lara hated drinking. she made this clear to me as i poured my third cup of jungle juice. thankfully, i saw jesse and joanne in the kitchen by themselves, so i decided to introduce her to them instead of catching flack for my drinking habits.
jesse was sipping a beer while joanne was in the midst of telling a story about how she almost died while diving during her freshman year here.
"i mean, i just hit my head so hard and it hurt like hell!" joanne's hands were doing the talking for her. lara and i walked into the kitchen and joanne's face lit up even more while jesse seemed to tense up.
"hey paul. hi lara," greeted jesse, his voice soft and quiet. lara waved shyly at him and diverted her attention to the other side of the room.
"you guys know each other?" i asked.
"yeah, jesse used to tutor me in, uh, biology," explained lara. i nodded while jesse took a gulp of his beer.
"i love your jean jacket! where did you get it from?" squealed joanne.
"i thrifted it from that shop uptown a few weeks ago!" replied lara excitedly, seeming to want any excuse to get away from jesse.
"paul, brady wants to see you for a sec. let's find him," said jesse, leading me away from joanne and lara. we walked out of the kitchen and through the living room, reaching the slightly hidden staircase that led upstairs to the rooms of the guys who lived in the house. jesse opened the door to brady's room, waited for me to walk in and then closed the door behind him, locking it.
"god, why'd you have to bring her to the party?" questioned jesse, running a hand through his hair.
"lara?"
"we were kind of a thing two years ago until she stopped answering my calls and texts."
"she ghosted you?"
"yeah and she had the fucking nerve to pretend nothing was wrong just now," explained jesse.
"are you still into her? i won't talk to her anymore if it makes you uncomfortable."
"i'm not into her anymore, i just don't want her to ghost you and fuck up your life too." god, i sure knew how to pick 'em.
"um, georgia asked if you were coming to the party. you should go meet up with her. she's really nice," suggested jesse. i nodded and we left brady's room.
georgie was wearing a t-shirt with a mixture of pink and white paired with navy pants. she was sitting on the sofa next to brady, holding a beer and seemed incredibly bored. i approached her and waved at her, getting her attention immediately. she smiled at me and stood up, completely unbeknownst to brady who continued to drunkenly ramble.
"fine time for you to show up here," said georgie, her smile still wide.
georgie smith was simply sweet. she tutored middle schoolers in her free time, was the part of the reason her sorority broke several campus philanthropic records last semester and had a literal heart of gold. so why wasn't i in love with her?
"you know what they say: fashionably late makes for a popular mate," i joked.
"your hair looks really nice tonight. is there product in it?" asked georgie, reaching towards my head and gently twirling a lock of my hair with her index finger and thumb. i lightly swatted her hand away and nodded.
"mousse."
"mousse? god, you have to use some for the semi next week," said georgie.
"will do."
"i can't wait. theta guys throw the best spring semis. but i think psi phi has you guys beat for spring formals," teased georgie.
"psi phi is fucking gay! they're always trying to fuck their pledges!" exclaimed brady. brady was never one to be reserved, but if anyone mentioned psi kappa phi, he always let loose a barrage of insults. legend has it that brady almost accepted a bid from psi phi until a senior in the frat tried to give him an unsolicited handjob. since then, brady has been vehemently opposed to anything they did.
"i say we throw way better spring formals than anyone else," i replied, trying to get brady to forget any mention of psi phi.
"so, do you have a date to the semi yet, paul?" georgie turned her focus back to me.
"i might have a trick up my sleeve."
"just in case your trick malfunctions, i just bought this really cute floral dress and i'm dying to wear it somewhere," returned georgie. i nodded, letting her know that i was accepting her offer.
"hey paul." lara was now standing about two feet away from me, georgie and brady, seeming somewhat apprehensive.
"hey, are you ready to go?"
"uh, yeah. i can give you a lift back to your dorm," offered lara.
"oh, i was going to-," began georgie, until i interjected.
"i would ride with you, but i have to pick up something and it would be a major detour for you," i blurted out, hoping she would believe my lie.
"oh. i'll see you tuesday then, my dorm right?" asked georgie. i'm not sure if she believed my fib considering it was around 1am or if she just assumed lara and i were doing a drug run together.
"yeah, totally. i'll see you guys later," i said. i led lara out of the room and towards the door, opening it for her. after i closed the door, we walked towards her car, the noise of it being unlocked helping me locate it better in the dark, despite the streetlights illuminating everything within several meters. the lights revealed a couple on her car, leaning against it and making out: spencer and sam.
despite spencer's reputation as the bisexual playboy of new orleans university, sam clement was still in the closet. i had my speculations but i couldn't possibly know without asking him if he was bisexual, gay or if he simply couldn't resist spencer but was exclusively into girls in every other situation. lara seemed accepting but i was scared she might tell someone about the two guys making out on her car during a frat party.
there was no way it could've been brushed off. sam had a hand in spencer's hair and spencer's hands were resting in the back pockets of sam's jeans. somehow, they ignored the piercing noise of lara's car being unlocked and simply kept making out.
"spencer! sam! you're blocking the car!" i shouted. they stopped, sam's eyes widening and spencer taking his hands off of sam's ass.
"fuck. i-i, i'm really sorry. we're-we're blocking you from getting in, aren't we?" stuttered sam. sam and spencer distanced themselves from each other, while lara got into her car.
"i'll text you guys later. it's okay," i said, hoping that sam would be calm about the situation.
i convinced lara to go to waffle house on the promise that i would pay. we sat in a booth in the corner, across from each other. i sipped my root beer while lara swirled her straw around in her cup of chocolate milk.
"so, you're vegetarian?" i asked, noting how she only ordered a plain waffle and side eyed me when i asked for a side of bacon.
"kind of. i'm trying to go fully vegan by the end of the semester," she explained, looking directly into my eyes.
"veganism's kinda gay."
"says the jock ladykiller who needs meat for his massive muscles," teased lara, a smile forming on her face for the first time since the art show.
"well, there is a debate on whether cross country is actually a sport or not. and i have never, ever killed a woman. but i am glad you noticed my massive muscles," i retorted, flexing my arms in order to annoy her.
"do you have a thing going on with that girl, the one with glasses?" asked lara, her voice soft and heavily contrasting the confidence she exuded earlier.
"i mean, we study together. that's pretty much it," i clarified. she took a small sip of her milk, seeming to contemplate what my answer meant.
"she likes you. she seems nice, i think you guys would make a cute couple."
"we would. but i don't like her."
"like at all?"
"she's a really good friend and i like her. as a friend," i explained. a waitress came to the table and brought our meals: a plain waffle for lara and two blueberry waffles with a side of bacon for me, with syrup and butter on the side. i buttered my waffles while lara began pouring a large amount of syrup on hers.
"god, you're gonna give yourself diabetes," i joked, as she slid the syrup to me and i poured a conservative amount on my waffles.
"tell me about yourself," said lara. the request was odd, but if i felt like spilling my guts to anyone right now, it would be lara.
"uh, i'm from baton rouge. i love running. i love my friends. i love beer."
"you have to give me something more than that," said lara, after swallowing a piece of her waffle.
"i don't really know what to say. i guess i don't know how to describe myself," i admitted, placing a bite of waffle into my mouth.
"i guess i could describe myself to you then."
"do it, geed." i kept digging into my waffles while lara rolled her eyes and grinned.
"i love making music, art and love. i love it all. i love the feeling it gives me and how it makes other people feel," explained lara.
"you love making love, like sex?" i asked.
"like sex. but more than sex. i like feeling the person, i like knowing the person. i love loving the person." i took a bite of bacon.
"did you ghost jesse?"
"yeah. i was just being an immature shit. i just assumed he forgot about everything, you know? he's probably dated more girls than i even know." she took a sip of her milk while i continued eating my waffles.
"he hasn't really dated anyone. at least seriously."
"that's too bad. he's a sweet guy."
"are you dating or casually seeing anyone right now?" i might as well ask the question that i had to have a response to.
"no."
it was 4am and despite the fact that i didn't have to pretend to sleep through horribly stifled moans from spencer and whoever he brought back to fuck, i couldn't sleep. i couldn't stop thinking about lara and everything i liked about her. and everything i disliked about her. i liked the way she looked at me whenever i called her a geed and whenever she retorted with frat boy. i liked how her hair framed her face perfectly and the way it looked like she dyed her hair on impulse in her bathroom in the middle of the night.
but did lara like anything about me? did lara really enjoy hanging out with me or did she just come to the party because i went to her art show? was whatever i had with lara built on mutual feelings or just negotiations to please the other party while getting what they wanted?