Page 16 of Lilies in Autumn

The sister manning the door signals to us that our ride is here, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

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I barely close our dorm’s door before CeCe turns on me.

She approaches me like an injured animal, cautious and watching for signs of my escape. “Aves, you are covered in dirt, you have a leaf in your hair, and you have mud caked on your very, very expensive shoes.” She eyes me carefully. “Are you okay? What happened?”

The leaf is a new development. I truly thought it was a twig. I’m not sure which I’d prefer.

“I’m assuming that a garden gnome attack wouldn’t be any more believable than a house plant catching me off guard?”

She shakes her head and waits me out.

I chew on my bottom lip, a nervous habit I developed while dieting in the sixth grade and trying to abstain from chocolate chip cookies. CeCe’s eyes zero in on it, and I know that anything less than the truth won’t be believable. An annoying side effect of being friends for so long.

“Promise you won’t make fun of me? I’m serious, I do not want to hear any of your bullshit about me falling or making a fool of myself, because trust me, I know. I freaking know.”

“Okay, I promise. Now will you just tell me what happened?”

I take a deep breath and recount the time I spent with Greyson, nestled against his chest. I tell her everything he said, about Felicity, Alpha Nu, and the hazing, but I don’t tell her how he touched me like he would die if he couldn’t put his hands on me. I tell her about my fall and the way I ran off, embarrassed and mortified, but I don’t tell her how he made me feel like my heart was beating too fast in my chest. I don’t tell her how his touch made me squirm, desperate for relief, and I don’t tell her that I wanted nothing more than for him to walk his hand from my hip to the heat between my thighs and show me just how experienced with women he was.

Normally, I’d have no issue telling my best friend all about my interactions with a guy, but for some reason, the minutes I spent with Greyson seemed sacred and private. To him, I was probably just a mess of a girl, one of many, and would have been easily forgettable if I hadn’t launched myself to the ground in such a spectacular display. Maybe even that isn’t unique. By tomorrow, I’ll be just another girl he met at a party, and my face will fade into the deepest recesses of his mind.

Short of falling on my fat ass, I wonder if there was anything else I could have done to remain in the forefront of his mind. He is, without a doubt, the most breathtaking man I have ever seen. When he asked me to go outside with him, it was almost like my brain was short-circuited, and I couldn’t perform basic functions, like talking without sounding like an idiot. A vague memory comes back to me when I compared him to Ted Bundy. Twice.

God, help me. He definitely thought I was insane.

“Well, Aves, you have had quite a night. You may want to shower all that”—she waves her hand in my direction—“off yourself. You kind of smell like dirt.”

I sniff my dress and grimace at the smell. “Yes, Princess Peach. However, while we’re on the subject of tonight’s party, let’s talk about your little race with a large Italian man. Care to share?”

She huffs, looking like an annoyed Cabbage Patch kid again. “He was following me around the party when you disappeared with your Viking. By the time we made it into the front room, there was a Mario Kart tournament happening, and you know how I get when it comes to a challenge. I couldn’t just stand there and not participate, so I told him we were up next, and that I was going to kick his ass.” She shrugs as if it’s no big deal, but I know her too well. She’s leaving details out, but so am I, so I don’t press.

“Well, it sounded like he wanted you to step on his balls and spank him with a riding crop. Did I hear him correctly when he asked if you’d be his mistress?”

CeCe laughs and shakes her head. “Trust me, there is nothing submissive about him, and he knows it. He just wanted to see how I’d respond.” She pauses and looks at me closely. “Wait, why do you know so much about kinky sex and sex toys?”

“Uh, I watch porn.”

“The kind that has riding crops and mistresses?”

I laugh. I may have never participated in the sex part of sex, but I was well-versed in all kinds of intercourse. Lovemaking, hate fucking, revenge sex, BDSM. No one could claim I was naive. She takes my laughter for what it is: the only answer I’ll provide to her question.

“Wow, okay, you little freak.”

“Whatever you say, Princess Peach. In more important news, what are we going to do about Alpha Nu?”

“What are we going to do? We’re going to avoid them like the bubonic plague, that’s what we’re going to do.” She shudders dramatically. “I can’t believe girls are so desperate to join them that they’d willingly prostitute themselves out. How does the administration not put a stop to it?”

I shake my head in disgust. “I’m not sure, but they have to know. I mean, Greyson made it seem like their dating auction was one of the most popular Greek life events.”

“Well, we aren’t going to that shit show, that’s for sure. Let’s make sure to tell Serena when we meet her for brunch on Sunday.” CeCe moves around the room, getting ready for bed and throwing her dress, shoes, and bra in different directions. I pick up her discarded clothes and place them neatly on her dresser.

“C, stop throwing your clothes around this room like a stripper. I don’t have any singles to tip you with.” I barely finish my sentence before a pair of folded socks are thrown at my head. “Rude.”

“Speaking of strippers, I am dying to hear about Serena’s sprint out of that party. That Devin guy was hot but also an asshole. I don’t like how he treated Serena like she was his to command before she ran home.”

I’m not sure how strippers made her think of Serena, but I’m used to the inner workings of CeCe’s mind and don’t question it. I think back to how abrupt he was, demanding she leave the party, and making her question why she was there in the first place. My heart hurt for Serena, between her dad replacing her and her mom with a new family and then entering college freakishly young, her loneliness is suffocating. She seemed to brush off Marina, but with Devin, it was like she crawled into a shell and snuffed out her inner light. It was tough to see someone that kind, that beautiful, fold in on themself.

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