Her reply is quick and true to Bryn form.
U worry too much for a college senior…I’ll have you back in plenty of time for your beauty rest.
I sigh. Bryn isn’t going to let up on this. I know my bestie well enough. This is happening. Whether she breezes in here to drag me out for some fun, or I do it, I’m getting pulled into her little BMW whether I like it or not.
And let’s face it. Of the two choices: staying in my room all night listening to music by myself like a hermit, or going out with my best friend?
Option B all the way.
I’m waiting for Bryn out in front of my house. I can hear her coming, the solid bass of her insanely expensive sound system tearing up the air as her car cuts a speedy path up the pavement. Her tires squeal when she reaches me, and she lowers the passenger side window on the outrageous, candy-apple red coupe.
“Get in, bitch!” she screams, punctuating each word with a hand clap.
Rolling my eyes at the same time I grin, because I can’t help it when it comes to Bryn, I slide into the smooth leather of the passenger seat.
“If you wreck us tonight, I’ll never forgive you.” I shout to be heard over the sound of Panic At The Disco. She’s cranked it up, because she knows it’s one of the few bands she loves that I don’t vehemently object to.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m not driving. We’re heading to my apartment, and then Jaxon and Noah will pick us up.”
I throw my head back onto the headrest.
We met Noah Loche freshman year. But, since this past spring, he’s been a little more than a fiend. We crossed a line at a party, making out for an entire night and that’s all the motivation Noah needed to call us a couple. Noah’s an arrogant fraternity boy, but he calls it confidence. I deal with it because he has a family from hell and there’s no way a kid doesn’t turn out a little worse for the wear when growing up with people like that in his home. Noah’s under constant pressure from his dad to succeed, and I empathize with that. My parents aren’t outright pricks the way Noah’s are, but there’s always been an understanding that I wouldn’t defer from the path laid out for me.
He picks me up, and we hang out sometimes. I’m by no means in love with the boy, but I’ve known him for so long there’s history there. And it’s hard to forget history.
Bryn and Jaxon are another story. They’re a solid couple and have been since high school. Now that we’re getting close to college graduation, they’re talking seriously about their future.
Bryn scans my outfit. Short, strapless and black. Black ankle high-heeled boots to go with the slashing pattern on the top lends a little edge to the shoes, something Bryn would have never chosen for herself. It’s also something I’d never wear during the day or in front of my parents.
Her pink-painted lips curve into a smile. “Ny, you look hot.”
Despite myself, I smile with satisfaction. “Thanks. You always look gorge, B.”
She smiles, and without even glancing in the rearview mirror, swings us around backward, turning a perfect three-sixty in the street before propelling the little car forward and down the drive.
It takes me less than a second to strap myself into my seatbelt, and then I sit back and hang on for the ride.
We pull up to Bryn’s place, a big brownstone apartment building not too far from campus. She lives about three minutes from me, and we’re less than a five-minute drive to Uptown Charlotte. At this time of day, when the sun has just sunk below the horizon and night sprinkles stars over the city, the Charlotte skyline is radiant in the near distance. When I step out of Bryn’s BMW, I note the familiar SUV parked right beside ours.
Jaxon and Noah climb out of Noah’s Escalade, Jaxon’s eyes finding Bryn’s. She flounces over to him, and he opens his arms. Their embrace is so loving it feels too personal for me to watch, so I avert my eyes toward Noah. He’s leaning against the hood of the black SUV, watching me. As I move toward him, forcing my feet to make the trek, his eyes rove from my bare legs to my curved hips and narrow waist and up to the ample cleavage peeking out from the top of my dress. His eyes never make it to my face; they just drift back down once more.
I swallow my sigh. And plaster on the smile. The same one I use all day long when I’m charming my professors, and when I’m at home or at a chapter meeting with my sorority sisters. The smile I don when I’m with my mother at a charity event or sitting through a holiday meal with my extended Moroccan family.
The dutiful smile.
“Hey.” My voice is casual, non-committal.
His mouth tips up into an expression that matches mine, except that casualty is tinged with all-male lust. “Hey.”
Tearing themselves apart, Jaxon and Bryn stand before us.
“So where are we going tonight, boys?” demands Bryn. All of her thick, honey-blond hair tumbles over one shoulder, held fast by a band.
Noah shrugs. “There’s this place where the guys in our frat go to play poker and stuff.”
I narrow my eyes. “Bryn and I don’t play poker.”
Noah moves closer, dragging me toward him with an arm around my waist. “Doesn’t matter, babe. I play poker. Jaxon plays poker. You girls can come along for the ride.”
My entire body stiffens when he calls me babe. My father never calls my mother that, and I think it’s a ridiculous term of endearment.
My tone is clipped with my reply. “Well, then, babe…”
Bryn groans, knowing me well enough to smell my stank attitude a mile away.
I put on my best perky voice, complete with a fake southern drawl. “If you want us ‘little women’ to come along for the ride, and bring you big boys your beers and snacks, then I guess we’d better get going, right?”
I smile sweetly and head to the passenger side of the huge vehicle. I yank open the door and hike my dress up enough to get me up onto the step. I climb inside, closing the door behind me.
I can see Jaxon chuckling through the windshield, giving Noah a pat on the shoulder as his friend’s expression darkens.
I smile to myself. Pretty sure this relationship isn’t gonna last very long.
Noah climbs into the driver’s seat, slamming his door and starting the ignition. The big beast of a car roars to life, and Jaxon helps Bryn into the backseat before climbing in behind her.
Noah glances at me. “You good?”
I give him the smile and then aim my gaze toward my window. “Of course. Let’s do this. There’s alcohol at this place, right?”
Noah’s answer sounds relieved. “Yeah.”
“Then I’ll be just fine.”
Noah interprets this one hundred percent incorrectly, just as I expected him to. His eyes lighten with excitement as he turns the car around and pulls out of Bryn’s driveway.
He shoots me a quick, flirty grin. “It’s gonna be a good night.”
For who? I wonder, as I watch the urban oasis outside fly by in the darkness.
Four
NAIMA
Inky blackness cloaks the parking lot.
The velvety dark makes the hairs on my arms stand up in protest, my instincts swirling in a mad rush.