“Well, hopefully for you she’s thinking about how badly she wants to get you out of here tonight,” he says, winking. I roll my eyes.

“You can’t think of anything except sex right now, can you?”

“Hey,” he says defensively. “We’ve been cooped up with a group of fifty guys for over a week. If you’re not thinking about getting laid, I think it’s you that’s the odd one.”

Kade laughs and claps me on the back, standing to grab another beer. I sip on mine, torn between the want to chug it down and ease my nerves and the need to stay sober enough to not make a fool of myself when Skyler gets here. My leg bounces anxiously and I find myself gripping the cup again but I don’t try to correct it.

By eleven, I’ve given up on trying not to drink and the hope that Skyler will show up. Kade and I are playing beer pong against two Delta Beta Gamma girls and I’m slamming back the cups without hesitation now. I’m pissed, I’m confused, and most of all I’m scared I fucked up the entire reason I’m here. Might as well get drunk.

The chesty brunette sinks a cup and I grab it before the ball has even settled in the beer and throw it back. When I finish and set the empty cup down, fishing out the ball to take my shot, I’m met with a pair of baby blue eyes just behind the girls.

Skyler, Erin, Skyler’s Little and a couple other girls are grouped together, drinking and talking, but Skyler stares directly at me. She’s dressed in a zip up hoodie and I assume there’s nothing underneath because I can see her cleavage from here. It makes me want to walk straight up to her and zip it up to her neck and yet at the same time I consider yanking the zipper down instead so I can take her right here and now.

She stares at me curiously and I can’t for the life of me decipher what those blue pools are trying to tell me. She’s not quite smiling, but her face is calm as she appraises me. Her chestnut hair is gently blowing around her face, catching on her lip gloss every now and then. A hint of a smile starts to play at her lips and she turns away, walking with the girls to the other side of the fire.

What the actual fuck was that?

I know she saw me – hell, she looked straight at me. But she didn’t come say hi, she didn’t wave, she didn’t even fucking smile. What the hell is that supposed to mean?

My stomach is in even worse knots now. Although I was nervous about her showing up, the bigger part of me knew everything was fine and we’d fall right back into our rhythm we had before I left. But apparently I was wrong. She’s pissed, or hurt, or sad, or whatever the fuck that face meant and hell if I know the first thing to do to figure it out.

Chesty brunette clears her throat. “It’s your turn, hot shot.” She leans suggestively over the table, pushing her boobs up even more. “Hope you don’t mind a little distraction.” She winks.

I pull my eyes from Skyler and throw the ball, sinking it into the back right cup. Kade gives me a high five and within the next four turns, I make the remaining cups and the game is over. I’m not as drunk as I’d like to be right now, but I’m done playing games. I need to find Skyler.

Kade and I fill up our cups at the keg and walk closer to the fire, my eyes scanning for the light blue hoodie. There’s at least three hundred people here now and we’re in a sea of letters. Kade stops several times as we walk, chatting with our brothers and various groups of girls. When I finally spot Skyler again, my feet stop along with my heart. She’s sitting on a bench on the other side of the fire with her Little.

And Adam.

My jaw clenches with my fist following suit and I crush the red cup in my hand, splashing beer all over Kade’s jeans.

“What the hell, man?” Kade yells, wiping at his pants just and making Skyler look our direction. Her eyes catch mine, Adam still talking in her ear as we stare across the flames. I swear I can feel them burning the air between us, burning my skin and branding me with her gaze. An infernal tattoo.

I don’t even apologize, tossing the remnants of the cup in the nearest trash bin and heading straight for the keg. Kade follows.

“What’s going on?”

I grab a new cup and fill it, my eyes still locked on Skyler. Kade follows my gaze just as Adam says something that makes both Skyler and her Little laugh. My jaw clenches again and I have to use all my focus not to crush a second cup.

“Shit,” he says, drawing out the word as he turns back to me. “Well that complicates things.”

“A little,” I agree, my voice hard.

Kade looks back at them once more before shaking his head. “Whatever man. Brush it off. Come on, let’s go get drunk and see if we can get those DBG girls from the pong game to show us a good time tonight.”

I follow him, drinking the beer from my cup a little too quickly. I don’t give a fuck about those girls but right now I need something to distract me before I do something I’ll regret.

Forty three minutes pass. And yes, I’m counting. I check my phone between entertaining the airhead brunette from the pong game. Kade is enjoying himself, but dear God I think I might start faking my intoxication level just so I have an excuse to pass out. I’ve had more fun writing a school paper than I have listening to this girl talk about herself and pretending I give two fucks.

Finally, Adam leaves Skyler and her Little and heads for the portable bathrooms set up on the other side of the pit. I’ve watched him edge his way closer and closer to Skyler every minute, his legs touching hers eventually. She gripped tight to her cup with both hands as if it were hot chocolate and not beer, but he had one free hand that somehow seemed to always find her knee, or move her hair out of her face, or tug on the strings of her hoodie.

My blood is boiling.

“I’ll be right back,” I say quickly to Kade, cutting off Chesty McTitternips in the middle of a sentence. Kade grabs my arm and tries to stop me from going, saying something about keeping my cool or thinking it through, but my eyes are zeroed in on her now and my feet move whether I want them to or not. Before I know it, I’m standing over Skyler, her baby blue eyes looking up at me while everyone else stares at us, waiting. Erin has since taken Adam’s spot on the bench next to Skyler and I feel her eyes boring into me, waiting for me to look at her, too, but I keep my gaze focused on Skyler.

“Everything okay, Kip?” One of my brothers asks from nearby but I barely hear it.

“I know I’m probably supposed to say I’m sorry right now, but I’m not going to. I’m not sorry about what happened between us last Sunday, Skyler.” I see Erin’s eyes grow big in my peripheral, her attention turning immediately to Skyler, but I continue anyway. “I am sorry that I had to leave, that I couldn’t talk to you afterward, but you left me first. Remember that. I woke up and you weren’t there. I’m sorry for that, I’m sorry that I didn’t chase after you or call you or make sure you were okay, but I’m not sorry about what happened. I don’t regret it. I want to do it again. Right now, actually.”

I hear a mixture of giggles and sighs from the girls around us and the guys let out various encouragements, one of them punching my shoulder but I brush him off.

“I don’t care about what people think, Skyler. I know you do, but I don’t. I’m not sorry. I want you. I want –”

Suddenly, Skyler thrusts her cup into her Little’s hands and stands before grabbing my hoodie and pulling me into her, crushing her lips to mine. Everyone hoots and hollers as she throws her arms around my neck and I pull her into me tighter, tasting the lips I’ve dreamt about for the past week and a half.

She pulls back, smiling, and runs her fingers through my mussed up hair. “I’ve missed you. Take me to the dance tomorrow.”

And as happy as I am to hear her say she wants me to take her to the dance, something seems off. She’s smiling, but her eyes are hiding something. Erin is right here, so obviously that’s not what it is. I can’t figure it out, but something isn’t right.