Camryn Quinn is finally getting what she wants...sort of. Moving into a dorm and away from her not so supportive father is a good first step, but like everything with him, it comes with strings. She must attend the college of his choosing for at lea...
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My level of annoyance reaches new heights within five minutes of crossing the threshold of my brother's apartment. Alyssa bounces through the crowd on her platformed sandals, and I begrudgingly trail behind. Her confidence is ever prominent as she strolls right up to the makeshift bar in the corner. It's nothing more than what appears to be a folding table made of white plastic, its legs removed and since replaced with stacks of cases of beer to hold it up. I flick a single light from the strand draped across the front with a side reading "Tits Only" taped near the middle.
It's impressive, really, that someone potentially wasted their remaining brain cells to create this.
Alyssa obviously has selective blindness as orders a drink from the wannabe bartender, wearing a white button down and bow tie. I wouldn't be surprised if Callan paid one of his friends to dress up to play the part. He's always had a thing for degrading others. Or this is the mastermind behind the set up, and this was just the final piece of his plan. Either way, when his eyes flash to me briefly, the snarl I return is enough to make him reconsider before returning to adding a few liquids to a shaker and then distributing it amongst the shot glasses in front of him.
Alyssa takes them with a wink, extending one in my direction.
"I'm not drinking that," I tut, a finger extended in front of me, "And neither should you if you want to live to see tomorrow."
Alyssa, however, only laughs and tips the contents of plastic glass into her mouth, swallows, and then repeats it with the one she attempted to hand to me. The pressure of the situation finds its way into my head. It was a mistake to come here, but an even bigger mistake to assume Alyssa was on the more tame side.
I stalk through the hoard of bodies crammed into the small space, not bothering to wait for Alyssa. She's barely five feet so I"m sure those two shots will take effect quickly, giving her all the courage she needs to make friends with half the party. If I'm lucky, she'll also find a new place to stay tonight.
The music is basic house party music, and the volume nearly deafens me. The living room bleeds into the kitchen, and thankfully the speakers don't seem to have the range I'm sure my brother intended. I catch myself scanning the crowd, not to see where Alyssa went, but to try to find my brother. The sooner I make it known that I actually came on my own free will, the faster I can go home. My eye catches on a pair of long legs covered in jeans and capped with cowboy boots. I knew he would probably be here, considering we've run into each other here far too often, but I didn't expect my heart rate to pick up from simply spotting him in a crowd.
I'm saved from myself when an arm slinks around my shoulder, the mouth attached to the same body coming close to my ear. "Need me to introduce you?" Cal bellows over the background noise after following my line of sight. The mixture of beer and liquor on his breath could paralyze a horse. I lift his arm with a single hand and let it drop back to his side, "Just making sure I know where the exits are."
