Page 63 of The Naughty Virgin

CHAPTER NINE

Karina

Vera and Brenda squealed and giggled as they got ready for the frat party.

“I know you’re fighting with Danny, but there’s no reason not to go,” said Bren. “DUP throws the best parties, it’s not worth missing one over some tiff. Besides, it’s the party of the year,” she breathed. “Who wants to miss out?”

“And Danny’s hot,” added Vera. “Girl, what he said has some truth to it. College is the time to experiment, to figure out what you’re about. So what if he stepped out with Kendra? Doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you.”

I didn’t bother to reply. First, Danny absolutely didn’t love me. My time away made me realize that he’d been a jerk the entire time we dated, narcissistic, obsessed with his identity, focused on getting his way. I was merely a living, breathing doll, someone he could hang out with when bored. Nothing more.

Second, my mind-blowing experience with the twins eclipsed everything. My friends knew I’d paid for a back-room show in Vegas but they had no idea what exactly had happened, I’d stayed mum the rest of the trip. Plus, the girls had just been too drunk to really notice. Not a few had had spinning headaches the next day, vomiting putrid green into the toilet.

So I figured my secret was safe, and agreed to tag along. “Okay, I guess,” I said slowly. “But I’m coming back in an hour no matter what, I gotta get some studying in.”

“Seriously? Are you really going to study on a Saturday night? Really Kar, you’re too much. First the missed Celine Dion concert, and now this,” said Vera.

I laughed quietly to myself, but started putting on make-up and doing my hair.

“Just an hour,” I thought, and then I’m coming back. I slipped into an emerald green dress, the crushed velvet hugging my curves, a scoop neck showing off my décolletage. Okay, it was a little racier than I usually did but it was Saturday night, right?

We walked briskly through the chilly night air to the DUP house. Yep, New York was in full force tonight there were tons of folks out, hollering, screaming, and three girls in short skirts definitely got a lot of attention.

“Woo hoo!” hollered a passerby.

“Can’t a dude look?” asked another when I shot him a dirty glance.

God, if we could only get there sooner rather than later. I was seriously tempted to call a cab, but we kept strutting, Brenda and Vera lapping up the attention, winking at random guys.

Finally we were at the far reaches of Alphabet City where the frat house stood. Pounding music and lights proclaimed we were at the right spot, the letters Delta Upsilon Pi hung on a flag in the window. A bunch of girls squealed in the front yard, giggling as guys chanted a frat song, pounding beer from a keg.

This didn’t look fun to me at all, these folks were way too drunk already, but I sighed. Better just to put up with it for a little while and then go home. Besides, I always have more fun at these things than I expect and it was time for me to get over the twins. I wasn’t going to see them for a long time, I was here and they were in California.

So I trailed Brenda and Vera inside. The stench was overwhelming, BO and cheap alcohol commingled, the hardwood floor sticky with some unnamed substance.

“Gross,” I mumbled, trying to follow my friends among the writhing bodies.

“Come on!” said Brenda. “Cord said he’s having a private party upstairs in his room, top shelf liquor and all that.” I sighed but followed them up the rickety stairs to a top-floor room. The door was locked but light shone from the crack under the door and we could hear a bunch of voices inside.

When Brenda pounded, the voices hushed for a moment before starting back up again, as if nothing had happened. She pounded larder, “Cole! Cole! It’s me, Brenda Bey from Anthro 1. I brought my friends.”

Silence suddenly and the door cracked open a bit to show a sandy-haired blonde guy, drunk off his ass, I could swear that his pupils were dilated. A cloud of pot smoke swirled behind him, the miasma seeping out into the hall.

He looked Vera and I up and down and said with a drunken slur, “Sure, come on in. We’ve been expecting you.”

This was weird but I didn’t say anything. I trailed my friends inside and there was a roomful of guys, a couple girls scattered about in skimpy clothing. Heavy drinking was going on, not a few folks with joints in their hands, smoking bowls.

“Help yourself,” said one dude to me with carroty-hair, passing me a doobie. Okay, I could do this. I don’t usually indulge but it was Saturday night and the pot smelled like quality … not the mashed up shit that circulates around campus on a regular basis.

I took a drag and the effect was near instantaneous. I felt loose, a little uninhibited, suddenly the world so much more comfortable, my fears allayed. I settled back on a divan and relaxed, leaning my head against the back, looking up at the ceiling. Damn, that stucco was really pretty and I took a few more drags, letting the sweet, scented air fill my lungs.

I guess I must have been more stoned than I realized because suddenly Caden and Caleb filled my vision.

“Hey little sister,” said Cade. “What a coincidence.”

“Hey yourself,” I giggled, brushing my hair out of my face. “What are you doing here?”

One of the twins sat on my right, the other on my left.

---