Masked

Chapter Seven

After surviving my first wild weekend in college, my social battery was drained. I must've been basically a mute for a day or two because even the thought of social interaction was painful. The only real interactions I had were texts between me and Athalia about a Walmart trip for snacks and then Phoenix texting me about something I left at his dorm.

I decided after class to go meet him at his dorm to pick up whatever I left. I honestly couldn't remember what I left since most of the weekend was a blur. I took the shuttle across campus to get to his building. He lived in the nicer buildings for upperclassmen which made me feel a bit jealous. It wasn't fair that freshman had to live in the older buildings.

I arrived at his door and didn't even get to knock since somebody was coming out of the suite.

"Bye Jovan," flirted the girl as she exited the suite.

"I'll call you!" He exclaimed after her. He looked down at me and smirked.

"Are you my round two?"

"Definitely not. I just came to get something back from Phoenix," I said with a disgusted tone.

"You were all for it the other night, but your loss," Jovan shrugged, letting me into the suite.

I rushed over to Phoenix's door and knocked. He opened the door with a groggy look on his face, but gave me a cheesy grin when he saw my face.

"Hey, you're here. Come innn," he drawled, rubbing the back of his head.

I entered his room and was immediately decked by the pungent smell of weed.

"Have you been smoking?" I asked bewildered. I covered my nose with my hands.

"Yeah I'm just a bit high. Gotta test my product before it goes on sale ya know. Quality control," he laughed walking over to his bed. He flopped down on his bed and patted his hand next to him.

"Come chill out for a bit. If you're interested, you can take a hit too," he grinned with his eyelids low.

I stood there a little frightened. I didn't mind just hanging out, but the weed part was a hard pass. I slowly walked over and sat down softly on the edge of his bed.

"So what was it that I forgot? I could've sworn I took all my stuff," I changed the subject, remembering the real reason I came over.

"Oh yeah, it was this," he said, reaching over to his messy desk. He grabbed a pair of small hoop earrings and handed them to me.

"I almost broke them by stepping on them."

"Thanks! I can't believe I forgot these," I replied graciously. I put them in a small pocket in my backpack. Then an awkward silence fell in the smoky room. I looked around nervously.

"So I guess I'll go now. Thanks for returning my earrings," I blurted out, quickly standing up from his bed. I grabbed my backpack and walked to his bedroom door.

When I tried to open it, he pushed it closed. I tried to turn around, but upon turning he had me pressed up against the door. His face was so close to mine, I could smell his breath which was surprisingly minty fresh.

Before I could speak, his lips were on mine and I was easily swept away. A whirlwind of emotions claimed my mind. Why was he kissing me? More importantly, why wasn't I stopping him? When he pulled away, my body began to breath on its own again.

"Bye baby," he smirked with a low tone in his voice.

I scrambled a bit, trying to gather myself as I left his room. As soon as I was outside of the suite, I ran to my room.

When I made it back to my dorm, I was very out of breath.

"Marsai, what's wrong? Why do you sound like you ran a marathon?" Athalia walked over concerned.

"He...I....and then....," I panted, trying to find air.

"Breathe Marsai! Breathe! Here come sit. Yaël and Liliana are here by the way. Tell us what happened."

Athalia led me to my bed and helped me sit down while I tried to calm down my breathing.

"So what happened?" Yaël asked.

"I got a text from Phoenix saying I forgot something. So I went to his suite after class to get it...," I began nervously.

They all leaned in with anticipation. I bit my lip anxiously.

"When he gave me back my earrings, I tried to leave but then he pushed the door closed and kissed me," I blurted out rather loudly.

First shock went over their faces before I heard the squeals.

"I can't believe it. You and PHOENIX?!" Liliana exclaimed. I tried to hush their squeals of excitement as I grew more and more embarrassed.

"Awww look at her! She's so cute! Sooooo," Yaël cooed at me.

All their eyes flashed towards me and I flinched from the shock. My eye darted between the three of them as a sly smile creeped onto each of their faces.

"Do you like Phoenix, Marsai?" Liliana probed.

"I...," I mumbled. My anxiety took over and I hid my face in my hands.

"I don't know how to feel about him. I feel like I keep getting swept up in the moment, but I don't know anything about him! I just learned today that he smokes weed and I've never even been around any kind of illegal drugs!" I rambled.

They all looked at each other and burst out laughing. My frustration started to bubble up.

"Oh Mar. Phoenix doesn't just smoke weed. He sells it too. He's the campus plug. He's the go to guy for everything. He's the one that always gets us alcohol cause he's already 21," Yaël chuckled.

"Yeah Mar, but he's a good guy! Don't worry too much about it," Liliana vouched.

I sighed and flopped down on my bed. Of course the first guy I get involved with would be a drug dealer. Miami was definitely something else.

That's when my phone started ringing for a text notification. I looked at my phone and it was a text from Jules.

Jules: hey, my council is holding an event tomorrow night. You should come out! Dress to impress <3

I looked at the photo she sent of the event. It was a "Meet the Greeks" event.

"Hey, Jules just invited me to this event," I said, handing my phone over to Athalia.

"Oooooh Meet the Greeks! I was planning to go to that," Athalia exclaimed.

"You two are interested in Greek life?" Liliana asked curiously.

"I don't know. I don't really know much about it, but I did enjoy seeing Jules stroll...well the little bit I do remember," I chuckled nervously.

"You should go then! Find out if Greek life is something you want," Yaël replied, handing back my phone.

"I guess it could be fun," I smiled sheepishly.

Athalia started discussing outfits, but I just zoned out for a bit. My world had changed so much in just a span of days. It was getting overwhelming. I knew college would change my life, but I never knew to what extent. I still don't know how much things will change and that was scary to think about. For now, I just needed to take it day by day.