#Hater (Hashtag #2) (16 page)

He pointed at the coffee and I went to lift one up. He shook his head. “That one’s Rim’s.”

“You know her coffee order?” I asked suspiciously.

He waved away my irritation. “She’s a girl. All girls like those frilly frou-frou drinks.”

I grunted because he had me there.

I lifted the other coffee out of the holder and took a sip. It was black. I might not drink those frilly girl drinks, but I didn’t take my coffee black either.

I reached into the fridge and pulled out some creamer and dumped some in my cup.

I held it out to Braeden and he shook his head. “I already used it.”

“How bad is the mess outside?” I asked, taking a seat across from him.

He lifted the lid to the donut box and grabbed a glazed and shoved half of it in his mouth. “The usual party mess.”

Rimmel appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. Her hair was a wreck, her glasses were crooked, and she wasn’t wearing any pants.

“Umm, I think you forgot something,” I told her.

She wrinkled her nose. “I did not forget to comb my hair. I just don’t feel like it,” she grumped.

Braeden laughed. “What about your pants?”

Her eyes went wide and she looked down at her bare legs. Then she shrugged. “This shirt is so long you can barely see my knees.”

We both watched her as she pulled out a chair and sank into it. Her slippers were in her hands so she pulled them on, giving me a flash of panties when she lifted her leg.

I glanced at Braeden to make sure he wasn’t looking, but he was busy inhaling another donut. I snagged her coffee off the counter and sat it in front of her.

She sighed in appreciation and wrapped her hands around the cup. She took a sip and glanced at Braeden. “How did you know I like mocha?”

“Because you’re a girl.”

“Oh,” she said and went back to her coffee.

Braeden pushed the donuts toward her and she made a face. “Coffee, yes. Donuts, no. I’m still not sure if my stomach won’t revolt.”

I grabbed a blueberry cake donut out of the box and took a huge bite. Braeden followed my lead. Rimmel watched us and said, “I don’t understand how you two stay so fit.”

“Season’s over,” Braeden explained.

The front door opened and closed again, and I glanced up as my mother swept into the kitchen. Beside me, Rimmel stiffened and sat up a little straighter in her chair.

“Mrs. A!” Braeden said.

“Hello, Braeden,” she said, glancing at him with a hint of a smile on her lips.

My mother loved Braeden. She always had, ever since we were kids.

“What’s up, Mom?” I said, knowing I was going to get a lecture about how big the party was last night.

“I wanted to tell you there is no need to attempt to clean up from last night. I have a cleaning crew coming over. They should be here any minute now.”

Sweet.

“You’re a peach,” Braeden said and kicked out the empty seat beside him. “I got you a donut.”

“You know I don’t eat donuts, Braeden,” she said, exasperated. But there was also affection in her tone.

“It has sprinkles.”

“Well, I guess since I’m here and I have coffee…” She motioned at the mug in her hand.

Rimmel’s eyes about fell out of her head when my mother sat in the chair Braeden pushed out for her. He reached out and put a sprinkled donut on a napkin and slid it across the table.

Rimmel looked at me in shock.

I winked at her.

“Dad home?” I asked.

“Yes, he is.”

“I need to talk to him today.”

I felt Rimmel’s eyes again, but this time I didn’t act like I noticed. I wasn’t about to tell her in front of my mother about the restraining order I wanted .

“I also came over to remind you about our dinner tonight,” Mom said.

Fuck.
I’d completely forgotten tonight was the night for our dinner.

“We’ll celebrate your win last night.” Then her eyes drifted beside me. “Do you still plan on coming, Rimmel?”

Rimmel nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

“Dinner with the ‘rents,” Braeden cracked. “Go easy on my little sis, Mrs. A.”

Mrs. Anderson glanced at Braeden. “Little sis?” She seemed surprised.

He nodded. “She’s family now.”

Mom turned thoughtful and set down her coffee. “So you like her?”

Rimmel stiffened, and I wanted to groan. “Mom,” I warned harshly.

Braeden laughed. “Hells yeah.” He glanced at me. “Rim’s cool.”

Mom glanced at Rimmel again, her eyes softening a little. Maybe a ringing endorsement from Braeden would help get rid of some of her attitude toward my girlfriend.

“Okay, then. I will see you two at dinner tonight.” She took her mug and stood. “Braeden, you know you’re always welcome anytime. We’re having Italian from the place up the street.”

“My fave,” Braeden said. “But I can’t. I got dinner with my other family.”

“Well, say hello to your mother for me.” Before leaving the room, she glanced at Rimmel. “Maybe comb your hair before we eat.”

“Mom!” I snapped.

Rimmel looked like she wanted to climb under the table and hide. I groaned when the front door closed.

Braeden laughed and turned to Rimmel. “Don’t worry, tutor girl. She only gives you that hard’a time because she knows you’re the real deal.”

“You think so?” she asked hopefully.

He nodded.

I hoped the hell he was right because I wasn’t about to let my mother treat Rimmel like shit. Tonight’s dinner could either go two ways:

1.) It could be the start of a relationship between my parents and the woman I loved.

or

2.) It could be a trip straight into hell.

Rimmel

After Romeo’s mother saw me this morning
without any pants
and then told me to comb my hair, I knew I had to bring out the big guns.

Or rather, the
stylish
guns.

So I threw myself on the mercy of Ivy and begged her to make me look good enough to pass the dreaded mother test.

Of course she was thrilled. I was like a human Barbie to her. She basically could do me up however she wanted, and I didn’t say anything because I didn’t care.

After this morning’s reminder of dinner tonight, I hung out with Braeden and Romeo for part of the day and chugged water, trying to flush what was left of the alcohol out of my system. Being hungover wasn’t something I cared to repeat. It felt like someone was drilling into my skull with a power tool.

Once I felt marginally better, I took advantage of the fact Romeo had his own bathroom and showered there. After I blow-dried my hair, I had him drive me back to my room so Ivy could help me.

He tried to tell me I didn’t need to dress up.

He clearly didn’t get it.

I was like a book sitting in a high-end bookshop. A bookshop where his mother shopped. She was going to judge me by my cover. If my cover looked frumpy and out of place, then she wouldn’t bother trying to read inside.

My pages were pretty damn good.

Now I needed a matching cover.

At least for tonight.

Damn if I was going to do this every single day.

Being a girl was entirely too much work.

“You are way too nervous,” Ivy said, pausing as she flat-ironed my hair. I thought she was going to curl it like the night I went to my first frat party with Romeo. But she announced that tonight’s look called for sleek and straight. A style that would shine and reflect the light.

“Have you met his mother?” I muttered.

Ivy laughed. “Momzilla?”

I snorted. “She makes Momzilla look like a friendly grandma.”

“Don’t do that at dinner,” she instructed and patted me on the shoulder.

“Maybe I should just cancel.”

“Are you kidding?” Ivy said as she continued to work on my hair. “You better show his mom that you aren’t going anywhere.”

“Oh, is that all?” I mused.

“Okay.” She sighed. “I’ve been waiting all day. It’s become clear you aren’t going to say anything.”

I glanced up in the mirror. “Say anything about what?”

“The fact that there are rumors all over the place about you cheating on Romeo.” She paused for effect and then leaned down in my ear. “
Romeo
.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I’m aware of who he is.”

Ivy straightened. “And then there’s the little episode from last night. When Romeo pounded Zach into the ground, but then Zach got up and tried to take him out with a chair.” She took a breath and kept going. “But! You got in the way and fell into the pool!”

“Wow,” I said, dry. “It’s a good thing you recapped all the drama in my life. I would have forgotten.”

“Ugh!” Ivy said in disgust. “And yet there you sit, so… so… bored by it all.”

“I’m sorry if all the upheaval in my life doesn’t thrill me.”

“Girl,” she drawled with her sassy attitude. She held up a brush. “Don’t make me beat it out of you.”

“Zach’s been using me to get to Romeo.” It sounded so simple when I said it that way. But it was anything but. Zach was crazy. He was starting to scare me. I was beginning to wonder if maybe he had a couple screws loose in his head.

“Why does Zach hate Romeo so much?” Ivy asked.

“I don’t know. It all started last semester with rush.”

Ivy nodded. I’d told her about everything. The initiation, the fact that Romeo turned down a place at Omega because he refused to use me and do what Zach wanted.

“It’s like he’s jealous or something.” I sighed.

“What happened in the bathroom?”

I groaned. “He must have followed me in there yesterday morning.” Had it really only been yesterday? So much had happened since then. “He locked us in there, alone. And he hid behind the shower curtain like some creepy stalker.”

Ivy mock shuddered.

“He took a picture of me in just my towel.”

Ivy gasped. “He didn’t!”

“Yep.”

“Romeo is going to fly off the handle if that gets out.”

“I didn’t tell him. And it won’t,” I said in a way that relayed the unspoken message for her to keep her mouth shut.

“How can you be so sure?” she asked.

“I broke his phone.”

“Nice!”

“But then I ran out still mostly naked, and a couple girls were at the door. They must have seen Zach come out of the bathroom.”

“That would explain the Buzz notification.” Ivy nodded.

“He did that hoping Romeo would find out before the game. He wanted him to play bad. He was trying to sabotage the game and Romeo’s good stats.” It infuriated me still.

“Not to mention now everyone thinks he’s letting you cheat on him,” Ivy added.

I groaned. “Like I would ever sleep with Zach.” I shuddered. “Ugh. The thought of him touching me makes my skin crawl.”

Ivy continued on my hair and said nothing.

“I wonder how he even got in the building.” I deliberated aloud. “Where was he that he saw me go into the bathroom?”

Still, Ivy fell silent. In fact, she suddenly seemed
very
focused on my hair.

“Ivy,” I said, a note of warning in my tone.

She glanced up.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“What?” She stalled. “Nothing. I’m just focused on your hair.”

I snorted. “You could do my hair in your sleep, and we both know it.”

Her shoulders slumped forward. “I’m so embarrassed.”

I turned and looked up at her. “Why?”

“IsleptwithZach.” She rushed the words out so it was one long word.

“What!” I gasped. My hand flew up to my lips. “Ew!”

“I know!” she whined and paced away from me. She flung herself on the bed. “I’m the worst friend in the history of friends!”

After I recovered from the shock (and the unfortunate mental image of Zach and Ivy in her bed together…
ewwww
), I said, “Tell me what happened.”

Ivy sat up and hung her head. “We were at the pre-game party, you know, at the Omega house?”

I nodded. Romeo and I hadn’t gone because of the game the next day.

“I got really drunk. Like really. I have no idea what the hell they put in that punch that night,” she said, grimacing. “The next thing I knew, I was back here in the room with Zach. I don’t remember much, but I do know we…
you know
.”

I felt sick for her. Like physically sick. Zach basically took advantage of her inebriated state. Then on his way out the next morning, he probably saw me enter the building and decided to have a little fun, at Romeo’s expense.

“I’m so sorry,” Ivy said, desperate. “I swear, I never meant to sleep with him. I know how much Romeo hates him. I know he’s a douche and he hurt you last semester. I never would have done that if I was sober.”

“Maybe you should stop drinking so much at parties,” I suggested. Who else had she slept with that she regretted?

She nodded sagely. “I am. I will. That night was a wakeup call. No more getting so drunk I can’t think straight. No more casual sex. No more.”

I really hoped she meant it. Not for my sake, but for her own.

“Can you forgive me?”

“For having a drunken one-night stand with a douche?” I asked. “Of course.”

“But if it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have been in the building. He wouldn’t have been able to corner you in the bathroom.”

I sighed. “He just would have found some other way to piss Romeo off.”

Ivy got up and came over to finish my hair. “He’s pretty pissed, huh?”

“Pissed is an understatement,” I muttered.

“What’s he gonna do?”

“Hopefully nothing. Hopefully, he got it out of his system last night.”

Ivy looked at me with clear doubt in her eyes. My stomach knotted. I didn’t want to think about this anymore. I didn’t want to think about Zach or the shitty things he’d done.

So I changed the subject. To clothes and makeup. I let her rattle on with lessons on how to make the most of my eyes and full lips. I even let her put some makeup on my face. It was the first time I’d worn makeup in almost seven years.

I didn’t like the way it felt on my skin, but I didn’t say anything. I also didn’t tell Ivy that I had no intention of wearing makeup for another seven years.

Once my face was done, she talked me in to putting on a long-sleeved black dress with a white-and-black horizontally striped skirt that bloomed out around my hips and ended way too far above the knee. I was going to refuse to wear it until she handed me a pair of black tights to wear beneath. I slid them on (they were basically glorified pantyhose and it took me like ten minutes to get the stupid things on—and yes, I fell over while trying) and stepped into a pair of black heels that she told me I could borrow.

I wore the bracelet Romeo gave me (I never took it off) and added my mother’s long gold necklace with a large cameo pendant on the end.

“Your hair should be completely cool by now,” Ivy said, nodding in approval at my outfit. I sat down and she put a little shiny stuff on her fingers and worked it through the straight, long length. It felt heavy and thick down like this. It hung well into the center of my back, almost touching my waist.

After she ran her fingers through it a couple times, she sprayed it with hairspray and moved around to coat my lips with some kind of slick gloss.

When she was done, she stepped back to admire her handiwork. “Damn. I’m good.”

I smiled at her. “Am I going to pass the mother test?”

“If you don’t, then that woman really is a momzilla.”

“I wanna see.” I jumped up and moved around to the mirror.

I looked totally different. Like I had to step closer just to be sure it was me. My hair was pin straight and ultra sleek. I didn’t even know it was possible for my hair to lie so perfectly. It hung down over my shoulders like a waterfall of dark water. Some of the strands in the front were a bit shorter and they seemed to frame my face and make it pop.

Or maybe that was the makeup. It was subtle and barely there, but it completely changed the way I looked.

It was like me. But so much better.

My eyes were wide and round; the hazel looked almost golden with the shadow and mascara on my eyes. My cheek’s looked flushed and healthy and my lips added the perfect amount of color to the rest.

“Thank you,” I said, turning from the mirror and rushing to hug Ivy.

She hugged me back but then pulled away. “Don’t mess up your makeup!”

I laughed.

“That dress looks better on you than it does me.”

“No way,” I said. “You fill it out much better.”

But even so, the dress did compliment me. The full skirt gave the illusion I had more curves than I did. It flared out from my narrow waist and my stocking-covered legs stretched out from beneath it, looking extra long because of the heels and short skirt.

“You’re really not mad at me?” Ivy said and sank down on her bed.

“No.”

“I swear I’ll never go near him again.”

“Well, that’s good to hear because you deserve so much better than him.”

Ivy looked like she might cry, so I changed the subject. “What are you doing tonight?”

“Studying.” She made a face. “I have a lot of reading to catch up on.”

There was knock on the door and I knew it was Romeo. Butterflies took flight in my stomach as I went to answer. I was so nervous about tonight.

Romeo’s eyes widened when I pulled back the door. He whistled beneath his breath. “Holy shit, Smalls.”