Afterglow (BWWM)

Chapter 22

We entered the frat house and the entire ground floor alive with chatter.

There were tables set up and games being played in every corner. It seemed like over half the school was here tonight. I spotted Brandon amongst a group of familiar faces and quickly looked away. I couldn't afford to allow his presence to throw me off track.

I searched the room and Drew was nowhere in sight.

"Tell me if you spot Drew," I said to James.

"He's probably upstairs licking his wounds," James said.

"Yeah. Maybe," I said looking around the over-sized house. Drew could be anywhere.

Just then, Lindsay spotted me through the doorway and made her way over.

"Finally, you're here," she said, fluffing my hair. "I've been dying to hear about your night. What did Drew say when he saw you? Tell me everything. Was he speechless?"

"There's not much to tell. Our date was interrupted," I told her and sent James a poignant look. Lindsay followed my gaze and suddenly noticed James like he hadn't been standing beside me this entire time. She narrowed her eyes.

"I got arrested," James chimed in.

Lindsay's eyes widened. She regarded James with interest. "What did you do?"

James gave her a sly smile. "How bad do you want to know?"

Lindsay didn't respond. She regarded him, her brow raised. I rolled my eyes. I wasn't surprised James was hitting on Lindsay. She had that effect on guys. Unfortunately, he was going to have to do much better than this if he wanted a shot with my roommate.

"Can you not?" I told him. Any other time the flirting wouldn't bother me, but James' timing was abysmal. I turned to Lindsay, making sure I had her attention again. "Where's Drew?"

"Last I saw, Sofia went to help him unload some bags in the kitchen. Now that you mention it, that was a while ago. They should have been done by now."

"Sofia's with him?" James said. He ran a hand over his forehead. "Shit."

"What?" I said.

James pulled me aside. Lindsay followed. He shot Lindsay a hard look. "You let Drew and Sofia go off alone?"

Lindsay shrugged. "What's the big deal?"

James rolled his eyes. "Oh, nothing, except that Drew has been on Sophia's hit list from day one."

Lindsay sighed. "Sofia's 'hit list' isn't exactly exclusive. Drew and every other division I athlete on this campus is on it."

I turned to Lindsay. "You knew Sofia was interested in Drew?"

Lindsay put her arms around me. "Trust me, this is nothing to worry about. Sofia wants status and she's not picky about how she gets it. She doesn't care about Drew."

"That's not true," James said. "Sofia and Drew have ... history."

I didn't see that coming. No one told me they had a past. "They dated before?" I asked.

"That answer shouldn't come from me. You need to talk to Drew," James said.

He had a point. I needed to hear the truth from Drew. Sofia always had a problem with me, for reasons I couldn't guess, but I had noticed she become more vicious after Drew and I began spending more time together.

I didn't know exactly what Drew and I were to each other and I was okay with not giving us a label, but he's made it clear that we can't keep doing things that way. The last thing I needed was an opportunist like Sofia swooping in and catching me slipping before I had a chance to work things out with Drew. We had to come to an understanding.