her of how much weight she'd lost.

Mandy frowned. "Fine, but if you get frostbite I'm going to say I told you so!"

"More likely she'll run into somebody and poke their eye out with her nipple," Carla said.

Beth gasped and looked down at the sparkly black top she wore. It wrapped around her neck and dropped to a low neckline that exposed most of her cleavage. The tank swooped around her sides and connected low enough to leave most of her back exposed. She was going out two nights in a row without a bra. As far as she knew it was the longest since she'd hit puberty that she hadn't worn one.

Her friend Crystal had started doing that their senior year. She'd really gotten weird, hanging out with their classes queen bee, Stephanie. She lost a lot of weight too, making everyone start to notice her for more than just her grades. Beth's friendship suddenly had competition. Worse, she admitted she had feelings for Crystal and that drove her away.

Crystal really changed. She fell for a biker and moved in with him and started wearing practically nothing but dresses and skirts. And she gave up underwear altogether. Beth couldn't remember what or why, exactly, but she figured they were into some kinky shit.

She sighed and shook her head. Crystal was her past. Distant past, from another life. She lived in the here and now. This was the new Beth, educated and worldly and ready to live for herself. She thrust her chest out and shook it, jiggling her breasts in the shirt at Mandy. They threatened to spill out of the loose fabric.

"Jesus, you're both sluts," Mandy hissed.

Carla laughed and grabbed Beth's arm, pulling her down the hall towards the elevators.

They walked out of the dorm hall and across the parking lot. Mandy fell behind Carla and Beth and hissed through clenched teeth, "See, I told you it was cold."

Beth turned around and shrugged. "I'm really not feeling it."

"There's something seriously wrong with you," Mandy stammered.

"You know, she might be right," Carla admitted. "Did you hit your head or anything? I've heard of head trauma doing weird shit to people."

"Really? You think I've got a concussion? Come on, I'm fine. Just because I can handle a little cold and you guys are wimps doesn't make me a freak."

Mandy dug her phone out of her purse and fumbled with it until she held up a weather app on it. "Says it's nine degrees out, but it feels like negative one!"

Beth shrugged. "Guess I've just got a cold heart then."

Mandy muttered under her breath and stuffed her phone back in her purse. She tucked her hands in her pockets to keep them warm and followed behind the other girls across the campus. They walked fast, the wind and cold biting at Beth and Mandy's cheeks, and arrived at the Omega Phi Sigma house ten minutes later.

"We could have drove," Mandy chattered and nodded at the empty spots in the driveway.

"Yeah, and then we'd be trapped if we wanted to leave," Carla said. "Always got to have an out."

"True."

Beth stared up at the old house and felt the first butterflies in her stomach. Was she really going to do this? She slowed and came to a stop, letting both her friends walk ahead of her. It was one thing to say she wanted to get out and be adventurous, but now that she was doing it she wasn't as certain.

"Beth?" Carla asked. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Beth nodded. She forced a smile on her face. She was here, she wasn't going to back out. The stupid kid from Missouri would have run home and locked herself in her room— maybe grabbing a bowl of ice cream on the way. She refused to be that kid anymore. "Just want to make sure we don't seem desperate showing up first."

"Fuck that," Mandy said. "I'm freezing my tits off and I'm wearing a bra! Let's go."

Beth smirked and shook her head. "Then lead the way, ice queen."

"Hey!" Mandy snapped. She glared at Beth but walked up the shoveled sidewalk to the front door anyhow.

The three of them lined up on the porch and Carla rang the doorbell. She snatched her finger back from the frozen metal button and shook it to try and restore warmth. The door opened a few seconds later.

A man in a tight t-shirt under an unbuttoned flannel opened the door and looked out at them. "Hey, you're early. Um, the party doesn't start until— holy shit, you don't have a coat on! Uh, come on in, I guess."

Beth slipped a wink and a smile at Mandy as the three filed in through the door after him. "Excuse me," she said to the greeter. "Is Colin here somewhere?"

"Colin? Yeah, hang tight and I'll go find him," he said and turned jog up the wide staircase the second story.

The three looked at each other and then glanced around. The house looked nice, with the entryway opening into a hallway and the staircase. On their left there was a dining room with a pool table where a dining room table should be. On their right an archway opened into a large great room that the frat used as a common area. There was a fireplace with a large television mounted on the wall above it.

"Is this place big enough for a frat party?" Beth whispered.

"Once people start piling in it'll be standing room only," Carla said. "I bet they've got a basement set up for it too." Carla's words proved prophetic when they heard some bass rumble up through the floorboards a moment later.

"No shit, they've got a band?" Mandy asked.

"Just a DJ," Colin said as he jogged down the stairs to meet them. He grinned at Beth and started to reach for her. He stopped and leaned back, his eyes dropping down and then back up. "Holy shit, you weren't kidding!"

Beth's eyes rounded. "Kidding? About what? Is something wrong?"

"No!" he blurted and grinned. "You look fucking amazing! I didn't even recognize you until I came down the stairs."

Beth blushed and caught her friend glance her way. Carla grinned and Mandy either looked annoyed or concerned, Beth wasn't sure which. "Thanks," she mumbled. "I'm trying something new."

"Well keep trying it, it's working!"

Beth smiled and turned to her friends. "Colin, this is Carla and Mandy."

"Ladies," he greeted them and shook each of their hands.

Carla took the chance to take control, "So where's the party? Downstairs?"

He nodded. "Some people are down there, it's early though. I really thought we'd get things going sooner, sorry. Some people had trouble getting here because of the snow."

"Fuck Michigan," Carla said.

"I'll drink to that!" the man that opened the door for them said as he came down the stairs.

"Ooh, drinks," Carla cried. "Now it's a party!"

Colin laughed. "I'll get you guys something, we've got a house special punch that'll knock your, uh, well, you're not wearing socks."

"You'd be amazed at what we aren't wearing," Carla teased.

Colin blushed and looked straight at Beth. Beth felt the heat in her face but she forced herself to keep her eyes on his. She squashed the butterflies and winked at him, causing his nostrils to flare.

"We've got a couple of kegs too," Colin's frat brother covered for him.

"Beer's good," Mandy said.

"Me too," Carla agreed.

"I'll try the punch," Beth said.

"Hey, head on downstairs and I'll bring them down to you," Colin said. "Hey Frank, can you show them where to go?"

"Yeah, come on girls," Frank, his frat brother, said. He turned and led down the hallway and turned to a wide door to a set of wooden stairs lined with white rope lights. He gestured at it, "There you go. I have to cover the door or I'd go down with you."

"You would?" Carla teased.

"Carla!" Mandy hissed.

He blinked and looked between the three of them. "What?"

"You'd go down with me? Like, at the same time?" Carla repeated.

"Oh Jesus Christ," Mandy groaned.

"Oh!" Frank laughed. "Like sixty-nining? Cool. Yeah, I'd do that!"

"Come on, hooker, let's go," Mandy said and nudged Carla towards the stairs.

Carla laughed and winked at Frank before walking down the stairs to the basement. "What, he's cute?"

"Beth's the oral sex queen, remember?" Mandy said.

"Oh my god!" Beth gasped from behind the other two. "Be quiet! I don't need him hearing that!"