Page 7 of Becoming Selfish

She stands up, seeming to be satisfied with my answer. “Good to know. Well, now the big question. What are we wearing tonight?” she asks with a mischievous glimmer in her eye.

Chapter 5

Eli

The house is packed tonight, which is not much of a surprise since we throw the best parties on campus. I recognize most everyone here so far, but I’m hoping there will be some new girls coming through tonight. I don’t necessarily feel the need to hook up with a random chick, but it’s nice to keep my options open. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to drink or not, so I’m sticking to water in my red solo cup for now.

I wander through the house, getting stopped at least five or six times. It’s mostly girls wearing close to nothing, being desperate, or guys who want to talk about the upcoming hockey season. Not that I mind either of those situations usually, I’m just not really in the mood to deal with it tonight. I haven’t been sleeping well at all, and I’m exhausted. I probably shouldn’t have agreed to host this party, but we always throw a kickoff party the weekend before school starts. I’ve had so much anxiety about this upcoming season, knowing it’s my last one if I don’t get called up by the time it’s over, which has been affecting my sleep a little too much lately.

I get stopped again, this time by a blonde wearing a skin-tight red dress. Her cleavage from her fake tits could not be more in my face as she grabs my arm, raking her long nails down my bicep. I instantly recognize her.

“Hey, Maddison,” she says, giving me a smirk.

“Alyssa.” I roll my eyes. I don’t feel like dealing with her tonight even though she is an easy lay.

“Missed you this summer.” She cocks her head to the side while continuing to graze her nails over my arm. “How was this dreadful town without me?”

“Quieter,” I state matter-of-factly.

She licks her lips, biting down on her bottom one. God, could she be any more obvious? I realize then that she thinks I meant quieter because she wasn’t screaming my name while we were in bed. She is the loudest girl I’ve ever been with, which can be kind of hot sometimes. But what I meant is that it was quieter because I didn’t have to hear her annoyingly high-pitched voice saying ‘Hey, Maddison,’ at every party she’s at. And she’s at every party.

Anyone who knows me through hockey calls me by my last name, Maddison. My family calls me EJ, which is short for Eli James. I guess that’s fine, but I just want to be called by my name, Eli. I rarely meet many people that don’t know me through hockey, and even if I do, as soon as they hear people calling me Maddison, they start to call me that too.

Alyssa’s long nails are still raking my arm. I look her up and down, contemplating giving her the attention she’s so desperately seeking. Just then, I hear someone yell “EJ” from across the room. My eyes dart to the front door to find Marc waving me over.

“Gotta go.” I grab Alyssa’s hand and remove it from my arm. If I change my mind about her tonight, I’m sure she’ll still be around.

I bob and weave through the crowd of people, getting stopped by a couple of guys trying to get me to join their beer pong game. Once I make my way through the mass of students, I hug my brother.

“Really, dude? Did you get more popular while I was gone last semester?” He’s giving me shit. He knows how annoying I find it when people pretend to know me because they assume I’m going to play professional hockey one day and want to be my friend. But little do they know that I may never play professional hockey at this rate.

“Very funny,” I say sarcastically.

I look down at the short brunette next to Marc as she scans the room, twirling a piece of her hair between her fingers. The spunky attitude radiating off of her isn’t Marc’s usual type, though, she’s hot as hell, so I guess she’s everybody’s type. Even though I can’t keep my promise to Marc about not attempting to sleep with every girl I lay my eyes on, I can keep my promise when it comes to the one girl he came here with.

“Hey, I’m Eli.” I reach my hand down to her to shake.

Just then, I hear “Maddison!” from somewhere in the kitchen. I turn my head to see who it was, but I have no idea who said it, I honestly don’t care, and the house is too packed to find out.

“Maddison, huh?” the short girl asks, cocking her head to the side.

“Yeah, its Eli, or you can go with Maddison if you prefer.” I’m still holding out my hand for her to shake it.

She places her small hand in mine. “Yeah, I think I’ll go with Maddison.”

Of course she will.

“I’m Ali.”

I look at Marc, waiting for him to introduce me to his date, but he doesn’t say anything. Why is he being so awkward?

“So, how do you know my brother?” I motion between the two of them.

“Brother? You guys are brothers? You look nothing alike.” Her head is on a swivel, looking back and forth between us.

We often get that question when we tell people we’re related. Marc’s deep tan skin and my pale complexion are a dead giveaway that no blood ties exist between us. My brother and I share a knowing look, laughing to ourselves.

“We’re stepbrothers. My dad married his mom when we were kids,” I explain while Marc stays silent.

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