Shit.
“Hello, Dahlia,” I greeted, trying to keep a sour expression from my face.
“Hi…”
“Roe,” Tate supplied for her, curling one arm around her waist and keeping her close.
Her little perky nose scrunched up. “Roe?”
“Ronan,” I quickly added.
“Ah, okay. Hi, Ronan. Tate says you have Creative Writing together.”
Oooh, he talked about me? “We do.”
“Dr. Louden’s a cranky old fuck, isn’t he?” Dahlia asked with a wink. “Tate and I met in his class when we were freshman.” She smiled up at Tate. “We’ve been inseparable ever since.”
My takeaway from that was it wasn’t only Tate being late to class that made him have to repeat it. He’d probably been distracted by the dark-haired beauty now standing in front of Tate, shimmying and shaking to a Black Eyed Peas song.
Tate had one arm now wrapped around her stomach and Dahlia was pulled against him. Every time her ass swayed back and forth it probably rubbed against his cock. I so, so, sooooo wanted to be in her place instead.
But I wasn’t and now realized I never would be.
A damn shame, really, but nothing new for me.
I watched the two of them interact with each other for a few moments, then turned back to once again scope out the packed backyard. I figured it would come off as a bit weird if I continued to stare at them, especially since I was having a hard time masking my petty jealousy.
I came to the party to spend time with Tate but as the saying went, three was a crowd and it was me that was the third wheel in this case.
I should leave and head back to campus and my dorm room. I wasn’t into drinking myself into oblivion and I also wasn’t into chicks, so I was feeling out of place.
It only cemented the fact that I needed to find my own tribe on campus. Maybe even hunt down an LGBTQ organization or think about starting one if there wasn’t one already established.
Realistically, I didn’t have time to run an organization since I desperately needed a job. And soon.
I circled the rim of my twenty dollar disposable cup with a fingertip and my sigh got lost among the rest of the din.
The job issue was a big one but it also reminded me that once I found one, I might not have time to attend parties, either, so I should enjoy the one I was currently at, even if my heart had been slightly cracked by finding out my former fiancé had a girlfriend.
Hell, that he liked girls.
Tate just friend-zoned me, even though he wasn’t aware of it.
I needed to forget that my future husband would no longer be that and just have fun.
Drink. Laugh. Dance. And have conversation without worrying about Dr. Louden kicking us out of class.
When I turned to do just that, Dahlia was just lifting her head from reading something on her phone.
“Lena’s heading over to a party in South Side. Want to go?” Dahlia asked Tate over the music, grabbing his hand, holding it up in the air and dancing in a circle underneath it as if he was spinning her around.
Tate’s beautiful blue eyes, now a bit on the bloodshot side since he was kind of wasted, sliced from Dahlia to me.
I held my breath waiting for his answer. Was he going to dump me here? That would be the icing on the cake.
“Roe only got here about a half hour ago.”
Dahlia stopped dancing, dropped his hand and turned to face Tate. “So?”
Oops, someone sounded a bit bitchy.
“So, I invited him and I don’t want to abandon him here.”
“There’s plenty of other people here to keep him company.”
Wow. More than a bit.
“Dahlia…”
“Tate, come on…” she whined, tugging on his shirt.
“What’s wrong with this party?”
Dahlia faked a yawn while patting her open mouth with her hand and rolled her eyes.
“Whatever sorority party you want to go to will be the same. All these parties are. We’re already here. I spent sixty bucks on the beer and—”
“Do you care if I go, then?”
Tate stared down at her for a few seconds, then asked, “Will I see you later?”
She nodded with her bottom lip caught between her teeth and a smile on her face.
I knew exactly what that meant.
But the turnaround in her attitude was miraculous.
“Okay. Be careful.”
She rose up on her toes and pressed her mouth against his. “I’ll go find Maggie. She’s somewhere inside, I think, and take her along with me. Safety in numbers.”
Then she was off with a spring in her step, fighting her way back into the house.
My gaze turned from her disappearing back to Tate. I pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t grin since my night started looking better because now I had Tate all to myself.
Well, me and a hundred or more drunks.
But I could work with that.