Promises Made, Promises Broken - SYTYCW (Bad Reputation)

Present Day (Chapter Three) Friday

Joey

I woke up to find myself sitting up.  Admittedly, that was a new one.  Asleep in my truck, or fully dressed in my bed, or dozing on some girl's floor - those were to be expected on a Friday morning.  This was a new low. The sense of dread wracking my body was all too familiar.   I didn't have to think too hard to recognize the relationship between the three things - Fridays, feeling sick, and the parade of women - but I chose not to acknowledge it.  I shoved aside the automatic connection and assessed my situation instead.  

I started by trying to recall the events of the evening before.

Everything was an unpleasant blur that started with the Jell-O girl and ended with me waking up with a stiff back and an aching head. 

Where was your brain last night, Joey?

The problem wasn't even the seven, water-downed shots.  I could drink twice that and keep standing.  It was just that it was the same thing every Thursday.  I flirted with a few girls, sorted through them like a deck of cards, and went home with whichever one was most likely to kick me out before the night was through.  I had getting tastefully-out-of-hand down to a damned science.

I stretched my legs across the hallway as I planned my escape from the dorm.  I knew I needed to get out before some girl.

That was when I saw the mismatched shoes approaching at breakneck speed.  They flashed - green/brown, green/brown - in contrast with the speckled linoleum.

What the - 

My thought cut off as I realized that the girl attached to the shoes hadn't seen me, and wasn't going to stop.

Green/brown, green/brown, green/brown.

"Hey!" I yelled.

My warning was about two seconds too late, and suddenly a swirl of vanilla-scented hair cascaded across my face.   I inhaled, trying to catch a bit more of the pleasant smell.  The girl recovered quickly from the near-fall, but the lingering sweetness made me wish - just for a second - she hadn't recovered at all. 

Forget it, I grumbled at myself. You're in enough trouble as it is.

I made myself smile, polite but reserved, then asked if she was okay.  When she snapped something back at me, I caught a better look at her.  Both my politeness and my disgust at myself were nearly forgotten.

I was looking up at one of the most beautiful faces I had ever seen.  She had a perfect, upturned nose, and a mouth that begged to be kissed.  An attractive smattering of freckles peppered her nose, and her eyes were a gorgeous, deep brown.

Damn.

I felt a nearly unfamiliar pull on my heart, and tried to think of something to say to make her stay.

She shook her head at me, then walked away stiffly.  I watched her go, mesmerized by the smooth, curved line of her backside as she moved.  She was quick, and in a second she was gone.

She's going to get away. I jumped to my feet.

I jogged to the end of the corridor and shoved open the door.  The hall on the other side split in two and I didn't know which way she'd gone, or even if she'd taken the stairs or the elevator.  Feeling desperate, I pushed aside a potted plant and pressed my face against the window.

I peered outside.  My heart lifted when I caught a flash of red moving across the commons, but when I blinked, the flash was gone.

Damn, I thought again, and this time it was a far less pleasant mental exclamation.