The semester flew by for Kaitlyn, her secret becoming less and less shameful. She had not met with Jesse to pay her part of the deal as midterms and exams began to overwhelm them both. However, as the semester went on the two continued to text and talk... almost as if they were becoming friends.
Their conversations were innocuous enough; discussing parties, classes, sports, or movies. No mention of finding time to see each other or Oliver was made, and that had been a blessing for Kaitlyn. Since their argument, Oliver had begun to grow distant from his sister. Of course, he felt hurt that she would keep a relationship secret from him and he believed she should be more open, but how could she? If she told him the truth of who she was seeing and why, it would devastate him. No, the secret was a necessity and while it was no longer shameful, it was just as important that nobody found out. Her friends, on the other hand, were relentless.
"So, have you seen your mystery man recently?" Veronica would ask, pushing Kaitlyn for more information.
"Yeah, what have you two done lately? We need the details!" Mel would say, almost salivating at the thought of more gossip.
Kaitlyn always had an excuse for why she and her mystery man couldn't meet because they were true. Exams, classes, family; all the normal things that keep University students busy. But that wasn't enough, and they were slowly starting to close in on his true identity. Explaining how she didn't want to jinx their newfound relationship, Kaitlyn had convinced the girls that she didn't want to tell them his name: hoping that they would simply let it go. It turned out, however, that both Mel and Veronica had begun an inquisition into the Delta Kappa Alpha fraternity; the fraternity Kaitlyn claimed the man she was seeing was a part of. In reality, Jesse was in Sigma Sigma Omega, which would hopefully keep them from finding out the truth. They had gotten closer and closer to the men in Delta Kappa Alpha though, and had come up empty-handed; it was only a matter of time until they deduced she had lied.
The line of questioning always was at its worst when the trio was drinking together. Parties now felt the same as minefields, forcing Kaitlyn to tiptoe through them to avoid setting one of the girls off. She was well aware of the effect alcohol had on her, loosening her inhibitions as well as her tongue and it was a recipe for surrendering her secrets. Especially now that the semester had come to an end, it would be non-stop celebrations and risks for spilling the news to her friends. Finally, she had reached New Year's Eve; after the final party of the year it would be back to studying and Kaitlyn felt like she would be in the clear. More importantly, with the start of a new semester came a quiet lull in their daily lives that meant one thing: seeing Jesse.
She couldn't deny how the thought of seeing him again made her heart quicken. Kaitlyn had long since begun to accept her feelings for Oliver's bully, or, now former bully, and she knew that he was starting to feel the same. Perhaps it was simply their sexual chemistry that continued to bring her mind back to Jesse, his touch, his cock, and the pleasure he gave her, or maybe it was something more. Regardless, their deal was quickly approaching its end and Kaitlyn wasn't ready to give it up. The fact they hadn't seen each other in over a month felt excruciating, but she knew that it allowed her to prolong their temporary relationship as they explored those feelings.
All she needed to do was get through this last damned party.
"Come on, loosen up Katie!" Mel laughed, handing Kaitlyn a shot glass, along with one to Veronica.
"You seem lost in thought, come on! It's the last party before we have to get back to classes," Veronica said, before downing her shot in one swift motion. With a grimace, she sighed and gestured to Mel and Kaitlyn's undrank shots. "Even if your boy toy isn't here, we can find you someone else!"
"It's not about finding someone else," Kaitlyn huffed, before downing the drink with an equally unhappy grimace. "Ack!... and it's not about him, just have a lot on my mind."
"Yeah, like not getting laid at all over the holidays. I know the feeling," Mel sighed, before gulping down her shot.
"That's all you ever worry about, isn't it, Mel?" Veronica laughed, shaking her head with disbelief. Turning her attention back to Kaitlyn, Veronica gently rubbed her shoulder. "Alright, we won't bother you about him anymore. But you do need to go find someone for your New Year's kiss! The Delta Phi Psi guys aren't the most exciting people to party with, but there are a few cute guys among them! Plus, I know for a fact Richard was asking about you."
Kaitlyn rolled her eyes at the comment. Delta Phi Psi was almost entirely made up of students who attended the business school at Britannia Heights University. Almost all of them had rich families who donated to the school which was one of the criteria for membership. Not to mention the many accusations of men mistreating women on campus, none of which had been proven of course, but Kaitlyn was wary of them, to say the least. While Sigma Sigma Omega may be a frat made up of party animals, bullies, and 'dumb jocks', she felt far more comfortable around them than Delta Phi Psi.
"Yeah, no thanks. I'd rather date my vibrator for the rest of my life," Kaitlyn groaned, before gesturing to a group of men all looking across the party at them, almost leering at the three girls. "But you go for it, your pick of the litter over there!"
"Oh, no way in hell. We're finding you a guy to kiss, I'll just kiss Mel at midnight," Veronica laughed, before getting a frown from Mel in response.
"Hey! It's not that bad," Mel grumbled in annoyance, causing her two friends to laugh. As Veronica and Mel began to discuss the possibility of their own New Year's kiss, Kaitlyn felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. Sliding it out, she took a look and saw that a new message had come in from Jesse, her heart immediately beginning to quicken.
Jesse: Hey you, happy New Year!
Jesse: I know we're normally supposed to say it AFTER midnight but wanted to see what you were doing
Smiling down at her phone, Kaitlyn began to quickly type out her reply, her heart racing.
