Chapter 17: Chapter 17

"Juls!" I hear Mark's voice through my door with a single knock and I open it. "Hey, ready?" He asks and I blink.

"When did you get here?" I ask, wondering how he was already waiting to go.

"About five minutes ago?"

"And you're ready to leave?" I ask, shaking my head and he laughs.

"Yep, quick shower and a change of clothes and I'm good to go."

"Men." I sigh and he chuckles, gesturing for me to walk down the hall. I thought of myself as a relatively low-maintenance girl but that seemed insane.

"Are you ready Walk?" Mark asks and Kent sighs, picking up his phone, keys and Wallet, following us out.

"So, how do you know Abby?" I ask Mark, happy that someone different had come home for me to chat with.

"We met her in the first year, I'm really sure you two are going to get along.' Mark tells me and I smile. "She's chill and really nice."

"Is she....friends with Piper and them?" I ask nervously and he smiles.

"Not really friends, no.' He tells me. "Just friendly and in the same circle, it's tricky with the four girls but Abby's a little more normal."

"Okay." I sigh, blowing out a tense breath. I couldn't bear to meet another girl like Piper today who made me feel inadequate when I looked at her the wrong way.

"Piper and those girls can be a bit much, don't worry about them." He assures me. "If something happens, you don't want to be here anymore, whatever it is, just find one of the three of us and we'll help you sort it out."

"Thanks Mark." I smile, feeling happy. They really were good guys, I hadn't moved in with anyone bad after all. Even Kent, who was becoming my enemy, didn't want me walking home alone at night.

"Kyle should be here soon, he just got off." He explains and we turn left down another street.

I can see the lights and music up ahead, the house is blue, not too big. It's been split right down the middle into two apartments and the one on the left is where we're headed.

"Abby plays on the women's soccer team, she lives with another girl from the team and two guys from the men's. I'll introduce you, alright?" He calls as we walk up the steps and I nod.

He nods at one of the guys on the step and he nods back, this all felt very different from the parties I'd been to in high school.

"They're just making sure there's no frosh or randos getting in." He assures me, pushing open the door and I follow him in.

It's so hot this blast of warm air hits us all in the face, it smells like a party alright. Sweat, cheap perfume and cologne, beer and somewhere in the mix was vomit. There was also this fruity smell which was coming from Juuls and Puff bars around the room.

The music is shaking the floor, there's a crowd dancing around the rather large living space. I felt shocked at the scene, I hadn't been to a party at school since first year and this felt a little bigger and better.

"Come on! I'll find you a drink!" He says and I nod, following Mark through the kitchen. Kent's already gone somewhere else in the room and I shrug it off.

"Mark!" I hear and a brunette comes racing through the room, he gives her a quick hug.

"Hey Abby." He says kindly and I breathe a sigh of relief. At least I'm not the only brunette.

"Oh. My. God." She says in short choppy syllables. "I didn't know you were bringing someone! Hi, I'm Abby, I didn't know Mark had started talking to someone-"

"I'm his roommate, we're not together." I say instantly, trying to shake off how weird the thought of that was. "N-no offense." I add and he laughs, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"JulS our new Carlo, I thought Kent texted you earlier." He explains and Abby's cheeks turn red, looking a little embarrassed.

"I assumed it would be a guy." She admits. "I-I'm really sorry."

"It's all good." I assure her. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too." She smiles. "I'm Abby."

"Juls." I answer and she gives me a genuine smile. I had a good feeling about her, and not just because both of our names started with the same letter.

"Can I leave Juls to mingle with you for a sec while I go talk to Chase?" Mark asks and she chuckles.

"Yeah, no worries. Go bro down." She tells him, rolling her eyes and he waves at the two of us. "So, how'd you end up moving in with them?" She asks and I sigh.

"I was friends with Carlo, he offered me his room because I needed to move out and the guys liked me so I ended up moving in with them." I will explain.

"And how's it going?"

"It's tricky.' I shrug. "I don't know them really well yet and I don't want to be outcasted."

"The guys are really nice, especially Mark. He looks out for people.' She smiles and I nod, knowing I agreed with her. "I can't wait to get to know you better, maybe we could hang out some without them." She laughs and I nod.

"Yeah, let me get my phone.' I tell her, finding it in my back pocket. "So, who are your roommates?" I ask, opening a new contact.

"There's Darren and Chase." She says, pointing across the room at two guys talking to Mark. "And there's Ellis, she's around here somewhere.' She mumbles, trying to locate her but seems to give up after a few minutes. "We all play soccer for the school."

"Yeah, Mark said.' I sigh. "Sounds heavy."

"There are so many days, Juls , when I'd rather stick a butter knife in an outlet than go to a seven a.m turf practice.' She admits with a shiver and I laugh.

"I believe it, that sounds a little bit rough.'

"What's your program?" She asks, looking interested and I pass her my phone for her to put in her number.

"Early modern studies." I tell her and she looks interested. "It's heavy and it's a lot of reading.'

"But it sounds so interesting." She says. "I'm a sustainability and management student, mine's heavy in a different way."

"That sounds cool." I shrug. "We should study sometime.' That was a big shot in the dark for me, proposing a new friendship was risky behavior.

"Absolutely! I'd love that." She tells me, passing me my phone back and I grin. "So how long have you been living in Carlo's old room?"

"About four days." I shrug. "I seem to get along pretty good with Kyle and Mark-"

"Let me guess," She says, holding her hands up. "Not with Kent."

"Yeah, what is that?" I ask, thankful she shared some sympathy on that.

"He's always been prickly. I met him because Mark and I got to be such good friends in first year. Kent was his roommate and sometimes he's really lovely and kind. But he definitely has a good wall up with most people."

"That's annoying." I mutter, crossing my arms and she nods in agreement. "He seemed so nice when I met him, then after I moved in he just changed.'

"I honestly wouldn't lose too much sleep over it, Juls.' She shrugs and the two of us glance at Kent, already drinking in the corner. "I know he's good looking but he's complicated and a huge dick."

"I figured.' I sigh, running a hand through my hair. "C-could I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What do you know about Piper? She came down to our place today and I just got a really weird feeling about her." I admit and she rolls her eyes.

"Piper is mean and annoying. Don't let any act she puts up fool you, she will not let anything get in her way when she has her mind on something." She mutters, crossing her arms.

"But you're still friends?" I ask, feeling confused.

"Not....friends really but I try to put up with her and the other girls." She sighs, shaking her head. "When you're in your first year, you're so desperate to have friends and fit in that you just hit the ground running and make friendships without thinking. As time went on I kind of realized I didn't really get along with her, but I try to be civil."

"She seemed kind of—"

"Snobby?" She asks and I laugh with a nod.

"Exactly." I sigh. "And she seemed like she was all over Kent."

"Ah, you don't know about them." She says and I furrow my eyebrows.

"There's something to know?" I ask, feeling a bit confused.

"Kent has a bad reputation for fucking girls when he drinks. It's consensual and everything, but he only has sex when he's under the influence. He'll go to girls to get what he wants and then pretend they don't exist when he's sober." She whispers and my skin crawls. "He's an emotionally unavailable player."

"Ew." I mumble and she nods. "Why would they keep going back to him?"

"Because he's Kent, he's pretty and the guy everyone wants to date. They always think 'this time will be different', Piper's been one of his fall-backs since May."

"That's awful." I admit.

I had a whole new perspective on Kent, an ugly one that I didn't like. I of course, new about the hook-up scene and that someone didn't need to peruse a relationship just because they had sex. But it looked bad when you only sought it out in non-sober moments, when two people might make different promises or think different things.

I wasn't a prude about sex, it was something I'd always been aware of. But I never understood how people could separate it from emotional feelings. They went together with me and thinking about sleeping with someone who would treat me like a ghost made me uncomfortable. It made me dislike Kent for pulling girls in like that, especially, and it kills me to think this, girls like Piper. The ones who clearly had feelings for him and he used that to his advantage.

"He's a Rubik's cube." Abby sighs, leaning back on the counter and I nod. "I don't know one person who wants to try and solve it, he's just too difficult and moody to deal with."

"I get that." I admit, knowing I'd seen like ten different sides of him since I'd moved in. It exhausted me most of the time.

"Don't even think about him, he's really not worth fussing over. He'll team to relax around you!" She assures me. "Let's get a drink and have fun, let Kent make whatever mistakes he wants to make."

I don't know why it bothers me so much that he behaves this way with other people. It shouldn't and it's absolutely none of my business who he sleeps with. But it nags me and I hate thinking about it, maybe I'd overestimated Kent when I met him.

"Let's do a Jell-o shot." Abby says, opening her fridge and sorting through the little plastic cups. "Cherry okay?"

"Cherry's fine." I told her. She passes me a little cup and shows me how to run my pinkie around the outside edge to release it. "Cheers!"

"Cheers Juls!" She smiles and I tip the cup back into my mouth, chewing the Jell-o quickly. It definitely had an aftertaste of some-kind and I could feel the chills from the vodka. But it was good and I knew right then and there, that I liked Abby.

"Come on! I'll introduce you to some new people." She encourages and I smile, following her through the house.

My social life had finally returned from its flatline status, and I was excited about that.