Black Number Four (6 page)

After another fit of laughter, Jess wipes the tears from her eyes. “Okay Ex, what’s going on?”

My Big’s smile has faded and she’s in complete president mode. Her classic look has always been absolutely stunning to me, and every time she gets down to business, it reminds me how much I want to be like her – how much I look up to her. She’s only a year older than me, yet she has taught me so much about life, about the sorority, about myself.

“Did I ever tell you guys about the summer before my senior year of high school?”

Cassie is digging around in the bedside table drawer, looking for snacks, no doubt. “Isn’t that the summer you spent with your grandparents?”

Erin nods. “Yes. It was the summer I wanted to find myself, that I wanted to sort of break free from everything I thought I was. I had just ended a two year relationship and I was just in a strange place. Well, I met a boy that summer…”

“Oh!” Ashlei interrupts. “I remember this story! He was the Army brat, right?”

“He wasn’t a brat, you brat.” Erin glares at her. “But yes, he did live on the base by my grandparents’ house. He was amazing – everything I needed that summer. We spent practically every night together and as cliché as it sounds, I fell in love with him. Well, as in love as I could be at that age. It was the perfect summer romance.”

All the girls are smiling, but I’m lost. “Not that this isn’t romantic and touching, but is there a reason you’re telling us this?”

Erin’s face lights up and she stands. “You are not going to believe this. The boy I met that summer? He’s
here
… like here as in he’s a student at Palm South!”

“What? Isn’t that impossible? We know pretty much everyone on this campus,” Ashlei says.

“Not the new students,” Erin adds, waiting for us to catch on. We exchange glances and then turn back to her, lost. She huffs. “He’s a
transfer
! He just moved here. I heard Adam talking about his new pledges this morning outside of the Greek library and I just kind of casually asked about him – where he was from, what he was like – it’s definitely him, girls!”

Cassie and Jess’s eyes snap to me and I feel them burning through my skin. Pair that with the extreme pace of my heart right now and you could say I feel a little like passing out, a little like throwing up, and a little like bashing my head into the floor so I can be absent for the conversation that’s about to happen.

“What?” Ashlei asks, eying us all. She hasn’t been filled in on last night yet, either. “Why are you guys acting so weird?” Erin’s expression starts to match Ashlei’s, confusion rolling over her.

“Nothing,” I say dismissively. “We know him. Well, we met him. Last night.”

“At rush?!” Erin asks excitedly.

I nod. “Yep. He was nice.” I shoot my laser beams at my Little, pleading for her to not say anything, but I’m too late with Jess.

“That’s one way to put it, Sky.” She snickers and nudges Cassie, expecting her to join in, but Cassie just coughs uncomfortably and tucks her hair behind her ear.

Erin’s face screws up even more and she turns her focus on me. “Okay, what the hell happened, Little?”

I groan, sinking my face down into the pillow on my lap. “Nothing. We played foosball.”

“And he lost, so she made him take a shot of tequila…” Jess adds. I want to shoot her another death glare, but I know it has to come out sometime. This campus is too small for anything to remain a secret, especially something like that. I’m surprised she hasn’t already heard, honestly. Erin waits, crossing her arms impatiently for Jess to continue.

“… off her body.”

I cringe as she drops the bomb, chancing a peek at my Big to see her face. It’s stone.
Typical.
She always handles bad news like a pro, never really showing you how she feels about it. She could be pissed right now, raging mad – or hell, she could be on the verge of tears. But, does she show that? No. Instead, she looks like Jess just told her it’s raining outside.

“Oh,” she says, breaking the awkward silence and standing again. This is the closest thing to fidgeting I’ve ever seen her do. She walks toward her closet and starts absentmindedly touching different clothes. “Well, that’s okay. I mean, you didn’t know. How could you?”

“I swear I didn’t, Big,” I say, my mouth still muffled through the pillow. “You know I wouldn’t have done it if I had known.”

She nods, still turned away. “No, no it’s okay.” Her voice trails off and then suddenly she whips around, her eyes big and bright again. “Actually, no – this is good. This is perfect.”

We all exchange glances again. “Um, how is this even remotely in the same category as good?” Cassie asks.

Erin moves quickly over to her Lilly Pulitzer planner and starts flipping pages. “Well, Kip and I didn’t exactly have the best ending that summer. I may have acted a little immature, at best. ” She stops on a page full of highlights and taps her finger on one of the dates. “This will be perfect.” She spins to face me. “I don’t think he would want to talk to me, let alone get back together right now. I need him to come around more, to see how I’ve grown and how respected I am here. I want him to see that four years has done me well.”

“Absolutely! You’re the shit,” Jess says. “But, I’m lost on how this has anything to do with your Little having lover boy’s tongue in her mouth.” I stuff my head back down into the pillow and cringe inward.

“Really, J-Love?”

“Because,” Erin says, sitting down to join me on the floor. “She’s going to be the one to get him to come back to me. She’s the bait.”

My head snaps up, my eyes meeting hers. “What? No way!” I jump up from the floor and toss the pillow back on the bed. “I mistakenly made out with your high school… whatever he was, but I’m not involved in this.”

“You are now!” She stands, stepping closer to me. “He knows you now, he’s obviously interested, and you’re the best shot I have at getting him to hang around me in a natural way without it looking like I’m insane. Or a creeper. Or both.”

My shoulders fall. “Big, you can’t be serious. What am I supposed to do… woo him? Flirt him into following me around like a puppy and then blow him off so you can pick up the pieces?”

Her eyes get a little wider. “I hadn’t thought it out quite that far, but yes.”

“No.” I shake my head and toss my hands up. “I’m leaving this room and we can just pretend like last night and this conversation didn’t happen.” I turn to leave, but she cuts in.

“You want to be president next year, don’t you?”

“Ex,” Jess warns, letting her know she’s taking it too far. And she is, but she has my attention.

“No, I’m serious,” Erin says back to Jess before turning to face me again. “You have to make a lot of sacrifices as president, Little. You have to do a lot of stuff you really don’t want to do. This position is not for the weak or the scared or the selfish. You want to be next in line? It’s time to start proving you can take it, that you belong in this room when I leave. You need to step up, Little.”

I chew on my cheek, my head still shaking. This is insane, I don’t need to prove myself by toying with a boy. But I know my Big, and I know when she has her mind set on something, there’s nothing or no one that can deter her thoughts. She wants him, and she wants me to help get him. Whether I like it or not, her problem just became mine.

“Can I at least think about it?”

Erin sighs, but then glances back at her planner. “I tell you what,” she says, facing me again. “The date auction is Saturday. Let’s see if you made the impression I think you did. If he bids the highest and wins the date with you, then the game starts and you play him right into my hand.”

“I have a tournament that night, Big,” I whine. “I wasn’t even going to go to the auction.” There’s a small Texas Hold ‘Em tournament at the underground casino on Saturday that I need to win. I still have to build up enough money to pay the entry fee for the tournament in Vegas this May, and that means I have quite a few weekend tournaments to do before the payment deadline.

“Well,” she says, business-like again. “Now you
are
going – and you’re getting auctioned off. If he bids the highest, then you’re doing this.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

She shrugs. “Then you’re off the hook. I want it to be easy for you to get him to come around, and bidding the highest at a date auction is pretty much the most simple way to get a girl on a date. If he doesn’t try and succeed to do just that with you, then there’s no point in you making it awkward and throwing yourself at him. But, if he dragged his tongue up your stomach, I seriously doubt he’ll let you go on a date with anyone else.” She smiles, trying to get me to laugh, but I’m not having it.

This sucks.

Then it hits me – this is a game I can rig, a game I can easily win – if I play my cards right.

I keep my face straight and pretend like I’m still upset, sighing. “Fine, but if he doesn’t make the highest bid then I’m off the hook and you’re on your own to reel in your fish.”

She holds out her hand to shake mine. “Absolutely, no questions asked.” We shake on it and Erin clasps her hands together, her smile fully back in place as she turns toward the girls. “This is going to be fun!”

Ashlei and Erin start chatting excitedly, but Jess and Cassie’s eyes are trained on mine. They know as well as I do that this isn’t going to be fun, but I’ve got an Ace up my sleeve. Before they can ask if I’m okay, I duck out of the room, leaving my shoes behind. My room is just a few numbers down the hall and I push through the door, grabbing the first pair of leggings and tank top I see and throwing them on, followed by a pair of socks and my sneakers. Jess knocks just as I open the door again, reaching for my iPod and squeezing past her.

“Are you okay?” she asks, but I keep walking.

“Going for a run. I’ll see you for dinner tonight.”

I shove the earbuds in before she has the chance to reply and jog down the stairs and out the front door, falling into rhythm with the pop song blaring through the tiny speakers. As my breathing gets heavier and my chest tightens, I realize my poker face may be a little better than I thought. Because the entire time I was in that room, I didn’t once give off that I might like Kip, that maybe I don’t want to play this stupid game because I’m into him and I don’t want to deliver him on a silver platter to my Big.

Which is exactly why I can’t let him win me at the date auction.

If he’s Erin’s now, then I need to get rid of him. I need to get out of this while I still can, rip off the Band-Aid. And if that means cheating? Well, I’m not above getting my hands a little dirty.

Clinton’s Little, Josh, has had a crush on me since we met at freshmen orientation. He’s tried to get me to go on a date with him multiple times, but he’s far from my type – huge, muscles too big for his body, cheesy smile that screams “I’m a douchebag!” and orange skin from using too much bronzer. I’d sooner go on a date with Clinton than Josh, and he’s like a brother to me.

Which is why I can’t believe I’m shoving a thousand dollars from my savings account into his palm and telling him I want him to buy me at the auction tonight. As sad as it may be, he’s my Ace in the hole – and I need him.

“You can’t tell a single soul,” I remind him again. “Not even Bear. This is against the rules – big time. Just make it look casual and go up as high as you need to, but don’t jump out the gate with all one thousand. Hold back and see what the crowd does, only bet as much as you need to.”

“Whatever you say, baby.” He grins, throwing his arm around me. “I knew it was only a matter of time before you’d give in. Turning me down all this time and now look at you – paying me to save you from other guys so you can spend a whole night with me.”

I groan, pushing him off. “Don’t make me change my mind. I’m serious, Josh, this stays between the two of us.”

He runs his fingers up my arm and hooks his hand around the back of my neck, pulling me closer. “I look forward to a lot of things being kept between the two of us.”

Gag.

I pull away and check my phone for the time. “I have to go get ready. See you tonight. And Josh?”

His green eyes meet mine, waiting.

“Please don’t screw this up.”

He laughs and I let myself out of the Omega Chi Beta house, turning toward KKB. I only have a few short hours before the auction and I need to get prepped for the tournament tonight. The auction should only last until ten, but the tournament starts at ten thirty. That’s barely enough time to drive there, let alone buy in and get in my zone. It’ll be tight, but I have to make it work.