Alyssa

Just as I'm about to text Hannah, my phone buzzes with a message from her first.

Hannah: I'm by the fireplace at the back

Scanning the café, I spot Hannah at a far table waving at me. As I approach her, I realize someone is sitting in the third chair at the table.

"Oh hello," I greet her as I sit down.

Hannah gives me an eager grin. "Alyssa, this is my friend Sienna!"

"Hey," Sienna says with a small smile.

I don't know how I didn't notice her at first, she drastically stands out. Her long straight hair is half jet black, half platinum blond - split down the middle. Her makeup even matches her hair; black lipstick and white eyeliner.

Her outfit is made up of black, white, and pastel pink pieces. Leather seems to be her favourite material, in addition to some shiny metal accents.

Sienna extends her hand to shake mine. Some of her rings have gems larger than grapes, and others look like straight up weapons. Two of her fingers have some words tattooed onto the sides, but I can't make them out. Michael likes to refer to my nails as wolverine nails, but I'd love to hear what he would call Sienna's.

"So, how do you two know each other?" Sienna asks once we've ordered some cinnamon buns, croissants, and coffee."

"Alyssa and I met in our engineering intro class," Hannah explains, looking over at me with a cheerful smile.

We had such a fun afternoon exploring campus together after class that day and decided that we definitely wanted to hang out again. It took nearly a week to schedule it, however. With my sorority endeavors and keeping up with Michael, I've barely found time for myself, let alone other people.

"Engineer? Really? Never would've guessed," Sienna snickers. "You're not who I picture when somebody says engineer."

I grit my teeth and hide my grimace. "Yeah... I get that a lot," I say, managing to give her a polite smile. "What about you two?"

"We met in our English class," Hannah explains. "I'm taking it as an elective."

I do my best to steer the conversation back towards Sienna whenever it starts to drift. Asking someone questions about themselves has always been my foolproof way of getting people to warm up to me – almost foolproof, at least.

Sienna quickly catches on, however. She attempts to do the same to me, though her intentions seem dubious.

"Are you involved with any clubs or student organizations?" I ask.

"Nope," Sienna simply replies. She rests her chin on her palm and leans towards me. "Hannah mentioned you're a sorority girl, right?"

I can't help but feel suspicious of her intentions, but I nod anyway. "I'm in Alpha Delta Pi."

She gives me an amused grin. "Is it like in the movies, where it's all just pillow fights, makeup, and sex?" she asks, her voice just dripping with sarcasm.

Hannah snorts and nudges her. "Don't be silly! I'm sure it's not ridiculous like that." She suddenly looks at me nervously. "I mean... unless it is. I'm not trying to call sororities ridiculous!" she says apologetically.

"No, we're actual human beings, not fictional movie characters," I respond dryly.

Hannah appears completely oblivious to the tone of the conversation. A warm smile stays spread across her face for most of the afternoon and she takes everyone's words at face value. I have no idea what type of fairytale world she lives in, but she's the epitome of the saying, ignorance is bliss.

On that first day we hung out, Hannah's friend ended up canceling, who in hindsight must have been Sienna. I can't help but wonder how our friendship would've turned out if Sienna had actually come along that day.

"Got it," Hannah chuckles and nods. I notice her studying me from behind her mug as she sips her coffee. "By the way, you look pretty today, Alyssa!"

My makeup is slightly heavier today – as Michael so rudely pointed out. I'm wearing a cropped sweater and my new corduroy skirt. To finish it off, I'm wearing my favourite heeled boots that give me a solid extra two inches. Unlike my brothers, I wasn't blessed by the height gods, but I'm quite satisfied with my stature at 5'7".

"Thanks Hannah." I smile and brush my hair over my shoulder. "I'm going on a date later."

"Of course you are," Sienna scorns quietly under her breath.

I feel a frustrated heat building up in my chest. Unfortunately, my brain doesn't react quickly enough to stop myself before my hand instinctively tightens into a fist. I scald my fingers as my hand makes full contact around my mug of piping hot coffee.

I bite down on my tongue to stop myself from immediately gasping and muffle my curses. Somehow, the burning ends up being more tolerable than the rest of lunch.

-----

I half walk, half run, down the block. My feet are killing me – these shoes were certainly not made for running. Alpha Delta Pi's house just has to be at the very end of this street.

Fortunately, I spot Chris waiting outside, casually leaning against his car. I easily recognize the model – Anthony has been obsessed with cars since we were kids, and he's been droning on and on about this one for months since it came out. I know it costs a pretty penny – it was the first time I saw mom and dad refuse to give him money for a car.

"Was worried you wouldn't show up," Chris chuckles, tossing me a sly smirk once I've finally reached him.

"S-sorry!" I apologize, gasping to catch my breath. "My lunch plans ran a bit late." Getting away from Sienna felt like trying to pry myself out of an alligator's jaw.

"No problem." He opens the passenger door for me and we head off.

-----

The flickering candle on the table illuminates Chris' face with a gentle, warm glow. It softens his olive skin, and his tousled hair shines with golden streaks where it catches the light. My heartbeat refuses to settle as his gleaming eyes remain focused on me.

God, he's ridiculously attractive, but good looks can only get you so far. Chris is... sweet, but he comes up a bit short in the conversational department.

"So what do you do in your free time?" I finally ask once he's finished his long winded introduction. I've never met someone who almost immediately told me how much they bench.

He thinks for about half a second before quickly responding, "I go to the gym."

"What about for fun?" I probe further. "Things you do outside of the gym?"

"I like watching Netflix... and other things that come along with that." He gives me a charming and suggestive smile that leaves me with mixed emotions. I get the feeling that Chris is used to using his looks to get his way.

I question how in the world Chris even ended up at an academic, research focused university. "Remind me what you're majoring in."

"Education."

I raise my eyebrows. "Really?"

He nods. "Have you heard of Horizons Academy in LA?"

Surprisingly enough, I have – many times in fact. My cousin Melody went there and she was never short on complaints about it. It's a prestigious and super exclusive private high school. "Yeah." I nod.

"My parents are alumni and donate a shit ton of money every year," he explains with a slight smirk. "It'd be a breeze for me to get hired there."

I feel my heart sink for those poor, unsuspecting children. "What would you teach?" I ask hesitantly.

He shrugs casually, looking as if he's never even thought about it. "I don't know, physical ed maybe?"

I subtly release a sigh of relief.

A minute or so after Chris has excused himself to head to the washroom, the four girls at the table next to ours excitedly wave to get my attention.

"Hey, you're Alyssa Aria, right?" the one sitting closest to me asks. She has long, wavy black hair that she absentmindedly twirls around her finger.

I nod slowly. I try to pinpoint any of their names, but none of them look familiar. "Yes, do I know you?"

"No, but we know you," she laughs. "We're from Alpha Sigma Kappa. You're a freshman on a date with Chris Collins? You're so lucky!"

They all have a similar glassy, glazed over look in their eyes when she mentions him. I can easily assume the type of reputation he's built up here.

"Yup, it's just a first date," I try to clarify before they get the wrong idea. At this rate, it looks like it'll be our first and last date.

The girl sitting diagonally from me holds her cheeks and excitedly leans closer to me. "You two make such a cute couple," she gushes.

The other girls all giggle and nod in agreement.

"It'd be so perfect," the girl next to her adds and lowers her voice, "you're both super hot. You'd be the power couple of U of M's Greek community."

I feel heat rushing to my cheeks, but I can't stop a small chuckle from spilling out at the absurdity of it all. They burst out into another fit of giggles.

"I'd die if you two got together for real," the first girl adds.

The moment Chris returns, any trace of our exchange immediately disappears. The four of them slip back into the middle of a conversation without skipping a beat.

What doesn't disappear, however, are their words, already clearly imprinted in my mind.

-----

I sink my teeth into Chris' bottom lip as the space between us closes and grows humid. He presses me against my bedroom door, and I blindly fumble for the doorknob to let ourselves in.

My room is dark, but a couple soft streaks of light manage to stream in through the blinds. I get a brief glance at the fiery, fervent look in Chris' eyes before I begin unbuttoning his shirt. I feel my heart start to race as his hands grip onto the waist of my skirt and begin tugging downwards.

"Evening."

We both gasp at the unexpected voice and I immediately turn on the lights.

I blink slowly in disbelief, half convinced I'm somehow hallucinating the image of Michael sitting in the middle of my room.

I feel my cheeks flush and I readjust my skirt and sweater, but my embarrassment is quickly replaced by rage. "Michael? What the hell are you doing here?" I hiss. 

----------

A/N:

I'd be mortified 🙈

Thanks for reading! Please vote if you enjoyed!