“See? She’s got this. Now let’s go. You act mysterious and sexy. Go get your ass on that motorcycle and drive away without a word.”
Leaving Pagan was hard. I didn’t want her to have to carry all those things inside. I wanted to do that for her. I was supposed to be the one doing that. She had been going to pay me in sexual favors. We’d joked about it for weeks. But now… she was here. Alone.
“You stay here. Stay near her. Help her move in. Most importantly, keep the voodoo prince away from her. I’ll be back as soon as inhumanly possible.”
Surprisingly, Gee didn’t argue.
Pagan
“Smart move. He looked like a creep.”
The blond with the pink tipped hair was suddenly beside me. I hadn’t heard her walk up but I’d been busy trying to get rid of the overly-friendly guy who had met me at Miranda’s car and wouldn’t take a hint.
“He was nice enough. I’m just not crazy about giving directions to my room to every guy on campus.” I explained. And I didn’t want them to feel as if I owed them something for their help.
The girl reached into the car and pulled out my suitcase. I wasn’t sure what to think about that. The roar of the motorcycle’s engine startled me and I spun around too see Dank Walker drive away without so much as a glance my way. Not that I expected it, really. I mean he had been very nice and seemed somewhat interested, but I didn’t exactly encourage him.
“Weren’t you going with him?” I asked as the girl walked around me with a suitcase handle in one hand and one of my boxes tucked in her other arm. She was really going to help me unload? Why? I’d done nothing to win her favor. She didn’t appear to be someone who made friends easily.
“Changed my mind. He’s in a bit of a funk today,” she said without looking back at me. I watched as she made her way to the entrance of the dorm then I turned around and grabbed a box myself. She wouldn’t know which room to go to and even if she found the room on her own, it would terrify Miranda if emo girl walked into the room when she was there alone
Five hours later we were completely unpacked. Even our very large room was set up. We’d taken he empty boxes to the dumpster, packed the fridge with water bottles, and I’d given half my closet space to Miranda. She’d brought too many clothes to fit in hers. This was not surprising in the least. I figured that it would be easier to live with a jam-packed closet than listening to Miranda whine for the next nine months because her closet wasn’t big enough. Besides, with the size of this room we could easily fit one of those portable closets in the corner.
“I still can’t believe she is in the room connected to ours and she doesn’t have to share with anyone. What is she? A rock star’s kid? THAT’S IT! She is some famous rocker’s kid. She looks the part. She is obviously on a first name basis with Dank Walker and she has the money and power to have her very own dorm room. And she has that weird name. Who calls their kid ‘Gee” but some famous person?”
Most times, I waved Miranda’s ridiculous ideas away, but this time she just might be right. No one else in the dorm had her own room, everyone else had a room-mate. Granted, our room was huge. It was even bigger than Gees, but we were sharing it. I plopped down on my black polka dotted comforter that Miranda had insisted I get. She wanted us to match. Hers was black with white polka dots and mine was white with black polka dots. I didn’t really care for the pattern but honestly I’d have been fine with a quilt from home as my cover. Miranda had thrown a hissy fit when I’d suggested that. So, we had polka dots. Everything else was black and white too. Black and white was her current decorating color scheme obsession. She had even bought us matching pin boards with black and white ribbon on them to hang above our desks, right beside the black and white dry erase boards.
“It looks good doesn’t it?” She asked smugly as she sat down beside me. She was happy with the way everything had fit into place. I was just glad she’d left the One Direction posters at her house. I don’t like boy bands and I sure don’t want to them plastered over the walls of my room all year.
“You did a good job,” I agreed and she beamed at me. It didn’t take much to make her smile. She’d gone through a rough patch there for a while after her boyfriend, Wyatt, had passed away. It had been the three of us growing up. Losing him had hurt me too, but not as badly as it had her. They had a connection I didn’t share. Shopping for our room had kept her busy over the past month and she’d slowly started to heal.
“What should we do now? Want to go check out the campus? Or go find something to eat? The campus food court doesn’t open until tomorrow. We’ll have to leave campus to find dinner.”
I started to answer when Gee walked into the room through the bathroom that adjoined our rooms. “I know the perfect place to go eat and have a little fun. Let’s go, bitches.”
Chapter Three
Pagan
Although it was an age-restricted club, Gee had gotten us inside without a hitch. I’d started to refuse to go inside but Miranda had gotten all excited when the bouncer waved us through. I had to go in to keep Miranda out of trouble.
“Stop frowning, Peggy Ann. It ain’t that bad. Loosen up,” Gee said as we made our way toward one of the empty tables.
“My name is Pagan,” I informed her.
“You used to be more fun,” she mumbled. What the heck did she mean by that? We’d known each other all of six hours tops. I was about to ask about her comment when a guy stepped in front of me.
“Hey, beautiful. You’re new here. I’d remember eyes like those if I’d seen them before.”
I let out a weary sigh and looked up at him. “Really? That’s the best you’ve got?” I asked raising an eyebrow.
His confused frown annoyed me and I stepped around him.
“Harsh! I like it.” Gee chuckled as we took our seats at the bar.
Miranda grabbed my arm and jerked me close to her, “Don’t look now, but Jay is here,” she whispered excitedly in my ear.