Gabriella
Ella held her shirt beneath the scalding water as she scrubbed furiously at the smelly beer stain that soaked the front. The material darkened and transformed the thin white cotton tee into transparent material.
"Fucking bitch."
There was a reason she had avoided these types of parties like the plague. She had been there less than fifteen minutes before some dumb sorority girl 'accidentally' spilled her drink down the front of her shirt. A favor Ella would gladly return as soon as she made her way back downstairs. She knew girls like that. A little buzz and egging on from their cronies gave them the courage to do something daring...or stupid. But they were all bark, no bite. The threat of a real fight left them wide-eyed and shaking, too scared to get their pretty little faces bruised.
But in case Ella had read the girl wrong, she still could take her, with or without her friend who had laughed as she was doused with the alcohol. And being a girl other girls hated, she'd been outnumbered in worse odds before.
Ella shut the water off and wrung out her shirt as she stared at her reflection.
She had hoped that the rumors of her so-called porn star night with Bryan and Josh and God knows who else had died down, but from the moment she walked into the frat house victory after-party for the basketball team, she was sadly mistaken. Some of the girls openly sneered while others whispered and exchanged looks they thought she didn't see. And the guys didn't bother hiding the sinister thoughts written across their faces as they nudged their friends and flashed predatory grins that chilled her skin.
For a millisecond she had considered fleeing, but the thought of another night alone as a fixture on Steven's couch, rolling her eyes at how easy breezy life was on
Gilmore Girls
reruns helped to regain her poise. She shook off her jacket and made her way through the packed room, ignoring the eyes that had lingered on her.
But now a marathon of reruns didn't seem so bad in comparison to standing in her black bra and jeans in a stranger's bathroom waiting for her shirt to dry.
This situation was more familiar than she cared to remember. Mix equal parts boredom and alcohol and there had rarely been a weekend in the past that she wasn't half naked in some stranger's bedroom or bathroom. Only then there was usually a guy...or two involved.
Generic hip hop blasted through the floor boards, vibrating under her feet. She brushed her hair up into a messy ball and patted her face with warm water. Her shirt was still cold and soggy at best, so she buttoned up her jacket and gave herself one last look before she rejoined the crowd.
Downstairs another girl bumped into Ella but this one stumbled to the floor like the drunken mess she appeared to be. She had short, wet brunette hair plastered to her face, smeared eye makeup that resembled a raccoon and one strap on her short purple dress was torn, dipping low enough to expose a dark pink nipple. She tried to push herself up before a big blonde guy hauled her up from the floor and tossed her over his shoulder.
Flashbacks of Bryan and what she probably resembled that night came tumbling forward.
"Where are you taking her?"
Blondie gave Ella a onceover and grinned. "Why? Want to join?"
"No. I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to call the cops on you."
His smile dropped. "Chill. She's my girlfriend, okay?"
The girl pushed herself up and giggled through half-hooded eyes before she went limp again.
Ella wasn't sure if she believed him but before she could protest he turned and strode off towards the back. She shook her head and made her way outside where the scene wasn't much better.
Groups of students were scattered around the front lawn of the two story house. Two large shirtless guys wrestled each other while loud music mixed with the drunken cheers from the crowd gathered around them. Ella didn't recognize either guy, but the champion beat on his chest like Tarzan while another partygoer dumped beer on his head. He shook himself like a wet dog slinging beer and mud everywhere, eliciting squeals of delight from the girls on the sidelines.
Ella stood off to the side, the night air wrapped around her, freezing her jacket's metal zipper that pressed against her bare skin. These parties felt much different at seventeen. College boys had seemed older, more sophisticated than the high school boys she was accustomed to. She'd hear about the college parties through various girls who shared her appetite for sex and trouble. And they had been fun for a while, but like most things the magic wore off and reality set in. There really wasn't that big a difference between high school and college boys.
The big difference had come when Simon entered her life, forever altering her perception of love, sex...soulmates, which until then had only been in sappy fairytales. From the beginning, their intense relationship had been far from the norm, but no less real than the one he shared with her mom. And at times when their eyes locked onto each other, speaking more than a thousand words could, it seemed even more real than their marriage.
But now so much had changed.
After she moved in with Steven, she poured herself into school and work, desperate to wear her mind and body down in an attempt to cover the massive hole that Simon had left in her life. But within the first month she was back to checking her phone every other minute for a sign from him that all would be okay. When someone buzzed Steven's condo from downstairs, she would drop everything and sprint to the intercom. And whenever it was Steven's turn to host 'guys night', she'd pace back and forth, chewing her nails down to the quick, hoping Simon would come.
But he never did. There were no visits. No calls. No emails. Nothing. All she had was the disappointment and regret that settled into her chest and left her nauseated most days.
But his absence from her life wasn't entirely his own doing. Their last night together at the rundown Gaslight Motel, he had come for her, admitted he loved her and said he would do whatever it took to make it work. But she chose pride over love and in return broken her own heart. She pushed away the one person who she held more faith in than anyone else. And now she was forced to swallow the consequences of her decisions that haunted her every single night as the hole left in her heart...her soul...painfully widened.
And now four slow torturous months had passed without one word from Simon. As if she had just imagined everything that they had once had. And a numbing blur of routines for which she had no recollection were all that was left to fill the void.
The 'clumsy' sorority girl broke Ella from her thoughts as she zoned in on her. She was laughing and hanging onto her friend as the two of them watched more horseplay from the drunken fraternity brothers.
Ella started toward her direction to repay the 'accident' when a large hand grabbed her wrist.
"Damn, shorty. Every time I get close to you, you move again."
Ella kept her eyes on the girls as they stumbled back into the house, her chance of revenge slipping further and further away. She turned back and directed her glare up at the tall guy holding her wrist. Judging on his height and build she assumed he was on the basketball team.
"What do you want?"
He had a wide toothy white smile that complimented his dark chocolate skin. "Well, for starters a congratulations would be nice."
"And who would I be congratulating?"
He quirked a dark brow. "You don't know me?"
"No. Should I?"
"A lot of people do."
She gave him a deliberate onceover then looked away. "Well, I'm not a lot of people."
"I'm Terrence. Harris."
She glanced back at him. "Ella."
He nodded. "Foster, right?"
She tensed immediately. If he knew who she was then she knew exactly what he wanted. Guys were too transparent. She gave a slight nod and focused on the wrestling match between the current winner and one of the basketball players.
