Stained Heart (Book Two)

Chapter Nine: Meet and Greet

Shadow's POV
When the weekend came, I followed the directions and met up with Rouge.
We shared a kiss and rode together in her car to the party. I drove.
Once we made it to the sorority house, I opened the car door and we walked up the porch stairs to the front door.
A girl stepped in our way. "Um, are you two on the list?" she asked rudely.
Bitch.
"Yeah," Rouge answered with the same tone, "We were invited by Leah."
Who?
"Were you?" the girl replied.
"That's why I said it. I know Kelly has already made it here. Ask her."
The bitchy blonde stomped inside, then came out with a frown.
"You can come in," she huffed.
Rouge took my hand and led me inside.
It was impressive, the music wasn't exactly my taste but I was only there for her pretty self anyway.
We squeezed through the crowd until we stopped at a small group of people.
There stood two echidnas, a guy and a girl, a female fox, and a male bat.
Rouge smiled at me and said to her friends, "Hey! This is Shadow, the one I was telling you guys about."
I gave a little smile as her friends introduced themselves and waved.
"I'm Kelly," the lilac echidna waved.
The fox and the echidna introduced themselves as Heather and Jake, and then Kelly called the bat Ryder.
"Nice to meet you," I said as kindly as possible. All of them seemed happy to meet me except that bat.
What the hell is his problem?
"So," Heather began, "Are you and Rouge an item?"
I glanced at Rouge and she gave me a smile, blushing.
The corners of my mouth curved up, "Yeah."
"You two make a cute couple," Heather grinned, "Where do you go to college?"
I stared.
Do I lie?
"Oh," I began, "I don't go to college. I work as a mechanic though."
"That's pretty cool," Jake said, "My dad was a mechanic, he made good money."
I nodded. "I enjoy it."
"Do you live on your own?" Ryder interrupted.
"Yes."
"Do you own your own car?"
"No."
He chuckled, and before he could say anything I added, "I own a motorcycle."
That dumbass smirk left Ryder's face as Kelly's eyes lit up. "Oh, you're a bad boy? Rouge didn't tell me that she liked bad boys!"
What the hell is a 'bad boy'? Is that what people call me?
Rouge's face turned blood red, "Are you serious Kelly?"
"Well he is! He's wearing leather, he drives a motorcycle, you might as well tattoo it on his forehead! Speaking of which Shadow, do you have tattoos?"
"Oh, uh, no."
"Do you want tattoos?"
"I mean, I'm not against them."
Kelly practically squealed, "I like him! Better not let him get away Rouge, I might chase him!"
Rouge rolled her eyes and we all carried on a conversation. She was in a good crowd, they were all nice people, but Ryder seemed like an ass.
After a few hours of being there, Rouge and I left the party.
When we got in her car she said, "I'm sorry about Kelly, she's boy crazy."
I chuckled, "Don't worry about it. Now about Ryder..."
"I don't know what his deal was, he's always really nice."
"I think he likes you."
"Well, I don't like him that way, Shad," she replied.
"I didn't say you did."
"I know, but I just want to make that clear. You know, since we're an item," Rouge said flirtatiously.
I grinned a little bit, "Sorry."
"Don't be, I like being your girlfriend."
I paused. "So we're gonna try to make this work?"
"I-I think so. Are you okay with that?" Rouge asked.
"Hell yeah," I answered.
She smiled at me.
We made it into the college parking lot and parked beside my motorcycle.
"Shadow, it's really late, why don't you spend the night?"
"What about your roommate?"
"It's Kelly, she won't mind."
I agreed and we went to her dorm.
It was nice, one side of the room had bright yellow hues and the other side had shades of light blue.
"My bed isn't that big," Rouge said, "But I think it's big enough for us."
"We'll make it work," I smirked.
After she changed into a tank top and underwear, I removed my jacket and shoes and we laid down. I wrapped my arms around her and she rested her head on my chest. We didn't go any farther than kissing for fear of her roommate walking in.
About an hour later, Rouge was fast asleep. As I ran my hand up and down her waist I stared at the ceiling. I didn't want to leave the next day.
I sighed, and then the door unlocked from the outside and Kelly walked in.
"Oh!" she whispered, "I'm sorry!"
"No, I'm sorry," I quietly replied, "I'm the one that doesn't live here."
She smiled, "Don't worry about it. You're welcome any time."
"Thanks."
She grabbed some clothes to change into, and as she was walking to the bathroom she turned and looked at me. "Rouge really likes you, Shadow. She talks about you all the time."
"I really like her too."
More like you love her.
As Kelly walked into the bathroom, I closed my eyes. And soon, I drifted off to sleep.