Hazed (Palm South University)

Which means there’s no trying to talk myself out of the fact that Brandon is driving by me.

I can’t move, my feet rooted to the cement as I try to see through the dark windows. I know it’s useless, though. They’re tinted so dark no one can see through them — and on purpose.

He’s speeding by, probably not even looking around him at all, just focused on getting home after a long day.

Except suddenly, he slams on his brakes.

The car comes to a squealing, smoky stop right in the middle of the road and a good thirty feet before the stoplight ahead — which is green anyway.

My breath hitches in my throat, heart racing loud in my ears.

Does he see me?

Is he going to turn around?

I’m not sure how long we stay like that — him stopped dead in the middle of the road, me rooted in place.

Both of us watching.

Both of us waiting.

But then a car pulls up behind him, and on this downtown street, it’s a one-way.

He doesn’t move at first, not until the car beeps its horn. Brandon’s car jolts forward, and then he’s speeding off again.

There’s a chance to U-turn at the next light…

But he doesn’t.

When I realize he has no intention of turning around, my stomach rolls, and I shake my head at myself for even thinking there was a chance.

For wanting him to turn around.

I finally will my feet to move, and then I climb in my car and slam the door shut, peeling out of the parking lot with as much fury as I can.

Maybe I don’t need to wait until I’m ready. Maybe the best way to get over Brandon is, as they say, to get under someone else. Maybe a little romp with a stranger would set me right.

With that theory in mind, I head for the bar.

“WELL, I THINK THAT about wraps it up for this week,” I say to the rest of the Kappa Kappa Beta Executive Board while glancing at my watch. “Mandy, send me the proposal for Greek Week before you start the applications for event chairs. And Kimberly, make sure you remind Omega Chi that we’re excited to do Spring Break together as usual, but they need to get on board with planning ASAP, otherwise they’ll get no say in where we go.”

The ladies nod, and then it’s a shuffling of papers and a flurry of voices as everyone gathers their things to head out of the KKB house library. I check my watch again, knowing Kip and his crew have already been rehearsing for an hour. If I hurry, I can catch the last half before we go to dinner together.

It’s been amazing having Kip back at Palm South.

It feels a little like that first semester we met, except without all the drama. When I’m not tied up in Kappa Kappa Beta events and he’s not working on the show, we’re tangled up in his sheets, or exploring the city together, or spending early mornings out on the water. We’re together practically every minute we can be, and I don’t miss my “alone time” even a little bit.

I had enough of that over the last semester of us being apart to last me a lifetime.

To say I’m thrilled that I don’t have to jump on a five-hour flight just to spend a few stolen days with him is an understatement. And since we’re only promised this semester and the summer together, I’m going to make the most of it.

I toss my backpack in my room before jogging down the KKB house stairs two at a time, careful to be extra quiet when I go by our house mom’s room so she doesn’t come out and ask me a million questions like she loves to do. As soon as I’m on Greek Row and headed toward the auditorium, my cell phone rings.

“Hey, Lei,” I answer.

“I’m broken.”

I chuckle, waving at a few Omega Chis as I pass them on the sidewalk. “I highly doubt that. I know you well enough to know nothing can break Ashlei Daniels.”

“Well, I would have agreed with you before what happened Friday.”

“Oh, do tell.”

She sighs dramatically. “So, I was coming out of the studio that evening, and I see Brandon’s car. It completely fucked me up, Sky. I just stood there awkwardly watching him drive by.”

“Oh, babe. I’m sure he didn’t see you.”

“He slammed on his brakes and froze in the middle of the street for a good sixty seconds.”

I grimace. “Okay, so maybe he did see you. Did he get out?”

“No! That’s what was even weirder. He stopped, and I know he saw me, and I know he saw that I saw him. But he just stopped in the middle of the road and then when cars started coming, he sped off. No call, no text, nothing.”