I wasn’t so naïve to believe unconditionally that just because we got along well online meant we would be the same way if we met in real life, but I was feeling a little hopeful.
If only he’d agree to meet, I thought wistfully.
I hadn't asked much after the first time when he’d said it was too soon. To be honest, it had been an impulsive thing, and I would have thought he’d be curious, too. After all, there was no point in wasting time if we wouldn’t be compatible in real life like we were online. I didn't want to run the risk of getting attached and getting hurt in the end, so I’d figured we would meet before the one week mark.
He’d said no. And I couldn’t even complain because he did it in such a nice way, wanting to get to know me better before we met in person. I had never had a guy be so attentive to me before.
I was practically floating on the way to my dorm room, but by the time I made it there, my mood immediately soured.
Dana invited people over again, I thought, resentful.
This was another thing she and Logan had been doing recently. Before, I just had to put up with him showing up in the evening or at night, and when that happened, I knew to be outside so I wouldn’t see things I wasn’t meant to see. But, over the past week, they’d been spending even more time together. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Logan to leave Dana or for Dana to come to me crying that the guy dumped her. Instead, they started showing up in our room during the daytime, and even bringing company.
By the amount of sound on the other side of my door, it was more than just the two of them. And the worst part was that I couldn’t complain. I never brought people over, but I couldn’t exactly use that as an excuse, because the reason I never brought anyone, was that besides Dana, I didn’t have anyone to invite to our room. I’d already tried arguing, and Dana said she’d take it without complaint if I wanted to invite someone, too.
She knew that I didn’t have anyone to be bringing back, I thought through gritted teeth. In a way, she was taking advantage of it, and I couldn’t do a thing about it because I was still hoping we could reconcile at a later date when she was acting less boy crazy.
With a sigh, I reached for the handle and pulled the door open, then stepped into the room. I looked around and paused with one foot in the door.
Shit! Of all people that had to be here!
There were more than just a few people in the room, with Logan and Dana there, some other guys. And Elijah. They seemed to be having a party, with the door open, the music became even louder, and I hesitated between stepping out and closing the door, and stepping in and closing it so I wouldn’t attract too much attention from other people in the dorm. For a long moment, I didn’t move, and the people in the room took notice of me.
“Oh!” Logan yelled in excitement. “Look who finally came back!”
He grinned and winked at me, and I felt my face twitch.
I took another look around the room and felt like exploding. These guys weren’t just having a party. I closed the door behind me, even though I wanted to leave so I wouldn’t be caught in the middle of this. But they certainly looked like they were ready.
“What the hell do you guys think you’re doing? Dana?” I turned to her because I disliked everyone else in the room. I was sure they were all guys on the school’s hockey team.
Dana just rolled her eyes at me. “It’s fine, isn’t it?” she said, waving her hand around the room. “It’s not like we’re going to get caught.”
I just barely stopped myself from shouting at her. It wasn’t just about getting caught. Dana wasn’t the kind of person that went against the rules so blatantly.
There was plenty of drink in the room, and from the smell that hung in the air, it was alcohol. The school had a rule that students shouldn’t smoke, and definitely not on the grounds. Even knowing it was a rule, I did know that there were quite a few students that flaunted the rules. The rooms were outfitted with smoke alarms so students couldn’t smoke in their rooms, at least, but not only were they smoking, they’d covered the smoke alarms so they wouldn’t go off.
“Dana, this is not okay,” I said, once I could do so without raising my voice. “You know better than I do that this is not okay. And you also know I hate the smell of smoke, so I don’t go near smokers.”
Already, I could feel my throat start to close up, my nose itching, the urge to cough rising. I covered my mouth and nose and moved over to the window to open it up. As far as I knew, Dana wasn’t a smoker, either, so how could she put up with it? It felt so thick in the room.
“You hate smoke that much?”
I turned my head to glare at Elijah. He’d paused with a cigarette halfway to his mouth, looking at me with his eyebrows raised.
“Of course I hate it,” I said, my voice growing hoarse, and I covered my mouth again as I coughed. “If you guys are going to come here and have a party, at least kill the smoking, okay?”
“Sophia, don’t be rude,” Dana said.
“How the hell am I rude?” I snapped back, feeling at the end of my rope. “I’m already allowing you to come and play in here, and do whatever you want. But do you know how long it’ll take to air out the room, so the smell of smoke is completely out? I might not be able to stand to sleep here tonight, so where would I go?”
Dana scoffed. “Maybe if you had a friend, or I don’t know, a boyfriend, you’d have somewhere else to sleep for the night.”
I scowled at her, having no come back. She was right; if I did have other friends, I wouldn’t have been in such a pinch. I’d have to sleep with the smoke, and I’d wake up with a sore throat and aching lungs tomorrow for breathing it in in my sleep.
“Hey, hey,” Elijah said, crushing his cigarette in the ashtray they had on the nightstand. “There’s no reason for you guys to fight, all right? If smoke bothers you that much, then we’ll stop, is that okay?”
“Of course it’s not okay,” I snapped. “I just said this room wouldn’t be properly aired out by tonight when it’s already this late in the day.”
“Then why don’t you go sleep with Elijah in our room, and Logan and I will stay here?” Dana suggested with an innocent look on her face.
Elijah shrugged his shoulders and smirked. “I wouldn’t mind.”
I sneered at him. “Like I would stay in the same room with a jerk like you! Honestly, I’d rather sleep on a bench outside somewhere. It’s partly your fault, you know.”
“How is it my fault?” he complained. “I was invited just like everyone else, and I was offered a smoke, why would I have refused it?”
“Still,” I said insistently. “If you guys wanted to do something like this, couldn’t you have done it at your place instead? I know you and Logan are in the same dorm room, Elijah, so what? You bring all your friends and invad
e my room, why couldn’t you have done this there instead?”
Elijah got this fierce look on his face and opened his mouth to retaliate. I braced myself, ready to give back as good as I got into the argument I was sure was coming. Everyone else in the room was silent, just watching the two of us, probably anticipating the verbal match we’d end up in, like several times before.
I wasn’t much of an argumentative person. If I met someone I didn’t like, usually, I just ignored them and acted like they didn’t exist. Elijah was different, though. Not only would he not let me ignore him when he was in the vicinity, but it was also hard not to pay attention to him.
Damn him for being so good-looking!
He reminded me so much of my ex. Not that there was anything similar about them aside from the fact that they were both sports players. But Elijah was so incredibly attractive, that even though I could say I hated him, if I saw him in the distance and he hadn't seen me, it was hard to make me turn away.
I saw him first, before I even knew he played a sport, but by his build, I’d figured it was a possibility already. He always walked with a crowd of people, he was outgoing and charismatic. He was too damn good looking and attractive, and when he smiled or laughed, I felt my breath get short. It was why, when I found out, I was even angrier and put out by him than anyone else.
I’d already been there and gotten burned. Falling for the same kind of guy again would only be stupid, and I hated that, even with those thoughts in my mind, when I was this close to him, I couldn’t help but notice how deep a blue his eyes were, the light color of his blond hair cut short, the angular cut of his face…all of it drew me in, so I could never let my guard down around him.
The guy was so full of himself, so I never forgot, at least. There wasn’t much known about him besides gossip, but plenty of people knew it was true. Elijah was rich, and when you weren’t someone he was close to, he acted as if everyone was beneath him.