I made my way back to my girlfriends and slumped down on the wooden bench, noticing that Cass was snuggled into the arms of the super-large guy from earlier.
“And who is this pretty lil’ lady? Y’all got a hot woman tree ‘round here somewhere that I don’t know ‘bout?” he asked, dramatically looking around, making me laugh and pulling me from my stormy mood.
“I’m Molly. You?” I instantly liked him: big, cuddly, with bright rosy cheeks.
“I’m Jimmy-Don Smith, darlin’. Mighty nice to make your acquaintance.” He tipped his cowboy hat and turned to kiss a giggling Cass on her neck.
Ally pulled me beside her. “Where the hell have you been?”
“With Rome in your room. He used the spare key.”
She slapped her hand on mine, her eyes widened, and a brilliant white smile lit her face. “And?”
“Calm down! Nothing happened. We just talked, had a couple of beers,” I answered hurriedly, shushing her.
“Did he kiss you again?” She was practically bouncing in her seat.
I shook my head with incredulity. “No. He only kissed me for the initiation, Ally.”
“I don’t think so—”
I held up my hand, cutting her off. “Shelly found him in your room. They’re in there now. You may want to change your sheets later by the look of things when I left.”
She dropped her head to the table. “What?! Why would he go there again after all these years? I thought…” She gave me a quick side-glance.
“What? You thought what?”
She studied me, biting her lip in contemplation, and then just shook her head. “Nothing, I was obviously mistaken.”
I looked away and saw Lexi showing some girl a backwards tumble.
“You want another drink?” Ally asked, exhaling a disappointed sigh.“Sure,” I replied. I may as well enjoy the night and try not to think about the Prince of Alabama banging Miss Cheer Almighty in my new friend’s sumptuous red bedroom.
4
“Just be clear and concise, talk from your diaphragm not from your throat, oh, and take deep breaths. You know the topic well, so you’ll be just fine.”
I nodded as Professor Ross briefed me on the seminar I was about to lead. She’d been busy with her research on The Design Argument for the academic journal she was writing, so she asked me to lead today’s discussion group.
“Now, if I’m not mistaken, the football team is still away, so you should only have maybe thirteen or fourteen in the class.”
I stretched my back, eliminating any clicks. “Okay. I think I’m ready.” I shuffled my notes into a pile before me and secretly watched students begin filing into the seminar room across the hall from the professor’s office.
Suzy stood beside me, amused at my antics. “So I hear you have moved house?”
“Yeah. We joined a sorority so Cass, Lexi, and I have been given a room there.”
She put her arm on my shoulder. “Good for you, Molly. What does it look like? Nice?”
I let out a single laugh. “More like amazing. It’s huge—massive bed, bright white walls and it has a balcony… a flippin’ balcony!”
“Ha, really? Makes a change from the Oxford halls of residence, then!”
“Erm… just a bit.” I turned to face her. “Do you remember a couple of years ago when you took the class to tour Italy?”
Suzy nodded enthusiastically. “Mm-hmm.”
“Well, my balcony looks just like the one in Verona that we visited, weirdly just like the one at Juliet’s house. I can’t believe people actually live like this in college! It’s absolute madness. But I’m now officially on a tight budget that’s for sure.”
Suzy laughed, placing her frail hands on my shoulders. “Enjoy it, my girl. You deserve it.”
I walked to the air-conditioner and turned it up a notch before I melted. The small office felt like an oven. The weather was still burning a hole in the ground, and therefore, I was wearing short denim shorts and a white capped-sleeved linen top. I’d even changed from my favourite orange Crocs to a white pair just to compliment the overall look, and maybe also to piss off Shelly just a bit with my apparent quirky fashion sense. My hair, as usual, was up in a messy high bun and my glasses were firmly in place.
I checked the seminar room once more and it wasn’t long before the seats were almost full. Shelly went in with her entourage of bimbos and surprisingly, Rome followed a second behind the group, chatting to Ally. I inwardly cursed—the team must’ve returned. As if leading a seminar wasn’t daunting enough, dealing with my pent-up Romeo issues would severely affect my nerves.