My Date with the Frat President

Ch. 9 - Secret Undercover

"Joseph, you are not wearing light up shoes to a frat party."

"Sophie, it's called fashion."

I grab my bag from the counter and give Sophie a thumbs-up. "Ready? If we leave now, we'll be exactly an hour and fifteen minutes late, which is just the perfect amount of time to be considered cool."

"Right," Sophie says, although I know she doesn't follow my logic.

We walk over to where STD is on campus, easy to find listening to the thudding EDM music. There's a guy outside dressed in salmon pants and a Hawaiian shirt. He's wearing a baseball cap with the Greek letters Sigma Tau Delta. He looks young enough to be a freshman, maybe sophomore.

"Suh, dude," he says and shakes Joseph's hand. He nods at me and Sophie. "Ladies."

"Hey," Joseph replies as Sophie and I wave back. "We're friends of El Presidente."

The kid raises his eyebrows.

I have to hold back my instinctive urge to kick the back of Joseph's leg. He's making us sound so lame. "Aiden," I say. "We're friends of Aiden."

"Oh, hell ya, ya'll know Aiden?" His smile grows. "Come on in! There's booze in the back!"

Walking inside, my shoes stick to the wooden floors glazed with stale alcohol. I haven't been to a Frat house in awhile. Oh, how I have not missed the scent of sweat and other substances in the air. The music is so loud I can barely think.

"He's over there!" Sophie screams in my left ear, even still I can barely hear her.

I follow my eyes to where she pointed and find Aiden talking to some guys. My stomach immediately knots up. Why? Why am I so nervous?

Joseph walks over to Aiden without hesitation. I follow closely behind to make sure he doesn't say anything embarrassing.

"Sir President," Joseph says with a bow. "It is an honor."

At first, Aiden looks really confused. He looks behind Joseph and locks eyes with me. A smile immediately falls on his face. "Hey!"

I take a step back when he comes in for a hug, but he doesn't hesitate and wraps his arms around me. He smells so good, like fresh mint. I widen my eyes when I realize I just clearly sniffed this man. "Uh, Aiden, hey! These are my friends, Sophie and Joe!"

Aiden smiles. "Hey. You guys want anything to drink?" He doesn't wait for an answer, so casual in all of his actions, as he leads us over to a sticky table with red solo cups and cheap alcohol. "Here. Take whatever. On the house!"

"Why thank you, Lord President," Joseph says in a medieval accent. Sophie giggles and grabs a cup.

"Hey, I want to show you something," Aiden says, grabbing my hand.

This is going to sound crazy, I know, but his hand feels so comfortable intwined with mine, like it was always meant to be there. Oh geez. How cliché did that just sound!

I glance back at Sophie and Joseph and they both give me a thumbs-up, letting me know they're good on their own. I follow Aiden through the crowds in the house. I always loved people-watching at frat parties.

He leads me upstairs and opens a creaky wooden door. I can only assume we're in his room. It's surprisingly neat... almost too neat. I can't help but smile, picturing him cleaning up his room before inviting me over.

"This is my room," he says. "It's the only single in the house, so that's pretty nice."

"Must be convenient with all the girls you bring back," I comment, as a joke, of course, though I'm sure it truly is convenient for him.