I frown as I look around the car one last time, to make sure everything's alright and in its spot. I know in the back of my mind that it is, but I can't help myself; it's been like this ever since I started driving cars that have the wheel on the left side.
Even though I'm still a little unsure - when wasn't I though? - I nod to myself and slowly open the door, stepping out and locking the car even slower. I'm surprised that I only look over my shoulder twice while walking toward the frat house.
So far I can tell it's quiet inside; either most of the guys are sleeping off their hangover, or they're trying and failing to function. Or both, in most cases after frat parties.
With a small smile on my face I knock at the door, simply out of fun, to see how long I'd have to wait for someone to open it for me. The current record is six minutes and 34 seconds.
However, I'm surprised when the door is pulled open not even 15 seconds later. Well, this isn't that fun.
"Hiya," I say in a cheery tone as I peek inside, and see just what I'm expecting to see; rearranged furniture, stains on the wall and carpets and red cups and beer bottles everywhere.
Good thing I only have a room here.
"What the..?" One of the older frat guys looks outside, the sun that is already setting blinding him. "The hell did you knock?"
"It's fun," I grin and push my way past him, leaving him at the door. I know he'd love nothing but to kick my ass right now, but I guess he'd have no one to finish his projects for him then.
"Who is it?" I recognize Seth's voice, and sit in the armchair across from him. He's also sitting- well, lying in one, sideways, his legs hanging off the armrest and with a cushion over his head. Nothing unusual yet.
"It's me, am I late for the party?" I knew that he knew what party I had in mind; not the one from last night, but the one where I get to sit and laugh at their drunken asses.
"No," Seth's response makes me smile again, "I'm the first one that woke up. Then Avery, and..." Oh, so that's the name of the guy whose projects I do. "And I think all the guests left."
"Damn." I press my lips together, to suppress a smile at the memory of last week, and the week before; the funniest part is definitely when the guests decide to leave, because none of them can leave in under half an hour.
"So..." Seth finally removes the cushion off his face, "What'd you do last night?"
I took a semi deep breath, and looked up at the ceiling; when I stopped observing the lime green stain up there, I thought about what had happened last night. Quite frankly, I'm still not sure whether it was a dream or did it actually happen.
"I, um... I went to buy myself pizza, and..." And did I or did I not meet a girl that kept me up until eight in the morning?
"And... what did Rachel and Ross do now?" Seth asks, and usually I'd roll my eyes or at least glare at him, but now I really can't care less about his words. Since I woke up two hours ago, I couldn't concentrate on anything but what happened last night. It doesn't even seem like it was last night. More like it happened ages ago.
"Or did you really watch Dawson's Creek?" He frowns at me and I have to blink a few times to register what he just said to me.
"Um... yeah, I watched Dawson's Creek," I mumble before I can even think of what I'm saying. Within a few seconds I frown; I didn't watch Dawson's Creek. I didn't watch anything. Well, except the ceiling while I tried falling asleep.
"Are you okay?" He asks again, interrupting my thoughts. Again. "I mean, I know how attached you are to your TV shows, did something bad happen with Dawson and Joey?"
"Since when do you care about Dawson and Joey?" I frown with an amused expression, and then frown even harder, "Since when do you even know the names of the characters?"
His smirk disappears, and he shrugs a little uneasily. "You kept talking about the show, I wanted to see what's so interesting about it."
I grin at his answer; it wasn't exactly my goal, but it's nice knowing I got him hooked on a TV show. "That's cute. Did anyone sleep in my room?" I quickly change the subject, before I start thinking about her too much again.
Seth knows how much I hate it when someone stays at my room when I'm not there. I mean, what person doesn't? "Seth?" I call in a bit harsher tone as I notice him gulp. I'm hoping his answer will be the one I want it to be, even though I subconsciously know it won't be.
"Um... look, don't freak out, it wasn't just a random person," He says quickly, and continues as he notices I've opened my mouth to argue. "It was Leanne."
I instantly raise my eyebrows and close my mouth; well, that surely isn't just a random person. "Leanne, really? She stayed... here?"
He rolls his eyes as he keeps poking the cushion, "You're saying that like this is the Alcatraz."
I look around the room, "No, I'm sure the Alcatraz is neater than this."
"You sound like my mom," Seth mumbles as he stands up; a bit clumsily, may I add. "And yeah, she stayed here."
I blink again, for a few seconds forgetting about what we were talking about. Damn Alcatraz. "What, your mum stayed here?"
"Leanne, dumbass," He shouts as he drags himself to the kitchen.
"Oh," I all I say to the information. Oddly, the fact that Leanne was here and spent the night in my room isn't having any sorts of effects on me. Maybe it would if I was there with her. "Cool."
"That's all you have to say?" Seth chuckles as he drags himself back to the armchair, just as slowly, "Dude, I've been watching you drooling over her like a high school girl for the past two months."
"Um..." Wow, is it really that obvious? "I... I guess there's nothing exciting about her spending a night in my room when I wasn't there?"
To my relief, Seth nods. "Yeah, guess you're right. On the other hand though, you effortlessly got her into your bed. Surely that counts."
"It would count if I was actually the one that got her there," I glare at him, once again a little desperate to change the topic. For the first time in months, I don't feel like talking - or even thinking - about girls.
"I bet you could've," Seth obviously can't read my mind though, "After two beers, she didn't need any convincing at all."
I slowly close my eyes; I know I've slept for seven hours straight, but my best friend here is making me feel like it's been only seven minutes. "Why do you even like her, anyway? I mean, she's so shy. Yeah, she's pretty and all, but doesn't seem like someone you can have fun with."
None of the girls I like seem like the type I can have fun with.
I huff at the thought and how accurate it actually is, but as soon as the brunette from last night appears before my eyes, I shake my head. Damn you, Seth.
"Uh, she, she's... she's shy, like you said," I say awkwardly, and he gives me a weird look. Well, after all, my reason would be legitimate if we were 16. "I like that she doesn't throw herself at guys." At least this other one is genuine.
Seth shrugs as he takes a gulp of water; he's Seth, of course my reasons seem dumb to him. "I'm gonna ask again. How the hell did you get in the fraternity?"
Somehow, all of our conversations come down to this - him not being able to believe I pledged his fraternity. "I have friends that are in fraternities, I know what you guys do during Hell Week," I grin at the memory; Hell Week was actually kinda fun, since I knew what I'd have to go through.
"Then I guess we should change the rules for next year, yeah?" He raises his eyebrows, staring straight ahead of himself; probably thinking of next year's Hell Week.
"Don't lie to yourself, you know you love having a nerd like me around." Even if he lied, we both knew the answer to that.
"Well, to be honest, we gave you a little credit when we found out you're from Ireland." There's something I didn't know? "We thought you'd be a drinker." Ah, that explains it. "And now we're deeply disappointed."
For a second I wanted to argue with him, but then I remembered how excited I was about living like an American. Which includes respecting the drinking law - unlike the rest of the frat guys.
"Not everyone in Ireland likes to drink," I lie, "In fact-"
"But," Seth interrupts me loudly, "Every frat guy likes to drink."
Well that's one big fat lie. Almost none of the guys from my year like to drink. "Alright," I know I'd eventually have to agree with him, so I decided to do it now. No point in arguing with Seth. Even when he's wrong, he's right.
"Where are you going?" He asks as I stand up, and stretch myself.
"I'm gonna take a nap. I've got Geometric Modeling to study for Monday, and a project for Design Fundamentals to finish for Wednesday, and my minor classes-"
"What's your point?" Seth cuts me off; I wouldn't even realize how much of a nerd I sounded if he didn't.
"Um, my point is, I need to get some rest?" I almost ask, knowing he wouldn't approve of that either. Oh well.
"Whatever, grandpa." It's a good thing him and I are majoring different things, otherwise I'd have to study for him as well.
I nod to myself and leave the large living room, but just as I start climbing the stairs in the hallway, someone rings the bell. With a small groan I turn around and walk back down; if I'm lucky, it's pizza delivery. But seeing as this is a frat house, nothing as normal as that is on the other side of the door.
And when I open the door, I realize my thoughts are somewhat accurate. "Leanne?" I raise my eyebrows at the short blonde. If I had a list of people I least expect to knock on the door, she would probably be in the top five.
"Hi," She smiles and pulls a strand of her straight hair behind her ear, "Um... I don't know if your friends told you, but I spent the night here."
"Yeah, you were in my room," I add bluntly, and I rethink what I'd said as she raises her eyebrows this time.
"Y-your room, really?"
I nod slowly; did she not know this? She surely did. If Seth was the one to show her a room, then she definitely did.
"Oh, um... I'm sorry, I didn't know." Yeah, right.
I smile at her, deciding to keep my thoughts to myself. I might be wrong. Not likely, but everything's possible. "It's okay, did you need something?"
"Well, this morning I forgot my phone case here, so... could you let me find it? Since it's probably in your room and all."
"Sure," I smile again as I push my thoughts aside, and take a step back to let her in. I can hear Seth wolf whistling from the living room as I follow her up the stairs; and people say university students are mature.
"Shut up!" I shout when I hear him talking loudly - whatever he had to say, wouldn't have been very smart.
"Is... he okay?" Leanne asks as we reach the top of the stairs, and I breathe out a laugh at her tone. "I mean, okay-okay? Because last night-"
"Oh, yeah, he gets weird when he's drunk," I quickly say, since I don't really want to know what he did last night. If he was as weird as last week when I actually attended the party, the I really don't want to know what he did. "Um, were you in this room?"
I open the door of my room, a little scared of what I might see inside - but I'm surprised to see that everything is the way I left it on Tuesday. "Yeah, uh..." Leanne scratches the back of her neck as she walks inside, "I made the bed when I got up, I hope you don't mind."
I laugh unintentionally loud, but I can't help it - she just asked if I mind that she made my bed? "No, I'm perfectly fine with that," I grin and lean against the door frame as I watch her scanning the room. I notice her blush at what I'd said, before she starts looking for her phone case.
While I stand there, I remember Seth asking me about Leanne, and why I like her - and while I observe her looking for the object, I can find a lot of reasons for that. She's basically a female version of me; not only physically, but all together. She's blonde, blue-eyed, and is relatively short. Besides that she's a straight A student, but also shy, bubbly and an overall easy-going person.
And I hate how the only thought that's going through my head as I watch her, is that she is nothing like Angel.
As the thought crosses my mind - several times at that - I need to shake my head and repeat the words I've been telling myself all day; you are never going to see her again. Ever. So snap out of it.
"Niall?" I look up at Leanne, trying to hide the fact that she startled me a little, and blink twice.
"Yeah?"
"I... found my phone case."
She waves the neon green object and I nod; though when I notice letters in another shade of green, I become curious so I subconsciously start walking toward her. "What..." I mumble, more to myself as I take it from her.
"Who's this?" I ask, referring to the four male names on the back of the case - something I wasn't particularly excited about.
"Um, those are the names of the guys from our university's band," She says slowly, probably so she wouldn't mess up any of the words. I nod at the information; it's actually quite a relieving one.
"I didn't know we have a band," I mutter as I look at the names again, "What's the name of it?"
"5 Seconds Of Summer."
I nod again, "Did they go to UIC too?"
"Oh, they still do. Luke is also a freshman," She grins sheepishly, and the fact that I felt a pang of jealousy when she smiled as she said his name, is also quite relieving. It means that I'm forgetting about Angel, finally.
Dammit, I thought of her again.
"Are they any good?" I ask, in an attempt to forget about her, once again.
"Mhm, they have gigs like once, or twice a month. Nothing big."
"But..." I wave her own case in front of her face, "They already have phone cases with their names on them?"
Leanne rolls her eyes in an amused manner, "You can order cases with any kind of design you like. They ordered, like, one thousand of these."
"And you're one of those lucky thousand that bought one?" I smirk and she shrugs, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I actually am lucky, they were sold within minutes." What is it with girls and being protective over bands?
I nod with a smile again, deciding to keep the question to myself. "Are any of them in the fraternity?"
Leanne narrows her eyes, as if thinking about it. "Michael is, but not in this one. I don't know about the others." She blinks a few times at me when she notices me grinning at her, "What?"
"How do you know so much about them?" I smile wider.
"Why are you so interested in them?"
I didn't know it was possible, but my smile grows as she fires a question back at me; this is the furthest I've gotten at talking to her, even though we spend quite a lot of time together. We see each other at least three times a week - when we have classes together - and we have lunch together all the time. Sometimes we even go for a coffee after school.
Come to think of it, I'm actually surprised we're still not a couple. We're the perfect couple in theory. Now I just have to find out if we're as good in practice.
"You know what?" I lick my lips before continuing, "I'd love to take you to a gig of theirs."
As if on cue, Leanne blushes and looks down for a second or two. "That's... great, especially if you want to wait a month to take me out."
"What, no gigs this month?"
She shakes her head, "They had one last Saturday."
I nod, and hand her back the case. "How about coffee then?"
"But we already have coffee after school." Damn, when did getting a girl to agree to go out on a date become so difficult?
I roll my eyes at her excuse, "Fine, dinner?"
At my words, Leanne grins and even bounces on her toes for a second. "That'd be amazing."
Well fucking finally. "Great," I smile as well, and as I notice her eyeing the door, I move out of the way to let her walk out, and start walking behind her.
"What music do they play?" I ask, trying to avoid silence.
"Um, pop-rock. I can't tell if it's more pop or rock."
I wonder what music Angel likes.
"Are you okay?" Leanne chuckles as we reach the bottom of the stairs, and I have to look around to try and figure out why she'd ask that.
"Um, yeah, why?" I frown.
"Nothing, you just... sounded like you stepped on a lego."
I slowly nod at the information; I must've groaned as I thought about her, again. Yet again. Is this how girls feel when they repeatedly tell themselves not to think about a guy but they still do? "I'm, uh, I'm kinda hungry, so..."
I'm relieved when Leanne laughs at my lame save, so I chuckle as well. "You're weird," She grins, "I like you."
You shouldn't have said that, is all that's going through my head as I watch Leanne, and see Angel's face instead. That's it; I'm getting drunk as soon as she leaves.
"Well thanks," I say stupidly, and open the door for her, "So, I'll... see you on Monday?"
"Yeah, but you can take me out for dinner on Wednesday."
Good to know she won't let me decide about everything. "Okay," I nod, "See you, then."
"Bye," Leanne smiles and leans up to kiss my cheek, and I'm surprised when she pecks my lips as well. But as I close my eyes, all I can see is the brunette from last night. I just asked this girl out and she just kissed me, what the hell is wrong with me?
"Bye," I nearly choke out as I close the door behind Leanne, not being able to even look her in the eyes. Not when I pictured another girl when she kissed me for the first time. "Seth?"
"Yeah?" He yells back from the living room, and I'm surprised to see him on his feet, playing ping-pong with Avery.
"You have any beer left from last night?" I sigh, deciding to break an American law for one day.
*******
Dedicated to @anthelion, those are all really good theories, you might have even guessed something right!
For everyone who's reading this on their phones, Leanne is played by AnnaSophia Robb and Seth is Francisco Lachowski :) vote, and comment for a dedication! x