Here Comes Trouble (3 page)

“I got these for you,” Kent said and passed
me a 4pack of Smirnoff Ice.

“Oh sweet. Thanks.”

He pulled out a bottle and opened it before
handing it to me. “So what degree are you working toward?”

“Bachelor of Arts. You?”

“Engineering.”

“Cool. What kind of Engineering?”

“Civil.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Not sure yet.”

He didn’t return the question. Instead, he
started looking around the room, most likely checking the girls
out. Or else I’d just bored him that much. No one wanted to talk
about school at a party.

I looked around for Carly or Melissa, but I
couldn’t spot any of them in the crowd, which seemed to have grown
in the few minutes since we’d arrived. And not all of the people
were from our building. There was a girl sitting alone on the
couch. Grabbing a second drink, I made my way over and sat
down.

“Hey, I’m Alexis.”

“I’m Jess,” she said softly. So softly I had
to lean inappropriately close just to hear her talk.

“Would you like a drink?” I asked, holding
out my second cooler.

She shook her head.

Having a conversation with her turned out to
be harder than with Kent. I drilled her with questions, which also
weren’t returned, and sipped my drink faster than I’d intended
until I gave up and we just sat together awkwardly. I kind of
wondered why she was even there. She wasn’t drinking and didn’t
seem at all interested in getting to know people.

So far this party wasn’t turning out as
expected.

When she excused herself and left, I felt
like a real loser. Now I was that girl alone on the couch. I was
about to go search the crowd for my friends, when the back of my
neck prickled. Without knowing how, I knew I was being watched.

Trying to look casual, I glanced over my
shoulder to see Ian standing beside two guys. He looked casual in a
long sleeved grey shirt and jeans, leaning against the wall with
the sole of his right foot pressed against it while he sipped his
beer, staring at me. I swallowed. He was staring right at me with
this intense look, almost as if he was studying me or…angry. Just
as I was about the turn away, however, he raised his beer to me and
gave me a small smile.

I smiled back and he pushed off the wall,
started toward me. The guy he’d been talking to shot him a look
that clearly said,
What the fuck?

Shit. I instantly faced forward again. There
was an entire room of hot girls, but no, he was coming to talk to
me. What was worse,
she
was here now—the girl of the blowjob
rumors. She was standing at the counter talking to a friend and
surreptitiously glancing in Ian’s direction. Double shit. This
wasn’t going to be good.

Ian lowered himself onto the couch beside
me. “Are you old enough to drink, Miss Watson?”

“Are you?” I shot back.

“I started late. So yeah, I’m 21.” He
smirked. “How old are you?”

I sank further into the couch. “Seventeen.
Eighteen at the end of October though,” I added quickly.

He whistled under his breath. “Wow—you’re
jailbait. I shouldn’t be talking to you, let alone letting you keep
that drink.”

I moved my cooler away from him. “Why are
you talking to me anyway?” The cooler was making me brave, and the
bravery was making me stupid.

He frowned like he didn’t understand the
question. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, there are a lot of hot girls here.” I
scanned the room, my eyes landing on Blowjob Girl. She was still
watching us. I tried to smile at her, but she looked away. “So why
are you talking to
me?
”

He blinked at me. “Are you being
serious?”

I took a sip of my drink and ended up
downing the rest of it. I immediately reached for the other one at
my feet and opened it. Ian raised an eyebrow, perhaps still waiting
for me to respond.

“I didn’t think I was your type.”

“And what exactly do you think is my
type?”

My eyes flicked back to the girl before
returning to my cup. How should I answer that? I’d had too much to
drink. All I knew was that I couldn’t trust him. I might be
innocent, but I wasn’t naïve; reading had given me insight on a
world I hadn’t yet experienced, and Ian was without a doubt someone
I shouldn’t be mixing with.

So I listed attributes opposite to my
own.

“Tall, blonde, and actually has boobs. Maybe
tanned too.” I was pretty pale.

He laughed loudly and a number of heads
turned to look at us, the females casting us dirty looks. A blush
spread over my cheeks and I focused on drinking. Smirnoff Ice was
actually pretty good.

“I get it. You’re trying to turn me
down.”

I glanced back at him, surprised. Had I been
that obvious?

“But for the record,” he twisted in his seat
and leaned in, speaking softly, “I
like
your look. The
busty, plastic woman look just doesn’t do it for me. You’re
delicate and I like that. It reminds me of a ballerina.”

I laughed in spite of myself. “Except I suck
at ballet.”

He grinned. “I didn’t say you were a
ballerina, I said you remind me of one. In fact, I think you should
dress as one for Halloween. That would be perfect.” He stood then.
“Anyway, I know when I’m being brushed off. Have good night, Lex
Watson.”

With that, he disappeared into the
crowd.

Before I could leave too, Blowjob Girl was
standing above me. God, I really had to learn her actual name.
Maybe now was my chance.

“Hey, I’m Alexis. Lex,” I corrected. “What’s
your name?’

Her scowl melted away and she sighed, sank
down beside me on the couch. She didn’t look at me when she
answered but stared straight forward. “Vanessa.”

“Nice to meet you.” What an awkward thing to
say. What an awkward situation.

“So, I’m sure you heard about me,” she said
softly. She was still staring forward. I could see the tightness of
her features, the way her jaw clenched as she waited for me to
respond. I couldn’t lie.

“I have.”

She looked at me then, smiling with
something like appreciation. “Finally someone who will just tell me
the truth.”

“Why is it such a big deal anyway?” I asked.
“There must be tons of stories like that. This is college.”

“Because it’s
him
,” she said
miserably. “I did something stupid. We were all drinking and
dancing and somehow...somehow it happened. But if it had happened
with any other guy, I would have been fine.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, look at him, for one thing. Every
chick wants him and is more than willing to spread shit about
anyone else that gets with him. Plus, you do know who he is, don’t
you?”

I shook my head, feeling dizzy and slow.
Probably time to slow down on the coolers.

“Ian Crawford? During his High School years
he was a model, traveled to New York and Europe to do covers for
Gucci and big names like that. Did some TV shows too, I guess. Now
he’s taking Medicine because he doesn’t want to make a living off
his looks or something like that. He wants to be a regular
person.”

“Wow that’s pretty cool.” I winced inwardly.
She didn’t want to hear he was cool.

She sighed. “Yes, you hear that kind of
thing and think hey, this is a guy of decent character—until he has
you on your knees in front of a toilet.”

Well that answered that question. I tilted
my cooler back, draining the second bottle.

“Anyway, he doesn’t tell people about his
past, but the rumors still circulate. I asked him about them and
they’re all true. I guess he’s from an incredibly wealthy family
and his mother wants him to act in Hollywood.”

Huh. “Does he like acting?”

“I have no idea. If I had those looks, I
would be all over the idea. Who turns down going to Hollywood when
their parents can probably buy their way into an audition?”

It was a good point. Someone with a lot of
money and little desire to actually work, or someone who didn’t
want to be famous and hoped to live under the radar. Somehow I
suspected the latter. People didn’t generally take microbiology for
the fun of it.

Beside me, Vanessa picked at the hem of her
skirt. “I just wish I hadn’t screwed myself over on the first day.
Who does that?”

“People will forget about it,” I assured
her. “Some other scandal will seem bigger and better and soon
everyone will forget all about you.”

She sighed. “I guess that’s my only other
option, right? To be forgotten.”

Now I had no idea what to say. All I knew is
that I wasn’t in the condition to therapize her, if that was even a
word.

I stood and made an excuse about getting
another drink.

I had two coolers left out of my 4 pack,
which were surprisingly still in the box on the counter. I pulled
one out just as Carly approached.

“Did you see Ian was here for a bit?” she
sidled up to me and whispered. “It’s so cool that he isn’t writing
us all up for drinking.”

“He left?” I asked, using the sleeve of my
sweater to open my drink.

“Yeah. Well he can’t really stick around and
condone this, can he? He had to leave the building so he could
claim he didn’t know it was happening.”

“Won’t he get in trouble anyway?” For some
reason, this screw top was proving harder than all the other
drinks.

“Naw. RC’s aren’t expected to stick around
24/7. They’re not babysitters.”

“He doesn’t live in our building?”

“RCs live in the suites underground that
connect the 4 buildings. Supposedly they’re super nice.”

Finally the top popped loose, and I
cheered.

Carly’s lip twitched. “You’re a little
drunk, aren’t you?”

“I think so, yeah. That would explain some
things.” I considered it. “Not gonna lie, I drank a cooler and a
half talking to Blowjob G—Vanessa. She was telling me about
Ian.”

Carly’s eyes widened. “What did she
say?”

No way. I was so not going there. Even if I
could trust Carly not to open her big mouth—which I couldn’t—I knew
the first person she would tell was Melissa, and I wouldn’t trust
her
as far as I could throw her. Drunk.

“Just that she is upset people are talking
about her,” I said vaguely.

“Maybe she shouldn’t have done it then.”

“Everyone makes mistakes. We can’t hate on
them for it.”

Carly laughed. “All right then.” She lowered
her voice. “Don’t tell Melissa this, but I think Ian kind of likes
you. I saw him talking to you on the couch.”

I put the bottle to my lips and resisted
biting down on it. “Oh?”

“I saw the way he was looking at you.”

I bit down. “I haven’t figured him out, but
I think he wants what he can’t get. Probably I’m the first girl to
turn him down.”

Carly’s eyebrows shot up. “You turned him
down?”

“See? That’s how everyone acts about him.
Like he’s a god or something.”

“What, do you have a boyfriend at home or
something?”

I shook my head.

“So why the hell did you turn him down? You
should totally get with him. Unless…” She really looked at me then,
narrowing her eyes suspiciously. “You
have
had sex before,
right?”

I shook my head again and she gasped.

“Alexis! He’s fucking hot and
hitting on
you
. What the hell have you been waiting for anyway?”

I looked down at my drink. “I wanted to wait
until I’m Eighteen.”

“And that’s when?”

“End of the month.”

“You’re crazy.” She shook her head. Then a
mischievous smile crossed her lips. “But come October you’re fair
game and open to be a slutty-slut?”

“Uh…sure.”

“I’m going to hold you to that. In fact, by
the end of the year, I’m going to make sure you get it on with Ian
Crawford.”

I tilted my drink and proceeded to drain a
third bottle.

The first day of classes, I was both an
excited and nervous wreck. My very first class of the day, A
History of Music, was at 8 a.m. and I’d never been a morning
person. I sprinted across campus, my backpack flying behind me, and
reached the lecture hall late. The doors were already closed. If it
wasn’t the class I’d been looking forward to the most, I would have
probably walked away. I hated walking in late.

Despite my attempts to be quiet, the door
banged closed behind me and multiple heads turned to stare. I
flushed a bright red as I looked around for an empty seat. Finally
I spotted on near the back row and in the very middle. Great.

After stepping on people’s toes and making a
general ass of myself, I finally settled down in my seat and pulled
out my notebook, my cheeks flaming. Things took a turn for the
worse about five minutes later when my stomach began rumbling.

Why hadn’t I gotten up earlier and grabbed
breakfast? Because I’m an idiot.

I shifted in my seat and crossed my legs,
hoping the change of position would shift things around in my
stomach, but to no avail. The growling came again, and this time
louder. A few people bent their heads to look down the row at me,
and I stared straight forward at the professor, pretending not to
notice.

When my stomach rumbled again, this time
loud enough to elicit snickers from the people around me, a guy
three rows down twisted around in his seat.

“Pass this up to her,” he said in a voice
loud enough for me to hear. “Put her out of her misery.”

A banana landed in my lap. It had been too
dark to see the guy’s face, but when I turned the banana over, I
saw someone had written on it in that beautiful script that adorned
all our whiteboards.

Love from Ian
.

What? He was in my class? I thought he’d
said he was studying medicine. I slid lower in my seat, feeling
even more embarrassed. Still I peeled the banana and ate it. The
damage had already been done at that point.