xxx. something new

We stopped on the sidewalk outside a three story house that’s connected to a chain of houses. A few give themselves away with a ‘Student Housing’ sign, but even if those weren’t there, I’d still be able to guess.

The house Reese and I are standing in front of has a few people lounging on the porch and I can hear music coming from beyond the open door. There are a good number of people inside but it’s not tuna-can packed.

Glancing at Reese, I look between him and the house. “This is it? This is your so-called surprise?”

“Like I said,” he shrugs, not looking away from me, “if you want to go home I can call you an uber.”
“It’s not that,” I clarify, chewing on the inside of my cheek. “It’s just…” I peer down at my shoes, but before I can even think about saying anything he’s cutting off my thoughts.

“If you say another word about how you look…” His voice comes out low and gruff, making me look up at him in shock.

The words are threatening but not in a way that scares me. A tingle runs down my spine, followed by a shiver. None of it has to do with the night air.

He’s practically glaring at me. His jaw flexes in the sexiest way possible, and I watch the heat melt into something more playful. I breathe again, my only indication I wasn’t before. Of all the times he’s glared at me in the past, I want him to do that one again.

“I’ll just assume you think I look like a bum because of what I have on,” he adds.

Leaning back, I let my eyes run up and down his lean frame once, twice, three times. “I mean,” I pause as I meet his eyes again, “you’re a simple guy.”

His jaw drops.

It takes everything in me not to laugh. “You are! You’re a T-shirt and sweats type of person- but I’m not like that!” My voice rises, almost to a squeak at the end of my statement since his expression gets even more fake outraged. “I’m more of the… pop of color kind.” I hold my hands up as if to say, ‘that’s just how it is.’

“You’re saying I’m basic.”

I open my mouth to refute and I have no clue why I hesitate.

“You’re hesitating?” he exclaims.

“N-No! Of course, not. I never even thought that. You’re blowing it out of proportion. I said you have a simple, unique style. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s what makes you so special.”

Reese shakes his head at me. “You didn’t say all that. You think I’m a basic white boy. I can see it in your face, Kira.”

I sputter out a laugh and have to cover my mouth to muffle it. “Can we please go inside?” I say through giggles, glancing at the house.

I can feel him eyeing me until he eventually says, “Fine. But we’re talking about this later.”

Rolling my eyes, I smile. My insides are going absolutely bonkers at the thought of us even acknowledging each other after tonight.

“Wait,” he places an arm out in front of me, “you’re eighteen right?”

I stare at him with my eyebrows raised but answered nonetheless. “I am.”

He tilts his head skeptically. “Have you ever been to a college party?”

“Oh please.” I can’t help the attitude in my response, which he immediately catches on to and smirks.

“Okay,” he replies, full of humor.

Reese greets someone on the porch as we’re entering the house but doesn’t stop to talk to them. All the while I try to figure out how well he knows them and whether this is a regular Friday night for him.

The music isn’t unbearably loud, compared to the other college parties I’ve been to. It also isn’t overly crowded but there are people in every corner of the narrow rooms and hallways I spot once we’re inside. It’s nice.

Although there is enough space to breathe, I find myself coming up short as bodies maneuver their way between Reese and me. He’s confidently taking the lead here seeing as I have no clue where to go. Thankfully, he glances over his shoulder when a group of people cut between the space dividing us, putting him farther ahead.

Reese stops and we both wait for the group to pass. I make my way to him, not looking directly at his face because I can feel his smugness. It makes me blush, but with the dim lighting and LEDs, he can’t physically tell at least.

Instead of saying something that can guarantee me smacking him, he simply holds out his arm. I can’t help smiling up at him when I wrap my arm around his and latch on to his wrist.

I’m not sure where he’s taking us until we make our way across the crowded living room and end up in the kitchen. We stop at the counter where bottles of alcohol are stacked next to each other with cups, drinks, and water.

On the opposite side of the room, there’s a large group of people sitting around a dining table playing some kind of card game. They’re loud and seem to be having fun.

“You want anything?” Reese says in my ear.

My heart lurch at his closeness and also from being startled. I glance at the counter again and grab a bottle of water. He does the same and turns us back toward the door we’d entered through.

“Reese!”

At the sound of his name, the table erupts with excitement. I can’t hide my surprise, raising my eyebrows and glancing at him out of the corner of my eye. *Oh, so he’s very well known here.*

“Dude, come play!” someone shouts.

Reese shakes his head and I briefly see him gesturing to me. He’s still moving us to leave the room.

“Oh, who’s she? You can both play.”

“Next time,” Reese calls. There’s a chorus of disapproved boos.

I lean up to his ear so he can hear me over the music. “You can go if you want to.” I feel like I’m his little sister or something, stopping him from having fun at a party.

He meets me halfway. “I don’t. I usually play, but I never had an excuse not to before.”

“You can’t just say no?” I ask, feeling better about the situation.

“Sometimes that’s not enough.”

I let out a silent, “Ah,” as we leave the chaos behind for a whole new kind.

Reese leads us a short walk through the generous crowd toward a sitting area where about half a dozen people are already seated. A few of them look at us but they don’t break their conversation to greet us when Reese takes a seat in the middle of the couch next to three other people. He pats the narrow spot between him and the arm of the chair for me to sit. It's hardly enough room, and I know I’ll be pressed into his side before I take the spot.

“Good?” he asks, raising his arm and placing it on the back of the couch behind me.

I barely nod because all I can focus on is the side of my body fitting perfectly against his. My shoulder is practically resting on his chest but he doesn’t seem to mind.

I’m about to inquire as to why he decided to come force himself on this couch when someone says something, bringing attention to us. Or me, specifically.

They are all looking at me, but I’d been so in my head that I don’t even know what to do. *Did they ask something? Is it because they have no clue who I am?*

Reese leans in to mutter in my ear, “Introduce yourself.”

There’s humor and a hint of endearment in his tone. That and his closeness are enough to make me blush. I have a feeling I’ll be doing that a lot more tonight. I’m already on a roll.

“Oh,” I choke out, “I’m Kira.” I wave at them awkwardly. “Hi.”

I can see Reese grinning at me.

Readjusting, I cross my legs and subtly lean in close enough to mumble, “Shut up.” He lets out a short laugh in response.

I expect them to tell me who they are, but they don’t. Probably because a guy with long chestnut hair leans forward from where he’s sitting on the floor, to gesture between the two of us.

“New girl, Reese?”

My eyes narrow a fraction on instinct. He asked as if I’m a brainless piece of board that happens to look like a person. Or maybe I’m being oversensitive.

“Why don’t we ask her,” Reese says loud enough for all of them to hear. He turns his eyes on me again and his laughter is burning in his eyes. It can be because I’m glaring at him. He lowers his voice when he asks, “Are you my new girl, Kira?”

The sound is a low timbre that buries itself in my bones. I lean into the arm of the couch to get my face a few more inches away from his. I have no clue what I would’ve said or done otherwise.

“Oh, shut up.” My voice comes out with the necessary snappiness that makes the group react with low ‘oou’s. Reese simply smiles, widely, as if he expected nothing less and enjoys my reaction.

I hear a few laughs but it doesn’t take long for them to fall back into their conversations or quiet jamming.

Righting myself, I cross my arms to give me something to do with them. “You can stop looking at me now.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

Rolling my eyes, I turn my head slightly toward him but don’t meet his eyes. “How do know all of them?” I’m glancing around the room and at our small group, taking everything in.

I didn’t lie when I told him I’d been to college parties, but I’m also an observer. And I like seeing people have fun.

“Look at them,” he says simply.

Raising my eyebrows, I continue to do that. “I am? What does that have to do with anything?”

“A few of them went to Davenport.”

My eyebrows crease as I look closer at who we are sitting with. With what he said freshly in my mind some faces seem familiar but I’m not able to place them still. I never really ran outside my small group of four, so…

Reese continues. “I’ve been befriending seniors since I was a sophomore and we’ve kept in touch for the most part.”

“Makes sense.” I shrug.

“And I used to go to parties with my ex,” he says. The words are out in a rush as if he wasn’t sure if he wanted to say them and they came out anyway.

I meet his eyes then, my eyebrows twitching. “Were you like a trophy or something?”

His lips pull up in a half smile. *He’s so gorgeous*. I can’t stop myself from sighing and relaxing into the couch, into him. He notices, like he does everything, and his eyes slowly lower from mine, and travels down my body. There’s really nothing for him to look at in my oversized baggy clothes but he makes me feel like I’m wearing nothing. And that he likes it.

He leans into my ear when he speaks, his voice is deeper than I thought it could be. “You think I’m pretty enough to be a trophy?”

I feel the words rather than hear them and it makes my entire body do something violent and inappropriate. Licking my lips, I tense, trying to stop from embarrassing myself somehow. “Just enough.”

Reese pulls back with a dangerous look on his face. The look of a man who knows he’s got me wrapped around his finger.