College Crushing

“Is all of this really necessary?” I whine while Tanner runs her hands through my now curled hair.
“Abso-fucking-lutely.” Alex bluntly states pulling away from my face and kisses her fingertips, “And voila. Your makeup is complete.”
Tanner comes into my view and smiles, “Wow. You look stunning. Good job, Alex.”
“I don’t know if I should be insulted by that or not.” I groan.
“Shut up. You’re gorgeous on any regular day, but tonight. You look sexy as hell. I would be surprised if you didn't get laid tonight.”
“Alex, stop.” I laugh trying to cover up the fact that I’m blushing.
“What? You haven’t had sex since when, high school?” Alex interrogates
“Oh, sweetie. It helps with stress, you know? Maybe hook up with that cute Harry of yours,” Tanner pushes my hair behind my ear and gives me a wink.
“Harry and I are just friends. Can you two stop with that?”
“Yeah, whatever. Don’t worry, I’ll stay away from him anyways.” I hear Tanner giggle at Alex’s comment.
“Let’s just go.” I stand up leaving the bathroom and walk to my room, stopping in front of my dresser. I do look different, more daring and not so innocent looking. My hair is in loose curls and Alex did my makeup with a sultry smokey eye. I’m wearing a sleeveless black top that cuts into a deep V neck with my distressed high waisted shorts and a simple black choker. Sighing, I grab my purse and meet Tanner and Alex in the foyer and we carpool in Tanner’s mini cooper.
Once we pull up to the frat house with their large Greek letters on the front, you can see that the party is already in full swing. People are everywhere and red cups scatter the ground with music blaring in the background. A couple of girls are stumbling around or are clinging to a male as we walk into the house. I lean over to Tanner and whisper, “Don’t let me get that bad.”
She nods in response and gives me a reassuring smile as we hear Alex shout, “Alex has entered the building!” Whoops and hollers erupt as she lifts her arms and bows.
“Now the party can officially begin!” Zayn yells and I see Gigi sitting on his lap with girls surrounding them, giving her rude, envious looks. Girls can be so pathetic sometimes.
“Alex! Come over here!” Gigi shouts. Alex leaves us and a few minutes later Tanner gets pulled away by Trace.
“Hey, you!” I turn around to see Justin and he gives me a hug, “I’m glad you came. Are you having fun?”
“Just got here, actually. Tanner and Alex ditched me.”
“Oh, that’s not very nice of them. I’ll keep you company though." He leads me through the frat house then shouts, "Yo, Niall!” Niall pokes his head around the corner, “Make Kennedy your best!”
“Coming right up!” Niall shouts
“You have Niall as the bartender?” I laugh
“Hey. Irish men know their beer.” He holds out his hand for me, “Follow me.”
I take his hand willingly and he leads me to the backyard and we sit down near the bonfire where it was less crowded, “Why have I never seen you around before?”
“I don’t really come to parties and I guess because I study a lot.”
“But you’re in a sorority? Sigma Delta Phi, right? Aren’t they known for being the party girls?”
I blush, “Yeah. I honestly pledged them because Alex and Tanner were, but I met a lot of other great girls too.”
“Yeah, no judgment there.”
“Which Fraternity are you in?”
“Alpha Pi Lambda.” My eyes grow at this. I can’t help my reaction, they’re one of the hardest fraternities to get into, because they’re so nit-picky about their guys. Not only that, I heard their pledge class goes through hell. The fraternity itself is also constantly getting into trouble by the University. I’ve never met an Alpha, but it makes sense that Justin is one. He suits their profile. “It’s not that bad is it?”
“What? No. I just, I never met anyone in your fraternity before. Wait, why are you at this party?”
“The Gammas and Alphas throw a party together once a year, which is tonight. But Alex knows a lot of us.”
I scoff, “She does go to a lot of parties, though.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“So tell me, is it true what they say?” I scoot closer to him with a sly smile on my face
He laughs, “It depends. What do they say?”
“That your club is incredibly hard to get a bid from, but also that it’s hell to be a pledge. I heard y’all got kicked off campus a couple of times too?”
He laughs, “I’m not really supposed to discuss any of this, but since I am the president, it doesn’t matter, right?”
“Wait, you’re the president? What year are you?”
“I’m a Junior, you?”
“Sophomore.” I blush
“What? You’ve been here for longer than a year and I never once ran into you?”
“Different crowds I guess. Or maybe we crossed paths, but it didn’t matter because we didn’t know each other.”
“No. I would have noticed you” I look up at him and he’s watching me as if I had the answers to everything he’s ever wondered. Niall approaches us with a drink in his hand and Justin takes it, “Thanks, Ni.”
“Course! Harry said you love sweet tea, so I made you a Long Island Iced Tea.” Justin raises the glass to him in thanks and hands it to me while Niall walks off.
“Harry’s here?” I eye the glass skeptically while I take a sip and am instantly in love, “Bless. You were right. Niall does know his stuff.”
“So are you and Harry dating?”
“What? That was random.” I take another sip
“Not really,” He chuckles.
“Um. No, we aren’t dating.”
“May I take you out Sunday?”
“Sunday, as in tomorrow? Um sure.” I feel his fingertips press into my back and I smile up at him as I take another sip.
“You enjoying that?” I nod in response and relax against him, staring into the fire. Justin’s an attractive guy and I love how easy he is to talk to.
“What do you want to do once you graduate?”
He hums, “My major is Business Administration and Management and my minor is in accounting. So after college, I hope to work for my dad. He owns this music company in California.”
“Oh wow. That’s so cool. Are you excited?”
“Yeah. I love music, maybe one day I can be the one releasing the music instead of managing it. Who knows?”
Feeling bold, probably due to the alcohol running through my system, I reply, “Sing for me.”
Justin looks taken aback as I sit back up and face him, to let him know I wasn’t joking. He shakes his head and a smile creeps on his face as he sings and pats his hand against his jeans to the beat.
“You so fucking precious when you smile
Hit it from the back and drive you wild
Girl, I lose myself in those eye eye eye eye eyes
I just had to let you know you're mine
Hands on your body I don't wanna waste no time
Feels like forever even if forever's tonight
Just lay with me waste this night away with me
You're mine
I can't look away
I just gotta say
I'm so fucking happy you're alive”
“Wow. What song is that?”
“Mine by Bazzi”
“That was. Wow. I will probably like your version better.”
“You haven’t even heard the original song. It’s so good.”
“But you were incredible.” I sit facing the fire and rest my head on his shoulder again, “You will get there one day. I know it.”
“There they are!” I hear someone shout and Alex appears in front of me, “Come on. I was looking all over for you two.”
“Where are we going?”
“Inside.” I look back and see Justin following me. He gives me a smile and a wink causing me to smile in return.
Alex leads us to the basement where I see everyone from lunch along with Tanner and Trace. Niall claps his hands and stands, “Let’s play Drunk Jenga!”
I see Harry and sit next to him, “Hey, Kenny. You good?”
Nodding I say, “Yes. Thanks for the Long Island Iced Tea. It was delicious.”
"No problem. I had Niall make you another one for this game." He turns to the end table and hands me a new cup and I can't help the huge smile on my face which earns a light laugh from Harry, "You and your sweet tea."
“Okay. Zayn, you start!” Niall says
Zayn stands up and pulls out a Jenga block, “Remove one article of clothing. Alright. Who wrote that?” He chuckles as he removes his jacket and tosses it at Gigi.
“Ow, ow!” She catcalls him and stands up to pull a block of her own.
"Down the hatch! What! Already, no!” She grabs her drink and chugs it as everyone cheers, Niall grabs her another drink and she falls back down next to Zayn. Liam, Cheryl, Eleanor, and Louis went, Liam had to give one drink to Louis and Cheryl had to take one drink. Louis made a rule where you can’t say first names or you would have to drink and Eleanor had made everyone take a drink.
“Bieber! Your turn!” Louis shouts
He pulls one from the bottom and laughs, “Take one shot for each member playing. That’s fucking 12 shots. Alright. Let’s do this.”
Niall lines up the shots and every one counts down, “Go!” Justin throws back each shot with ease, but you could tell it was getting harder near the end. Once he finished everyone cheered earning us a bow from him.
Tanner had made Trace her drinking buddy, meaning that they always had to drink when the other drank and Trace ended up having to take a drink on his turn. Like Zayn, Alex had to remove a piece of clothing too.
It’s my turn and I pull out a Jenga block with my shaky hands. I look at it and I laugh, “Is this a joke?”
“What’s it say?” Liam asks
“Kiss Hoffman.” I say her last name so I won’t have to take another drink but reveal the words on the block and laughter and ‘oohs’ erupt around the room. Alex pats my seat beside her and I roll my eyes and put the block on the top.
“Lay one on me!” Alex pulls me into her and our lips connect. I’ve never kissed a female before, but it’s different than kissing a male. The lips are softer and she kisses slower than the men I've kissed. I don’t know how else to describe it. I pull away with heat rising on my cheeks, knowing everyone just saw me kiss my best friend for the first time. “I can confirm it myself, Ken Matthews is an excellent kisser.”
Tanner laughs, “Come kiss me! I wanna know!” I shoot her daggers which only causes her to laugh more.
“But was she a good kisser, is the question?” I hear Gigi say over all the noise as she points at Alex.
I shrug, earning a punch in my arm from Alex, “I’m a great kisser. Right, Horan!”
It seemed like everyone gasped and all talking had ceased from our little group as all eyes were on Niall, “Eh. What just happened?”
Harry thumps him in the back of the head, “You kissed Alex?”
Niall smiles smugly, “Yeah. A while ago. She did not disappoint.”
Alex points at Gigi, “Suck it.”
Gigi holds her hands up and Niall adds, “She was pretty good at that too.” All hell breaks loose and the guys are running up to Niall while Alex just sits shaking her head.
“It was freshman year. What can I say?”
Liam sits back down, “Alright! Styles, take a drink because you said her first name. Then go.”
Harry takes a sip of his drink and easily pulls out a block, “Hands Across America.” Words of approval are heard and Niall stands for his turn. I ask Harry what his block meant and he answers, “I have to keep physical contact with the person to my left throughout the rest of the game”
“Oh. Me?” He nods and scoots closer to me so our legs are touching.
The game continued with a lot more Jenga blocks involving everyone to drink. Harry and I resulted in holding hands whenever one of us had to go grab a block or do something. Gigi seemed wasted and ended up knocking the blocks over on her turn.
Alex stood up to leave, but ended up tripping and knocked her drink, spilling it all over my outfit. “Woah!” I screamed in shock of the coldness.
“Oh my gosh! Ken, I’m so so sorry!” She pleaded as she tried to dry it with a shirt she found on the floor.
“It’s alright. Don’t worry.” My eyelids are heavy and I honestly could care less about my now alcohol stained outfit. I just want to sleep.
“No, let me clean you up. Come-”
“I’ll get her something to change into, don’t worry about it, Alex.” Harry states. Alex nods and leaves the room. He holds his hand out for me to grab, which I take. Harry leads me out of the basement and up three flights of stairs. He opens a door and turns the light on while his other hand is still holding mine.
His room is clean, cleaner than I would have expected. His queen sized mattress is covered with a dark grey comforter, but his sheets are white. He releases my hand and I go sit on the bed noting that it’s as comfy as it looks. I glance up and see Harry taking out a shirt from his drawer. He walks over to me and I stand up, receiving support from him. “Did you want to shower? I have my own bathroom.”
He runs a hand through his hair and I reply, “Yeah. I think I’m a little sticky.”
He helps me to his bathroom and starts the shower then leaves me to retrieve an extra towel and washcloth. After I fail at taking off my white Adidas, I turn to face the mirror and remove my jewelry. It takes twice as long as it should, but I eventually get it off, spending most of my time on my choker.
“Need help?” I hear a voice say from the doorway, startling me. Seeing that it was just Harry I nod and he bends down to take off my shoes. He helps me unbutton my shorts and untucked my shirt for me, “Are you good from here?”
“Um. Can you help unsnap my bra?” I turn back towards the mirror as he lifts my shirt off of me, leaving me in my black lace bra. I look at Harry through the now fogging mirror and he’s looking back at me. His hands are rested on my shoulders then he slowly trailed them down to the back of my bra. I feel it loosen, signifying he did his job. I watch as he leans his head down, placing a soft kiss on my shoulder and before I can register what just happened, he’s gone.

Notes