Then There Was Maverick

Chapter 4

The loud music that was coming from the extensively large speakers was racking through my body, making my insides feel like a phone on silent with an endless call that was coming through. As I swayed to the beat of the music, Bonnie grasped my hand and twirled me in the middle of our small group. I noticed that Max was no longer in our circle, so I directed my gaze over my shoulder to find her dancing with a guy that was unknown to me. I watched the way she was grinding her butt against his hips in a seductive manner. Before tonight, I had never witnessed this style of dancing. Sure, my mother made me go to Ballet Lessons as a young girl, but this was a whole new realm. I turned back to look at the group and Bonnie gave me a reassuring smile and yelled, "She's fine. I'm keeping an eye on her."

Acknowledging her statement, I nodded my head and continued to sway my hips to the music. I slowly began to raise my arms above my head as the speed of the music slowed down. The sway of my hips began to get slower and deeper. Suddenly, I felt a pair of arms snake around my waist and heard a soft whisper in my ear: "What's a pretty girl like you doing dancing alone?" I turned to find none other than Zach Wesley. He must've gotten tired of his duties of bartender and abandoned his post.

"You mind if I dance with you?" he requested with the same boyish smirk I witnessed earlier.

"Sure," I replied with a sheepish smile on my face.

He placed his hands onto my hips as they were before and pulled me back into his chest. A new song began, and he started to guide my hips in a figure-eight shape that made resulted in constant contact between our two bodies. Zach's presence behind me made my nerves go haywire. I was an eighteen-year-old college freshman, and this was the most promiscuous contact that I'd had with any guy in my entire life. As pitiful as it sounds, I hadn't even experienced my first kiss yet. As the beat dropped, I began to move my hips at a faster pace, which earned a grunt of approval from my partner. I felt Zach's breath on the side of my neck, making my breath hitch. He began to place warm, open-mouthed kisses on my neck and I prayed that I wouldn't wake the next morning with hickeys covering my ivory skin. His hand began to roam to the exposed skin of my stomach and back down to my hips. My stomach was turning somersaults, as Zach made his way back up my neck and to my ear as he whispered, "Thanks for the dance, beautiful, but I better return to my station before someone steals all of our provisions." He left a gentle kiss on my cheek and walked away after turning his head back to me and shooting me a wink.

         I remained in the same place Zach left me in as I tried to process the course of events that had just taken place. I again felt someone's eyes burning into me, the same way as earlier. My eyes immediately glanced to the couch across the room from where I was standing, and for the second time today, my eyes were met with Mason's. However, this time his eyes seemed to be filled by hostility and an intense amount of anger. It seemed as if the room around me went silent, as I tried to decipher the meaning behind Mason's hateful gaze. What had changed from earlier? Had I done something to indirectly piss him off?

         I was snapped out of my trance by Max's hand grabbing my shoulder from behind me, turning me to face her.

"Who the hell was that guy?" Max queried while wiggling her eyebrows up and down suggestively.

"I could ask you the same thing!" I replied with a laugh.

As we made our way back over to our friends, we noticed that they were looking for us as well.

"We were wondering where the two of you ran off to," Haley began, "We were just about to leave. Are you guys gonna stay, or do you wanna walk back with us?"

"I think I've had enough fun for tonight," I stated, "Haven't you, Max?"

"Oh honey," Max feigned a look of shock, "this is just another uneventful night on the town for me! But yeah, we can bail too."

Making our way across the room and to the door, we shoved our way through the crowd. I could faintly hear someone calling out to me from behind, so I turned my head in search of someone for what seemed to be the tenth time tonight. Much to my dissatisfaction, I once again found no one. Dismissing my odd night on delusions caused by the alcohol I had consumed earlier, I turned back around and walked out the door of the frat house and into the humid air of the summer night. As I made my way back to the side of campus in which the freshman dorms were located, I couldn't help but think about the events this night had brought with it. I felt a slight burning sensation as my blood slowly crept up my neck to my cheeks at the thought of the provocative dance I shared with Zach Wesley. He had called me beautiful, but I was sure he said that to a number of other girls that he danced with before me. He had that boyish charm to him that attracted girls to him and drove them insane. I was sure that he had known what he was doing and how he was making me feel, however, I didn't expect anything to come of it. After all, he was a junior and I was the shiny new toy on the playground. I stood out to him in the crowd due to his lack of knowledge of my existence. I had never been this reckless before in my entire eighteen years of life on this earth and I have to say, I rather enjoyed the rush that accompanied my risky decisions.

         Before I knew it, Bonnie and Haley were parting ways with Max and me. We bid each other a good night and promised to meet up tomorrow sometime for brunch.

"You had a very eventful night, Ms. Callahan," Max jokingly said in a stern tone.

"I have never done anything like that before, Max," I admitted, "I honestly don't know what came over me. One minute we were talking and the next I was grinding on him."

"That's the power of – dare I say – 'the hoe clothes,'" she replied with a laugh. "I'm a firm believer in the power of a mini skirt and hoop earrings. They give the wearer a confidence boost and attract guys from miles away."

"I suppose so. I might have to raid my roommate's closet more often if that's the case."

"She seems to have a tremendous sense of style, so I don't blame you a bit!" she exclaimed, flipping her hair over her shoulders in a boastful manner.

We arrived at our door just as our conversation died down. As much as I loved the way these clothes made me feel, I was ready to be in a pair of Nike shorts and one of Tommy's old t-shirts that was two sizes too big on me. After changing out of my party clothes, I began to remove my makeup from my face with a makeup wipe. When I had half of my makeup removed, I heard my phone buzz from across the room. I made my way across the room to check my notifications and saw that I had received a text from an unknown number. I finished removing the rest of my makeup and discarded the wipe into the trashcan.

As I climbed into bed, I opened the message from the mystery sender that read, "We need to talk. Soon." I waited a minute before responding, pondering who this might be. After a couple of minutes in deep thought, I concluded that it must've been my dancing partner from earlier.

"Is this Zach?" I responded.

"Not quite," the person replied almost immediately.

"Well, okay... Then who is this?" I texted back equally as fast with furrowed eyebrows.

Then came the text that shocked me the most: "This is Mason. I'll text you tomorrow when I get out of practice and let you know when we can meet up."

I stared at the last text message with wide eyes before locking my phone, as he didn't leave much room for a response. After putting my phone on charge, I lied down on my back and stared at the ceiling until a sleeping state washed over me.