Living at the Frat House - A College Romance

Grabbing a snack from the kitchen, I don’t see Malcolm anywhere. Casey is in the living room though. “Have you seen Mal?”

“He went out a while ago, but not since.”

“Thanks.”

There’s no response on my phone, but maybe he had something to do that I didn’t know about. It’s okay. If he were here, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off him, and I need to study. So I dive into my books, and I don’t come up for air for a few hours, and when a few more hours have passed, there’s still no sign of him.

Hey, are you okay?

I send the text, but there’s still nothing. Just my questions standing out at the bottom like sore thumbs. Malcolm has never been one of those guys that doesn’t respond to text messages. He’s always very on top of it. So the silence is…strange. But I’m sure there’s a reason for it.

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about Malcolm, it’s that he never does anything without a reason. He’ll tell me about it when he gets back.

But when I leave the house for dinner with Bailey, and I still haven’t seen him, I can’t help but be a little worried. I send him one more text asking for any sign that he’s you know, alive, before I meet up with Bailey.

This time we don’t go to the dining hall, but a café just off campus—and not too far from the house—that has really good food.

When Bailey arrives I give her a hug. “I’m not going to lie,” I say. “I’m starving and kind of want to eat the biggest omelet that they serve.”

“An omelet sounds amazing right now,” she agrees.

“How was your study group?”

She sighs. “Fine. Boring as hell.”

I laugh. “Not a good class?”

We sit together in a booth by the window. “It’s a fine class, just…none of this is what I thought it would be.”

“Pre-law?”

Bailey makes a face. “Yeah. I guess I just thought that it would be more fun. I love learning legalese and I love tangling people up in arguments. And I like the idea of making a difference. But so far what I’m learning is that ninety percent of lawyers do really boring shit. And the minutiae of everything you have to learn to do that really boring shit is just a lot.”

“That’s fair,” I tell her. “Do you think you’re going to stop or change majors?”

She shakes her head as a waitress drops off menus. “I really don’t know. It’s a little late to change for this semester at least. I could drop the classes and pick up new ones, but I’d be so far behind in those classes that it’s not worth it.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I’m sorry you’re not liking it.”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll get used to it. Maybe I’m just tired. We’ve got a big project due next week. First big thing, and maybe that’s what’s got me stressed out.”

I scan the menu. They do have omelets. That’s exactly what I’m getting. “Are you sure that you have the time to be here?”

She grins. “Wouldn’t miss it. I’m so sorry that I left you with Taylor last night. I had no idea that they would switch things up so much last minute.”

“It was fine,” I shrug. “We honestly didn’t talk that much.”

Bailey snorts. “No shock there.”

I blink at her. “What?”

She smiles as the waitress comes back with water and takes our order. I wait until she leaves to look at my friend expectantly. She makes a face like I’m missing the point. “I just meant that it’s not exactly a secret that you and Taylor don’t like each other. It’s amazing that you still hang out at all.”

A little wave of shock rolls through me. “I don’t have any problem with Taylor. We don’t have that much in common, but I’ve never hated her or anything.”

Bailey freezes, and her eyes go wide. “Shit.”

“Something you need to tell me, Bai?”

“Ummm…no?”

I roll my eyes and take a sip of water. “Just spill. Nothing about Taylor would come as a shock to me at this point.”

She hesitates. “She basically hates you. I thought you knew and both just tolerated each other for my sake.”

“She hates me?” I say it way too loud and catch myself. “What did I do?”

“She thinks you ruined high school for her,” Bailey says. “Cause she got into such trouble after that party.”

Cold, brutal anger rises up. It always does when I think about that night. “You mean the party where people were drinking themselves so stupid that they could have died and she didn’t want to call anyone so that the party could be kept a secret?”

“That’s the one.”

“Yeah, well,” I hesitate. “I don’t particularly care if it makes me a bitch to say that she deserved that lockdown. Being grounded is not worth someone dying.”