“Holy shitballs!” Stella exclaims from my doorway. I turn around to face her as she walks in and grabs my hand. “Come on, let’s get out of here before you change your mind. Not going out when you look that good would be some sort of felony.”
I laugh as I grab my phone and ID before she drags me downstairs and out to a waiting car.
Chapter Six
Clark
“We have to go out! I have clean clothes,” Evan whines.
Groaning, I flop back into my favorite chair. “Dude, I’m exhausted.”
“That’s on you. You shouldn’t have played kickball for two hours,” Grif says from the kitchen. “And take a shower before we go out. You smell.”
I lean down and take a whiff of my armpit. Yeah, I stink. “Fine, give me five minutes to shower.”
I hop up and head into the shower. As the hot water hits me, my mind wanders back to Megan talking to my dad and Megan at the party last weekend and Megan in my class.
Why am I still so fixated on her?
Getting out of the shower, I wipe the condensation on the mirror. Maybe I can find a girl to hook up with tonight. It’ll keep my thoughts from her.
I quickly get ready. Taking one last look in the mirror before I walk into the kitchen. Evan and Grif are both leaning against the counter drinking beers.
“Where to?”
Evan shrugs. “Mac’s?”
“Yeah, sure, why not?” Grif says as he finishes his beer. “Let’s roll, motherfuckers.”
Evan hands me a beer and I pound it. We begin the ten-minute walk to Mac’s. It strikes me as we chat along the way that this is the last first walk of the semester to Mac’s that I’ll ever have. Mac’s comes into view and I grin as memories of all my nights out at this place come back to me. Sometimes it’s been our stop before heading into D.C. to go clubbing. Other times, we’ve spent whole evenings here shooting pool and downing cheap beer. Even before we could drink, we’d come by for a burger during happy hour, hoping an older friend might take pity on us and buy us a drink.
Evan slaps me on the back as we walk inside. “Lots of memories here, gentlemen. Let’s make this year count.”
“Fuck yeah,” I reply, walking up to the bartender to order our first round. We park ourselves at our favorite high-top table.
“To senior year,” Grif says, holding up a beer. We clink glasses and take sips of a local brew.
“So, are we on the prowl tonight?” Evan asks as he surveys the crowd. It’s starting to fill up but it’s still on the early side. A few frat parties are going on tonight, which means some people will stagger in later tonight.
I’m about to say hells yeah. I open my mouth to speak but a movement by the door pulls my attention away. A vision in a pink dress enters, timidly looking around. It takes the better part of a minute for me to recognize her. Megan fucking Lennox.
“Jesus Christ, is that Megan?” Grif asks.
“Uh-huh,” I manage as I swallow.
“No way,” Evan says. He leans in more to get a better look.
“It’s her,” I state. She looks like she does in my fantasies, the ones I keep to myself, the ones I’ve never told a living soul about because they counter everything I have said and done for the past seven years.
“Damn, bro. Why do you have to hate her? She’s fine as fuck,” Grif states.
I glare at him and he holds up his hands. “I’m just sayin’ that I’d totally tap that.”
My glare turns murderous and he sits back and takes another drink from his glass. I watch as Megan and her friend, Stella, walk across the bar and join a group of girls from their sorority that has taken up residence at a large booth in the corner near the dance floor. For someone who has practically erased herself from my life over the past three years here at college, she’s doing a surprisingly good job of suddenly popping up everywhere. I don’t know if that makes me hate her more or want her more.
“Seriously though, can’t you two just like kiss and make up or something?” Evan asks. “I’d totally love to hook up with Stella, but I’m not going to if it’s going to cause friend drama amongst everyone.”
Grif laughs. “Dude, Stella is classy. She’s not just going to ‘hook up with you.’ You need to ask her out. Actually, try dating for a change instead of doing the whole one-night-stand deal.”
Evan sets his beer down and stares at Grif. “OK, Romeo. Please share your dating knowledge.”
Grif stands up and turns to us. “I love you both, but we’ve spent all day together and I’d rather find a lady here to spend all night with. Best of luck, fuckers.”
He walks away toward a table at the other end of the bar. It’s filled with girls, some of whom I know. I watch in awe as Grif struts up to them. At least three of them, visibly flirt with him, using any excuse to laugh and touch his chest or his bicep. The man is a fucking Casanova. He’s fit as fuck, smart as fuck, charming as fuck, and he has this amenable charm that no one can resist. Lucky motherfucker won the goddamn genetic lottery. It’s hard to hate on him though because he is such a nice guy. OK, yeah, I sort of still hate him.
“How does he do that?” Evan asks.
“Hell if I know. The man has some sort of magic.”
“Come on, let’s go talk to women. Grif has a point. We’ve had our male bonding session for the day. It’s time to go lady hunting.”
“Evan, just, no. You can’t call it ‘lady hunting.’ That’s the type of shit that is going to get you in trouble. Just say you want to go talk with some women. End of story. Don’t embellish it.”
Evan shrugs and stands. “Fine, Dad. I’m going to go speak with the womenfolk if that is OK with you?”
I roll my eyes. “Go for it. I’m ordering fries.” I grab a waitress and put in an order as I watch Evan walk over and start talking to Stella.
Yeah, so my pride is killing my game. I should be over there too, but then I’d have to speak with Megan, and after the way she beelined for the exit last weekend, I doubt she even wants to talk to me.
I finish my beer and order us another round. A few friends stop and chat with me as I wait for my fries. It’s a typical night here at Mac’s. My friend, Dennis, is bartending tonight. I wave to him and he comes over to say hi.
“How’s it going, man?” I ask him.
“Same old. Word on the street is that you are getting out of here in December.”
“That’s the plan.”
“Well, shit. The next round is on me. We’ll miss you around here,” he says as he leans in and gives me a bro hug before returning to the bar and grabbing some beers that he sets on my table. “Enjoy.”
“Thanks,” I say as I take a sip of the pricey beer that I’d normally pass on but if Dennis is buying, I’m not saying no.
Megan
“I thought you guys were at the Moores’ house,” I say to Evan as he cozies up next to Stella.
“Nah. I mean, we were, but we decided to come home and have a low-key night here at Mac’s. It’s tradition. We always swing by after the first week of classes,” he says.
“Oh.”