Given Time

♡27♡

The next two weeks pass by in a blur. Between classes and spending time with Tanner at his place, I've barely had time to myself.

After spending another night at his laying in his arms, I meet up with Ben and Zara as planned and go into town to buy some new outfits for tonight's party at the frat house.

I'm a little apprehensive about going to another one, seeing as last time I ended up making a fool of myself by throwing up in their yard, but Tanner has assured me he'll take care of me.

As the three of us get ready in my dorm room, Ben sits on my bed talking to Toby on the phone, while Zara and I do our makeup. This time I'm staying true to myself, and apply minimal makeup to my face. I hope Tanner likes the end result, as he commented a couple of days ago that he likes my natural look compared to being caked in makeup like the other girls.

I swipe my pink lip gloss on my lips and smack them together, and then grab my new purple, formfitting dress and get changed behind the closet door. Like the last dress I wore, it fits my body like a second skin, but this time, it hides my thighs. I grab a pair of black heels and pair it with the dress, then add a gold anklet and gold charm bracelet.

"Ready!" I announce as I close the closet door.

"Me too," Zara sings, dropping her mascara back into her makeup bag.

She's opted for an even darker look this time and is wearing her black lipstick, and made the lids of her eyes completely black. Usually you can only see her nose piecing, but she's tied her hair back for once which shows off her pierced ears as well.

"Awesome," Ben adds as he puts his phone back in his pocket. "Let's get started on the drinking games!"

Zara immediately goes to her top drawer and pulls out a deck of cards to play with.

We all sit on the floor in a close circle, and I watch Zara as she expertly shuffles the cards. One by one, she hands out the cards, and we begin the game.

I quickly realize Ben and Zara are experts at this game, while I'm still new to it. As I lose another hand, I down a shot of schnapps that Zara sneaked into the building. And after my third one, I feel my body buzzing. We carry on playing a few more games of this until I receive a phone call from Tanner, letting us know he is waiting downstairs in his car for us.

When we exit the building, I immediately spot his gray Mercedes parked next to the other beat-up cars. He has the window rolled down, and I can hear Kings of Leon blaring out of the stereo.

"Hey, babe," Tanner says as I jump into the passenger seat.

His lips are immediately on mine, and I hear Ben and Zara snicker in the back of the car. I ignore them and carry on kissing Tanner, enjoying the feeling of his warm lips against mine.

"Mm, you taste like peaches," he notes, licking my lip.

I breathe in his heavenly cologne and sigh. "I just downed some schnapps."

"You guys have started already? Man, are you lot gonna get wasted tonight." He laughs.

I shake my head vigorously. "No way. Not me. I'm going to be on my best behavior."

"We'll see," he jokes.

I jovially poke him in his side. "Come on, driver. Get going."

"Okay, okay." He grins.

Tanner starts the engine and swings his right arm over the headrest as he looks behind him to reverse out of the parking space.

After a fifteen-minute drive, we arrive outside the familiar building where revelers are already gathered on the grass, chatting and drinking. Tanner takes my hand when I exit the car, and he leads me through the house and straight to the living room. I see that Jake is sitting on one of the couches and his bleach blond hair is gelled up tonight, and he's wearing a white T-shirt that can barely contain his muscles. When Zara spots him, she instantly jumps on him and starts to make out with him in front of everyone. One of the guys sitting on the couch next to them gets up and moves to an empty chair, while another guy just stares at them with his jaw open.