psych- Leighton Murray

III

Her first day of classes was a chaotic whirlwind of unlucky moments that quite honestly made Emerson want to laugh. She'd managed to turn her first alarm off and be ten minutes late to her first Introductory Psych class- which had the strictest teacher. She'd tripped and twisted her ankle trying to run down the stairs to get to her writing class and nearly fell on her face before spilling her coffee onto a passerby. When she finally got home after five, she collapsed on the couch in a heap.

"Damn girl, you look like actual shit right now." Bela snorted.

"Wow, how kind of you." Emerson rolled her eyes. "Why do you look so hot?"

"I'm prepping for the Theta party tonight! I'm just trying to convince Leighton and Kimberly's depressed asses to come with." Bela grumbled, putting in a pair of huge golden hoops.

Emerson shuddered, thinking of Kimberly and her exes' sex noises- and break-up noises. Emerson was glad that she'd never be in that situation.

"Good luck with Kimberly. Just let me say something to Leighton when I get ready," Bela nodded, pulling back to look at herself with a satisfied sigh.

Emerson stood up, walking over to her room. She knocked on the door. A hoarse 'come in' greeted her. She stepped in, wincing at the state of Leighton, day-old mascara dried on her face. Emerson sighed, walking over to her side of the closet, and opening it to pull out a piece of fabric you could hardly call a dress. It clung to Emerson's curves like a glove, and she adored it.

"I doubt you want to miss the first Theta party of the year... plenty of hot dudes, alcohol, music..." Emerson twirled the dress in her hands. "And you'd never pass on the chance to make me gorgeous, would you? I could be your pet project?" Emerson raised her eyebrows in question.

"Dammit."

Within an hour Emerson was completely glammed up, sparkly eyeshadow lighting up her face. Leighton was in the process of finishing her makeup and Emerson could hear Kimberly, Whitney, and Bela shuffling in the living room as she tightened the straps of her heels, not wanting to kick one off while dancing.

"You coming Leighton?" Emerson asked, standing up.

"Yeah, yeah." she closed her pallet, following Emerson into the living room.

"I'm so excited! Have you seen the guys here? And the Catullan editors will be there!" Bela grinned widely, "oh and I can get wasted." she added.

"We should get going, the lines are long as hell." Leighton urged everyone out the door.

"Fine, god damn,'" Whitney snapped a selfie before following the rest of the girls.

They made it to the party about twenty minutes before it 'started' and the line was long. Rap music blasted from the lit-up frat house causing Emerson's ears to ring slightly.

"Oh shit, I uh, left my phone at the dorm. I gotta go get it." Leighton stuttered.

"Are you sure? You can use mine if you need to, 'cause you probably won't be able to make it back in if you come back." Emerson extended her phone to Leighton who pushed it back to her.

"It's fine, thanks for the offer though." She gave a little smile before turning back towards their dorm. Emerson tilted her head, watching Leighton speed into the darkness.

"Ignore her! We're going to go get super freaking pissed." Bella giggled, dragging Kimberly towards the frat house. The girls pushed to the front of the line where a tall frat guy stood guarding the door.

"You can't skip." He grumbled gruffly.

Bela lifted her shirt, revealing her lacey bra. "Come on in ladies," the bouncer grinned.

Emerson looked around, overwhelmed at the scent of weed and beer. She'd been to a few parties in high school, but none were as packed or wild as this one. She swayed to the music as she made her way to the bar. She picked up a beer from the counter, nodding her head at the bartender who was obviously checking her out.

"Can I get you anything else, mama?" He asked suggestively.

"Yup, bear spray." She smiled sweetly. His jaw went slack as he realized what she'd said. She giggled, throwing up a middle finger with her free hand.

Whitney stood next to a staircase with a grin on her face. "Damn, girl, way to throw him off." She offered her hand which Emerson slapped happily.

"He's... not my type." Emerson thought of Leighton at that moment and she didn't know why.

Emerson and Whitney stood there for a while, drinking and talking. Emerson liked Whitney. She had that 'I have a big dick and I know how to use it' kind of energy. She was Emerson's exact kind of person.

Kimberly rushed over to where Emerson and Whitney stood. "Have either of you heard from Leighton?  It's been like an hour." Kimberly asked worriedly.

Emerson checked her phone and shook her head. "I think she ditched us." She said with a soft sigh.

"But, why would she do that? I used like- all of my data plan trying to text her!" Kimberly cried.

"Because she doesn't care about us, Kimberly." Whitney patted her shoulder. "Just go have a beer and forget about it."

"I can't forget about it! What if she got kidnapped?"

"We go to Essex, Kimberly." Emerson chuckled, taking a large swig of her beer. "The worst thing people here have done is take a pack of gum from a convenience store."

Kimberly walked sadly to the bar, getting a beer, and taking a large swig. It was obvious she hadn't drunk much before by her pained facial expression. Emerson laughed, looking at Whitney.

"I'm beat, I'm gonna head back if that's good." Emerson stood up, drinking the last of what was in her beer.

"Don't get kidnapped!"

"Shut up," Emerson swatted Whitney's head playfully. She waved a quick goodbye to the girls before starting her walk home. She eyed the couples making out on benches with disgust as she entered the dorm. She flipped the light switch on in the bathroom, wiping her makeup off quickly. She pulled off the tight dress, slipping an old Eagles tee over her shoulders.

She didn't know why, but no matter what she did as she tried to fall asleep, all she could think about was Leighton, and why she wasn't in that twin bed five feet away.