Chapter 8 - Wakely

The entire time we were shopping, I had this weird feeling that someone was watching us. My eyes would sweep the store, but I didn’t see anyone out of the ordinary.

I shook it off, I was just overthinking after Cora said something about true crime.

The more time I spent with her, the more I liked her. Sure, she was a little quirky, but I could tell that she was going to be a great friend. And how could I say no when she asked to watch a movie? Her eyes glistened with hope that I would say yes. And when I did, she was beyond excited.

I set up my room in record time, I played music in the background as I walked around the room, throwing sheets on my bed, and then the comforter. I really should have washed it first, but that seemed like a pain. Instead, I sprayed it down with Febreze and prayed I didn’t get a rash from not washing it.

People walked down the hall, some stopped and said hi and introduced themselves before continuing to their rooms.

 Maybe going to school here wasn’t going to be so bad.

The shower was hot, and it soothed all of my muscle tightness that I had from climbing so many stairs and it always felt good to smell nice.

When I knocked on Cora’s door, she was bouncing excitedly around her room. I stood in the doorway for a moment and stared at her setup. It was like she had a personal decorator, and they came in and did all of this for her.

There were twinkle lights along the walls, a comfortable chair in the corner that was screaming my name, and a huge television that was mounted on the wall.

“Did you do all of this?” I asked as I finally looked at her.

“Yeah…” She shrugged her shoulders. “What can I say, I know what I want my room to look like and I make it happen.”

“You have a lounge chair.” I pointed at the overstuffed chair.

“Yeah, I mean I had help lugging that up, but everything else was my doing.”  She shrugged again. “What do you wanna watch?” She sank to the floor that was covered in a cream-colored shag carpet.

“I’m down for anything. Is that a full-sized fridge?”

“Oh yeah, I have a thing about filtered water.” She leaned across the floor to open the fridge and revealed row after row of water lined perfectly, all facing the same direction. “I guess you could say that I’m OCD.”  

I nodded at the room and then at Cora. “Color me impressed.” I gave her another nod and walked in and sat on the fluffy lounge chair. I sank in and took a deep breath. “I think I need one of these.”

Cora laughed and flicked on the huge television. “What are you interested in? Romance? Comedy?” She flicked through the streaming apps.

“Dealer’s choice.” I grabbed the pint of ice cream and the spoon she handed to me and dug in.

“Good, 'cause I need some romance in my life.” She said as she chose the sappiest, most romantic movie she could have chosen.

“Is that Marty?” I asked, pointing to the picture that was sitting on her bedside table. A man with scruff had his arm around her, and she was beaming up at the camera.

The man, on the other hand, didn’t look so happy. He was scowling at the camera looking more pissed off than happy.

“Oh yeah, that’s Marty.” She grabbed the picture. “He hates his picture being taken.”

That could explain his reaction, but something still felt off. It wasn’t my place to say. I never met him, and maybe he was wildly in love with Cora as she was with him. She held the picture to her chest as she stared at the television screen.

“When was the last time you saw him?” I asked, not looking at her.

“A few days ago. He was so bent out of shape about leaving. I told him he should transfer here so we could be together, but he said the program he is taking isn’t offered here.” She said as she looked down at the picture of them.

“That sucks,” I said. I don’t know why I asked her about him. I looked around at all of the other pictures, and each one had him scowling at the camera, and she was happy. Her room could easily pass as an altar for her boyfriend.

Every square inch of her room had some sort of picture of them. It looked a little obsessive.

I shook my head. Their relationship wasn’t my problem. She was happy, and that’s all that mattered. I just hoped that this Marty character treated her right.

I barely knew Cora, and already I felt protective of her.

The movie played on, but I wasn’t paying attention to it. I was too focused on the random pictures around the room.

There were footsteps outside the open door. I watched as one of the Walker brothers walked past the room. For a moment, I forgot that this dorm was coed and I panicked.

He stopped in the doorway, looked into the room, and nodded before continuing. I furrowed my brows at the now-empty doorway. “Did you see that?” I pointed my spoon at the doorway.

Cora shook her head and looked at me. “See what?”

“One of those brothers walked past, stopped, and then continued.”

“Yeah, I think they live in the guys' section.” She waved a hand toward the other side of the building. “This is the first year that they aren’t sharing a room.”

“How do you know so much about them?” I asked, still staring at the doorway.

“Word gets around.” She shrugged. “Everything on campus revolves around them.”

I rolled my eyes. The entire campus being so consumed by these guys was ridiculous. I wasn’t going to be sucked into their atmosphere. I refused.

Even though I was curious about why he stopped, and nodded at me. He didn’t even see Cora; he just saw me. And from Cora’s description before, it looked like it was Waylon.

Of the three, he was the hottest. I couldn’t deny that. Even though they were identical, he just had something about him that screamed hot. Dangerous even.

I couldn’t pull my eyes off the doorway, hoping that he would walk by again. When he did, I inhaled sharply.

He stopped again and stood there longer than before. His eyes met mine, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him.

Was I hallucinating?

Did I fabricate him in my mind because my love life was so boring? It was possible. I was so stressed that my stressed-out brain was creating him in the doorway.

He smirked at me and then continued walking to wherever he was going.

I couldn’t have imagined that.

“Woah,” Cora said.

“You saw that?” I pointed to the doorway again.

“Yes, he just stood there and stared at you. Why didn’t you say anything?” She smacked my leg.

“Why didn’t he?” I countered because I didn’t have a real reason. “Plus, I hate him.”

“What?! Why do you hate him?” She smacked my leg again.

“Stop hitting me!” I said as I pulled my legs away from her.

“Stop saying stupid stuff.”

“He didn’t do anything when that bitch was yelling at you. Like his brothers, they just watched, and that says everything about him, and I’m not about it.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“If it were me and any of them gave me an ounce of attention, I would be a puddle on the floor.” Cora sighed.

“Don’t you have a boyfriend?” I snorted at her.

“As I said before, I can look but I can’t touch.” She sighed again. “Anyway, more importantly, what are you wearing to the Junior Meet and Greet thing tomorrow? I was thinking of wearing a summer dress with espadrilles.”

“Meet and Greet thing?” I cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah, there’s an invitation in that folder they gave us when we registered.” She crawled over to her desk, pulled a piece of paper off it, and handed it to me.

I stared down at the piece of paper. The gold letters emphatically invited the Junior Class to the event of the year. It had the date and time and said to dress in business casual.

I handed the piece of paper back to her. “I don’t think I’m going,” I said with a shake of my head. “It doesn’t seem like something that would be good if I went.”

She crawled in front of me and clasped her hands together. “Please.” She begged. “I have never been to one because no one wants to go with me. Please, please, please.”

I gave a loud sigh. “Fine, I’ll go with you. But if at any moment anything gets awkward, I’m out.”

“Deal!” She launched herself into the air and clapped her hands. “Now what are you going to wear?” She strode across the room and opened her overstuffed closet.

“Probably a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.” I shrugged.

“This is the beginning of your Junior year. You want to make a good impression.” She said without looking at me.

“I don’t have any dresses.” I never thought about it, but I really didn’t. I had pant suits and dress-up blouses, but no dresses.

I would need to dissect that realization later.

“That’s okay, you can borrow one of mine.” She pulled a few dresses and tossed them to me. “I really like this red one, and it will look amazing with your hair.”

“Okay.” I shrugged.

“Try it on silly.” She rolled her eyes at me.

I sighed again. “Close the door.”

She closed it, and I quickly pulled it on. And I was shocked. I never liked wearing dresses, but this one made me feel…sexy. Something that I never even considered to be before.

“Damn,” Cora said as she stared at me. “That looks amazing on you. Keep it.” She waved her hand at me and continued to rifle through her closet.

I stared at myself in the mirror. I never looked this good, and I didn’t even have any makeup on or anything. I was standing there barefoot in this red sundress. The bodice was tight against my tits giving me amazing cleavage and then the skirt flared out, the hem barely touching my knees.

I never looked this good. And for the first time since I got here, I felt that this year had a lot more possibilities than I originally thought. Maybe it wasn’t going to be so bad. Maybe.