Forelsket

I wasn’t prepared for how many people actually showed up to the mixer. I don’t know why, I mean, it was probably a required event after all, but my senses were completely out of whack as the alcohol coursed through my system and I was feeling uncharacteristically claustrophobic.

Looking around I felt like I was seeing multiples. Most of the girls were dressed in some variation of the same outfit: a tan t-shirt with fringed edged cut into it and a feather headband being the staple. Not that the boys were much better; they all seemed to be wearing plaid shirts and cowboy boots. It was nauseatingly cliché.

“What frat is this anyway?” I realized I hadn’t bothered to ask Annalie while we were creating costumes of our own earlier. I couldn’t read the look on her face, but she didn’t look at me and I got an uneasy feeling that told me I probably already knew the answer. “Anna.”

“Well,” She paused and bit her lip, looking around the room before finally turning her attention to me. “Delta Chi.”

“Anna no.” I knew it. “No.”

“Keelyn come on I’m doing you a favor here!”

“How exactly?”

“You met that guy at a Delta Chi party, so he’s gotta’ be around here somewhere, right?” I let out a groan of uneasiness. “You’ll be thanking me by the end of the night, Keels, trust me.” I didn’t though. I had a feeling of overall apprehension. She’d all but set me up. Don’t get me wrong, I was curious to find this guy, but I wanted to do it on my own terms. I didn’t need Annalie playing matchmaker for me.

I looked around the room again and watched as everyone intermingled. I felt severely out of place and whether it was a result of the alcohol or my growing claustrophobia I was drowning in the heat of the room. I located the bathroom and locked the door behind me, taking a deep breath in.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I hissed at my reflection in the mirror. I hardly recognized myself. Annalie had insisted on giving me an appropriate makeover, which consisted of more cosmetic products than I realized existed and the painful process of curling my dirty blonde hair. I had to hand it to her though, she was good at what she did and had the smoky eye makeup been ringing anyone else’s eyes I would have loved it, but it made me feel like an alien. I turned on the facet and ran cold water over my wrists. I wasn’t sure where I’d learned the trick, but it did a suitable job of cooling me off. I took one more look at myself in the mirror and sighed before retreating from the bathroom.

The toilet had been back at the end of a dimly lit hallway with a very narrow entryway. I took every step carefully, making sure I wouldn’t stumble through my inebriated haze. As I was exiting the hallway I crashed into another person.

“I’m so sorry.” I said, my face flushing in embarrassment.

“That’s no problem, it’s not everyday a gorgeous girl almost mows me down.” He replied through a grin that seemed a little too forced. I couldn’t see him too well in the dull light of the hallway but it was evident that he was taller than me, and relatively large. I wasn’t sure what to say in response.

“Well that’s flattering, I should probably get back to my friend.”

“What’s the rush?” The slur of his words filled the air, dancing with the stench of booze and musk that seeped from all of his pores.

“There isn’t one I just,” feel increasingly uncomfortable. I was all but backed into a corner at this point and my voice quivered as the words tried to unstick themselves from my throat. “She’s probably wondering where I am, you know?” An involuntary twitch ran the length of my body as he picked up a lock of my hair and twirled it between is fingers.

“I’m sure a few more minutes won’t make a difference.” He was clearly more intoxicated than I was, and I don’t know what he wanted, but as he dipped in to kiss me I gave him a hard shove. “What the fuck, bitch?” I couldn’t find my voice and my heart was beating like thunder in my ears. He didn’t hesitate to return the favor and push me hard against the wall. “Why’d you push me? I wasn’t going to do anything, but maybe now I should.” I wanted to vomit. This was the reason I never wanted to go to an event like this again, there was just something about the guys that attended them that gave me the heebie-jeebies. I could tell this was quickly escalating but my reflexes were severely slowed down from my buzz and even if I had been completely sober I don’t think I’d know what to do next. After all, he was blocking my only escape route and I knew the chances of someone hearing me over the DJ’s booming bass were slim.

“Please.” Was all I could muster out and this seemed to just fuel his actions. He grabbed the back of my head and forced his mouth onto mine. I retched at the odor of his skin and the sliminess of his tongue. I grunted in disgust into his mouth but he mistook it for a moan and attempted to deepen it. I tried pushing him off of me again to no avail; he was the size of at least two of me. He eventually released me from his mouth to catch his breath and I took it as my cue to get the hell out of there. I freed my leg enough to ram my knee straight into his crotch. He jumped back and I squeezed out from between him and the wall. I was almost back into the main room when he grabbed onto my arm.

“Get off me!” I screamed, pulling away with all my strength.

“You’ll be fucking sorry you did that.” He growled as I started losing the tug-o-war. What happened next was nothing short of a godsend.

“Get the fuck off her, dude.” I knew that voice, and before I knew what was happening Seth’s fist had made solid contact with my attacker’s jaw. He released me instantaneously and I didn’t wait to see what happened next; I was outside on the back porch of the venue in record time, breath ragged. It took me a few minutes to finally register what had just transpired. I couldn’t stop my body’s uncontrollable shaking. My legs went weak and I held onto the railing to help lower myself down to a sitting position, legs dangling over the side of the porch. My head was spinning and when the door opened again behind me I half expected to see the creepy guy, and half hoped to see Anna instead because I just wanted to leave.

Seth walked over to where I was carefully, sitting down next to me. We both sat in silence and I watched him examine his knuckles out of my peripheral.

“Are you okay?” He asked finally. I let out a sharp breath in reply. I kept my glance straight ahead but could see him digging around in his pockets from the corner of my eye. “Here.” I felt something cold in my hands and looked down to see a flask. I didn’t question it and instead tipped my head back and chugged. My nerves began to calm.

“Easy Keelyn, you’ll puke or something.” I swallowed and examined the flask before looking at Seth.

“You shaved.” I didn’t intend to say it out loud, but I was continuously losing more and more control of my body and brain as the minutes ticked. He seemed somewhat surprised that I had noticed.

“Yeah, I did. The scruff was getting itchy, you know how it is.”

I shook my head. “Not really,” I said gesturing to my face, “No beard.” He let out a nervous laugh.

“Yeah I guess you’re right.”

We didn’t say anything for what seemed like forever. It wasn’t a stressful silence; in fact it was almost comfortable. Here was a guy who probably just saved me from being raped, or something equally terrible and I felt grateful for his presence for once.

“You called me Keelyn.” He looked over at me, and our eyes locked.

“That’s your name isn’t it?”

I rolled my eyes. “You always call me Princess, you’ve never called me Keelyn before.” He seemed to think it over and nodded faintly.

We stared at each other for a stupidly long period of time that was only acceptable under the circumstances of how drunk we both were. He seemed to hesitate a bit, but eventually brushed a strand of hair off my forehead and tried to tuck it behind my ear. It fell right back into place though, and I couldn’t help but let out a short laugh. I watched as an all too familiar smile crept back onto his face and he laughed too.

I remembered his hand and looked down to see he’d busted open a knuckle or two. Without thinking I grabbed his hand to examine the wounds closer.

“Ouch.” I murmured looking from his hand back up at his glossy eyes. He repeated the word back to me barely above a whisper as I held his hand lightly in my own. He was dressed in a plaid shirt, the top two buttons undone as an invitation for wandering eyes. I still couldn’t get over his cleanly shaven face, he look like a different person. Between that and his recently combed hair I was seeing a version of Seth that I’d never been exposed to. In that moment I could no longer tell if the tingles running through my body were solely alcohol induced.

When drunk, I develop a sixth sense. Every emotion is raw and exaggerated. I felt something in the air change around us as we continued to look at each other in silence. His hand came up and rested between my jawline and neck, thumb gently caressing my cheek as he slowly guided my head towards his. I instinctively wetted my lips.

He’s kind of cute.

And in my stupor I had to agree with Gabriella. He kind of was.