Sasha sat atop a concrete table as Jessica hurried out from her last class. The beautiful brunette hopped off and snatched up a pair of paper coffee cups. She held one out as Jessica approached.
"Still hot," Sasha said.
"You're a saint," Jessica said, taking the cup and sipping. Coconut chai, one of her favorites. She closed her eyes and gave a deeply satisfied, "Mmm."
"Oh, to get you to make that sound a different way," Sasha said.
Jessica opened her eyes and grinned. "You have an open invite to my place any time."
"Might have to take you up on that. Ready to go? Billy and Josh are at the library working."
They headed in that direction. Sasha was enjoying being vague about why they needed to meet up with Billy and another one of the Representatives, the group of seniors on campus who ran the biggest parties of the year. All she did know is that it had something to do with a way for Jessica's boyfriend Corbin to sleep with Dr. Rosamund Madison. Sasha thought hooking up with her would be a gateway to Corbin hooking up with her own mother, Dr. Pamela Windsor.
"I have to ask, why are you doing this?"
Sasha grinned. "Mostly? I think Mom needs it. After the divorce, she's not really dated anyone. There have been a couple guys but no one who really wowed her. We both know Corbin can do that."
"There have to be plenty of other guys who would fit that bill, though. Why someone you've slept with?"
"I know Corbin's not going to stick around. He's not clingy and he's head over heels in love with you, so I don't think he's going to get weird."
"Come on," Jessica said, nudging her friend with her elbow. "That can't possibly be it."
Sasha looked behind them, then all around, and said quietly, "All right. The idea is hot. It always has been, since Brooke first told me about it. It's not... you know, an incestuous thing. It's this, hm, this idea that a guy who gave me the best orgasm of my life doing the same thing to my mom."
Jessica wondered how that wasn't incestuous, but it didn't pay to bring up the point. "That is kind of hot."
"Right? Speaking of, have you heard from Brooke?"
"Mm," Jessica said, finishing off a sip. "Yes. Remember Mike, my escort from the scavenger hunt?"
"Sure. Ohhh, did they hook up?"
"They did. I don't know if it's a long-term thing, but they seem happy enough."
"Aw. I think she had a tiny crush on Corbin."
"Me too," Jessica said. Truth was, she was still shocked Corbin wanted her instead of Brooke. Brooke was simply stunning. Then again, Sasha was too. He had his fun with both of them a couple times but it was Jessica he wanted and who he came home to every night. Why exactly, she would never know and never truly believe. There was just too much brokenness in her past to not wonder.
They sipped and talked, and all around them, the world was cast in autumn colors. The landscaping crews tried to keep up with the leaves on the ground but it was always a losing battle this close to Halloween. Not too many weeks until fall break, and then Jessica would drag Corbin four hours to her hometown, Norrell. The thought excited her, and not just because of getting to road trip with her boyfriend. Jessica missed her family dearly, and she desperately wanted her parents' opinion on Corbin. Her long and storied history of making bad choices with guys left her needing that approval, something that would have made her teenage self scoff.
That was why they were still playing this stupid game of "will he/won't he?" with Sasha's mother. Dr. Windsor. Once he'd slept with her, then Jessica felt like he'd finally understand he could sleep with anybody. That he didn't have to be saddled with Jessica if he didn't want to be. Though she grew more and more sure of the foundation of their relationship every day, that felt like the finish line for her. She could truly accept Corbin wanting her above anyone else at that point.
The library was just coming to life as students got out of classes for the day. Most flocked to the computers, but a few handfuls of students worked at the tables and armchairs too. Jessica saw some she recognized and waved, but the pair of friends were on a mission.
"Hey, Marlon, you seen Josh or Billy?" Sasha called to one of them. The guy didn't look up from his book as he pointed up. "Love you."
"Uh huh."
They headed up to the second floor. This was primarily the research section, bookended by a dozen small study rooms. Josh, Billy, Bethani, and a young woman Jessica didn't recognize sat around a table in one of them, a mountain of notes in front of them.
"Homework on a Friday," Jessica said to Billy as he glanced up and grinned. "Beth really has tamed you."
"Right?" he asked, rising. Josh stood up too, but he looked less than amused.
"Don't steal them away for long," Bethani said, faking a yawn. "Don't know how we'll survive accounting without them."
"I say keep them," the other woman said.
"Oh, the jokes," Josh said. Whereas Billy was a hulking goliath of a wrestler, Josh was tall and slim, almost beautiful in his good looks. He used to play basketball for the university before another player slammed him into the bleachers and ended his sporting career with a devastating broken leg. In a way, that injury and the outpouring of support made him his class's version of Corbin, though he was far darker in disposition than Jessica's boyfriend.
Josh nodded towards the door and they headed out. They didn't go far, just to another study room, and he closed the door after everyone.
"No," Josh said flatly, staring at Sasha.
"Josh," she said with a sigh.
"Absolutely not. No. Hell no."
"No to what?" Jessica asked.
"The Phantom Masquerade," Billy said, grabbing a chair and sitting down. Jessica thought for a moment about sitting too, but her plans for that evening with Corbin included a hidden surprise she'd been wearing all afternoon and it made sitting uncomfortable.
Jessica blinked. "It's real?"
"Yeah," Sasha said quietly. "It is."
The Phantom Masquerade was one of the great myths of Agramonte University, a party so secretive and debaucherous no one really believed it existed. That was mostly because it wasn't just for students. It was rumored that the school's hottest professors and adjuncts invited a group of equally attractive students to a party once a year around Halloween. No one Jessica knew ever actually went to one. It was always "a friend of a friend," and so she dismissed it.
"This cannot leave this room," Billy said. He had never looked more grim. "If this got out, we can kiss whatever future we have in our majors goodbye."
"They have a lot of power," Josh agreed. "And they have the ears of everyone they need to."
"I'm not going to talk," Jessica said, taking a chair too. "It really is a sex party, isn't it?"
"It is," Josh said. "The Representatives pick a number of seniors every year to attend. No one's forced into anything, but there are expectations that there will be hookups. In return, the professors push the careers of everyone involved."
