They'll Think It's Just Cause We're Young

College life was nothing like Breanne expected it would be like. In her head, she imagined endless partying and great times. With North Dakota was nothing short of that, she never factored in the school work too. And that was beginning to stress her out. Avoiding both her roommate and brother didn't help matters much either.

The weeks dragged by slowly. Every day was the same; it was like a song on repeat. Breanne would go to class, then the library and lose herself in a mountain of school work, and then find a party to go to. She stayed away from her dorm as much as possible. And assisting with avoiding her roommate, Lynette was never around either. Breanne wasn't stupid; she didn't have to wonder where her friend had disappeared to every morning. Brad's apartment was only a few blocks off campus.

Some nights, after heavy drinking and wild parties, Breanne would stumble her way back to the room that she was assigned too and Lynette actually there. It was those nights that Breanne would just mumble a quick hello and crawl into bed, her back facing her roommate before she drifted to an alcohol induced sleep.

On the other hand, Breanne had been waiting to run into her brother. Though, that never happened, even considering his three pm Tuesday and Thursday class was right next to hers. Brad didn't bother to text his only sister. That hurt her more than anything. Sure, maybe he was embarrassed but they had never gone more than a few days without speaking. And Breanne was entirely too stubborn to contact him first. Perhaps she just had to cope with the fact that she wasn't such a large priority in his life anymore.

Attempting to shake the negative thoughts from her head, Breanne let out a long sigh. Her thin fingers flipped yet another page of the large book in front of her. A constant pounding in her head tried to distract Breanne from the tiny black words. She skimmed through her notes and the bright yellow highlighter mocked her, making her headache even worse.

It was nearing ten on a Thursday night. Breanne should have been out enjoying the Thirsty Thursday celebrations in one of the frat houses. Instead she was cramming for a quiz that were scheduled in both of her Friday classes.

The library was quiet as students around her studied; most notably the ones she shared classes with tomorrow morning. Above the sound of pages turning, the only noise that could be heard was a group of guys talking quietly a few tables down. Every so often they got rowdy, joking a little too loudly which earned them glares from the studious types. Breanne couldn't help but to notice the guys weren't doing much studying anyway.

The group of guys cheering pulled Breanne's attention from the books in front of her. Thankful for the distraction, her eyes raised to the door in time to see TJ Oshie. She examined his face for the third time since their meeting in the woods, which seemed like ancient history at this point. He greeted his friends before feeling eyes burning into him. Pushing his hat so it sat backwards on his head, his eyes found Breanne's own ocean blue orbs. His tongue slid across his bottom lip as he contemplated whether or not he should say hello. Instead he settled on sending her a small smile and sat down with his friends.

Breanne let out the breath she was holding in as her eyes began to unfocus, not looking at anything in particular. Brad and Lynette weren't the only people Breanne hadn't had any contact with. TJ Oshie avoided her when he saw the small brunette around campus. She assumed Brad had told him the same thing as he did her: stay away.

Brad's face clouded Breanne's mind. His sad ocean blue eyes taunted her. It was then that she realized he was actually sitting in front of her. He sighed and looked at the table, before looking back up to meet her stare.

"Can we talk?" He asked, "please?" Breanne nodded, closing her book. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad."

"I'm not mad," She stopped him. He looked at her oddly before continuing on his tangent.

"If you don't want me to see Lynette, I won't. I completely understand, I just don't want you to be mad anymore." Breanne shook her head.

"I'm not mad, Bradley," she said with more power this time. This time, he understood his sister's words. His eyes shone with confusion.

"Then what are you?" Breanne pursed her lips.

"Honestly?" He nodded and she continued, "I guess I'm disappointed that you guys felt like you had to hide your feelings from me. Oh and I'm still disgusted. You two had sex in my bed."

"I swear we didn't actually get that far," he said, a playful smirk on his lips. Breanne rolled her blue eyes at him.

"Whatever Brad, just drop it," she said, pretending to gag. He laughed and pulled her into an uncomfortable hug from across the wooden table.

"It was like hell not talking to you for so long, Bre." She nodded before Brad rambled off, typing on his cellphone but not missing a beat while he talked about something that had happened in practice earlier.

The girl tried desperately to pay attention to what her brother was telling her, but a pair of greenish hazel eyes just wouldn’t allow that. TJ licked his lips again and then he let his lips stretch into a smile. He was taunting her. Breanne harshly bit down on her lip, drawing blood, as she attempted to keep from smiling at the boy who was gaining her full attention.

He, again, wasn’t paying any mind to what his friends were so excited about, and rather, his focus was on Breanne, the pretty brunette across the room. She couldn’t help but to admire how good he looked in his Hollister polo and jeans. His hair was gelled, keeping it from flipping outwards. His eyes flicked to her brother, and he raised a brow, a teasing smile gracing his features.

Just as Breanne's eyes once again found Brad, he looked up at her. “Are you even listening to me?” A rosy blush tickled Breanne's tanned cheeks.

"Uh, I-" she stuttered out, racking her brain for an excuse. Brad rolled is eyes at her.

"I asked if you wanted to get some food," he repeated himself in a faux annoyed tone, "I'm starving," he concluded, tipping his chair onto the two back legs as he rubbed his stomach. Breanne let out an airy laugh.

"Absolutely," she agreed, knowing she hadn't eaten since lunch. She was far too busy, worrying about earning a failing grade on her exams tomorrow. Brad stood from the table, stretching his arms above his head when he was on his feet. Meanwhile, Breanne collected her things and closed her books.

"My car is outside," he told her, swiftly scooping up his sister's two heavy textbooks, leaving her to only carry her planner and five subject notebook. "I know this cool diner in town we can go to. They serve breakfast all day." Brad grinned as the two walked towards the door.

"Millsy!" A booming voice called, causing both of the siblings to look to the left. Breanne noticed the table of six guys give her the up and down. Normally this would cause her to feel uncomfortable, seeing as she was in just sweatpants and a long sleeve Atlanta Thrasher's shirt, but she was preoccupied. TJ stared into her eyes. She felt bare.. Like his gaze was stripping her of her clothes and confidence. Breanne's eyes shyly dropped to her beat up Uggs.

"Sorry boys, I can't talk right now," she heard Brad say. She missed his next words though as her eyes returned to her new love interest. With a sexy smirk fixed upon his perfect lips, he sent her a wink. With a blush that luckily went unnoticed by her brother as he tugged on her sleeve, she turned and followed him through the glass door. Butterflies attacked the lining of her stomach as she walked away.

TJ Oshie was surely going to be the death of Breanne Miller.

;;;;

It wasn't long before Brad dropped his sister off at her dorm building, saying something about having the boys over for a Halo tournament. Part of her wondered where her roommate was, but she already had a hunch. Realizing it wasn't even midnight yet, Breanne slipped into something more attractive and lined her eyes with onyx make up. She slipped her feet back into her same old Uggs and left her room, being sure to grab some money, her phone and her student ID card.

It didn't take long to find a party on campus. Walking past the male building Walsh, she caught up with a few freshman boys she had grown fond of as they smoked their cigarettes.

"The guys in the room next to mine are having a get together," Brandon said, running a finger through his thick blonde hair. He smiled down at Breanne, "you should come have some drink."

Breanne, of course, agreed and followed her two classmates into their building. She saw a hockey stick and bag of equipment leaned against the door to aid in keeping it open and rolled her eyes to herself.

It was nice being a girl. Breanne smiled sweetly as she was handed a beer. Being handed free alcohol was always seen as a plus in her eyes.

As she suspected, her two friends disappeared not too long after their arrival. After finding a couple of drunk girls who seemed down to go, both boys dipped out with barely another look at the girl they had brought. Breanne didn't care much; she was now feeling quite a buzz anyway and was perfectly able to make new friends.

The tiny dorm room was already full of students and most of them were spilling into the hall and into different dorms anyway. The party count was increasing by the minute and Breanne spotted quite a few familiar faces from previous parties in this residence hall. She finished her beer as she made her way to the cooler that she was told to help herself from.

Breanne's hand brushed against someone else's when they reached for the same aluminum can. Her eyes raised to meet a pair of deep chocolate brown ones. A blush blazed at the boys cheeks as he pulled his hand away quickly.

"I'm sorry, you go ahead," he insisted. Breanne smiled kindly at him and grabbed the beer. She cracked it open and took a long chug of the crisp liquid. "You're Millsy's sister, right?" She nodded.

"Yeah, Breanne," the brunette informed him, realizing now why she recognized his soft features.

"Ryan Duncan," he introduced himself, slipping his rough hand into her own. "I play hockey with your brother."

She only nodded, already knowing that piece of information as the two stepped away from the coolers. Leaning against the bland white wall, they continued to make small talk. Realizing they had a lot in common, they began to chat about everything and anything. As the conversations got deeper and more personal, the pair both began to get more intoxicated...and not only because of the alcohol.

But as Ryan was drunkenly telling his new friend the story of how he managed to fit into in a child sized Power Rangers costume last year for Halloween, a pair of eyes made Breanne's heart skip a beat deep in her chest. TJ watched her intently, jealousy painted on his facial features. Breanne's eyes connected with his for just a moment before her focus trailed over to the pretty blonde that was under his arm who was completely unaware of the exchange. She pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows at him, motioning to the female beside him, wondering what his envious look was about. That particular emotion melted from TJ's face instantly and he shrugged a bit. A smirk stretched across those lips and he raised his bottle of Miller Lite to Breanne before putting it against his mouth and finishing off the drink.

Yeah, TJ Oshie was definitely going to be the death of her.