My face is turned to the window and the immense sunlight over my eyes wakes me up. Hazily, I turn to see Madison whose hair is covering her face and she snores like a monster truck.
She's the most charming girl in the world until she's unconscious. I lift myself off the bed after lazing around for a few minutes and go to the bathroom. My hair looks insane and my mouth feels disgusting.
I shower and dry my hair fully before brushing it. I pick out the brown, white, and beige patched jeans Mads sewed together for me when we went thrifting and a brown long sleeve crop top.
I leave the closet and see Madison gripping her head. "Hangover?" I ask even though I know the answer.
"Uh-huh," she responds. I shake my head laughing and grab Aspirin from the medicine cabinet and a glass of water.
I pass Madison's room and see Nellie and Emma awake clutching their heads. Emma's a lightweight so 2 drinks and a few white claws did her good.
Nellie however clutched back multiple vodka shots all night and that's why she's hungover.
I make a pot of coffee and Mads starts making some waffles then we all clean out the empty pizza boxes and white claw cans.
I make a quick trip to the Walgreens across the street to grab Gatorades and another trip to the cafe for some breakfast. I grab my brown puffer jacket to keep myself warm and add a claw clip to keep my hair up from the wind. Fall in Chicago is unflattering to my hair.
I shuffle the bags finding my keys and open the door to see two exhausted bodies over the white couch.
Nellie lays out utensils and plates while helping me unpack the food. Some bagels and cream cheese along with four coffees.
"What should we do today?" Emma asks.
"The new ice skating rink in the park is open we could check it out," Madison suggests.
"Sounds good to me, there's a sale across Michigan Avenue we can go to afterward," Nellie says while cleaning the dishes.w
"We should invite Isabel too," she's a sweetheart. Emma texts her and then they head to their place to change while Mads and I do too.
I lay on my bed when a notification pops up. New follower: Adrian Castillo.
Do I add myself to the one point eight million followers he has or not? Yeah, why not.
Part of me wants to not follow him back just for the fun of it but another part of me is inclined to do the opposite.
I go over my own Instagram making sure there aren't any embarrassing photos but I know if I stare too hard I'll end up deleting my whole profile.
I take the plunge and follow him back. He probably wouldn't notice my following since he has nearly two million people but it still made me feel hesitant.
I click out of Instagram and decide to watch some criminal minds. Not one of my favorite shows because the blood and psychopathic behavior makes me afraid as an alone college student but I find comfort in Spencer Reid so I watch the episode where the little girl goes missing in the mall from one of the earlier seasons.
After finishing the episode I get a group text saying they're all here so Mads and I go downstairs.
"Hi Iz," I greet her.
"Hey Gigi," she smiles.
Even though Isabel's a freshman she's one of the most mature people I've ever met. She and her family moved here from Cuba eight years ago and got citizenship two years ago. She told me about her family being detained at the border and her hardships when she and her brother were separated at the border.
We were partnered up in Creative Writing last year when she audited the course her senior year of high school. We wrote a fictional piece on the topic of immigration and became good friends.
Walking through Grant Park and paying for an hour on the ice we leave our shoes in the locker and I tie my skates and add a beige hat to my head so I don't freeze in the two-degree weather.
My feet scrape the ice and even though I'm not a bad ice skater I'm not very experienced so I take it slow. I hold Emma's hand as she skids across barely holding onto my hand.
After the hour is up we take off our skates and my feet are sore.
Emma moans in pain as she takes her off and I laugh as she complains about how she'll never go ice skating again.
"Remind me to give you some lessons later," Isabel tells her.
"That would be greatly appreciated," she responds.
Finding ourselves hungry we stop at a food cart and get soft pretzels. Nellie drags Isabel and I to a few stores while Mads and Emma head to a different one.
"We should get sexy dresses," Isabel suggests. She holds up a silk white dress and Nellie finds a green one and me, a red one, all in a similar style. We try them on and decide to purchase them.
Walking out I bump into a har figure. That's so embarrassing, ugh why do I do these things?
"Sorry-" I look up and see Adrian, Lucas, Devontae, and JJ. As if my heart could take anything more embarrassing I look up at four giants staring down at me and the girls.
"Holy crap, you're- no fucking way," Isabel's jaw drops. I stifle a laugh. The boys look amused.
"Yeah, we are," Luke responds knowing what her words meant.
"Cherry, it's nice to see you again."
"You too Castillo. You gonna slide into my DM's or was the following request enough?"
"That's if you're up for it. You up for it Cherry?"
"I guess you'll have to find out the answer yourself," I tell him mimicking last night's conversation, "goodbye boys." JJ smiles at Adrian while chewing gum and gives him a slight pat on the chest.
Alexa, play 'Style' by Taylor Swift. Not gonna lie, I feel pretty powerful right now.
"Bye Laurence," I hear Lucas yell.
"She's fucking with you again," JJ laughs.
"I wish she was fucking me."
"Damn it's like she kicked you in the balls for a second time," I hear Devontae say.
"You know them?" Isabel asks me.
"Barely, met at a party yesterday night."
"Wait till Mads and Emma hear about this," Nellie says.
We go to dinner at Grady's Pizza, a staple for college students. That and Presley's are the most frequented and it's near impossible not to bump into somebody you know there.
"No way," I hear Nellie say.
From the corner of my eye, I immediately see Vivian Nash.
"If you're looking for Adrian then stop. He's mine."
"And if you're looking to get your ass kicked, you've arrived."
"You can screw any other sports team on campus, but the basketball boys are mine."
"You're going to claim an entire sports team? Why are you so desperate?"
"You bitch."
"Look Vivian I'm not interested in this conversation nor am I interested in Adrian Castillo. What I am interested in is giving you a black eye if you don't leave sometime soon."
She leaves and walks to the bar picking up her bag and heading out.
"So I hear you threatened to give Vivian a black eye," I hear behind me. He really is everywhere, isn't he?
"I also told her I wasn't interested in you," I turned around.
"That was pretty badass," he compliments."Come sit with me, Cherry." He holds his hand out and I take it leaving the table behind for him. He sits across from me and his large biceps are practically hanging out of the simple black t-shirt.
"Eyes up here, Laurence. I know I'm hot but we can't have a conversation with your head elsewhere."
Masking my humiliation I respond with quick wit, "You flatter yourself, Ace."
"Ace. I figured it out." I smile at him not even bothering to ask what he found out because it's better that way.
"So, your number? A date?" He asks.
"I don't date athletes," the bad temper, ego complex, and above all busy schedules.
He looks taken aback by my response, "Let me get this straight, you won't go out with me because I'm an athlete?" He looks amused and frustrated.
"Among other things, yes."
- Adrian -
She won't go out with me because I play basketball.
"What other things?"
"I'm the girlfriend type. I don't do the one-night stands, casual hookups, a few dates, and sex thing." So she definitely knows my reputation.
I'm not interested in a girlfriend. With everything going on, I can't have that. But she burns in my mind and I need to know her.
"We don't have to have sex. Just go out with me. Just one date. And if you like it, we can keep going on them until we don't want to anymore," I suggest. She doesn't answer for a second before looking at me again.
"Is that all? I've gotta go."
"Trust me, babe, you'll want more." How is she rejecting me so easily right now?
"Trust me ace. You have no idea what you're in for."
God, she's sexy. She gives me her number and I put the contact name as cherry along with the emoji and text her a pair too so she can save my number.
I get a text from my little brother Casey right at the moment.
"Call me ASAP," shit, shit, shit.