Trustless Love

Chapter 4

The whole freshman orientation ceremony lasted all but thirty minutes before we were dismissed. Mandy and I got up to follow Stephen and Dustin out the double doors and down the sidewalk. Knowing that we were heading back to their dorm to hang out, I couldn't help to wonder if I would see party guy there. Maybe then I could find out what his name is.

After about an hour of hanging out in the guy's room, we decided on ordering a pizza. Total school perk is we could use our student ID card and have the pizza taken out of our meal allowance money we had loaded onto it every month.

"Pepperoni and pineapple." I said excitedly.

"Ew, pineapple. What is wrong with you?" Dustin remarked as he scrolled down the Domino's website.

"Ugh...fine. Plain ol' pepperoni then. So boring." Dustin and I are always the ones who spoke up when it came to food choices. Everyone else always said that they didn't care or didn't know what they wanted to eat. Dustin smiled and in a few clicks he had ordered our large pizza and breadsticks. We always took turns when it came to ordering food. That way it balanced out to not having just one of us always paying for everything. Just another reason why I loved how tight our little group was. We have always been friends since middle school and couldn't have been happier when we all decided to go to Rainsville together. It just made sense.

Ten minutes into shoving our faces full of delicious pizza, there is a knock at the door. We all stopped mid bite, except Dustin, because well, he didn't care who was at the door. Stephen gets up and looks through the peep hole, then laughs and opens the door.

"Hey man! What's goin' on?"

And there he was....party guy...all in his handsome, California glory.

"Not much dude. Was just bored and wanted to see what you guys were up to." He scans the room and his eyes stop on me. That smirk appears and I have to look away because I know I'm blushing. I mean, I don't even know the guys name yet. I shouldn't be blushing at someone I barely know.

"Cool, cool. Well you can join us if you'd like. We have some leftover pizza if you want a slice." Stephen nonchalantly says as he walks across the room and takes his place back on the bed. He hit's the play button on the remote and How to Get Away with Murder starts playing again on the screen. We all watched the first episode on Netflix and were hooked instantly.

I lean back against the side of the bed and start to watch the show. Party guy is still standing over by the door. I'm assuming deciding whether or not he is willing to sit through a show just for a couple slices of pizza.

"Come sit down Eric. You don't have to stand the whole time. Plenty of room to crash on the bed." Dustin casually says as he scoots down to the middle of the bed.

Ahhhhh....Eric

Finally, the mystery solved.

Eric looks around the room before he nods in thanks towards Stephen and Dustin. I start to get nervous in hopes he will sit beside me since there is an obvious spot open. Mandy always sat in the bean bag, while Stephen and Dustin took the bed, so I was always comfortable on the floor with a large comforter. He slowly makes his way over towards the side of the bed and looks down at me for approval before he takes his place. I nod and then look back towards the T.V.

Wrapping the comforter closer to my body, I sit the paper plate holding my half eaten slice of pizza down on top of my outstretched, crossed legs.

Why have I suddenly become self-conscious about eating in front of a guy?

The thought pops in my head and I realize that's never happened before. Looking around the room, everyone is still eating and watching the show. Eric is just now starting on his first slice. Normally, I'm very comfortable in front of new people, including guys, but he makes me feel...different.

Once the episode is over, we briefly talk about what we think is happening. Eric sits there and listens. Even though he hasn't seen the first four episodes, he throws in a few comments about his interpretation from what he gathered with this one. I really like that he is interested in what my friends and I watch. Makes it seem like he's part of our small group.

"Whatever dude. You know Annalise is going to save their ass regardless of what they do." Dustin argues with Stephen. "She doesn't want her image ruined, especially by them." He runs his fingers through his thick, short brown hair out of frustration. I love how passionate he is about the show. He and Stephen always seem to have different views, so the banter back and forth between them was something I've gotten used to.

"Yeah, yeah. We will see what happens when we watch the next episode tomorrow night. I think some serious shit is about to go down." Stephen counters.

Dustin just shrugs his shoulders and shoves another slice of pizza in his mouth. I know he is trying to keep his smart ass comments to himself.

"Ugh, pizza always makes me so tired. What time is it?" Mandy whines as she sinks down even further in the bean bag chair.

"It's only like 1. Are you really going to go take a nap in the middle of the day?" I ask, looking over at her.

"Maybe. Especially if I want to hit up another party tonight. I need to be refreshed so I can stay awake longer. I heard tonight is literally going to be amazing! I love that all the sororities and fraternities come early. Makes for a nice start to our school year." She says, wiggling her eyebrows my way.

Oh heavens.

I just shake my head at her and look away. She has been dying for me to loosen up some. All throughout high school, I was always the careful one and never stayed out late or went to secret barn parties with everyone else. Mandy always made her appearance. Making sure her long brown hair and outfits were on point. She loved being popular and coming here made her nervous since there was so much competition. So if there is ever a party mentioned that she can go to, she'll be there to make herself known. The bad part was, I'd always be tagging along with her. Mandy made it clear that she wanted me to get out more and like the good friend I am, I told her I would just to appease her.

**Thanks for reading so far everyone! Any comments and votes are definitely appreciated! I will always make sure to respond to everyone! **