Love, Neve

Act II: A Chance Encounter

*******content warning, sexual assault and homophobic slurs********
Neve and Jessica had remained at the periphery of the gathering for the majority of the evening. Neve, being still somewhat socially awkward, was grateful that Jessica hadn’t abandoned her to go enjoy herself with her sorority sisters. They stood unobtrusively near the kitchen entryway when Kevin spotted them from across the room. He nudged Mike, “Score?” Mike shook his head with a laugh. “Dawg, that chick’s a serious dyke, man. Everyone knows it. It’s one of those things you just look the other way and don’t mention it.”  Kevin elbowed Mike’s ribs. “Not Jess, you dumb-ass; that little Sheila next to her. New pledge, maybe?”  Mike squinted. “Dunno. Never seen her before. Maybe she’s a town slag that decided to crash the party hoping to score a young doctor?” Kevin smirked. “Man, for twenty years old, you are SERIOUSLY jaded.” Mike laughed, “Hey, jaded is the new cool”. Kevin wondered silently about his new ‘brother’. This is the sort of guy, he thought, that would defend a rapist who was caught on the down stroke. “I’m gonna work the floor,” he told him. Mike admired Kevin. He was naturally confident. Approval never even entered into it. Kevin just somehow knew that if someone had a problem with him, well, that was their problem not his.

Neve constantly scanned the room, alert for any sign of trouble. Shairi’s words kept echoing in her head and her better judgment told her to get out of there before something bad happened, but Jessica seemed genuinely thrilled to be here with her. That brought up problems of its own. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Neve had the feeling that Jess wanted more than just friendship, and that could bring everything crashing down. Neve’s stomach flip-flopped. What had she gotten herself into? “Well,” she decided, “if it comes to it, I can always tell her I’m on my period.” She tried to relax. The music was decent. A mediocre DJ was playing middle of the road pop hits. As the evening wore on, Neve grew increasingly bored with the ‘party’, if that’s what this was supposed to have been. There had already been a cat-fight, fist-fight, a drunken sorority sister vomiting on the stairs and a great deal of vicious gossip that made her thankful that this wasn’t HER world. To her credit, Jessica had stayed with her the entire evening, but Neve could tell that she was both embarrassed by her sorority sisters and becoming irritated with something Neve couldn’t ferret out. Sometime around 11 p.m., the problem made itself known when Jessica’s ‘big’ decided to confront her about “bringing a date, a goddamned DATE, to the mixer. Not only a date, but a fucking DYKE!” Cissy, Jessica’s ‘big’ (her official sorority mentor) was livid. “I don’t give a good goddamn if you munch carpets privately all night long, but we have a fucking public image to maintain!” she screeched. The entire crowd had stopped whatever it was they were doing to watch the spectacle unfold.  Kevin stood mesmerized. In his humble opinion, Cissy was the one who was harming the sorority’s rep, not Jess. He sensed Mike walking up to his shoulder from behind. “Man, this oughta be good…” he said, making no attempt to hide the glee in his voice. “Dude… you’re an ass,” Kevin muttered. Then, on the spur of the moment, he decided to save the situation from further embarrassment. He strode toward Jessica and Neve. “Jess!” he exclaimed, “THERE you are! I’ve been looking for you all night, where’ve you been? I thought your friend had stood me up and you were ashamed to face me!” Jess’s face became a mask of confusion, and Kevin winked slyly at her where Cissy couldn’t see. “So THIS is the young lady you wanted me to meet?” Jessica caught on and decided to play along. “Oh! Yeah, Kevin, this is Neve. I told you about her, she’s my supervisor at the dry cleaners.” Kevin snapped his fingers, “RIGHT! Right, you mentioned that. You just didn’t mention how lovely she was!” Cissy’s face was a grotesque parody of confusion and embarrassment. “Wait… no. You brought her as a DATE.” Kevin chuckled. “Don’t be ridiculous, Cecilia,” he said, and returned his attention to Jessica and Neve. “So, Neve, is it? Jess has told me about you, would you care to find someplace less…” he shot an accusatory look at Cissy, “…chaotic where we can get acquainted?” Neve’s heart was racing. It was as if whatever hand of fate existed had intervened at precisely the right moment. Kevin turned to Jessica, “Would you care to come, Jess? Seeing as you ARE the matchmaker here, it would only be polite to invite you along.” Jessica took that as her cue to escape a volatile situation. “Um, yeah, that’d be great… but I have a responsibility to be here, you know…” Kevin smiled benevolently, “I’m sure Cecilia wouldn’t begrudge you the rest of the evening, seeing as you’re helping out your FRATERNITY BROTHER.” He raised his voice ever so subtly emphasizing the last two words, making certain that Cissy had been put on the spot in front of the eagerly attentive crowd. Her face deepened as her anger began to seethe. Kevin extended both arms and the ladies hooked theirs through. Neve grabbed her drink and chugged it. “Now, if you’ll excuse us Cissy, it’s been a MARVELLOUS evening.” He glanced over to Mike, ‘Care to make it a double date, Mikey-boy?” Mike smirked and shook his head. “I think I’ll stay here and see if the keg has a bottom to it. I expect a full report in the a.m. though!” Kevin politely chortled, “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell, my good man, you know that.” Mike snorted, “Yeah, that’s why I expect a full report.”  As the three of them left the sorority house, Cissy glared at them venomously. Mike sensed an opportunity opening up; a chance to ‘get some’, if you will. He sauntered over to Cecilia. “Well… Cissy… that was certainly, um, entertaining.“  Cecilia’s eyes cut through him. “What the fuck was that supposed to have been about? WHY didn’t someone tell me? ME? And why is Kevin dating outside of the sorority? Isn’t that supposed to be some sort of unofficial no-no? And why did you LET me go off like that, you ass! You’re his frat brother, you should have known!”  Mike threw his hands up, protesting his innocence. “Hey, cool off there, Broadzilla. I didn’t know ANYTHING about it.” Cecilia turned and stormed off. “I'm gonna get to the bottom of this!” she vowed. Mike called after her, “So… does this mean there’s no chance of us getting together tonight?”