She Asked For It

Onyx

I knock on what I presume to be Castor's door. Jeremiah sent me the address and told me to come myself so here I am. I look from left to right, paranoid that one of the hall monitors might jump out and capture me like they do in those high school movies. I hear loud commotion coming from behind the door before a booming laugh and a gravely voice shouts, "The door's open!"

I begin to hyperventilate, what if this is the wrong door? What if this is another of Jeremiah's pranks? What if the other guys don't want me around them? What if-

But my rambling gets cut off as the door is forcefully pulled and I come face to face with who I assume to be is Castor. He has dark, curly hair that is short at the sides before coming into an unruly mess at the top that seems to be covering his thick eyebrows that shelter his onyx black hooded eyes. He has a strong jaw that is covered in a five o'clock shadow, with a strong, aristocratic nose. His lips that are a vibrant blush color seem to contrast greatly with his tanned skin. He looks down at me with a frame at least a couple of inches taller than six feet. All in all, he was pretty intimidating.

His aggressive eyes narrow slightly when looking at me, and I begin to second-guess my look. I didn't really do anything but tie my raven black straight, but voluminous hair into a high ponytail to which I just wore jeans and a graphic t-shirt of just a random Marvel character. The hold I have on my bag straps tightens as I feel intimidated by his height and glare, leading me to cough awkwardly. I look away and try to peer over his shoulder to look for Jeremiah before I hear the same gravely voice boom, "And you are?"

It sounded more like a statement than a question.

I clear my throat before stuttering, "R-Rosalie." Dang it! I wanted to at least appear cool and confident!

I throw my hand out in an effort to be mannerly and shake his hand. His puzzled look sends deep worry into my soul until I felt his uncomfortably rough and harsh hands wrap around mine in an almost violent grip. I let go and give him another of my fake, frightened-looking smiles, Only to be met with his normal annoyed gaze.

He turns around and yells to the rest of the guys in his room, "Anyone know a Rosalie?" To which I hear the comforting country accent draw out, "Yeah, she's the one I invited."

Castor slowly retreats back into his room where I am finally able to see Jeremiah's bright smile among the faces of unrecognizable guys. I slowly walk in and close the door, closing my eyes and taking a breath while doing so. This is going to be a long night.

I turn back around and look at the state of the room. It's really a mess of dark blues and reds with consoles and whatnot attached to everything. Beer cans are thrown around the room with beanbag chairs, pillows, and blankets scattered across the floor, which is used for chairs with the guys. There are probably like three other guys not including Castor and Jeremiah.

I slowly drift to sitting next to Jeremiah who is sitting on a random bed. Most of the guys have already lost interest and their eyes are back on the screen, but I can feel wandering eyes follow me across the room to Jeremiah. He is seated at the end of the room, where two guys are sprawled on beanbags and pillows in front of the bed Jeremiah's sitting on. Castor is sitting on the other bed with a beer can in his hand while the other random stranger is on the floor sitting on a beanbag with a blanket on top while leaning on the bed Castor is sitting on. The once quiet and awkward tension is filled with the sounds of a first-person shooter game and the shouts of the two guys in front of Jeremiah. Castor and the other guy are in the middle of a horribly uncensored conversation when I pass them and sit close to Jeremiah, feeling uneasy and jittery.

"You look really uptight." Jeremiah laughs out when I punch him in the arm.

"Well if you were placed in an uncomfortable and unfamiliar situation like this, you would be as well," I mumble out, scared to catch the attention of the others in the room.

"Thanks for being here, I just wanted some company," Jeremiah confesses while leaning back against the wall. I start pulling out my laptop; my mind set on working on the assignment Mr. Dufour has given me. If I am going to be put in an uncomfortable situation like this, I better make the most out of it.

During the next three hours, it mostly contains the five guys playing different types of video games while they drink booze and talk about the girls on this university campus. From time to time, Jeremiah would come back and talk to me or "help" me with different parts of the essay, mostly just telling me his insight on Mr. Dufour and his favorite English writing style. But through all of this, the feeling of paranoia never left me as I kept feeling eyes wander around me, making me feel violated and uncomfortable. I kept moving around trying to cover up more of my arms as the eyes kept traveling around. Whenever I would look up, all of the guys would still be in the midst of a conversation or playing the games, so I never thought much of it.

I look at the time and noticed it was eleven at night, which wasn't late except I had a seven in the morning lecture, which I couldn't afford to skip. I packed up my things and paced the bag to balance on my shoulder. I taped Jeremiah's shoulder and told him I am going home, to which he shooed me off with his hand with the other still on the controller while his eyes still trained on the screen in front of him. However, he did speak up a bit and asked, "You done with the essay?"

I respond in a slightly quieter voice, afraid to gain more attention, "No, but I'll just work on it in the library tomorrow or something." To which I got the pleasant answer of a grunt and a mumble of "bye". I chuckled slightly and looked around, noticing that all the others were focusing all their attention on the screen. Except for Castor.

I turn around and gave myself a pep talk, hyping myself up to be mannerly and say goodbye and thank you. I turn to face Castor, who was still lying on the bed with his limbs sprawled off of the bed, but his cold eyes still trained on me. I gulped and put on the fakest, most cheerful smile I could muster before stating, "Thanks for letting me stay, I gotta go though, so see you later, I guess..." I quietly end my short thank you speech before turning around and scuffling off to the door. Before I was able to leave, I heard the same gruff voice reply, "See you around, Rosalie." Before I quickly opened the door and slipped through into the quiet, bland hallway.

There, I let out a huge sigh before closing my eyes and taking some deep breaths. I hate socializing, even when I don't actually socialize with others.

I push myself off of the door and quietly tiptoe myself out of the doors into the cold, dark campus where the soft echo of music rattles me to the bone. I start walking in a fast pace as all the trees and dim lights seem to be playing tricks on my mind, making me hallucinate and see the shadows and figures of lurking humans. I hold my bag closer to me as I quicken my pace into a sprint.

I run back to my dorm, where I am met with my inviting bed and warm blanket.