Page 9 of Becoming Selfish

My hand is still in his when someone asks, “Are you using the bathroom? Or can I get in there?” I hadn’t noticed we were still standing in the bathroom doorway, where I spilled his entire drink down his shirt.

“Oh, no. It’s all yours.” I quickly pull my hand away from Eli’s as we both move out of the way.

The stranger walks into the bathroom, closes the door, and leaves us standing there awkwardly facing one another.

“Well, I better go find my friends.” I point over his shoulder towards the stairs.

“Oh. Yeah. For sure.” He moves out of the way so I can get around him.

“It was nice to meet you,” I quietly add, giving him a small smile as I walk past him.

“Hey, Logan?” I hear from behind me. I quickly turn my head back in his direction. “Am I going to see you again tonight?” A not-so-subtle smirk forms on his lips.

Okay, I’m blushing now. “Um, I don’t know. I’m not planning on being here too long.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure you owe me a drink.” He points at his shirt, a playful smile covering his mouth.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” My cheeks begin to heat as I turn back to the stairs.

Okay, that guy is charming, and Ali is going to be so excited when I tell her I just got hit on. Or at least I think I just got hit on? Regardless, it doesn’t matter because I’m not going to entertain it. This guy can get any girl he pleases, and I get the vibe that he’s used to getting what he wants. As much fun as Ali claims it is to experience different men, that’s just not me. And I don’t want to think about any guys right now. I just want to think about me.

Making my way downstairs, I realize the house has gotten even more packed while I was upstairs. This place is so big that I’m going to have a hard time finding Marc and Ali, but I begin my search by making my way through the crowd towards the kitchen. I figure that would be a good place to start looking, seeing as that’s where the alcohol is kept. Thankfully, when I make it there, I find Marc talking to a couple of guys, though I don’t see Ali anywhere. He spots me and waves me over.

“Hey, you good?” he asks with a bit of concern on his face.

“Yeah, don’t worry about me.” I shoot him a look that says, ‘stop being so protective.’

“Can’t help it.” He laughs. “Logan, these are some buddies that I used to live with here, Cam and Patrick. Guys, this is Logan.”

“Hey,” I lift my hand in a small wave towards them.

The blond one looks my body up and down. “Hey, I’m Patrick. Where are you from?”

“California.” I won’t elaborate.

“Mmm, Cali. Very nice.” He continues to drag his eyes up and down my body, lingering a little too long on my chest. “So, is this your girlfriend or something? What about that chick from New York?” he asks Marc but keeps his eyes focused on me.

Apparently, Ali was here recently, so she can’t be too far. The way this Patrick guy is eyeing me makes me want to leave this conversation as quickly as possible to go find her.

“No. Logan and I met last year in Spain. I convinced her to enroll in grad school out here. And that other girl is just some chick I met today who lives on my hall.” I glance towards Marc out of the corner of my eye. I kind of thought he liked Ali? Maybe I was wrong, or perhaps this is just the way he talks around the guys.

“Good to know because she was hot,” says the shorter one with copper hair. Cam, I think, is his name.

Marc slightly tenses up next to me. Patrick hasn’t stopped eye-fucking me since I got here, and I could not feel more uncomfortable. Since I can tell we both want out of the conversation, I turn to Marc. “Hey, let’s go grab a drink,” I suggest, even though I can see he has a full one already.

He looks down at his cup but catches on quickly. “Yeah, I could use another. See you guys later.” He nods to the boys.

“See you around, ‘Cali,’” I hear the blond call out to me as we walk away towards the keg on the other side of the kitchen.

“Gross,” I say in disgust once we are out of earshot of them.

“I know. Sorry about that. I gotta play nice with them since they are still EJ’s housemates, but please stay away from them. Especially, Patrick, I don’t like or trust that guy.”

“Trust me, not a problem.” I grab a red solo cup from the stack on the counter.

“You drinking tonight?” Marc asks while raising his eyebrows in surprise.

“No, probably just water.” It’s not that I don’t drink, I just don’t do it often. I don’t enjoy the taste, so I only drink when I want to get drunk. With classes starting on Monday, tonight is not that night.

---