Page 47 of Can We Just Be Happy Now?

I laugh, taking a better look at the list.

Dance on a bar or table

Buy a stranger a donut

Kiss someone besides the person you came with

Switch sweatbands with someone

Save someone from a conversation they clearly don’t want to be a part of

Get someone to give you a condom

Take shots with a new friend

“I guess we better get going then.” I tug on her hand, leading her down the street toward the fraternity house. “We’ll stop by Voodoo Doughnut on the way.”

She rambles about which donuts are her favorite, easily convincing me we need some for ourselves too. Twenty minutes later, we’re licking frosting off our fingers and pushing our way into the fraternity house. The silence of the cold night air is immediately replaced with bright kitchen lights and a hundred voices talking over each other.

“Will you be good with your list for a few minutes while I go make tonight's cocktail?” I yell over the group of already drunk girls by the fridge screaming the lyrics to “Jessie’s Girl” playing from the speaker.

She’s already scoping out the scene to see what she can check off. There hasn’t been a dull moment with her yet–in the best way. “Yes! I refuse to get stuck with laundry.”

“Hey, it doesn’t hurt me when you run out of underwear.”

“I’m sure it doesn’t.” She shakes her head in amusement and gives me a chaste kiss before wandering off, her heels clicking against the hardwood floor and her long legs on full display under her way-too-short tutu. I cannot wait to have those wrapped around me later. I stare shamelessly until she walks out the sliding glass door to the backyard then turn toward the kitchen.

I pull the clear plastic tub we typically use for jungle juice out from the bottom cupboard and coax the drunk girls away from the fridge long enough to get out what I need. Dumping in an entire handle of Smirnoff, I add three containers of white cranberry juice–just enough to make the concoction a milky white color. Perfect. I chuckle to myself. I stir the mixture with a ladle and pull the stack of Solo cups from the corner.

A girl I don’t recognize invades the space where I lean against the counter. “Hey.”

“Hey! Would you like a Cup of Cooper?” I ask, ladling the white drink into a cup.

“Come again?” she asks as if she didn’t hear me correctly. She did.

I wink. “Exactly.”

The girl stands there dumbfounded for a second, but my words register then she rolls her eyes as she reaches for the cup in my hand. I laugh as she walks away, and I fill a handful of cups to disperse, determined to have that joke land at least five more times tonight.

After passing out a few more drinks, I search for Kylie. Her tutu makes her easy to spot even from the back. The moment I see her on the other side of the living room I know she’s crossing the kiss someone besides the person you came with item off the list. My eyes widen, unable to pull my gaze away. What I didn’t know was a girl would be on the other side of that kiss. She asked me if I wanted her to skip that one, but I wasn’t worried about it. I know all the guys here, and they know we’ve been seeing each other. It didn’t occur to me she’d kiss a girl, but I’m even more on board with that.

I take a step toward her, a threesome joke already on the tip of my tongue, right as she pulls back.

What.

The.

Fuck.

She didn’t just kiss a girl.

She kissed Sophie.

The moment they break apart, I get a better view of her. Jesus Christ, she’s hot. She’s wearing teal leggings with a high-cut hot pink leotard and matching leg warmers and sweatbands. Her dirty blonde hair is tied up in a high ponytail that swings slightly when she laughs at something Kylie says. How the hell is she even here? It’s rare for freshman girls who aren’t in a sorority to get invited. And as far as I know, none of my brothers know Sophie outside of her connection to me.

When Sophie tugs her sweatbands off to give to the girl I came with, she catches my stare. She freezes, clearly ignoring whatever else Kylie says to her. Turning on her heel to walk away, Kylie’s eyes also find mine, and she bounds toward me happily.

“Two-for-one! I’m so going to win this.” She smiles as she leans in to kiss me, and I taste remnants of familiar cotton candy lip gloss. My eyes don’t close. They stay locked on the girl still staring at me from across the living room.

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