Okay. Not completely wrong.
I don’t say anything, sipping my drink, silently willing Ellie to come back.
“So Brown, huh?”
My gaze floats back to his, my eyes narrowing suspiciously at his suddenly easy tone.
“What’s your major?” He presses when I don’t respond.
“Business.”
“Impressive.”
I glare at him, sure he’s being condescending.
He adds, “That’s cool. What are you going to do with that?”
Before I can respond, Ellie comes bouncing into the room. “There you are! I need a beer pong partner.” Her eyes dart between me and Penn, and she grins mischievously.
“I—” I start to protest, but she interrupts me.
“Pleaseee,” she whines.
I sigh. “Fine.”
“Yay!” She claps, grabbing my arm and dragging me with her. We barely make it around the couch before she turns back. “Oh, Penn, Travis wants you to be his partner. Says you guys are the best.”
9
PENN
“They’re going down,”Travis whispers smugly as we stare at the girls across from us. Olivia’s eyes are narrowed on me, making me smirk. She doesn’t even like beer. She’s going to hate this.
She’d acted like she was going to take that joint from my fingers and put it to her pretty lips, but I saw the hesitation in her eyes and the stiffness in her shoulders. She didn’twantto do it, but she was going to, just to prove something to me. I wasn’t about to be the one to corrupt her inthatway unless I knew for sure she wanted it. Her entire demeanor paints her as a perfect little good girl, but I know there’s another side dying to come out to play. I can see it in her eyes.
“Everyone know the rules?” Travis asks.
“Of course,” Ellie says, laughing.
“All right, ladies first.”
Ellie misses her first shot, and I catch the disappointment on her best friend’s face. Someone’s competitive.
“Don’t worry, girls,” Travis says, grinning like we’ve won already. “It takes practice.”
I bet they’ve had practice. They’re in college, and I’m sure this isn’t their first time playing beer pong. Though I can’t picture Olivia in someone’s filthy basement where they use a community water cup to rinse the ball and drink the beer even when there’s dirt in it.
Travis and I land almost every one of our shots with ease. Ellie has taken most of the drinks and is starting to sway on her feet. Olivia takes her time, lining up each of her shots with precision as if she’s being graded.
Another one of my balls plops into the cup directly in front of her. She gives me a flat smile before throwing back the drink, doing her best to fight the disgust on her face but failing fucking miserably.I see you, Barbie.
“You girls put up a good fight,” Travis tells them after we thoroughly kick their asses. He wraps an arm around both of their shoulders and ushers them back inside the house.
Barbie’s eyes flick over his shoulder discreetly, looking at me as I clean up the mess we made.
“Penn, order us pizza!” Travis calls before they disappear.
I do as he says and pull out my phone. After I clean up our shit, not trusting someone not to stumble out here drunk and spill something on our equipment, I lock the door behind me and slip inside.
