baby you're the right kind of wrong.

Ebony couldn't help but roll her eyes at the mention of Lindsey and her stupid numbers. "Yea. Well her and her idea that since we weren't kissed last night so suddenly we aren't sophisticated members so society who can create successful relationships is stupid. Plus I'm so sick of everyone just going along with her stupid plans because everyone's to afraid to tell her no. Chase and I didn't want to kiss. It was our choice not to put our friendship in a possible awkward position by kissing one another because we don't want to date. And if she gets pissed off about it and that we skipped her stupid meeting then so be it." She told Zayn not about to let him of all people make her go back to the kappa house when she just didn't want to.

While Ebony was talking to Zayn Chase got an idea. If Ebony wanted to talk to Zayn alone for real liked she'd said then hopefully she wouldn't get mad at him. And he slowly backed out of the kitchen and then closed the door that led into the kitchen behind him and sealed it off with the first thing he could find that would keep it shut. So this wasn't how he'd thought the morning would end up going, but maybe some good would come of it. Because those two had a lot of anger towards one another, and Chase knew for sure that at least one of them wanted to talk to the other.

---

Liam sighed as he finished his walk over to the couch with everyone else and raised his hand. This was the dumbest thing he'd ever done. He was a senior for crying out loud, or maybe Lindsey didn't realize not everyone had relationships for themselves on the mind 24/7. Plus he had school work to worry about outside of all these parties. And honestly he wasn't sure he'd be able to handle a relationship right now with how stressful the first month alone was. But that didn't mean he wouldn't be able to create a successful relationship when the time was right for him.

As soon as Zayn saw Chase backing out of the door, he knew he was in on Liam's little plan too. Completely ignoring what Ebony had said, he moved towards the door and found that it was jammed shut, just as he expected. He let out a sigh, running his hand through his hair, and turned back to Ebony again. "What do I have to do to get Chase to open the door?" He asked, looking at her with his lips pressed together.

---

Maisie knew that whatever Lindsey had up her sleeve was probably going to be an embarrassing mess, so when she began talking again, Maisie grabbed onto the side of the sofa to brace herself.

"First, what I want everyone to do is find the person they didn't kiss last night and discuss privately exactly what happened," Lindsey said slowly, moving her eyes around the room as if she was a professional speaker. "Were you not drunk enough? Does the thought of them make you want to vomit? Discuss."

Ebony sighed when and threw her hands up in defeat when Zayn was asking her how to get Chase to open the door. "He probably wants us to talk alone. Because apparently he thinks we need to work things out, and it's better to do that alone than surrounded by people. But he also seems to have forgotten that I told him you didn't want to talk to me. So I don't know how to get him to open the door." She said pushing her fingers through her hair. This was not at all how she'd planned on spending the morning, and she wondered if this had all been part of some well thought out plan to get her and Zayn to talk or if it was more a spur of the moment type thing. Either way though Ebony didn't see it going very well.

---

Liam sighed and scratched his neck before he went to sit next to Maisie on the couch. This really was a stupid idea, and he honestly hadn't wanted to have to discuss why he hadn't kissed Maisie again. But it was like Lindsey was pushing them together or something. "I wanted to kiss you last night. But I didn't and made it seem like I didn't want to because we're friends and I didn't want to jeopardize that. Plus I didn't want you to think that something more would come of it in case it didn't. I promise even though this line is the most annoying thing, it's not you it's me. Before I'm ready to kiss, hook up, or be in a relationship with anyone I need to figure a few things out. I mean it's my last year here and it's really stressful already. And I don't want to push any of my stress from graduating and trying to figure my life out onto you when it's just your first year and you should be enjoying yourself." He told her really truly hoping that she understood and didn't feel rejected.

They'd only been in the same room barely a minute and Ebony was already yelling at him, not that he was surprised. It had become so obvious recently that the only thing they were good at was fighting. He let out a breath and looked around the room, spotting the window above the sink. It was too small for him, but Ebony could probably shimmy out of it should worse come to worse. "Liam said the same thing to me," Zayn said, letting out a long breath. "Let's get this over with then. You broke my heart, Ebony, and I've spent the last few months trying to fix it, and now that I finally have, everyone seems hell bent on trying to get me to let you break it again. I don't hate you, Ebony, but I hate what you did. Every single time I saw you with Harry, I knew something was up. I could see it in the way you looked at each other. It's taken me a long time to get over what you did, but I'm finally starting to trust people again and I'm not going to jeopardize that. One day I think we'll make good friends, but I'm not ready for that yet."

---

"It's fine, Liam," Maisie said, nodding her head at him. "You don't have to explain yourself to me. I understand completely. We're just two different people looking for two different things, I guess. I'm sorry to have thought that this was something that it wasn't, but I'm glad everything is cleared up now and we can be friends." It wasn't the first time Maisie had liked someone who didn't like her back, so she knew how much it was going to suck, but she tried not to let it get to her. Liam wasn't looking for anything romantic, but she was. She hadn't been actively looking, but when she met Liam, she realized a relationship, no matter how serious or unserious it was, was something that she wanted. He made it obvious that it wasn't going to be with him, but Maisie could handle that. Like Elizabeth said, there were plenty of other guys.

Ebony let out a shaky breath just knowing she was going end up crying again before this was all over. "And I'm sorry that I broke you heart. When I saw you last night with Lindsey I understood how you must've felt seeing me with Harry, even though I promise on everything I love I never slept with him while we were together. I love you and I regret ever being with Harry after we broke up, and hanging around him all the time while we were together, but I know that doesn't change anything. Sometimes I sleep in your sweater because it's the only way I can feel close to you again, I even bought your favorite cologne so it'd smell like you and it makes me hate myself because I know I fucked everything up. And at that Halloween party I remember getting smashed and asking Harry to take me to you because I wanted to leave but I didn't know where you were. Then like a drunken idiot someone gave me another drink and I took it, then some song came on and I wanted to dance to it before I left and Harry just started dancing with me and I was so drunk I fell and landed in his lap and then told him to take me to you again. Apparently it was all on video and Liam sent it to me this morning." She told him through her tears. She wanted everything to be better between them but she also knew it wasn't something they could fix over night. They'd both hurt one another, and might not ever be able to repair what was broken.

---

"Me too." Liam told her glad she understood. He really hadn't wanted things to be weird between them. He didn't want to lose his friendship with her before it'd even been given a chance to go somewhere. And maybe it would blossom into something more one day but he knew that today wasn't the day it blossomed into anything. Like he'd said a million times he felt like now, it just wasn't the right time for him to be in a relationship. Even if he liked Maisie and thought she was attractive. And maybe he should stop over thinking everything and just go with the flow and do whatever he wanted. But that was something he wasn't really the best at. For now he was just going to take every day as it came and see where it led him. "I'm glad we can still be friends."

[ I'm about to leave for work... again so I'll reply on my lunch break I guess and after that I won't be home until after 7 when I'll be able to reply again. ]

Zayn sighed, shaking his head as he looked at Ebony. "You can't blame alcohol for our problems, Ebony. It was deeper than that - you and I both know it. What you did with Harry on Halloween night and every other night I saw you two together had nothing to do with alcohol. You were too afraid to commit to me even though we'd both agreed to it, so you acted on your feelings for Harry to make everything less scary, like if you had him as an option just in case you didn't have to be so worried about what would happen between us." Zayn took a long breath, running his hand through his hair, and continued speaking before Ebony could get another word in. "I've done a lot of thinking about that night and every other one before it. I get it now, okay? You don't need to explain anything to me."

---

Maisie nodded at Liam before looking around the room. She didn't know why Lindsey thought this exercise was going to help them create relationships, but hey, she clearly didn't know as much about relationships as Lindsey did, so maybe there was something else to this whole thing. Maisie was about to ask Liam what they were supposed to do next, but before she could, Lindsey was speaking again.

"So, now that you all know what went wrong last time, I hope you can see now what you need to do right next time," Lindsey said, smiling at them like she actually cared. "Remember, a fraternity or sorority is only as strong as its weakest link, and right now, you guys are the weakest links. Let's step it up now."

Maisie was almost positive that Lindsey got off on embarrassing other people, and though Maisie was just a freshman and Lindsey was an upperclassmen, she decided that she'd had enough of it. She couldn't say it to her face though, so she knew she'd have to be just as sneaky as Lindsey was, and maybe she could kill two birds with one stone while she did it too.

She turned back towards Liam, twisting her lips as she looked at him. "Who could I sleep with that would piss Lindsey off the most?" She whispered to him, looking once from Liam to Lindsey and then back again.

[ Yay work! I work 6-11 tonight so I won't be on then. ]

"I've never loved someone so much before. And it's scary because when you love them so much they have the power to break you in two and I did that to you not meaning to. And I know it isn't something that I can just magically heal with I'm sorry or I love you. And I only have myself to blame for pushing you away." Ebony said understanding what he was saying. "I'd understand if you did hate me. I mean I did the one thing to you that I was afraid you might do to me if I got to close. I broke your heart when you trusted me with it. And even if we become friends it won't be enough for me because I want another chance but I know I don't deserve one. So it'll always be painful to see you with someone else. But you deserve to be happy and not forced to put up with me." She told him biting her lip not sure what else to say. "I'll give you your sweater back if you want it." She added no wanting to keep it with no hope of ever being with him again.

---

Liam chuckled at Maisie's question, clearly someone else was the side against Lindsey. Because the longer he sat there listening to Lindsey and her stupid theories he more he couldn't stand her. Even if she was pretty she was annoying and frankly kind of stupid.

"Uh well I'd say Zayn but I don't know that he'd be a good choice since you might make more enemies there than anything. But I'll think on it. See who would really piss her off the most." He told her knowing there had to be someone other than Zayn.

[ well at least I'm off tomorrow so I'll probably be on all day ]

"You can keep the sweater," Zayn said simply, shaking his head. "I don't want it back. But I can't do it, Ebony. You know that I can't. Not after what happened last time and everything that happened after our blow up. It all just hurts too bad," Zayn said with a sigh as he ran his hands through his hair. "I'm not ready to even think about dating anyone yet, especially not... you. I'm sorry, there's just too much pain and too many bad memories," Zayn said honestly. His break up with Ebony had been one of the most awful things that had ever happened to him, and he wasn't ready to relive it, especially not in the sense of giving her a second chance knowing that more than likely it would just happen again. The issues that they had weren't even close to being resolved, and to try to work things out now, after everything, would be unfair to them both.

---

Maisie thought for a moment, a small idea forming in her head. Liam had agreed to be her friend, and being someone's friend included an awful lot of weird and interesting things. He'd already told her he wasn't romantically interested in her, so he really had no reason not to go along with it.

"Let's get out of here," Maisie said, grabbing onto Liam's wrist and pulling him off the sofa, ignoring Lindsey completely. "We're going to host a party tonight. One that's actually good. And, while we're there, you're going to get me laid," Maisie said, a mischievous smile on her face. "Not by you, of course," she added just in case, as they'd had way too many mix-ups already between them.

[ Hey me too ]

Ebony nodded her head, "I get it." She said softly. And she did get it, even if Zayn did still care about her she'd hurt him even if she hadn't meant to and he couldn't trust her. Especially with his heart because putting it her hands could just lead to more heartbreak and she didn't want to put Zayn through that again. Honestly right now neither of them were in the right place for a relationship with each other. "You don't have to apologize to me. I understand. You're not ready and may never be ready to trust me again. And I can't blame you for that. We both have a lot of things we need to work on apart if we ever want to be good together or with other people. And maybe right now what's best for us is to learn how to be in a room together and be okay with seeing each other with other people. Or just seeing one another in general without blowing up." She said biting her lip for a moment before speaking again. "I don't want to get in the way of your happiness anymore." She added softly wanting to kiss his cheek, or squeeze his hand, or something but she didn't. "I should be going though. I have class to get to and I haven't even eaten breakfast yet."

---

Liam went along with Maisie not really sure where she was taking him but at least he didn't have to be around Lindsey anymore. Even if he hadn't really been paying attention to anything she was saying, he'd kind of tuned her out after her first speech thing. Plus he'd actually been trying to think of who besides Zayn Lindsey would be pissed off seeing with someone else. Which also made him wonder if she was really interested in Zayn or if she had some weird thing against Ebony because he'd never seen her try and come onto Zayn before the cleaning the day before and pretty much everyone knew that he was single. Really he didn't know. And he didn't know that it mattered either way.

"Oh we are." Liam said in a joking manner. "Well we'll have to work really hard for it to be better than last nights party." He said sarcasm dripping from every word. He was pretty he'd went to birthday parties when he was like ten that were better than that party last night, and when he was ten they played pin the tail on the donkey and twister. Lindsey really just didn't know how to throw a party. "Uh I mean if you're sure that's what you want I suppose I can be your wingman. Help get you laid." He added and he hadn't really been expecting the part about getting her laid, but whatever she wanted he'd do his best to help accomplish.

[ it's like it was meant for us to be on all day tomorrow together ]

"Thanks, Eb," Zayn said, using the nickname for her that he hadn't used in what felt like forever. He watched her for a moment with his arms folded across his chest before she was announcing that she needed to leave. "You'll have to see if that's good enough for Chase to open the door, then. If not, you could always climb through the window."

---

"I have a feeling you're going to be a great wingman, and we need to think of the perfect guy to piss Lindsey off," Maisie said as she pulled Liam upstairs and to her room, where they could have some privacy to plan their infamous night. "Do you think people will actually come? Since Lindsey's not the one throwing it?" She asked. The worst possible scenario was that the party ended up being her and Liam standing around with mountains of beer to drink by themselves.

[ Life works in mysterious ways I think my boyfriend is going to be over for a bit though. ]

Ebony smiled at the fact that her and Zayn were actually on the same page for the first time since the breakup and it wasn't a terrible one, and that he'd called her Ebs. It'd annoyed her that people still called her that after the break up because Zayn was the one who'd started it and she didn't want people calling her by something that only reminded her of him and that things were over. But she supposed she could get use to it again. "Funny that our only options are a locked door or a window." She said not sure if Chase would open the door or not. She wasn't really sure what he'd hope to accomplish by locking them in here together.

---

"Well I hope you're right." Liam said laughing a bit, he'd never actually been a wingman before. He felt like most of the people he knew hadn't really wanted one either, but he felt accomplish that he could be Maisie's and it would help in the bringing down of Lindsey. Because he really wanted that right now, like really bad. "Well one of the perks about being an attractive alpha senior is that if I say were having a party people will come. And if I tell everyone we are having a party to make up for the awful luau we all attended last night I'm sure everyone will want to come because I don't think anyone actually enjoyed that." He told her knowing the worst thing that could happen being no one decided to show up.

[ it sure does. And that's cool. I have to go do laundry at some point today anyways ]

Zayn smiled softly before walking over to the door and slamming his fists against it. Really, Chase should have known better than to cross his fraternity brother to begin with, but Zayn was willing to forgive him this time. "We talked!" Zayn shouted, pounding his fists again. "You can open the door now." He moved away from the door and looked back at Ebony with his hands in his pockets. "I guess now we wait and see."

---

"Well, I'm glad you're confident then," Maisie said with a smile as she sat down on the front of her bed, motioning for Liam to sit down at the foot of it. "Now, we need a theme for out party. Is toga too over done?"

"At least the window is still an option." Ebony said biting her lip, she hoped this hadn't been a scheme to get them back together though since Ebony wasn't sure that was ever going to happen again. Talking was enough though, because at least it'd brought some peace between them. Even if it would be awkward still for awhile.

Finally Chase unjammed the door and opened it so they could leave. Which Ebony was happy about because she really did need to get to class and find some food. "So you guys are okay right?" He asked them.

"We're gonna be okay. You won't be though if you ever do something like this again though. Promising a girl breakfast to cheer her up and not delivering is cruel. Luckily for you I have to get to class and stop to get something to eat or I'd pummel you into the ground right now." She said walking past him to leave.

---

Liam sat on the foot of the bed like Maisie's wanted him to. "Uh yea. People threw so many toga parties just last year I think if we never had to see another toga it'd still be to soon." He told her knowing they were cool for a while, but not so much anymore. "What about if we did a choose a decade party. Everyone whose invited could dress from whatever decade they want. Or we could make it a 20s themed party and have it seem like a private prohibition party. I mean who doesn't love drinking more than when they're at a party they're not supposed to drink at." He said just throwing an idea out there.

@ Katie Mosing

Ebony was out the door fairly quickly, and Zayn was left to think about what had happened. He still didn't know if he was ready to be friends with Ebony, but at least their talk had been a step in the right direction. His blood still boiled every time he thought about how her and Harry had betrayed him, but with time he thought it might get better, even if it didn't mean anything romantic for them.

---

"Do you think that sounds too much like something Lindsey would do?" Maisie said with a laugh, smiling at Liam again. "What do you think about an ABC party? Anything but clothes? That could make things interesting." She paused for a second, thinking. "Oh, and you still haven't given me any guys to choose from yet."

Ebony had left the kitchen quickly so hopefully she'd have enough time to stop by the coffee shop in the school and grab a coffee and a bite to eat before heading into class. She would've liked a better breakfast than packaged doughnuts and shitty coffee that needed a lot help to taste decent. But not everything could be Starbucks, and she knew she didn't have time to stop by there.

---

Liam thought about it for a moment and maybe it was something Lindsey would to. "Maybe but I'm pretty sure even if she did ever throw a decades themed party or anything along those lines it'd be awful." He said though Maisie's idea about an ABC party was interesting. "Yea it would totally be interesting to see how everyone showed up. How about you give me like an hour to make a list, then I can think about everyone Lindsey would be upset to see you with and once we have a list we can go from there. Plus I can put pictures of everyone next to their names so you know what they look like in case you haven't met them." He said knowing he'd have to go back to the Alpha house to get the pictures but honestly an hour would be plenty of time.

Zayn left the kitchen to grab his books as well, ready to go to class until it came time to get prepared for whatever the Alpha guys were going to do that night. He didn't know what anyone's plans were after Lindsey's party the night before, but he hoped it involved beer.

---

"Let's do ABC then. Make sure you tell the boys soon so they have time to get something planned and I'll tell the girls." Maisie smiled at Liam, happy that their plan was coming together. "This is going to be perfect."

[ did you wanna skip ahead to the party and Liam can give her the list there? ]

[ that sounds like a plan. ]

Ebony had gotten a text from one of the other girls in the sorority that Maisie and Liam were planning an ABC party while she was in class. So as soon as her classes were over she was headed back to the kappa house to see what Karen was going to the party in and to see if she had any ideas because well Ebony wasn't too sure what to go in. But she wanted it to be something good. After all this party actually sounded interesting. And once she was ready her and Karen headed out to the Alpha house.

---

Maisie had come up with a brilliant idea for this party actually and Liam was kind of interested to see how it actually turned out. Plus he'd finished his list of guys to give to her so as soon as he saw her he was pulling the list out and handing it over.

"So of course there's Zayn, he is after all Lindsey's current obsession. Then there Jake. He's a year younger than her so he's a junior and well they were off and on last year a lot before finally calling it off officially right before school started back. Then we have Kyler, she claims that she doesn't like him because he cheated on her and if asked she claims she saw him with Ebony but he's like Ebony's cousin or something because apparently like her whole family has attended this school or something. I think that might've been when this silent feud that no one admits is going on between them started. Then we have Chase, who he's just a sophomore right now but Lindsey has a thing for younger guys and she tried to sleep with him when he was a freshman but he turned her down because he thought she was insane. And those are the top like 4 guys who'd piss her off the most."

Zayn struggled to figure out what to wear to the ABC party before finally settling on wrapping a towel around his waist and calling it a day. It would be easy to take off should anyone feel frisky, but Zayn wasn't worried about that. As he walked over to the party with a few of the guys, he was surprised to see what the other guys were wearing.

---

Maisie and Elizabeth had taken careful care with making their duct tape dresses, and Elizabeth made sure Maisie's dress hugged all her curves in a way that made her look great.

"Hmm," Maisie said, taking a look at the list Liam handed to her. All the guys photos were handsome, definitely, but they were nowhere near as handsome as Liam. She knew he was out of the question though and most definitely wouldn't piss Lindsey off. "Who do you think is the best?" She asked.

Ebony and Karen had spent a good chunk of time on their outfits. Ebony had helped Karen make a dress out of neck ties they'd found at a thrift store while Ebony put effort into making a well it was supposed to look like a bubble bath made with balloons and duct tape. And really it'd turned out pretty cute. Which was what she was going for. And when they arrived at the party she was excited to see what everyone else dressed up in.

---

Liam having no idea what to wear to this party had just together a grass skirt looking deal with some stuff he'd bought earlier in the day deciding to be the male version of a hula dancer and he wasn't really sure if they were called hula dancers or not but oh well. Though seeing some of the girls and their well thought out outfits he knew they'd put more effort into this than him.

"Honestly I would go with either Kyler or Jake. She had actual relationships with both of them and would most likely hate to see either of them hooking up with someone else. Especially if that someone else was a freshman. I mean I heard that last year she made sure all the underclass men knew they were off limits." Liam said just giving his own opinion on the matter.

When Zayn walked into the party, he spotted Lindsey first thing, and she was instantly walking towards him with a smile on her face.

---

Both of the boys looked handsome enough and Maisie was sure it would be a great idea to piss Lindsey off, but she was beginning to regret her decision. It didn't seem like the smartest idea, but if nothing else, it would be good experience for her. She grabbed the list from Liam and smiled at him. "Thanks, Li. This is great."