Be cool, Shep. Don’t blow it.
Waiting for something as extremely boring as orientation to be over was made even worse by the anticipation of meeting that girl. Once in a while, I could hear her giggle. I promised myself I wouldn’t look back, but I repeatedly failed. She was gorgeous with huge green eyes and wavy long hair, like she’d just been in the ocean and let it air-dry in the sun. The harder I listened for her voice, the more ridiculous I felt, but there was something about her, even since that first glance, that had me planning ways to impress her or to make her laugh. I’d do anything to get her attention, even for five minutes.
Once we were given our packets, and the campus layout, meal plans, and rules were explained ad nauseam, the Dean of Students, Mr. Johnson, dismissed us.
“Wait till we’re outside,” I said.
Darius nodded. “Don’t worry. I got you. Just like the old days.”
“In the old days, we chased high school girls. She is definitely not a high school girl. Probably not even when she was in high school,” I said, following Darius out. “She’s confident. She looks experienced, too.”
“Nah, man. She looks like a good girl to me.”
“Not that kind of experienced,” I snarled.
Darius chuckled. “Calm down. You haven’t even met her. You need to be careful. Remember Anya? You got all tangled up with her, and we thought you were going to die.”
“Hey, fucker,” Travis said from under a shady tree, about a hundred yards from the entrance. He blew out a last puff of smoke and pinched off the cherry, mashing it into the ground with his boot. He had the satisfied smile of a man post-orgasm.
“How?” I said in disbelief.
“Her dorm room is over there,” he said, nodding his head toward Morgan Hall.
“Darius is going to introduce me to a girl,” I said. “Just … keep your mouth shut.”
Travis arched a brow and then nodded once. “Yes, dear.”
“I mean it,” I said, eyeing him. I shoved my hands in my jeans pockets and took a deep breath, watching Darius make small talk with Finch.
The brunette had already left, but thankfully, her friend seemed to be interested in sticking around.
“Stop fidgeting,” Travis said. “You look like you’re about to piss your pants.”
“Shut up,” I hissed.
Darius pointed in my direction, and Finch and the blonde looked at Travis and me.
“Fuck,” I said, looking to my cousin. “Talk to me. We look like stalkers.”
“You’re dreamy,” Travis said. “It’s going to be love at first sight.”
“Are they … are they walking over?” I asked. My heart felt like it was about to claw through my rib cage, and I had the sudden urge to beat Travis’s ass for being so flippant.
Travis scanned with his peripheral vision. “Yeah.”
“Yeah?” I said, trying to suppress a smile. A stream of sweat escaped my hairline, and I quickly wiped it away.
Travis shook his head. “I’m going to kick you in the balls. You’re already freaking out about this girl, and you haven’t even met her yet.”
“Hey,” Darius said.
I turned and caught the hand he held out to me in a half high five and half handshake.
“This is Finch,” Darius said. “He lives next door to me.”
“Hi,” Finch said, shaking my hand with a flirtatious smile.
“I’m America,” the blonde said, holding out her hand to me. “Orientation was brutal. Thank God we’re only freshmen once.”
She was even more beautiful up close. Her eyes sparkled, her hair glowed in the sunlight, and her long legs looked like heaven in those frayed white shorts. She was almost as tall as me, even in sandals, and the way she held her mouth when she spoke, coupled with her full lips, was sexy as hell.
I took her hand and shook it once. “America?”
She smirked. “Go ahead. Make a dirty joke. I’ve heard them all.”
“Have you heard, ‘I’d love to fuck you for liberty’?” Travis asked.
I elbowed him, trying to keep a straight face.