Following You (The By You Series) (7 page)

"Well, aren't
you
just the sexiest thing on two legs," he said, tapping a finger to his lips.

"Hey, wait a second..." the girl said, rounding on him. "Let's not go too overboard with the name calling."

"Oh, Reagan, you know I love you, but
look
at her." He wagged his finger at Sarah to emphasize his point. "If vagina didn't freak me out so much even
I'd
have sex with her."

The girl's shoulders shook as she laughed.

"You're so vulgar, you're lucky I put up with you," she said.

"Bitch, please. You know you love that about me."

The girl gave him a wide-eyed shake of her head before turning back to Sarah.

"Sorry about that," she said. "Tate doesn't have a filter on that mouth of his."

"Mm, mmm," Tate moaned, still ogling Sarah.

"It's fine," Sarah said, smiling nervously. "I'm flattered...I think..."

Tate snapped his fingers at her and jerked his head.

"Oh, no, no. Don't be getting a big head about it," he said. "You're scrumptious, but you don't look
that
good." He eyed her up and down one more time. "Okay--maybe you do. So, what's your room?"

"Excuse me?" Sarah asked. It was nearly impossible to keep up with his train of thought.

Tate fixed her with a stare that made her feel like she'd just asked the stupidest question in the world.

"I assume one of these is yours," he said, pointing up and down the hall at each of the open doors. "Which is it?"

"Oh...right. I'm down there at the end. Room 422."

He turned and looked where she pointed, and she was thankful to have a moment to catch her breath.

"I'm Reagan, in 446, by the way," the girl said. "And Tate's on the other side of the building in 425. We're just walking around, trying to meet some of our new neighbors."

Tate turned back to them and fixed Reagan with a look. His expressions were so animated that Sarah thought of him like a cartoon character.

"Don't be bashful, girl, we're all adults here. Tell her the truth." When Reagan gave him a confused look that matched Sarah's, he shook his head in exasperation. "We're not trying to meet our neighbors. What she
meant
to say is that we're looking for the eye-can-dees and the eye-can-don'ts."

Sarah gave him a puzzled look. "The eye-can-dees and eye-can-don'ts?"

"I swear, you ladies need to keep up, I won't always be around to spell things out for you," he said, rolling his eyes. "First, you got your eye candy--"

Tate looked among the people in the halls, and pointed at a guy with huge muscles and a sleeveless shirt, walking down the hall. Tate let out a moan when he saw him.

"What I would do to that boy...I could rock his world..."

Tate licked his lips and groaned until the guy disappeared around a corner.

"And then, ladies, you have the eye-can-don'ts..."

This time, Tate pointed at a huge, round guy with a candy bar in one hand and a two-liter of soda in the other.

"As you can see," he continued, turning back to Sarah, "we're doing our Christmas shopping early. We need to know who's nice...and who's
naughty
."

Tate scratched at the air with his hand and leered at her in a way that made her cheeks turn bright red. Thankfully, Reagan came to her defense.

"Stop it, you're frightening the poor girl," she said, giving him a light shove. She turned back to Sarah and shrugged. "Can't take him anywhere. I promise we're really pretty normal once you get to know us."

Sarah waved a hand, dismissively. "It's no biggie."

But, she did wonder if he would notice if she made a run for it. She wasn't ready to rule that option out.

"Listen, you seem pretty cool. We're having a few people over in my room, tonight. Nothing big--just a little get together for whoever wants to show up."

"Except the uglies," Tate interjected. "We're not inviting any of them--I'll have no part of it."

Reagan smiled and rolled her eyes. "Anyway, it would be great if you could swing by for a bit."

"Oh, thanks. That sounds fun, but I'm actually hanging out with my boyfriend, tonight."

Tate waved a hand. "Don't worry, dear--if he's sexy you can bring him, too. I'll make sure he has a good time."

"Keep it in your pants," Reagan said, giving him an even harder shove. He rounded on her with a hurt look.

"You know you take the fun out of
everything
, right? It's no wonder you're single." He crossed his arms and let out a huff.

Reagan smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry about him. If he starts humping someone's leg, you just got to swat him and he'll stop...most of the time, anyway." Sarah and Reagan both laughed, but Tate looked like the joke struck closer to home than it should have. "But, seriously. Stop by for a bit, if you can. We can try and figure out who all the creepers are so we can avoid them in the hallways."

Sarah let out another laugh and promised she'd see what she could do. When they finally parted, she hadn't even made it all the way to her room before she heard Tate going off on someone else, and Reagan trying to keep him in line.

What a pair.

Maybe the year wasn't going to be all bad, after all?

Sarah's high spirits didn't have a long shelf life, though. Before she could even get the door to her room open, she heard the music thumping inside. Billie had finally decided to come back, and there was no way Sarah could avoid her. She didn't really have a plan for how to handle her roommate, other than the tried and true strategy of trying to keep to herself.

Billie was sitting on a stool in front of her mirror when Sarah entered the room. Her face was looking especially white, the intentional result of her caking on too much makeup. She didn't bother to acknowledge Sarah when the door slammed shut.

Sarah waited a beat before moving. She wondered if Billie would at least offer to turn down the music a little, or if she was going to keep pretending she was the only one in the room.

Nothing.

"Sure is loud in here," Sarah said, her voice a near shout.

"I love it. It helps me clear my head," Billie shouted back, not missing a beat.

Sarah rolled her eyes and dropped her things on her desk. Sarah was all for loud music, she'd practically spent most of high school in a bar that had live bands on the weekends, but it had its time and place. And right then, she just wanted peace and quiet.

She watched her roommate for a minute, not sure how she was ever going to get through to her, or if she should even try. Billie's side of the room still looked like a U-Haul truck had exploded in it--how was it not driving her crazy?

"Are you going somewhere?" Sarah asked. Billie had progressed to putting on dark eyeliner that made her face look even whiter, if that were possible.

"Rave tonight at the Medical Center. Supposed to be off the hook."

"You never came home last night. I was starting to get worried."

Billie rolled her eyes and looked at her through the reflection in the mirror. It was the first time she'd looked at Sarah since she'd come in.

"Sorry, Mom. I didn't realize I had a curfew."

Sarah blew out a frustrated sigh.

"I didn't mean it like that. Maybe we should exchange phone numbers, just in case something happens to one of us."

"Yeah, that's not going to work for me."

Sarah frowned at her.

"Not going to
work
for you?"

"Nope."

She couldn't tell if Billie was just oblivious to how she came across, or if she was being intentionally difficult. Sarah suspected it was the latter.

"I promise I'm not going to prank call you or anything, it's just a phone number."

Billie didn't respond. Instead, she put on mauve lipstick and completed the rocker-chick look. She blew kisses at herself in the mirror when she finished, satisfied with her work. Then, she looked at Sarah, again.

"No phone. No number," she said, finally.

Billie's clothes sat in a huge mess of a pile on top of her bed, and she started digging through them, searching for something.

"You don't have a phone? It's 2013, how's that possible?"

"I don't need one," she said, without looking up. She pulled a black Cardigan from the pile and considered it for a second, then shook her head and tossed it into the new pile of clothes forming on the ground.

"But how do you talk to people?" Sarah asked, feeling thoroughly confused.

"We're talking now, aren't we?"

"Yeah, but..."

"But, nothing. I don't
need
a phone, so I don't
have
a phone." Her eyes widened with excitement as she pulled a black, leather jacket from the bottom of the pile. It was the same one she'd had the day before.

"
There
you are. Playing hard-to-get, I see." In one smooth motion, she whipped the jacket around her and grabbed her purse.

"But, what if there's an emergency or something? How am I supposed to reach you?"

Billie gave herself one more look in the mirror then made a beeline for the door. As she pulled it open, she stopped and eyed Sarah. "Guess you better hope there are no emergencies. I'll be late, don't wait up."

Billie slammed the door behind her, and Sarah slumped against her bed, confused and fed up. It was official--her roommate was impossible. She wanted to curl into a ball and hide under the covers for the rest of the afternoon, but the thumping of the loud music was on the verge of giving her a migraine.

As she unplugged the speakers and killed the noise, she decided she'd been right the first time--it was going to be a very long year.

Sarah spent the better part of two hours getting ready for her date with Huck. She still wasn't comfortable sharing a bathroom with an entire floor of girls, but she was starting to get used to it. After the shower, she spent another hour doing her hair and makeup before getting dressed.

She wanted everything to be just perfect for their first date at college. It was like they were starting with a clean slate. Everything that had happened before didn't matter. Tonight was all about them beginning their new life together.

At seven-thirty on the dot, there was a knock at the door.

Here we go.

Sarah gave herself a once over in the mirror, then pulled the door open. Huck stood there, looking sexy as ever. He was still dressed a little funny, but she wasn't going to let it bother her. He could dress however he wanted--it was the man that made the clothes, not the other way around. She was just happy he was there with her. After her long day, his face was exactly what she needed to see.

Huck stood in the doorway, unmoving. He grinned as he looked her up and down.

"You look so fucking hot in that dress," he said. "Come here." He pulled her close to him and mashed his mouth into hers, without warning. The kiss caught her off guard, but she quickly found her rhythm.

The kiss was passionate and deep. As Sarah slid her arms around his neck, Huck pulled her in even closer, even tighter, against his body. She could feel the strength of his muscles through his clothes. Sarah whimpered without realizing it, and Huck's kiss became even more impassioned.

This was exactly what she needed after her long day, especially after how they had left things the night before. She needed to know that he was still there for her. After all, he was the reason she was there in the first place. She wasn't sure she could handle all the pressures that were starting to pile up, without his support--and she was glad she didn't have to.

Huck must have sensed the need in her, because he pushed his way into the room and shut the door behind them. His tongue dipped even deeper into her mouth, deeper than usual. He tugged and pulled at the dress, and it slid around and clung to her body.

When Huck leaned her back, she landed on the bed. She hadn't even realized they had moved from the door to the bed. Huck slid onto the bed with her, not slowing down at all.

"Huck...what about...dinner?"

She managed to break away from his kisses just long enough to ask the question. He responded by kissing her even more. She was pinned under his weight and it was everything she could do just to break away from the kisses long enough to get his attention.

"Huck, slow down, please," she said

She squirmed and wiggled out from beneath him, and sat up on the edge of the bed. Huck rolled onto his back and blew out a loud breath. His eyes were locked shut as he lay on his back, taking deep breaths. Sarah hadn't even realized just how far into it they had gotten.

"We should get going, we're going to be late," she said.

Finally, he sat up on the bed and looked at her.

"Let's blow off dinner and stay in tonight," he said.

"We can't do that, you made reservations."

"Screw the reservations. This will be more fun."

"But, I was really looking forward to going out with you tonight," she said. "I need to get away from this place for a while."

"Then let's go back to my dorm. My roommate is out for the night--we'll have it all to ourselves."

"That's not what I mean," she said, shaking her head.

There was a long silence while they looked at each other. She could tell he was thinking about something, but she wasn't sure what it was. Finally, he jerked his head in a nod.

"Fine, let's go," he said.

He hopped off the bed and walked straight for the door. He didn't even bother waiting for her to get up with him.

"Huck, come back. What's the matter?" Sarah said, without moving.

"Nothing's the matter. We need to get going or we'll miss our reservation."

He didn't even look at her when he talked, and it drove her crazy. She was getting sick of feeling like he was keeping something from her.

"I don't want to go if you're just going to be pissed off about something," she said.

"I'm not pissed off about anything," he said. He still wasn't looking at her, and Sarah gritted her teeth together.

She grabbed her sweater from the back of her chair and walked up to him. He held the door open for her, but she ignored it. She wrapped her arms around his chest and squeezed him tight.