Ceaseless (3 page)
Authors: Abbi Glines
Pagan
“
Smart move. He looked like a creep.
”
The blond with the pink tipped hair was suddenly beside me. I hadn’t heard her walk up
but
I’d been busy
trying to get rid of the
overly
-
friendly
guy who had met me at Miranda’s car and wouldn’t take a hint.
“He was nice enough. I’m just not crazy about giving
directions
to my room to every guy on campus.” I explained. And I didn’t want them to feel as if I owed them something for their help.
The girl reached into the car and pulled out my suitcase. I wasn’t sure what to think about that. The
roar of the motorcycle’s
engine
startled me and I spun around too see
Dank Walker drive away without
so much as
a glance my
way. Not that I expected it
,
really. I mean he had been very nice and seemed somewhat interested
,
but I didn’t
exactly
encourage him.
“Weren’t you going with him?” I asked as the girl walked around me with
a
suitcase handle i
n one hand and one of my boxes
tucked in
her
other arm. She was really going to help me unload
?
Why? I’d done nothing to win her favor. She didn’t appear to be someone who made friends easily.
“Changed my mind. He’s in a bit of a funk today,” she said without looking back at me. I watched as she made her way to the entrance of the dorm
then I turned around and
grabb
ed
a box
myself
. She wouldn’t know which room to go to and
even
if she
found the room on her own
,
it would terrify
Miranda
if
emo
girl walked into the room when she was there alone
Five
hours later we were completely unpacked. Even our
very large
room was set up.
We’d taken
he empty boxes
to the dumpster,
packed
the fridge
with water bottles
,
and I’d given half my closet space
to
Miranda. She’d brought too many clothes to fit in hers. This was not surprising in the least.
I figured that
it
would be easier to live with
a jam-packed closet
than
listening to
Miranda whin
e
for the next nine months
because her closet wasn’t big enough.
Besides
,
with the size of this room we could easily fit one of those portable closet
s
in the corner.
“I still can’t believe she is in the room connected to ours and she doesn’t have to share with anyone. What is she?
A rock star’s kid?
THAT’S IT! She is some famous rocker’s kid. She looks the part. She is obviously on
a
first name basis with Dank Walker and she has the
money
and power to have her very own
dorm room
.
And she has that weird name. Who calls their kid ‘Gee” but some famous person
?
”
Most times,
I waved Miranda’s ridiculous ideas away
,
but this time she just might be right. No one else in the dorm had
her
own room
, everyone else had a
room-mate
.
Granted
,
our
room
was huge.
It was e
ven bigger than Gees
,
but we were sharing it.
I plopped down on my black polka dotted comforter that Miranda had insisted I get. She wanted us to match. Hers was
black with white polka dots
and mine was white with black polka dots. I didn’t really care for the pattern but honestly I’d
have
been fine with
a
quilt from
home
as my cover. Miranda had thrown a hissy fit when I’d
suggested
that
. So, we had polka dots. Everything else was black and white too.
Black and white
was her
current
decorating
color scheme
obsession. She had even bought us
matching
pin boards with black and white ribbon on them to hang above our desks
,
right beside the black and white
dry erase boards
.
“It looks good doesn’t it?” She asked
smugly
as she sat down beside me. She was happy with the way everything had fit into place. I was just glad she’d left the
One
Direction
posters
at her house. I d
o
n’t li
ke boy bands and I sure
don’t
want to them plastered over the walls of my room all year.
“You did a
good job
,” I agreed and she beamed at me. It didn’t take much to make her
smile
. She’d gone through a rough patch there for a
while after her boyfriend, Wyatt, had
passed away
. It had been the three of us growing up. Losing him had hurt me too
,
but not as badly as it had her. They had a connection I didn’t share. Shopping for our room had kept her busy over the past month and she’d slowly started to
heal
.
“What should we do now? Want to go check out the campus? Or go find something to eat? The
campus
food court
doesn’t open until tomorrow. We’ll have to leave campus to find dinner.”
I started to answer when Gee walked into the room through the bathroom that adjoined our room
s
. “I know the perfect place to go eat and have a little fun. Let’s go
,
bitches.”
CHAPTER 3
Pagan
Although it was
a
n age-restricted
club
,
Gee had
gotten
us inside without a hitch
. I’d started to refuse to go inside but Miranda had gotten all excited when the bouncer waved us through. I had to go in
to keep Miranda out of trouble
.
“Stop frowning
,
Peggy Ann. It
ain’t
that bad. Loosen up,” Gee said as we made our way toward one of the empty tables.
“
My name
is Pagan,” I informed her.
“You used to be more fun,” she mumbled. What the heck did she mean by that? We’d known each other all of six
hours
tops. I
was about
to ask about her comment when a guy stepped in front of me.
“Hey
,
beautiful. You’re new here. I’d remember eyes like those if I’d
seen
them before.”
I let out a weary sigh and look
ed
up at him. “Really? That’s the best you’ve got?” I asked
raising an
eyebrow.
His confused frown annoyed me
and
I stepped around him.
“
Harsh
!
I like it.” Gee chuckled as we took our seats at the bar.
Mirand
a grabbed my arm and jerked me
close to her, “Don’t look now
,
but Jay is here,” she whispered excitedly in my ear.
I knew Jay went to U
niversity of
T
ennessee
,
which was just
one
city over from us
but I hadn’t expected to bump into him so soon
, especially not on my first night in college
. I started
to look back
but
Mirand
a
squeezed my arms tightly. “I said don’t look. He’s with a girl. They’re dancing really close and well I think she may be humping his leg.”
“What do you want to
drink
Pay-
gan
,” Gee asked in a mocking voice drawing my name out since I’d corrected her before.
“A Coke will be fine,” I
said and turned my
attention
away
from Miranda
’s
death grip on my arm to Gee
,
who was perched on a barstool as if she were actually old enough to order something more than a soda.
“You want Coke? Why am I not surprised?” She replied with a roll of her eyes. Her gaze shifted from me to something over my shoulder. “Well, shit.” She mumbled.
Curious
,
I turned around and my eyes met Jay’s. He was in fact dancing with some girl who just might be humping his leg. His hands were cupping her butt and he was whispering something in her ear or at least he
was
until
he
saw
me. His surprised expression made me smile. I’m sure he had no idea I was at Boone. I hadn’t spoken to him since Wyatt’s funeral. I smiled and gave him a little wave
and
turn
ed
around
to
look at Gee. She was watching me closely as if she may need to tackle me to the ground at any given moment. What was her deal? She was just
weird
enough to make me nervous.
“You know him?” She asked
,
shifting her eyes from me to
Jay’s
direction.
Shrugging
,
I picked up
the
Coke the bartender placed in front of me. “Yeah, he used to go to my school,” I explained. I didn’t want to explain to her that he had also been my boyfriend for three years. She would probably embarrass me somehow with that information.
“He was her boyfriend for three years. Th
ey
were inseparable.” Miranda chimed in with her juicy piece of gossip. I’d have to thank her later for that one.
“Hmmm… well Pay-
gan
, y
ou need to decide what you want to do because here he comes,” Gee replied. She seemed annoyed.
Great.
“Pagan?” Jay’s surprised tone had me wishing I’d stayed in my
dorm room
tonight. I was
not
up for
this
right now. Especially with Gee watching my every move.
I took a deep breath
, forced a smile on my face,
and
turned around to face Jay
.
“Hello, Jay.”
“
Hiya
,
Jay. Fancy meeting you here,” Miranda said with a giggle.
“ I can’t believe y’all are here,” Jay said
,
with
a huge grin
on
his face. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re both at Boone,” I explained.
“Boone? Really? As in you’re living
only
thirty minutes from me?” The excitement in his voice surprised me. We’d been broken up over a year and a half now. It wasn’t like we were long lost friends.
“Yep. Moved in today,” Miranda said before taking a sip of her Shirley Temple. At least I
hoped
it was a Shirley Temple. Surely Gee hadn’t ordered her something with alcohol in it.
“Were you
gonna
call me? Clue me in
that
you’
re right around the corner?” Jay’s focus was on me
,
but I was
watching
the blond who had been humping his leg. From the look on her face she wasn’t very happy. I watched her approach us
and wrap
her arms
around Jay’s arm. I shifted my eyes from her angry glare to his suddenly tense one.
“So who
are
your friends, Jay
Jay
?” the
girl
asked
,
pressing closer against him.
I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing at “Jay
Jay
”. Miranda kicked me and I heard her muffled chuckle. She was getting a kick out of the nickname too.
“Uh, this is uh, “ he stammered.
I decided to save him from his moment of panic and smiled over at his new girlfriend. “Hello. I’m Pagan and this is Miranda. We went to high school with Jay.” I’d wanted to
say “Jay
Jay
” so badly
,
but
I
refrained
because I knew if I did,
I would burst into laughter.
She reached up and ran her hand through Jay’s shaggy blond hair while keeping her eyes
locked
on me. Apparently I was the one she was least fond of. “Is that so? He never mentioned either of you.”
That was a little surprising. Since we’d broken up the summer he left to come up here for college. I figure
d
he would have at least missed me a little. Guess I thought wrong. I shrugged, “Must not have ranked real high on his importance radar,” I replied.
I shifted my eyes to Jay’s and smirked. I was done with this fun conversation. I could see the frown puckering his forehead and decided to get away while I could. The last thing I wanted was for him or Miranda to delve into our past.
“It was nice seeing you again, maybe we’ll bump into each other again over the next three years.” I turned back around in my stool and let my fake smile
dissolve
. Now, it was his
turn
to walk away. We’d had our little weird moment. Time to move on.
“Is your
cell number
still the same?” Jay asked. Dang it. Did the boy not take a hint? I was not interested in him. He had moved on. Jeez.
“Yep. Her number hasn’t changed,” Miranda replied when it was obvious I wasn’t going to.
This time I kicked Miranda.
“Ouch!” she squealed.
“Get rid of them,” I whispered to Gee who was sitting there surprisingly quiet watching the whole thing.
She winked at me and turned her attention back to Jay. “Looks like Pagan
isn’t
up for anymore chat
-
chat
,
Jay
Jay
. So you and your girlfriend can get back to humping on the
dance floor
. It was entertaining us earlier.”
I covered my face with my hands. Why had I
trusted
her to handle this?
Miranda burst into a fit of giggles and spun around
o
n her stool away from them too.
I kept my eyes closed tightly hoping they’d
just
walk away. I did not want Jay to think I’d been watching him dirty dance.
“They
are gone
. You’re welcome.” Gee announced and raised her empty glass in the air and rattled the ice around. “He’s
kinda
cute but I’m thinking that chic
k
he has hanging on him has silver tipped nails ready to slice open anyone who gets close.”
“I picked up on that,” I replied and drank the last of the soda in my glass.
“He is so still into you,” Miranda said nudging my arm. Was she blind? Jay was very taken. He had always been polite and friendly to everyone. Of course he would be to us. We’d all done everything together from the time we’d been freshman to the year he graduated before us.
“No he isn’t. Besides, I’m not looking.”
Miranda sighed and made a pouty face. “You’re never looking. You weren’t even aware of the sexiness that is Dank Walker today.”
That was where she was wrong. I was very aware of how sexy Dank Walker had been. It would take a blind person to miss that
fact
and even then they would probably be able to tell. His voice was
hypnotic
. But he was a lead singer in a
rock band
. Not my type.
His
kind wanted a girl long enough to get her naked and in bed. Then he moved on.