Never Say Goodbye (3 page)

As
I head back to the dorm, Brynn’s nowhere in sight. I start to review what my professor’s want and dive into some reading. Later on, Brynn’s still not back, so I text Ryan and we chat back and forth for a little while.

Eventually I fall asleep
, but wake up when I hear Brynn stumble in, I don’t bother to ask questions, I just go back to sleep.

Chapter Five

We are two months into our first college semester. Things are going well. The work is hard, but I’m managing. Ryan and I are doing great, well as great as can be expected considering the distance. Brynn and I end up rushing for a sorority and both get in. It’s definitely going better than I thought and some of the girls are really great. I’m becoming better friends with Sophie, which works out well, because we actually end up having a class together.

“Oh
my gosh Liv, you should see the guys that are in my econ class. I’m telling you like beyond hot. I can’t even decide which one I like best, they are that smoldering,” Brynn says all serious. I start laughing because my best friend always makes me laugh with her craziness over boys; she keeps talking about guys in her classes’ day after freaking day.

“B
, I’m sure you could have any one of them you want, but why don’t you try to get to know one, you never know what might happen. Just because they look all sexy on the outside doesn’t mean they’re that way on the inside,” I say looking at her with a determined look.

“Oh boo, don’t try to spoil my fun. I
won’t date any of them, but they’re definitely great pieces of eye candy. I don’t have to physically fuck them, but I can still eye fuck them Liv, so let me have my fantasies,” she says with a pout.

“Oh
my gosh, I cannot believe you just said that,” I say laughing.

“What? Liv
, you know me well enough to know I’m not a slut. So what if I like to flirt, it’s harmless.”

“Oh I know B
, I know,” I say with a small laugh.

“Oh Liv
, I wanted to ask, have you seen Stace on campus at all?” she asks looking curiously.

“No,
why does she go here?” I ask because I didn’t realize Stace, a girl we graduated with, was coming to UNC too.

“Yeah, she told me she does
, but I haven’t seen her anywhere,” she says now looking confused.

“Brynn I’m not surprised
, this place is huge. I hardly see the same people twice and that’s only because I have class with a few of them,” I say laughing. I’m not lying. This place is crazy with college kids and visitors, its nuts.

“Okay, well maybe we can text
and meet up somewhere sometime,” she says, like it’s an afterthought.

“Sure sounds good.”

Tomorrow we have a Halloween party at our sorority house, so that should be fun. Brynn won’t show me her costume or mine for that matter. She says they’re a surprise, which has me nervous because this is the one day of the year you can dress like a hooker and get away with it. I hope that’s not the case for tomorrow. Tonight, it’s just hanging out with a group of friends, watching movies and playing games, we decided to save the drinking for tomorrow. I’m sure my liver’s thanking me right now.

“Oh Liv
, you’re going to love it, this costume is amazing and with your body you’re going to look smoking hot. AHHHH I can’t wait,” Brynn squeals in delight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What the he
ck am I wearing tonight Brynn?” I ask slightly nervous and irritated

“Oh stop, you’
ll love it, just trust me. I won’t disappoint,” she always makes me nervous because well she’s Brynn, my crazy best friend.

Then she holds up my costume…”What the hell is that?”
I ask looking at the strange concoction of black and white material hanging on a hanger.

“Umm
, your costume silly, here, go put it on,” she says as she hands it to me.

“B
, there’s nothing to it, I’m not wearing that,” I argue.

“Liv
, yes you are, it’s a sexy referee outfit. You love sports so it fits, and you even get a whistle,” she says excitedly.

“No seriously B
, I can’t wear that, th-there’s nothing to it,” I stutter, eyeing the barely there costume.

“Oh stop
, you’ll fit it just fine and don’t worry your goodies will still be covered so lover boy won’t be mad,” she says as she pushes me towards the bathroom.

“
Uhhh B, I don’t like this,” I say extremely nervous.

“Too bad
, put it on now. I’ll change too,” she sounds way too excited for our costumes.

“
What are you wearing?” I ask out of curiosity

“Oh
, you just wait and see,” she says with a laugh. I head into the bathroom to try to put on this costume, if you can even call it that.

“Oh
my gosh Brynn, you look so hot,” I tell her as I come out of the bathroom.

“Don’t I know
it?” she says with a mischievous smile.

“You are def
initely the sexiest batgirl I’ve ever seen,” I say giggling.

“That’s the point. Liv
, you look super sexy just let me fix this right here,” she says as she pulls the little shorts higher up my leg.

“B stop, they’
re already too short, I feel like my ass is hanging out and my boobs, holy shit, they look like they’re going to pop out of this thing,” I say as I look at myself in the mirror

“Oh sweet Liv
, that’s what a corset’s for, you need to flaunt your hot little body. Now let me fix your hair and make-up and we can head out,” B says as she ushers me back towards the bathroom. After about thirty more minutes of prepping we’re finally ready to head out the door.

“Oh
wait; first let me take a picture of you so you can send it to lover boy,” B says as she takes my phone snaps a picture of me. “Now, send it and let’s go,” she says urgently.

“Okay hold on a sec.” I text the picture to Ryan
, throw my phone in my wristlet, and we head out the door. We make the short walk to the sorority house and are blown away by the decorations and the costumes.

“Ho
ly shit you ladies look smoking,” a guy I’ve never seen before says to us as we walk in the front door.

“Don’t we know it,” Brynn says as she pulls me along
, inside the house. We head over to our new sisters who all can’t stop complementing our costumes. The party’s in full swing and I know I’m ready to let loose for a night. Megan comes back with a tray full of drinks so I take one and suck it down pretty fast.

“Whoa slow down Liv
, you don’t want to end up puking,” Sophie says.

“Oh
Soph, don’t worry about Liv, I got her covered, she needs to get drunk once in a while,” Brynn says to Soph like I’m not even standing there. I agree with B, so it’s not like I would argue anyway.

As the night goes on I’m feeling pretty tipsy
, but having a blast. I dance the night away with a bunch of frat guys, my best friend and sorority sisters. I feel like someone’s watching me at times throughout the night, but quickly drop the thought because well I am pretty drunk.

As I make my way towards the kitchen to get myself another drink
, I get stopped. “Hey, I just wanted to say that you are the sexiest ref I’ve ever seen. My name’s Chad by the way,” he says as he holds his hand out for me to shake.

“Hi
I’m Olivia, nice to meet you.”

“Olivia
nice, well actually Olivia, I have a favor to ask…” Oh gosh what on earth is this guy going to proposition me with? I am so not in the mood for getting hit on by a drunken guy.

“What’s that?” I ask rudely.

“Well I’ve seen you around campus with the girl you’re here with tonight and I was wondering if she was well…if she was seeing anyone?” he asks shyly.

“Why are you asking me and not her
Chad?” I ask kind of harshly.

“Well
, because I don’t want to really introduce myself here at a party because that’s lame and I don’t have a lot of time off because I’m on the basketball team. I’ve only seen her and yourself in passing and was surprised to actually see you both here,” he says smiling.

“Well Chad, you seem
like a half decent guy,” I think in my drunken state, “so I’ll tell you that my best friend, her name is Brynn, and we are sisters in the sorority that you’re partying at tonight,” I say smiling back to him.

“Oh wow
, okay well that’s good to know. Do you guys come to our basketball games at all? I haven’t seen you, but it does get kind of crazy,” he asks nervously.

“We
haven’t been to any yet, things have been a little crazy right now, but hopefully soon. So look Chad, why don’t you just talk to her, she’s not drunk tonight, unlike myself, so you should say hi,” I tell him.

“Oh
, umm yeah sure, I’ll do that, thanks Olivia,” he says as he turns to look for my best friend. I make my way into the kitchen and get myself another drink.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ugh….what happened last
night?” I mumble from my bed.

“You got drunk, your aspirin and water are on the desk beside you, drink up and then go back
to sleep,” she says irritated.

“Sorry B,
thanks for taking care of me.”

“Y
eah, now sleep,” she mumbles from her pillow. I take the pills, drink the glass of water and then fall back to sleep. Hopefully, when I wake up, the killer headache I have will be gone.

Hours later I wake up
to see that Brynn is nowhere around. I hop into the shower and try to feel better. I don’t feel horrible, just a little off. When I get out of the shower, I’m surprised to see Brynn back.

“Hey you, how are you feeling?”
she asks kindly.

“Actually
, a lot better than I thought I would considering last night,” I say with a smile.

“
Good, because you’re never going to believe what happened to me last night,” she says all excitedly.

“
Oh let me guess….you met a guy?” I say laughing.

“Damn you L
iv, yes I did and guess what?”

“U
mm he’s about 6’2” blonde hair blue eyes and looks like he has a nice body. Oh and yeah he plays basketball for our school….did I miss anything?” I say with a big smile. The look on Brynn’s face is priceless.

“What the hell Liv
, how do you know this shit? You were fucking wasted last night, I saw you, hell I brought you home,” she all but yells.

I can’t stop laughing. “Well
, best friend of mine, Chad came up and asked me about you before actually talking to you, so I got to meet the man that’s making my best friend smile this morning,” I say with a smile.

“Liv
, he is freaking hot and his personality is great, well so far. We don’t know a whole lot about each other, but we’re going to hang out tonight,” she says all excitedly.

“B
, I’m very happy for you, I hope he’s a good guy, if he’s not I’ll hurt him,” I say seriously.

“Wow Liv
, let me actually get to know the guy before you go all kung-fu on his ass,” she says laughing which in turn makes me bust out laughing.

“Okay
, that sounds like a good plan,” I say between laughs.

The rest of the day is spent
doing homework and helping Brynn figure out what she’s wearing for her date/hanging out with Chad. When she finally heads out, it’s more homework for me and then hopefully talking to my boyfriend. We haven’t been able to catch each other much the past few weeks, so hopefully that can change.

Around 10:30 I call Ryan, knowing
its only 7:30 in California. I wait and wait for him to answer.

“Hey Liv, sorry I just got out of the shower. What’s up?” he asks
slightly out of breath.

“Oh
nothing, just thought we could talk, we haven’t really had the chance lately.”

“Yeah I know
, sorry football, school and the guys have me busy," he states.

“I know
; did you get the picture I sent you last night?” I ask surprised because he never messaged me back about it.

“Which
picture are you talking about Liv?” huh, what does he mean what picture, I only sent him one.

“Ryan
, I texted you a picture last night of my Halloween costume. I was actually surprised you didn’t respond at all.”

“Hmm that’s weird, I never got a picture of you
, can you send it again?” he asks kindly.

“Umm
, sure I’ll send it when we get off the phone,” I tell him.

“Okay good. I miss you Liv.”

“I miss you too. I know we haven’t had much time to talk, but are we okay Ryan?” I ask because something just seems off lately with our conversations. He’s not the attentive boyfriend I’m used to and it’s a bit frustrating.

“Yeah Liv
, we’re fine. Sorry I’ve just been busy. I don’t mean to ignore you babe. I’m just trying to concentrate on football,” he says in a serious tone.

“I know Ryan, I get that,
are you sure you still want to try and have a relationship with me?” I ask shyly.