Unwrapping His Package

I pointed at the tower of treats Amelia had sent to tide me over until I got home. “That’s about as festive as it’s going to get for me unless I decide to move down to the living room and stare at the Christmas tree the initiates put up between papers.”

“You never know...the holiday season is full of surprises.”

I didn’t trust the mischievous glint in my best friend’s eyes. “What are you not telling me?”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” she tossed over her shoulder as she dragged Leland out of my room, leaving me to wonder what kind of mischief my sorority sisters had planned.

2

Danny

I wandered around the living room of my frat house, feeling restless. Not all of my brothers were gone for the holidays, but the ones who stayed in town normally hung out at their girlfriend’s places or with friends who lived in the area, so it was unusually quiet.

Now that I’d taken the LSAT and sent in my application to Harvard, I didn’t have a lot of studying to do, and all of my groups and sports were on break. The only thing I had to obsess over was Delia.

One more semester.

Then I’d be done with all of my classes, and I’d know whether I’d be headed to Boston next fall.

When I found out she would be staying in her sorority house alone for almost a week, I pushed off my trip home. I didn’t like the idea of her without anyone watching over her. My parents and siblings had been cool with it since I would still be home for a couple of weeks. And they were used to me coming home late and leaving early so I could spend as much time studying as possible.

I found myself at a tall window at the front of the house. It had a view of the hill that made up Greek Row, and Delia’s sorority occupied a house halfway down the slope. From this window, I could see who came and went. When it was lit up at night, I could even see what was happening in their living room because it had originally been part of the sunroom, so it had an entire wall of glass.

My bedroom window had the same view, which was why I ran for housing officer the election after I discovered it. I was rarely home, but when I was, it comforted me to see her house and watch for her comings and goings. A distraction, yes, but on the grand scale of things, it was minor.

Feeling restless again, I meandered into the kitchen to find a snack. My pocket buzzed, and I dug out my phone, putting it on speaker before setting the device on the counter.

“Danny,” I answered as I opened the refrigerator and hunted for something other than beer.

“Hey,” Leland replied. “Um, I have something to tell you, but you can’t freak the fuck out.”

I rolled my eyes as I leaned farther in because I spotted an apple at the back. Of the two of us, Leland was definitely the more dramatic and hotheaded one.

“Delia’s sorority sisters ordered her a stripper.”

“What the fuck?” I shouted as I jerked up, forgetting the upper half of my body was all the way inside the fridge. I immediately smacked my head into the shelf above me, knocking it out of place so it crashed onto me, the contents spilling down my back. “Son of a bitch!”

Since the shelf had been holding mostly bottles of imported beer, they shattered once they hit the tiled floor, spraying beer everywhere and soaking my clothes.

“Uh, should I call back later?”

I spun around and wiped the liquid out of my eyes so I could glare at the phone. “Explain,” I demanded.

“I have to hurry. I’m in the gas station buying snacks for the road.”

“Then spit it out, Leland.” I grabbed the broom and dustpan from the pantry and began gathering all the glass, which had thankfully run out of liquid to spray.

“Apparently, the girls thought it would be fun to send Delia a stripper while she’s alone this week. Dude, I think Olivia might actually be hoping Delia gets laid,” I growled. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.”

“Why am I just now hearing about this?” Dumping the glass into the trash, I grabbed a roll of paper towels and dropped to the ground to sop up all of the beer and other random condiments that had been on the shelf.

“Olivia only let me know about the plan five minutes ago. I told her I needed snacks so I could pull over and call you.”

“Since when does your girlfriend keep stuff from you?” I grumbled. What help was he if he didn’t get information from his informant? Granted, she wasn’t aware that she was essentially a spy for me...but still.