Always A Frat Guy

The party is so much worse than I imagined. There are frat guys doing keg stands then screaming “KAPPA RULES” at the top of their lungs. Drinks are being thrown, I’m pretty sure the air is exclusively weed smoke at this point, and I’ve been offered “skittles” no less than ten times which is a bag of different pills mixed together. I’ve been groped multiple times, and the music is so loud I can’t even hear myself think.

I should have known the end-of-year party would be insane. I’m not even sure where Lydia is, in true Lydia fashion she has disappeared and left me to fend for myself.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and I turn to see Jordan, my freshman buddy. Jordan is super cute and I would’ve totally hit on him if he didn’t have a girlfriend.

“Jordan, hey!” I smile brightly at him

“Hey!” He yells back “You having fun?” He gestures around at the party and I shake my head no.

“No, I was actually about to leave” I yell. Running into him is nice but I definitely don’t want to have a conversation like this.

“Do you want me to take you home?”

Such a gentleman, and such a fucking shame he’s taken.

“No I’m good. I’ll see you later!”

He smiles and nods before disappearing into the crowd.

I’m making my way to the front door so I can get the hell out of here when a hand twists into my hair and pulls me backwards. My back bumps into a hard figure and I turn my head to see a guy with ‘Kappa’ written across his bare chest. It’s always a fucking frat guy.

My hands fly to my hair attempting to untangle his hand from it. He grabs my hip and pulls my ass against his groin then pushes me forward with the hand in my hair.

“Let me the fuck go!!” I scream but the music is so loud he can’t hear me. Not that it would matter if he could, I’m obviously fighting him and he’s not letting go.

Suddenly, I don’t feel him against me anymore and his hand goes limp so I use the opportunity to untangled it from my hair and rip a good chunk out in the process. I turn, ready to kick him in the nuts so hard they rupture, but Kane is holding him off the ground by his throat. I can’t hear what he’s saying to him but the guy’s eyes are wide and he’s nodding his head.

I’m not surprised to see Kane with his hand around some dudes throat, I’m surprised to see him at all. He was supposed to be spending the weekend away with his girlfriend of the month.

He turns to me looking pissed then grabs me by the arm and leads me out of the party. Once we are far enough away that the music is no longer deafening, he spins me to face him.

“What the fuck were you doing in there?!” He yells

“I was leaving when that guy grabbed me..”

He shakes his head and I already know I’m about to get a speech from the last person who should be giving one.

“You shouldn’t have been here in the first fucking place Viola! High school parties were one thing, but these are college parties and you don’t have any business being at one”

He’s stepped a little too far in my space so I take a step away from him.

“That’s funny because correct me if I’m wrong, but it was always me taking care of you and Landon at those parties.” I poke my finger into his chest which is literally like poking the bear.

His nostrils flare and I’ve known Kane long enough to know he’s about to hit something. I’m not afraid of him, but I feel bad for any objects around him that can be broken. Tonight his victim is some random person’s car window. His fist smashes through it and glass goes everywhere. Blood immediately starts pouring from his hand.

“Dammit, Kane” I grab his hand to inspect the damage.

It’s not the worst I’ve ever seen it, he doesn’t need stitches but it does need to be bandaged. I’ve had to fix him up so much over the years that I started keeping a first aid kit in my bathroom.

Kane is beautiful even with scars riddling his body. A lot of them are self-inflicted from him not being able to contain his temper, the ones that aren’t I don’t ask about. I look up to see him smirking at me.

“Sweet Viola, will you bandage me up?”

I cut my eyes at him. He knows I hate when he calls me that, so I’m sure that’s why he continues to do it.

“I think I’ll let you bleed out this time” I turn away from him and start walking toward my dorm, he follows of course.

“You’d miss me if I was gone”

I try to walk ahead of him but he’s nearly a foot taller than me so he keeps up no problem.

“Yes, I would miss having to clean you up after your temper tantrums sooo much”

He shakes his injured hand at me and pouts

“I’m injured you have to be nice to me” I bite my cheek to avoid smiling. He always has a way of making me laugh even when I’m mad at him.

It’s a short walk to my dorm thankfully. Kane plops down on the toilet, already knowing the routine. I turn on the sink and rinse his hand off before kneeling in front of him with tweezers to pluck out any stuck glass.

I realize that I may have chosen a bad position because I’m knelt between his legs and he’s staring down at me. I wish I had chosen to kneel beside him or just stand. I shake my head. I’ve never thought about Kane in that way and I’m not going to start now.

He doesn’t make a sound when I start pulling shards of glass from his knuckles, he just continues staring down at me.

“Why were you at the party?”

I need some conversation to take away from the awkwardness that has suddenly filled the bathroom.

“Why wouldn’t I be there?”

I pour alcohol onto his hand and he still doesn’t have a reaction. I guess after years of this it’s no longer painful.

“I thought you were spending the weekend with Whitney”

It’s not that I don’t like Whitney. She just talks like a Valley girl and she always hangs on Kane like a koala on a tree.

“We broke up” He shrugs

I’m not shocked, he never has a girlfriend for long.

“You need to find a girlfriend and actually keep her because I won’t always be around to bandage you up”

“And where the hell do you plan on going?”

“Well, someday when big scary Kane isn’t always around to scare off guys I’ll get a boyfriend and then one day I’ll get married”

I expertly wrap the bandage around his hand.

“Alright, you’re all set.”

I use his thighs to push myself up and he stands quickly cornering me.

“That will never happen sweet Viola, I will always be around to scare guys away from you”

He places his hands by either side of my head on the wall then leans down coming to face to face with me. Kane’s cheeks and nose are splattered with freckles and his eyes are the iciest blue and I swear I get chills when I look into them.

“Then maybe I’ll find someone that you can’t beat up”

He snorts, like just the thought of that is ridiculous.

“If you find someone that I can’t beat in a fight then I guess I’ll just fucking shoot him” He cocks his head and smirks.

My breath catches in my throat and my heart starts to race.

He’s joking.

Kane is sort of crazy but not murder crazy… I think.

“What’s wrong baby? Cat got your tongue” He leans in even closer and I’m able to smell the alcohol on his breath.

I’m used to Kane teasing me, but it’s never been like this.

“Kane, you’re drunk”

I put my hands on his chest and lightly push him back. He pushes off the wall and walks straight out of the bathroom. When I hear my dorm door click shut I release the breath I’d been holding.

What the fuck was that??