Chaotic (Imperfect Perfection) (6 page)

“All right, Della. Let me show you
your room, you’re just going to love it. It’s a little small but we can make it
work.” Callie looped her arm through mine and Zoey gave me a thumbs up like she
was wishing me luck. I had a feeling I was going to need it.

“Here it is,” she said with a
flourish of her hand, showing off the bland walls and the full-size bed that
was shoved into the corner. I saw a small bathroom and a closet that was most
definitely not a walk- in, but I guess it would do. “Don’t worry, I can totally
help with decorating, it’s sort of my thing. Do you have a lot of stuff to move
in?”

“Not too much. My grandparents were
trying to find a parking spot so I should probably run down and help out with
my stuff.”

“Sounds awesome, just yell if you
need anything. I just have a few more things to unpack and then I’ll be all
set. We can show you around campus tomorrow if you want. We’re going to have so
much fun together. And don’t worry about being the third wheel with us. Zoey
and I have been roommates for the past two years, but I’m sure we’ll all be
best friends in no time.”

She let out a little squeal as I
opened the door, and I couldn’t help but smile at her excitement, especially
with the rush of relief at getting two roommates that seemed to actually be
really nice girls. If only my luck at a fresh new start could continue, I think
I could shove the past behind me right where it belonged.

“So, Della. How has your first day
on campus been? A little overwhelming?” Callie drummed her bubblegum-pink nails
on the table as we sat in one of the many cafeterias that they had on campus.
The three of us had compared schedules and found three days that we could meet
up for lunch. It was relieving to have two instant friends.

“Yeah, a little bit. It’s
definitely not what I’m used to, but you guys helped out a ton with showing me
around the other day. I think I should pretty well know my way around by the
end of the week without getting too lost.”

“That’s good,” Zoey replied. “You
think you want to go out with us tonight? Callie met some guy who wants to meet
up at the Campus Pub, and she thinks I always need to tag along to be her wing
woman or something.” She rolled her green eyes, and Callie nudged her with her
elbow.

“Oh, please Zee. You know you love
being my wing woman, and we always have fun. Don’t be such a Debbie Downer. You
have to come Della, there are always hot guys there.”

“I don’t know, I should probably be
studying or something so I can keep up with my grades. My grandparents are
being a little strict, to say the least, about them being above average.”

“C’mon, Della. Everyone knows the first
week of school is a blow off week. All we’re getting are syllabuses and boring
speeches. You’re old enough to make your own decisions, just as long as you
keep your grades up, your grandparents don’t need to know what you are doing
every minute of the day. Besides, everyone deserves to have a little fun.
Please?” Callie pouted her pink lips at me, lacing her fingers together
dramatically like she was sending a prayer that I would agree to go.

“Fine, I’ll go, but I’m not staying
out too late. I don’t want to miss class tomorrow.” Callie broke out into a
wide smile, doing a fist pump in the air.

“Calm down, Callie. We don’t want
to -” Zoey stopped midsentence, stiffening slightly.

“What’s the matter, Zoey?” I turned
around to see what she was staring at with an icy glare and came face to face
with Nash who had an amused smile on his face.

“Hey, Della. I finally found you,
mind if I sit?” I nodded my head slightly, even though I could tell Zoey was
uncomfortable by him being there for some reason. Callie gave me a big wink,
wiggling her eyebrows, which I assumed meant she would be grilling me for
details later on why and how I knew Nash.

“Sorry, I wasn’t around yesterday.
I had some errands to run for my mom before I moved back to campus. Did you get
everything moved in all right?”

“Yeah, I really didn’t have a ton
of stuff, so my grandparents helped me with most of it. Where are you living at?”
I was hoping he wasn’t going to say with that girl I had seen him with.

“I live over at one of the houses
right off campus with a few guys. You should stop by sometime to check it out,
but let me warn you, the place is never clean. Did you still want to get
together to hang out?”

Before I could respond, Callie
piped in, slightly nudging me out of the way. “Actually, the three of us are
going out tonight if you wanted to join us. We’re going over to the pub around
nine.”

“That sounds awesome,” he replied
with a bright smile before tapping me on the nose. “Hopefully, we can catch up
some more then. I bet I can still beat your ass at pool.”

“Oh, please,” I snorted. “I used to
let you win so you wouldn’t run off pouting to your mom like a little baby because
a girl beat you.”

“Right,” he dragged out before
standing and looping his arms through his backpack. “We’ll see about that. I’ll
see you ladies tonight.”

Zoey and Callie stared at me in
wonder and didn’t start grilling me until he was out of ear shot. “What.The.Hell?”
Zoey crossed her arms tightly over her chest, raising one brow at me. “What?” I
asked in confusion.

“Please explain how exactly you
know Nash Griffin. You seemed a little too chummy for just meeting today
and
he made plans with you. Nash doesn’t talk to any girl besides that bitch of a
girlfriend of his, Mariah. So spill it.”

“Nash and I grew up together during
the summers,” I explained. “We lost touch when I moved to Connecticut, but we
saw each other a few days ago when I got back into town. He’s basically the
best friend I’ve ever had.”

“Uh-oh, looks like Mariah finally
has some competition then,” Callie commented. “He couldn’t keep his eyes off of
you the whole time, and he seemed pretty damn excited to meet up with you
tonight. I wonder if he’ll tell her where he’s going tonight,” she added in a
sing song voice.

“Oh, no. Trust me, I’m not looking
at getting in between their relationship. Nash and I are strictly friends. What’s
the problem with Mariah? Nash was always such a nice guy, I can’t imagine him
being with some ice queen like you seem to be implying.”

“Well, I just don’t like her
because Zoey doesn’t. You know friends need to stick together and all that
shit. Zoey here can explain exactly why Mariah is her arch nemesis,” Callie let
out a little giggle but was cut short when Zoey gave her an evil glare.

“Mariah made every single year of
high school miserable for me. So yeah, I think I have a pretty good reason for
hating her. Mariah and I used to be best friends from practically the time that
we were born. Our moms were best friends and had us within months of each
other. Then it all started to change when we hit high school. Suddenly, guys
were paying attention to her, and we started to hang out less.

“Then one guy in particular that
she was dating started flirting with me when I was around. When she found his
lips on mine, which, let me just point out, I wanted no part of and was totally
trying to get him off of me, she went postal. Of course, he told her I attacked
him and she believed him. She spread rumors all over school that I had forced
myself on him and that it wasn’t the first time because I just wanted what she
had. Every one believed poor Mariah since she was always the more popular one,
and I sort of stayed behind her shadow.

“The rumors have grown over the
years, apparently I’ve slept with almost all of Allen County, and I’m STD
infested. I also have three secret babies at home that I keep hidden from the
public eye; it’s a tough life.  So basically no one talked to me during high
school. It’s changed a bit since coming here, even though a lot of people from
my school came here.”

“That must have been tough,” I
reached out to pat her hand, wishing I could take away the pain that flashed
through her eyes. I had never been on the receiving end of rumors like that; I
guess that’s one thing I could thank my mother for. But I did know how it felt
to not have any friends, even though it seemed like I had an endless amount
back home. “What’s your problem with Nash though? Did he tease you at school or
something?”

“No,” she gave a shake of her
auburn waves. “Actually, Nash was a year ahead of us, but he had always been
nice towards me when no one else was. When he started dating Mariah right
before he graduated, it sort of felt like a betrayal, even though we were never
really friends.”

“But now you have us,” Callie piped
in. “And none of that high school drama matters now. I, on the other hand,
think Nash is a sweet guy. He’s always so nice to everyone and such a gentleman
about everything. I really have no clue how him and Mariah have been together
so long, they are like complete opposites.”

It was good to know Nash hadn’t changed
much, even if his girlfriend wasn’t the greatest. Now that I was back, it would
be nice to rekindle our friendship, which he seemed to want too, but I guess we
would have to see how that all played at once we actually met.

                                                                                *********

“Yes, Grams, the first day of
school went great. I think I should do pretty well in my classes as long as I
stay focused.” I cradled my phone on my shoulder as I flipped through my closet
looking for something to wear for my first night out with my roommates.

“So what’s on the agenda tonight,
Della?”

“Oh, not much,” I replied as my
hands landed on an off the shoulder black dress that still had the tags on it.
I actually sort of regretted pulling them off. I could really use that extra
money right now, but I guess that was the price I had to pay for looking good.
“Probably just hanging around my room, getting some studying done, and getting
ready for classes tomorrow.” I winced when I caught my reflection in the mirror
as I lied to my Grams.

It wasn’t like I was going out
tonight to get crazy, but I deserved to have a little fun every once in awhile
as long as I controlled myself and didn’t get into too much trouble. What Grams
didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her as long as I kept up with school.

“Well, that sounds great, Della.
Very mature of you, I’ll make sure to let your Grandpa know how responsible
you’re being. Are you still planning on coming over for dinner later this
week?”

“Of course, Grams.” I turned to my
doorway to find Callie standing there with an armful of pink, and I held a
finger up to her. “Listen, I have to get started on all of my studying. I’ll
talk to you later on, love you.”

“Love you too, Della.”

I tossed my phone on the bed and
eyed Callie as she unloaded her pile onto the lounge chair I had tucked in the
corner. “I feel a little guilty lying to Grams even if I’m old enough to be
doing whatever I want.”

“Oh, please, Della. You really
didn’t lie perse. We’re going to be studying tonight, your Grams just doesn’t
need to know that it will be the male species that we’re studying.”

“Very true,” I replied with a laugh
as I threw my dress on the bed.

“What’s the deal with that anyway?
Did you really do something so horrible that now your every move needs to be
monitored? I mean, not to sound harsh, but you could always just cut off all
contact with your family and do your own thing.”

I let out a loud sigh and glanced
at Callie, who was looking at me expectantly. Callie and Zoey seemed to be the
type of girls who would be there for me no matter what I had done in my past,
but I wasn’t quite ready to spill all of that just yet. “Let’s not get into
that tonight. Tonight we’re going out to have a kick ass time and you don’t
need to hear my sob story.” Changing the subject, I pointed to the pink mess on
my chair. “What exactly is all of that for?”

“Oh,” she clapped her hands and
began rifling through the pile, “just a few of my choices for the night. I was
hoping you could help me decide.” She held up two different dresses in front of
her, and I pointed to the one on the right as she moved onto the next two. “You
can borrow something if you want.”

“No, that’s all right. I’m good.” I
didn’t mind pink but not
that
much pink. We spent the next hour getting
dressed and helping each other fix our hair. Zoey came in just as we were
finishing up in a pair of skinny jeans and an emerald top that was backless. It
went perfectly with her creamy skin, and she grinned when she saw us.

“I’m so glad Callie finally found a
primping buddy,” she said as she ran her fingers through her wavy hair that she
had just left down like usual. Callie and I, on the other hand, had taken turns
on each other’s hair. My flat iron had transformed Callie’s curls, and I now
had curls running through mine, just skimming my bare shoulders.

We headed out of the dorms,
choosing to walk so we didn’t have to worry about a DD. Callie and Zoey had
both turned twenty-one over the summer, so they promised to supply me with drinks
throughout the night. I really wasn’t too worried about it, I didn’t need to
get smashed and end up doing something stupid like I normally did when I drank.

“There’s Drew,” Callie stood on her
tiptoes, pointing to a back table where a stocky looking football player-type
stood, nervously tapping his knee as he scanned the packed bar back and forth
with his eyes.

A relieved looking smile lit up his
face as soon as he saw Callie skip towards him and I could tell they had a
really good connection. Callie flung herself into his arms which earned her a
surprised chuckle from Drew for her over enthusiasm, and she pulled back to
introduce us. “These are my roommates, Zoey and Della. This is Drew.”

I smiled at the way she said Drew, like
she was caressing his name as she said it. I could tell how into him she was.
“Nice to meet you,” Drew replied, never releasing Callie’s hand as we all sat
down around the high-top table. “Callie’s told me all about both of you. Can I
get everyone something to drink?”