1 Year Later
I'm waiting for Lena and Tate it's move-in day of our sophomore year here at Yale. Freshman year was amazing and I'm ready for another great year. Rooming with Lena and Tate was so fun they weren't creepy people. We've gotten so close, so we decided to keep on rooming with each other. Liam has become like an older brother to me and Tate. Tate thought he was hot and I'm sure she still does because who doesn't. After getting to know him she doesn't see him in that way.
"Hey!" Tate exclaimed pulling me into a hug her long black braids blowing around in the breeze. The last time I saw her was in June but we all still talked over the phone all the time.
"Ahh!" Lena screams and jumps onto Tate and I mid hug. Lena and Tate saw each other in July since they live closest to each other.
"Ahh, I've missed you guys!" I squeal into the hug squeezing both of them extra tight. I pull out of the hug and see Liam walking over to us holding a box of Lena's things.
"Hey Liam, you're helping." I say with mock wide eyes acting surprised referring to when he didn't help Lena move in last year, or when she moved out.
"I got dragged here so don't get too excited." Liam rolls his eyes scoffing.
"Ha okay, you sure you're not saying that as an excuse and just want to be in our company." Tate laughs while picking up a box that was by her feet. Tate and I are already checked in we are waiting on Lena.
"Yes, it's my senior year and I could be doing anything else but I rather be here with my sister and her friends." Liam replies sarcastically with a tight-lipped smile. Lena walks back to us and we all walk to our suite.
"Well, you can leave then." I laugh at him unlocking the door with my keycard.
"Yeah leave then." Lena sneered.
"Fine, I'll help." Liam grumbled ah the power of reverse psychology. I look over at Lena and smirk at her. She's about to giggle but shakes it off before she gives away that she's not really mad at Liam. My hand grips the handle when I push open the door the suite looks like a public school classroom with furniture. It kind of smells like mothballs. Gross.
I didn't tell them but since I stayed at a hotel I got here earlier then they thought. I checked in and went up here and found the room that looks the most spacious and has the best natural lighting. I went back down to where people were checking in and pretended as I had just gotten there. When we walk into the common area I immediately run to the room I decided was the best.
"Dibs!" I yell jumping onto the rock-like mattress thank god for mattress toppers.
"What! Okay, are sure though?" Lena asks from the common area thinking that I didn't get a good room.
"Yep! But you, on the other hand should pick a room." I say loudly reminding her. She gasps and her feet patter against the floor going between the remaining two rooms.
"I claim this one!" She yells.
"I don't get why you guys care there all the same size" Tate yells this time. Are you sure about that Tate?
Once Liam has helped us get all of the boxes up here Lena, Tate, and I are dying of exhaustion. That would be my workout of the month. Liam closes the door behind him not even breaking a sweat.
"After all those boxes are you not tired?" I gasped for air.
"No, how are you guys even tired after that." He chuckles at the three of us panting. What do you mean! we carried multiple boxes up three flights of stairs multiple times, and they have an elevator we could've used but nooo.
Tate snaps her head over to where Liam is standing. "Sorry, Mr. Hotshot hockey player but that was the most weight lifting I've done since high school PE." She exaggerates with her hands flailing in the air while glaring at Liam. He laughs at her. I finally stop panting and pick up a box again and bring it into my room. I continue going back and forth from the common area to my room until I have no more boxes left. I start with unpacking my clothes and placing them in the dresser. By the time I have no more space in the dresser I assemble another smaller dresser. It would fit underneath my bed on the highest setting. I try to push it underneath but it won't fit.
"Liam! Get in here I need help!" I yell out the door. I stretch my back out because I've been hunched over for a while.
"Okay! Hold on!" He says. He appears in the doorway and asks what I need help with.
"I have to get the bed on the highest setting." I say moving out of the way for him to get to the bed. He looks around the room and back at me while crouching to unscrew a part of the bed.
"You came early and checked the dorm rooms didn't you." He snickered. Damn, how'd he know me so well?
"No, I just had a feeling about this room." I assured him looking straight into his eyes trying to convince him that I did no such thing. Lena waltz in looking around my room.
"Hey, Teag wanna ge- wait your room looks a little bigger" Lena speculated.
"Really? Are you sure? I guess it's luck." I claimed hoping she'll buy that. Liam chuckles in the back.
"But what were you gonna ask?" I try to switch the topic.
"Right, you wanna get some food?" Lena asks good she's distracted.
"Yeah sure takeout or dine-in?" I ask I wanna takeout because I don't wanna go out but when do I ever go out but it's better if we dine in so that I can take a break.
"Let's dine-in, I'll go tell Tate." Lena says while walking out the door.
"'Luck' okay" Liam mocks me putting air quotes up when he says luck which makes me laugh.
"Yes, luck." I mock him back in a deep voice, he just shakes his head smiling.
"Okay, I'm done." Liam says gets up from crouching and runs his fingers through his hair. I push the small dresser underneath my bed. I disassemble the empty boxes to get more space.
"You leaving or are you getting food with us?" I ask him while tossing the flattened boxes to the corner of my room.
"I don't know, I'll probably get food with you guys." He replies. We both walk out of my room walking into the common area where Lena and Tate are.
"So what do you wanna eat?" I ask them.
"I don't care I'm fine with anything." Tate says while scrolling through her Instagram feed ugh she never knows what to eat.
"Well, I want sushi." Lena exclaimed. I cringe at the thought of sushi I've never liked sushi raw fish.
"Don't make that face Teag we can go to eat somewhere else" Lena laughs at me.
"No it's fine you can get sushi I'll just order noodles instead." I remind her that there's a whole menu that doesn't have sushi on it.
"Okay let's go then." Liam says pushing us out the door, closing the door behind him. Once we get to the restaurant we sit at a booth I'm sitting next to Lena and Tate and Liam sit across from us. Liam flirts with the waitress. Unsurprisingly Lena kicks his leg when the waitress walks away.
"Ay what the hell Lena!" Liam groans. Lena is about to say something when a hand slaps Liam's shoulder.
"Hey Wilson what's up." A guy named Caleb I think says him I'm pretty sure he's on the hockey team with Liam. I've only gone to a couple of Yale's hockey games, but I've seen who Liam hangs out with at parties.
"Caleb." Liam greets as they do their weird handshake thing. Liam looks like he's annoyed but I could be wrong.
"And you guys are?" Caleb says directing his attention to Lena, Tate, and I.
"This is Teagan and Tate and you've already met my sister, Lena." Liam says before we have a chance to introduce ourselves to him. Instead, I just smile at him and he returns one back.
"So who are you here with?" Liam asks trying to change the topic off of us.
"Just a couple guys from the team." Caleb answers pointing over to the corner of the room. We all look over there, only Liam nods at the four guys in the corner. Two girls with heavily cakey makeup walk over to us. Not my type of look but hey, if that's what they like go them they look great.
"Oh, great here come the groupies." Lena mumbles quietly to herself but I hear her and snicker at her. Tate is un-entertained and on her phone again. One of the girls hooks onto Caleb's arm and by his reaction, he doesn't know her but he's not complaining. The other stands beside her friend.
"Hey, Caleb." Girl with heavily cakey makeup purrs. She has a bite to her tone as to stake her claim on him in front of all of us. She angles her head to peer at me, Tate, and L. She glances back to her friend making eyes at her. Her friend looks back at us and glares at us. Thankfully the waiter comes back with our drinks moving Caleb and the girls over.
"Well see you at practice. Bye." Caleb says to Liam. Caleb smiles at the three of us. He walks back to his table and thankfully the girls follow. Liam leans back and sighs.
"What's with you? You don't like him?" I question Liam, curious about what's on his mind.
"Nah he's chill." He tells me to avoid my first question. Really? I let it go because he's stubborn and will ignore me.
The waitress comes back with our food she slides the sushi in front of me to give it to Tate. My nose scrunches up in disgust, the three of them laugh at me. We tell each other about our summers while eating. I feel the hairs at the back of my neck raise.
I usually get this feeling when someone's staring at me it's weird but useful sometimes. I start to look around casually trying to make it look like I'm looking for our waitress. My eyes meet the corner where Caleb's table is and I catch someone's eyes he's at Caleb's table. I don't know who he is, he has gray eyes, dark blonde almost brown hair, and sun-kissed skin from the summer. I look away trying to look unaffected not feel self-conscious. He was staring at me for god knows how long and while I was eating.
"I want something sweet." I sigh at the thought of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice Cream. Tate and I have a big sweet tooth but Lena and Liam not so much.
"I don't get how you don't have diabetes with the amount of sugar you eat." Lena quirks an eyebrow at me while Liam chuckles alongside.
"All in moderation that's how." I claim tilting my head at her. The waitress comes back with our bill and we all split the bill and get ready to leave.
"I'll see you guys later I'm gonna go hang out with them." Liam gestures to the back to where his teammates are in the corner.
"Ok bye see ya." Lena and Tate say as they go to the bathroom. I stay in the booth until they come back. I text my old high school friend Raya that just transferred to Boston College and I wanna see how she likes it there. Before I get a response Tate and Lena come out and ask me if I'm ready. I slide out of the booth and make my way over to them by the doors.
"Don't worry I'll keep your secret." Liam jokes placing a hand on my shoulder.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I huff and jokingly roll my eyes at him he laughs at me once again. I tell him bye and I walk up to Lena and Tate.
"Okay let's get your diabetes in a pint on our way back home." Lena says while I grin like a child in a candy store.
We walk to the convenience store near our dorm and I make a beeline to the freezers Tate follows after me. I tippy-toe trying to reach the Ben and Jerry's at the very top. Tate records me struggling probably to snap it to Lena.
"Would you mind helping me instead of watching me struggle." I glare at Tate while she just laughs at me. She finally walks over to me and grabs it with ease for me seriously she's only got an inch on me if not two. I grab gummy worms before I pay and look for Lena. She's still near the entrance smiling at her phone. Probably texting Phillip her boyfriend of almost 3 years now.
"Okay, we can go now." I tell Lena looking down at the bag I'm holding. When we walk outside the sun is setting I wonder what time it is? I grab my phone and the screen shows 8:03.
"So care to tell me why Carter James was staring at you?" Tate grins at me and then nudges me with her shoulder. Oh, so that's who was staring at me.
"Ooh is there something you're not telling us" Lena waggles her eyebrows at me.
"Nope, I don't even know who he is. So beats me." I tell them rejecting their suspicions.
"Seriously you don't know who Carter is?" Tate asks me looking surprised.
"Nope, am I supposed too? I'm sure he's a guaranteed asshole because he has a first name as a last name." I shrug is he supposed to be special or something?
"How do you not know him he lead the team to the National Championship last year as a freshman!" Lena gushed. Ok and?
"You forget that I have no knowledge on sports." I tell her.
"You came to Liam's hockey games with me." She retorts giving me a "duh" face.
"Doesn't mean that I know what's going on." I mimic her tone and make the same face she's making at me.
"Oh, I only knew him from the parties." Tate tells us. Tate took me to my first frat party and she got me my first fake ID. For someone who looks so innocent and pure, she is so not. Last year she dragged me to parties every weekend or when she could switching from bars to frat parties.
"What is he a bad boy player heartthrob?" I joke.
"I mean he's doesn't seem like a bad boy but he sure is a player heartthrob." Tate answers quirking her eyebrows and pursing her lips at me.
"I was joking. Huh sounds like a walking cliché." I scoff knowing that he is already gonna be a misogynistic piece of shit. I bet he goes through women like how I go through a bag of gummy worms. I cannot believe I just compared him to me. Wait I don't even know him yet.
"Well in that case lucky. You've got a chance to tame the beast." Tate laughs I snap my head over at her and give her a "are you serious" look. Don't get me wrong I'm a hopeless romantic I love reading and watching it. I just think it only happens in books and movies. Although my parents have a whole story straight out of a book. She was literally the shy, quiet girl and my dad wasn't the bad boy he was the nice boy every girl deserves. They got their happily ever after, I mean they had 3 kids.
"That only happens in the books. He just wants to sow his oats." I scoff at Tate. I also have standards and self-respect. I will never be one to chase a boy. It's like chasing a dog, if you chase it'll only run away.
"Who says that." Tate laughs at my choice of words.
"Me."
"He's actually not an asshole that you think he is I've hung out with him a couple of times because of Liam." Lena acknowledged. "Also, you never know, but you're definitely right about sowing his oats. Plus you deserve the world." Lena tells me squeezing my shoulder. I love her.
"Aw, I love you L. So how's it going with Phillip?" I ask her trying to change the topic.
"We're doing great he didn't like it in Chicago so he transferred to Boston." Lena beams at me. If I didn't know how long they were dating I would've guessed they were still in the honeymoon stage.
"That's great you can see him on weekends now!" Tate gushed. Maybe I can go with her when she visits Phillip to see Raya. We reach the dorms before it gets completely dark. I remembered I didn't put the sheets on my bed and now I can't eat and watch Gilmore Girls at the same time. I quickly put the ice cream in the freezer for the meanwhile.
I'm halfway through the Gilmore Girls episode where Dean breaks up with Rory in front of Logan. I want a Logan. I'm at Yale aren't I.
I know there is someone out there for me. I just haven't met him yet which just means that the universe doesn't think I'm ready yet. Lena and Tate walk into my room sitting on both sides sandwiching me in the middle.
"What classes did you schedule to have at the beginning of the week?" Tate asks me leaning her head onto my shoulder. We're all undecided but I'm leaning towards business management.
"I don't know, I have to check but we scheduled them together. Remember we all scheduled to have calc together on Monday mornings." I remind them both. I should've done AP Calc so I don't have to do it now.
Lena's phone pings when she checks her phone it's a snap from Liam. She plays the snap and it's Liam drunk singing to Ariana Grande at a bar. I pity that boy's liver. Tate snatches Lena's phone and starts screen recording it.
"Oh my god! We have to keep this!" Tate chokes out dying of laughter. She snaps back a picture of the three of us. Me in the middle spooning ice cream into my mouth. Lena posing as if she's disappointed with him, and Tate laughing. Surprisingly enough he snaps back after a minute. It's a picture of the five guys that were at the restaurant and girls swarming them. I spot Carter and think over reasons why he could've been staring at me. Ugh! I need to get over myself he's probably just wondering who I am since he's never met me. Nothing more. Nothing less.