Heather
September was over, classes had been in full swing, and the piles of homework every week had continued to stack up. Actual projects kept being assigned and after their first major critiques, everyone who was in the art & design program had all begun to realize they weren't in high school anymore. If a project hadn't measured up, the instructor was not afraid to say so, and no one really had experienced that prior. It'd been frustrating as much as it'd been constructive.
Heather always loved that time of the year: the air becoming more crisp with no humidity, the changing of the leaves, hot apple cider with steam rising from the mug, the crackling of leaves underneath feet, cozying up to a warm fire, layering up in sweaters and scarves; all of it representing change and new beginnings.
The first weekend in October had been their homecoming, and the atmosphere on campus had become even more festive; kings and queens had been crowned, a parade had slowly rolled down Mainstreet, the fraternities and sororities had done a couch-a-thon—where members had to sit on a couch outside the MSC for days until one was left standing—the football game, and of course there been a plethora of house parties.
Unfortunately, it'd seemed like the art instructors had all known about the extracurricular activities, and had all assigned big projects due that following Monday. That'd meant most of the art and design students were staying in over the weekend in order to evade the wrath of their art instructors and not having a project turned in, because they didn't play around.
After the night the "Bedbreaker" had been born, Heather had become super close to Matt. It'd taken a while for Matt to get over the whole ordeal, but with plenty of reassurance from herself, along with major props from Jared and Brayden, he'd slowly warmed up to the newly found nickname.
Heather had felt a genuineness with Matt that was a rare oddity. After everything she'd been through over the last couple of years with torment, rumors, and betrayal; Heather had learned to listen more to her gut instinct when it'd came to other people. It also helped Matt never poked and prodded into her own life, asking questions she hadn't wanted to answer anytime soon.
Heather had wanted a fresh start when she'd enrolled at UW-Stout, and so far, all had been considered good. She'd intended to keep it that way, and felt like she'd made decent friends with Matt, Jared, Brayden and even Peter and Tony. Ali and Eden had both seemed like pretty fun girls, but both had seemed too occupied with their own inner circles to want to branch out quite yet. That was fine, but Heather only felt like giving as good as she'd got.
Over the last couple of weekends while being able to go out and freely enjoy the small, but rambunctious UW-Stout party scene, Jared and Brayden had befriended two preppy, blond guys whom everyone had seemed to call 'The Bryans' because they'd both just happened to have the same first name. When Heather met them a couple weeks prior, she'd thought they'd both looked like they'd stepped out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog. There was Bryan Schmidt, a taller guy with wavy blond hair and brown eyes full of mischief. Bryan Evans was equally tall, equally handsome, but with lighter eyes and a sly, crooked grin. It'd turned out they'd actually grown up together in Stillwater, which was a beautiful, posh town along Minnesota side of the St. Croix River. They'd naturally gotten along with Jared and Brayden perfectly.
Speak of the devil, the four of them had passed by the lounge in that moment and spotted her working with Matt.
"Don't worry guys, we'll take a shot in your honor or something while we're out," Jared smirked. They hadn't even stopped walking to actually talk to them.
Annoyed, Heather had thrown a sharpened pencil at him, and smiled when she'd heard yelp in pain along with the other guys laughing at him, knowing she'd hit her mark. The victory had been short-lived, however, and the floor had once again become a ghost town.
"It's not fair," Matt groaned when she'd returned to her at their table. "They get to go out and party all the time, while we're always stuck in here."
"Yeah, but that's because they're non-art students," Heather shrugged. "Their homework doesn't require at least seventeen hours of effort in order to get a good grade."
"True, but shouldn't that make it more unfair? I mean, we put in more effort, but they still get it easier than us?"
"Well, I hear the roles switch when it comes to finals," Heather grinned. "Ours are just critiques for the project due the week before, so all we have to do is show up, meanwhile they will be fighting for spots in the library, and cramming as much as they can into the two days they'll actually use to study."
"So, after the last couple of weeks, what do you honestly think of Jared?" Matt had tentatively asked a few minutes later after they'd gone back to work.
Heather thought about it for a moment. "I like him just fine. I mean, he hit on me right off the bat, but he'd respectfully backed off when I'd told him about Ryan." Heather tilted her head as she'd thought more about him. What did she think about Jared Mikaelson? "He's fun, he's charming, confident, charismatic, and I've always gotten along better with guys because they're less catty."
Heather turned towards Matt. "Why do you ask?"
Matt looked away. "Oh, no reason. I like him too; I was just curious."
Heather had figured there was more to it, but she'd left it alone. Instead, she'd asked "How much longer is it until your laptop is repaired?"
Matt scoffed. "I went to Ask5000 in Millennium Hall, and they'd said it wouldn't be ready until next semester."
Heather's eyes widened. "That's a really long time, but at least they gave you a loaner."
"True, that reminds me, but thanks again for borrowing me your Art History notes."
"Of course."
He hadn't thought to back everything up onto a dropbox to save his files, but then again, who'd expected a lofted bed to fall apart and bust open their computer the first weekend at college?
They'd both heard footsteps draw closer, and looked up to see some guy with glasses as he'd strolled in and before Heather could've even fully processed it, had taken took a seat right next to her and nudged it closer to her side.
"Hey there." He'd greeted her with a smarmy smile. "The name's Jack, how about yours?"
He'd offered his hand.
Heather pointedly kept hers beneath the table. "Heather."
"So, what are you working on?" Jack asked, and she'd already become annoyed with him. Not only had she been warned about the guy from the other girls on their floor, she'd also known he was supposedly friends with Matt, Tony, and Peter, but hadn't even bothered to acknowledge Matt since he'd entered the lounge.
Some friend...
"Matt and I were working on a project that's due Monday," Heather answered, and saw Matt's self-conscious smile as he'd kept his eyes on his project.
"Oh yeah, that stupid thing. I finished it last week, because I'm not an idiot who goes out and gets drunk every weekend," Jack bragged as he'd leaned back in his chair and rested his hands behind his head.
Heather rolled her eyes when he wasn't looking.
"You know, just because you don't like to drink or go out, doesn't mean it's wrong that other people enjoy it." Heather had briefly considered using her foot to tip him over.
"But, isn't it like, the same thing every time?" Jack speculated. "Douchey guys hitting on drunk girls, trying to get them to go home with them, everyone too oblivious to see what a stupid risk it is to get busted by the cops?" he'd sighed dramatically. "All the while, the nice guys never get the girl, just the brush off while they pick the d-bag every time, and then complain about men because they're too stupid to see right in front of them?"
"Oh, is that what happened to you?" Heather crossed her arms, and raised a perfectly arched brow. "Sounds like you have personal experience with this."
"Ha-Ha, I almost forgot to laugh," Jack leaned forward, his chair back on the floor. "No, I just refuse to become a part of that shallow, meaningless, repeating cycle."
Matt had pointedly continued to look down at his project, silent as he'd worked.
"So, was there a reason for this visit, or are you just trying to make me feel bad for my choices that don't match up to yours?" Heather started to sound impatient. "If that's the case, I'm going to have to kindly ask you to leave."
"Actually, I was curious if you were interested in doing something that didn't require illegally consuming alcohol," Jack's slimy smile had returned, his whole demeanor had once again changed in an instant. "I heard through the grapevine that there's a sex shop about fifteen minutes away. Would you want to go sometime, like, maybe even get a group together?" he'd asked, then turned to Matt. "You can come too if you want."
"Oh, goodie," Matt quietly replied.
Was this guy for real? Why would anyone sober want to go to a sex shop with him?
From what she'd been told, all this guy did was lewdly hit on girls, not take no for an answer, but then call them sluts or gutter trash whenever they'd rejected him, and the message had finally seeped through. She was just surprised at how quickly her own turn with him had come, because the night before, Lindsay had come back to their room complaining about him.
"Sounds like fun right? See Heather, Matt wants to go, how about you?" Jack was oblivious to everyone's lack of excitement to the idea.
Maybe he was really bad at reading social cues?
Heather pretended to think long and hard about it. "You know, I'll have to ask my boyfriend about that," she'd answered. "He's coming up soon, so maybe he'd want to go too."
Heather smirked at how quickly Jack's face had fallen. He was back to looking like a child who'd had his favorite toy taken away as punishment. It was a little unnerving, his everchanging mood, but at least he'd seemed to know to back off someone who already taken. She'd have to spread that little tidbit around to the other girls, just so they'd had some way to easily scare him off.
Jack sprung up from his chair. "Yeah...cool, I'll let you know if it happens. See ya." He couldn't have gotten out of the room fast enough.
Heather waited a few moments before she'd turned back towards Matt. "Thank god, that's over with." She'd shaken her head in disbelief. "What a fucking creep."
"I don't get what his deal is. Like, who hits on a girl they'd just meet and invite them to a sex shop?!"
"The sad part is I've actually been warned by several girls about him," Heather admitted. Matt's brows rose as she'd explained. "He's hit on a lot of us on the floor, sometimes more than once because he'd actually forgotten the first time. As soon as he'd sat down next to me, I got chills."
"I wouldn't really call him a friend anymore," Matt admitted. "We had a falling out last week, so that was the first time he'd bothered to speak to me since."
"You're better off, but what happened?"
"Well, I was watching Mean Girls with Peter and two girls he'd met down in the laundry room—"
"—I'm going to ignore the fact that you watched it without me, but go on."
Matt continued. "We'd paused it for a quick bathroom break, Damian's face was on the screen, and Peter and I laughed when we'd realized Jack and him looked a lot alike. I took a screenshot to post it on Facebook, and tagged him in it. About an hour later, he'd messaged me this."
Matt took out his phone, the messenger app open when he handed it to her. She'd read the messages:
Take this shit off Facebook RIGHT NOW!!!
It's stupid, it's not funny, he looks like he's mentally challenged, so take it off
Seriously, I don't want my parents to see this and realize that I have no friends
"Hmm, I thought you, Tony, and Peter were his friends." Heather speculated. Matt rolled his eyes and gestured for her to keep reading. In the message, Matt had replied:
Dude, I didn't mean anything by it,
We thought you looked like this guy from a movie that everyone loves
We didn't mean it to make fun of you...
Jack's response:
No, the guy looks mentally retarded and fat,
So thanks for making me feel like shit. Seriously, take it off NOW
Heather looked up. "Was it a really bad screencap of him?"
Matt shook his head. "I'll admit maybe it wasn't the most flattering, so I maybe I shouldn't have posted in on his wall, but I didn't do it to be malicious or bully him. I love the character and the movie, and both Peter and talked to him, but he wouldn't listen, so now he's mad at both of us." Matt sighed. "Peter feels really bad about it."
"Well, if you explained how you guys didn't mean to offend him, and if you even took it down and apologized, he should get over it, not continue to give you grief about it."
Matt sighed. "I hate having someone mad at me, but I've done everything I could to try and make it better...I just don't know what else to do."
"Matt, you're fine, you did everything you could," Heather assured him. Her voice sounded more clipped than she'd intended, but she'd known her words wouldn't reach him if she hadn't sounded as serious. "If he's still being immature and pouting about it, that's on him."
They were silent for a few minutes while still they'd continued to work on their drawings.
"Actually, going to a sex shop could be kind of fun, so long as the right people are there," Heather quietly admitted.
"I've never been to one before," Matt looked embarrassed to admit it.
Heather mock-gasped. "Oh my god Matt, that's social suicide!"
He glared back at her, but couldn't help but crack a smile.
"You're not missing too much, to be completely honest. You'll just see a lot of penises. Penises in just about every color and thickness. Some so big, you can't help but question if it's meant for a human body or a horse."
"Wow...what have I been missing?"
"It's fun to see who goes into a place like that, and if it's in the middle of nowhere like this one probably is, the clientele should be very interesting," Heather laughed. "We should seriously go, but not with Jack. I wouldn't feel comfortable with him and all of that around us."
Matt shuddered. "Totally agree with you on that."
"I'm imagining him exploding like a balloon, not able to handle all the stimuli in front of him with a girl standing right there."
They'd both laughed, and she felt good that she could make him feel better. Matt seemed like the kind of guy that let everything get to him, even if he didn't want it to. It was rare to find a decent guy to have a purely platonic relationship with. Matt didn't seem to want anything along the lines of hooking up, and while Heather was thankful to have at least one guy there not trying anything with her, it'd also made her wonder about him: Was he just not into her? Why not?
It shouldn't have mattered; Heather had Ryan in her life, and she'd loved him, so Heather settled over the fact in how she'd met a genuine soul, even if he didn't seem to be able to see it in himself.
Madison
Thanks to an app on her phone that'd helped organized her life—her own version of the bible—Madison had been able to arrive twenty minutes early to the very first track team meeting, and had even gotten a decent seat. About two weeks ago, the head coach had sent out a mass email to everyone interested in joining to come to an informational meeting that day at three in one of the classrooms of the Johnson Fieldhouse.
With early morning workouts right before her eight am classes, it had sucked at first because it'd meant her having to choose between going to grab a quick breakfast at the commons or taking a shower to clean up and dress nice. She'd tried to do both once, but had ended up being fifteen minutes late to Art History. Everyone had stared at her, thrown dirty looks, and the instructor had even called her out for disrupting her lecture.
Okay bitch, you didn't need to stop your lecture just to try and call me out, that is bullshit...
To purposely piss them all off, she'd pointedly still eaten her food; the plastic wrapping around her compostable silverware and her bites into her apple were louder than usual.
She'd refused to be embarrassed about any of it and stared down anyone who'd dared to try keeping eye contact with her. It had gotten old after a while, so she'd decided she'd preferred food over showering and dressing up just for an early morning lecture, so Madison had sucked it up and met up with the girls while she was sweaty, and still in her workout attire.
Thank god the lecture hall was as dark as a movie theatre whenever class started...
Before she knew it, midterms were upon them, and everyone had hunkered down to finish more projects and study for exams. The RA's had told them about this special day for students during this time of the semester that was named "Advisement Day." It was a day where students had the day off from classes, but they'd had to schedule a meeting with their academic advisor, an instructor that'd taught within their major, to plan out class schedules and oversee their student's progress towards the day they'd walked up and grabbed their diplomas.
Big surprise to hear that the night before was another huge drinking event, because apparently it was cool to be incredibly hungover for the day. It was one of the most idiotic concepts Madison had ever heard of. Who enjoyed being hungover for early morning meetings, like, ever?
Someone tapped her shoulder, and she was brought back to the track meeting about to start. Madison looked around, and someone had tapped her again, and she'd turned around to see Mandy's ex, Jared, flashing a charming smile as he'd sat down beside her at the next desk.
"Oh hey, I didn't know you'd be trying out for the track team," Madison greeted him with a polite smile.
"Yeah, I'm going to try and be a multi, so I'd do high jump, long jump, shot-put, discuss, and maybe even pole-vault," Jared said.
"So, basically you'll be a one-man team," Madison grinned, and was surprised at the warm fluttering in her chest at his grin, and his sharp jawline. His blonde hair was styled back perfectly; the sides much shorter with the top pushed back, and his clothes fit as if they'd been personally altered for his body.
He sure was fine...Too bad he was Mandy's ex, Madison thought to herself. "Well, at least I'll know one person on the team. Is Brayden coming too? You two seem to travel together everywhere."
"He's going to do Baseball instead," Jared answered. "That, or Rugby because apparently they throw massive parties."
Madison couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Of course...any excuse to drink and party I guess."
"Hey now, I've seen you out and about the last few weekends." Jared narrowed his eyes at her.
"That's because Mandy usually drags us out without much of a choice, and that means me having to make sure I stay ahead with all my projects before we go out."
"Just tell her no, then. She doesn't control you."
"I know, I know. It's not that I can't hold my own, but I just want to avoid unnecessary drama, it's not worth it," Madison sighed. "Plus, I think Mandy wants us all to pledge together at some point."
Jared nodded along; his face perfectly controlled but iced over.
"I'm sorry, you probably hate talking about her," Madison cringed.
"Honestly, after the last couple of weeks, I'm over it," Jared shrugged, his smoldering grin had thankfully returned. "We just ignore each other, and both have no desire to get back together, so it's whatever."
Madison was about to say something else, but the head coach had decided to walk in at that moment, ending all conversations in the room.
Eden
The only people who'd loved Halloween more than young children were college students, but give one a couple drinks, and it was hard to tell the difference between the two.
Dressing up as someone or something else for a night gave everyone an uplifting sense of freedom; to be rid of judgements, to be who they wanted to be, and to celebrate the creativity of everyone's costumes, some more than others. It'd allowed people to play with their archetypes; from ancient myth to Marvel comic books to pop culture icons.
After their last classes of the day, Jenna and Alex had come to meet Eden in her room and organize their costumes; the three of them were going to be the Powerpuff Girls.
Honestly, Eden had needed a distraction. Her midterm project hadn't been well received by her instructor, and he'd pretty much bashed it in front of the whole class. She'd been shocked silent until somehow she was back in her room, and just broke down. She'd collapsed into Madison, who'd walked back with her, and even though she was obviously incredibly uncomfortable, she'd sat there and had let her cry it out. It was so sweet of her, that she was putting in more effort to be a better roommate since that first weekend.
Jenna hustled into the room, out of breath as she'd brought Eden out of her thoughts. "Sorry! I was texting my sister and totally lost track of time!"
"You're totally fine," Eden assured her. "Alex just messaged me that he had to go back up to north campus to change because he'd accidentally spilled syrup all over his sweater, so who knows how long he'll be."
Jenna gasped. "Oh no! For him, that is so tragic," her look of disbelief had transformed into a mischievous Cheshire cat grin. "God, I wish I was there to have seen it."
"Wow Jenna, that's a little Slytherin of you when you're supposed to be a Ravenclaw."
Jenna snickered. "Okay Hufflepuff, but he's seriously so dramatic, but I love him for it. The real question is; do you think he actually spilled, or do you think it's just an excuse to squeeze in a quickie?"
Eden's eyes widened. "Scandalous! I wouldn't put it past him."
Jenna turned back to all the supplies on the floor: the black leggings, tank tops in the three colors, and black strips of glittery cloth to tie around them like belts. After a much, very serious in-depth deliberation, they'd decided Eden was going to be Blossom, Alex was going to be Bubbles, and Jenna would be Buttercup. Zach was going to be the Professor with them before the three of them would go out together. Zach just wasn't into the drinking scene, which was totally fine. He'd had his gaming community whenever he'd signed on, so it wasn't like he was ever alone when the three of the fab four went out.
Jenna started to apply some silver glitter puffy paint onto her shirt, and glanced over at Eden. "It's good to see you back to normal lately, I know that midterm critique didn't go the way you wanted it to."
Eden took a deep breath. "Thank you, and sorry about that, it's just..." She'd paused. "...Before that, I'd always received nothing but praise. Art has always been something I excelled at, but after the Mr. Price tore my project apart, it'd made me think that maybe I don't have what it takes; I'm just not good enough."
Jenna shook her head and stood up. "You're not nothing, babe," she'd walked over and rested her hands on Eden's sunken shoulders. "You are amazing at what you do, it's just like you said, you've never received criticism before. It's hard to hear it for the first time, but that doesn't mean you don't belong here."
Eden felt like a but had been coming on.
"...But, in my honest opinion, you could've spent more time working instead of going out and partying with Alex," Jenna reluctantly admitted. "Remember all the nights when I'd stayed in? It was to spend extra time on my project to make sure it was done correctly."
Eden had wanted to justify herself, but Jenna was right; maybe she'd needed to put in more of an effort next time. And the time after that.
One thing still didn't made sense.
"Alex still went out, and his project still turned out amazing."
"Maybe he doesn't need sleep in order to fully function," Jenna speculated. "Or he just manages his time better."
Speak of the devil, Alex rushed into the room. "I. Am. So. SO. Sorry I am late!" He'd heaved in air between each word. "I had an emergency. Jenna, you got my message right?"
"Yep, you spilled and had to change." Jenna winked at Eden, and covered her laugh with a cough.
Alex had noticed, and put a hand on his hip. "What? I really got syrup all over my Armani Exchange sweater and needed to sprint back to my room to not only change, but get the stain out before it set." he'd gotten more exasperated, like he was offended they hadn't understood his dilemma. "Those sweaters ain't cheap, babes. I had to gently dab water and detergent mixed, and it's a very meticulous process!"
"Eeew David!" Jenna quoted. "You sound defensive, are you sure it's not just an excuse to sneak away with a special guy?"
Alex snorted. "Jealous much?"
He was about to say more, but Madison and Mandy had walked in, cutting off their conversation.
"Hey, sorry to interrupt, I was just grabbing my purse before we went to grab a bite to eat," Madison smiled as she'd strolled over to her desk to grab her pale pink Michael Kors handbag.
Mandy waited at the door and eyed their costumes. "Cute, going as the Powerpuff Girls I see. That's so adorable."
"Well, I'm going to be Gretchen Wieners, and I say my dad, the inventor of Toaster Strudels, wouldn't be too pleased to hear about you throwing shade at their costumes," Madison shot back.
Alex snickered, but Mandy had rolled her eyes and turned on her heels. "Ha-Ha, so funny Madison, let's go."
Madison silently mimicked her, but turned to the rest of them.
"Don't listen to her snobby ass; you guys will look so cute," Madison said. "In fact, she forgot, so I'll say it: Her new boyfriend is throwing a party at his place on Halloween, and she wants to invite a ton of people to impress him, so you guys should for sure come. What do you say?"
"Wait, when did she get a new boyfriend already?" Jenna asked. Mandy was actually her roommate, so she'd thought she'd know that sort of thing.
"I guess she'd met him at that frat party the first weekend," Madison shrugged. "She'd disappeared for a while, because she was with him apparently, and they'd gone back to his place. Either way, I hope you guys can make it."
"Uh, no duh we'll be there!" Alex replied, always excited at the prospect of another party. "There just better be a keg."
Madison laughed. "I'm sure there will be, so we can see the master at his work," she'd winked before she'd waved goodbye and left.
Alex turned back to Jenna and Eden. "I like her."
Matt
While wandering through the many hallways and side rooms of the HKMC basement, Matt grew frustrated at himself in how he'd he still gotten lost from time to time. He'd wanted to use the communal printer the dorm provided so he could print off a paper for his English class.
How did he still get lost after he'd lived there for almost two months?
Some janitor had told him where it was, and when the guy used a certain phrase after Matt had thanked him, Matt had remembered how much he hated the phrase 'cool beans.'
He'd later walked into Peter and Tony's room and froze when he'd seen Jack sitting in their futon.
What was he doing there?
"Oh yeah, good news; Jack and I made up," Peter gleefully announced as he'd grabbed a can of Dr. Pepper out of his mini fridge. Matt turned to Jack, who for once hadn't looking at him with disdain.
"Oh good, everything is back to normal," Matt muttered.
"As normal as it was," Jack responded in a clipped tone.
Matt decided to ignore him while they'd prepped their costumes together. He was going as a 'D-Bag,' so for his costume, he was going to cut holes out of a large black garbage bag for his head and arms, then tape on a white foam-core board "D" on his front. Needless to say, he'd been excited to see what the others thought. Peter, Tony and Jack were doing a group costume as Harry Potter characters: Peter was going to be Harry Potter, Jack was going to be Ron, and they'd wanted Tony to be Hermione, but he'd refused to shave his beard that had finally started to come in, so they'd agreed to let him be Hagrid instead.
Matt had asked for someone to help him with the garbage bag, and handed Peter some scissors when he'd volunteered.
"Okay, so remember to hurry and cut the holes out before I choke!" Matt reminded Peter before he'd put the bag over his head and down to his waist. Peter quickly but efficiently had cut out a hole perfectly off the top, and slid the bag down until just Matt's head popped out.
Tony and Jack couldn't help but laugh, and Matt grinned as he'd noticed the corners of the bag still prominently stuck out like spiked shoulder pads. "You guys, I feel like Lady Gaga right now."
That had only made them laugh harder, and Matt saw movement at the door, where Madison, Ali, Lindsay and Mandy had all stopped and stared at him.
Madison
"Well, well, well...looking good, bed-breaker," Ali grinned, and Matt had blushed as he'd smiled back. The other girls also looked amused, and Madison had spoken up.
"So, what are you supposed to be?" she'd asked.
"Trash?" Mandy asked.
Ali bumped her shoulder, and Matt coughed. "...Um, no. I'm going to tape a white 'D,' so I'll be going as a 'D-Bag."
Madison snorted. It'd sounded simple, yet so effective. It was definitely something she'd never seen done before, and had to give Matt some props for originality.
"Oh my god, that's so hilarious!" Lindsay giggled. Matt seemed like he didn't know how to react.
"Truly genius," Ali appraised. "I can't wait to see it; we are for sure getting a pic together."
"That costume needs to be viewed and admired by the general public, which reminds me," Mandy cleared her throat. "My boyfriend is throwing a costume party on Halloween; would you like to come?"
Mandy noticed the other guys in the room. "You can bring your friends too. The more, the merrier," she'd added with a smile.
"We'll for sure be there, but we're going to drive out to Chipotle in Hudson to grab four dollar 'Boo-ritos," Matt hesitantly replied.
"Wait, what?" Ali's interest piqued. Madison grinned, of course Ali would jump at the mere mention of food.
Matt smiled too. "Yeah. Every Halloween, Chipotle does this thing where if you show up in costume, your entrée is only four dollars."
Ali whole face brightened. "No fucking way! How have I never heard this?"
Matt shrugged. "Heather and Jared are coming too; would you want to join us?"
"Yes, yes, oh my god, fuck yes!" Ali had been practically fangirling over the idea. She'd grabbed her phone out of her faded denim jacket. "What's your phone number? I'll text you, then tell me when you plan to leave."
The two of them had happily shared their contact information, and Ali smiled as she'd sent him a quick message. "Coolness. Thanks Matt, I'll see you later then."
The girls walked back to Mandy and Ali's room, the former smoothing her black wool skirt before she'd sat down at her desk.
"Personally, I'm a little surprised you invited those guys, Mandy," Lindsay admitted. "I mean, it's not like you've ever even talked to any of them."
Madison had stopped at a mirror to check out her hair and see if the curled strands were still to her liking after how windy the day had been. She hadn't known when, but a single leaf had somehow flown into her bag at some point.
"Oh whatever, I like charity work when it doesn't involve too much work on my end," Mandy shrugged while she'd checked her phone. "I bet I just made those guys' whole month by inviting them, and it's not like I'll actually see them at Dean's."
Dean being her Junior boyfriend who she'd met at Phi Sig that first weekend.
"I've seen Matt and those guys at other parties over the last couple of weeks," Ali spoke from her closet. Madison turned away, closed the door, and sat at the other desk chair that hadn't been occupied.
"Who was that one guy with the glasses in that room, again?" Mandy asked.
"Peter Mathiason," Madison answered. She'd only known his whole name because the guy had sent her a friend request almost immediately after he'd met her. Luckily, the guy was pretty harmless and actually kind of funny, but was certainly no Jared Mikaelson.
"Right. He's always raising his hand in Art History and talking to the teacher and laughing at her lame-ass jokes.," Mandy rolled her eyes. "He's kind of obnoxious."
Madison curled her lip; all Mandy ever did was talk shit about people and gossip whenever it was just the four of them behind a closed door, and sometimes it'd was exhausting.
"He is a bit much for an early morning lecture," Lindsay added.
Big surprise that she'd agree with Mandy, Madison thought.
"At least Madison stopped bringing her breakfast to class, but he's just annoying every day, nonstop," Mandy groaned.
Her phone vibrated, and Madison checked to see a notification from her Reminder App.
"Hey, listen guys, but I've got to go," Madison sighed. "I have a paper due at midnight, and I need to get a head-start if I want to go out tonight." How had she forgotten about that? She'd had it all plotted out, as she'd usually got that out of the way the same day any paper had been assigned.
"That's right baby, finish that bad boy up, because 'The Plastics' won't be complete without Gretchen, we already down a Cady." Mandy's green eyes had narrowed towards Ali.
Not giving one shit, Ali had dug into a bag of dill flavored kettle chips. "Sorry babes, but the costume I'd picked up was too hot to pass up on."
Madison grinned. She'd seen Ali try it on earlier, and she'd had to admit, but Ali had looked fine as hell. The whip she'd gotten was a nice touch too.
"Don't worry, I'll finish it up with some time to spare, but I'll text you guys if I'm running behind schedule," Madison assured them, panic already beginning to settle in her stomach.
"If only you were as quick as we were at getting stuff done," Mandy winked at Lindsay, who'd smiled while she'd tested a new shade of eyeshadow.
"Jesus Ali, aren't you going to get a burrito later?" Mandy commented as Madison had walked out the door.
Down into the basement, Madison had opened a door to a private study room just off to the side from the communal kitchen. Luckily, no one was in there, like usual. It'd become Madison's secret study spot over the last couple of weeks; whenever she'd really needed to get stuff done and shut everything out, it was her safe place. Hopefully, no one else would discover it.
She was just about to close the door when she'd caught someone out of the corner of her eyes, and saw that mysterious guy with the striking hazel eyes from her floor as he'd walked by, completely oblivious to everything around him with headphones in his ears.
Luke
Classes were going extremely well so far, much to his relief. Luke had made sure he'd gone to every class, and not stayed up too late in order to resist the temptation to sleep through any of his early morning classes. It actually had gotten to the point where he was hardly ever actually in his room except to just sleep.
Now, was because he was actually serious about trying to be more studious, or was it to avoid the second-hand pot inhalation from Rob? Based on the amount of weed he'd later found hidden in their room, Luke had no doubt that Rob was a dealer.
Maybe he'd try to get another roommate soon; like, maybe before he was woken up by drug sniffing dogs barking in his ear at three in the morning.
Luke had been enjoying some rare alone time in his dorm room. He'd laid down with his hands resting beneath his head, eyes closed as he'd listened to his favorite album, The Tarzan soundtrack featuring Phil Collins. "You'll Be in My Heart," played through his headphones, when he'd gotten a sudden craving for Mountain Dew.
Luke lazily rose up off his lofted bed, and with his headphones still on, had walked down to the basement. He'd still kept forgetting where everything was in the basement, and had wandered through the kitchen before he'd realized he'd gone too far. He'd found the vending machines, and at the last moment, had decided on getting a bag of Wildberry skittles, the flavor he couldn't resist.
Luke had caught a flash of white gold illuminated in sunlight coming from a side room, so he'd peaked in and saw Heather sitting inside the room with a printer, looking into her DSLR camera while she'd printed off something from her laptop. He'd thought back to his conversation with her and Matt at Phi Sig already almost two months ago, and how it'd by far been his favorite night at UW-Stout so far. He'd realized being around her had always made him happier, so they'd hung out whenever they'd happened to run into each other; he'd offered to pay for her lunch a few times because he'd had more meals than he'd needed on his block plan in the dining hall so why not help her out? She'd somehow made him forget about all his worries with school, his dad, and all the pressure he was under.
Luke had decided to knock on the door, and she'd looked up and smiled when she'd saw it was him.
Goddamn...she was beautiful.
"Hey Luke, I see you had a sugar craving," Heather nodded towards his snack as she'd put her camera back into her bag.
"Couldn't resist the alluring taste of the rainbow," Luke nodded.
"May I have a couple?"
"Of course." He'd poured a few pieces into her hand, and she'd eaten all of them at once.
"So, fancy meeting you here. What'cha working on?" Luke asked as he'd sat down on the edge of the small round table.
"Just a paper that's due Monday. I was lucky enough to get it done early, so I don't have to worry about it on Sunday when I'm hungover."
"Smart. I figured I wouldn't be doing much this weekend since my brother's out of town."
"Well, there's a Halloween party going on tonight, and before that, a couple of us are driving to Hudson to grab a bite to eat," Heather said. "You're more than welcome to join in on either one of those plans if you want."
"Yeah, I could probably make the party." Luke smiled. "Text me later when you start to pregame, and I'll to join you."
If Luke hadn't known any better, it'd seemed like a feint blush had warmed Heather's cheeks, and he'd sworn she'd been checked out his bare forearms from the rolled up the sleeves of his red flannel shirt.
He'd liked her looking at him. They'd stared at each other for a few moments, and time had seemingly frozen, until Heather's dark eyes had looked away, and Luke felt like he'd just been taken out of a trance.
"Well, it looks like my paper's all done. I guess I'll be heading up now." Heather had gathered her belongings into her tote bag, looking down and avoided his gaze.
Luke stopped her before she was too far gone. "Alright, thanks again for inviting me, Heather, I'll see you there."
Heather nodded, but their moment was over, and Luke was left feeling confused. What was with the whole back and forth that'd gone on between them. Was she disappointed about something?
Maybe she was just waiting for him to make the first move? She'd seemed like the kind of girl who wasn't afraid to go for what she'd wanted, so why would she wait for him to do something about it?
Luke wouldn't have called it insta-love or any of that teen rom-com bullshit, but he'd had to admit he'd felt like there was some connection there between them. His heartbeat would accelerate like the first time he'd driven a four-wheeler through the woods at his cabin, or like his first kiss with Savanah Bradbury back in the seventh grade.
Maybe something needed to happen...
Luke had silently made a secret vow for something to go down between them, and with a little liquid courage, Luke would make sure of it by putting it into his own hands.
By the end of the night, he was going to kiss Heather Gracie.