Coffee with Mr. Casey

7 - Sigma House Rules

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Lola

“I can’t believe you actually did that to Mr. Casey’s car,” Julia glowered, as we were routing towards swim class in her Corvette. What I couldn't tell her is that he showed up at my house, like the idiot that he is. 

I stared out the window, taking in the tan color of everything. The drought had killed the grass as well as the trees, leaving no green to marvel over. “Me neither,” I said, feeling regretful that I’d done it at all. Mr. Casey was right. I had pulled the worst trick ever, but it had felt really good at the time.

I decided to go to swim class but I wasn’t going to get in the water. My makeup was doubled up due to the extra marks that Dad left on me. I just didn’t feel like going home and seeing Philip was the only thing I could think of to make my day better.

I’d told my parents that I had to stay after school to make up for the day that I missed. It wasn’t a great lie but it somehow worked. I was grateful to prolong my day before I had to go back to my dad. During the school hours, I had helped Joel out at the liquor store. It wasn’t open, but he liked to come in extra early to do an inventory check. He made sure it was done twice a day.

I immediately spotted Philip’s car in the lot, with his window rolled down. He was on the phone, laughing. I envied how he could be so happy and wondered if I could ever have that with him. His smile lit his eyes up making my heart flutter. I’d hoped he would notice me without saying anything.

Purposefully, I slammed the door to Julia’s car, but didn’t turn to see if Philip was looking.

“Hey!” Julia yelped. “Easy with the doors.” She started to rub the top of her car as if it were her pet.

The feeling of two fingers poking me in my sides, made me jump out of my shoes. I spun around to Philip pulling me into his thick, muscular arms. “I missed you,” he mumbled into my hair and then pulled back. His eyes searched for excitement in mine, finding only a hint. “What’s wrong?” He asked, brushing my cheek with the back of his fingers.

“Oh, nothing,” I answered, trying to force a smile. “I just don’t feel like swimming today, but I don’t really want to go home either.”

Philip tugged at my wrist. “Then, don’t go. You and Julia should come to the Frat house with me. Just got off the phone with my Sigma brother and he’s says there’s a party and they’re starting early.”

“On a school night?” Julia popped in, walking up in her loud high heels.

“College is different from high school, Jules.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and smirked at her. Then, he turned back to me and pouted his lips. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

I looked at Julia who rolled her eyes and sighed. That meant an “I guess.” I squealed in excitement and ran over to the passenger side and got in the passenger seat. Julia got back into her car to follow us.

Philip sped to a campus that wasn’t too far from the swimming place. I expected a decent sized house for the fraternity but it turned out to be a red brick mansion with a foyer that was bigger than my own house. A golden chandelier hung above a little decorative table, with a huge fake plant. It was really lovely, and unlike anything I’d expected a frat house to look like.

Instead of beer bongs and towers of beer cans in the kitchen, it was neatly organized with no dirty dishes. The stainless steel sink, hibachi, and oven were, well, stainless. And the best quality of the place yet—the fridge was completely full of all the most sinful foods I could think of. Julia and I both marveled at the sight of all the goodness that lay in front of us. I eyeballed the strawberries and the chocolate dip, and Julia was looking at the cheesecake.