He cut off, noticing a few more figures coming up the walk to the front door. But instead of a bunch of college guys in sweat-soaked shirts moving in, these men — and two women — were a range of ages; dressed in crisp red-and-black uniforms, and all of them carrying a towering stack of the telltale flat boxes instantly recognizable as —
"Pizza?" Ashton muttered, stepping forward and motioning to one of them. "Who the hell ordered that much?"
The guy in front shrugged. "Dunno, the receipt said '528 Athens Drive, charge to: Seymour Knutz-with-a-Z' on delivery." He frowned down at the label, then squinted up at the brass letters on the door. "That's here, right?"
But by the way Ashton cursed, Logan was going to bet no.
"It's gotta be Sigma Kappa Zeta getting us back for hotdogging the window wipers on their cars last week," Ashton answered, before turning again to Logan. "I need to take care of this. Just — Have a look around. Maybe talk to some of the guys, okay? I'll find you when I'm done."
Chapter 2
Left Out
Logan dropped his backpack by the bed and threw himself onto the mattress, kicking off his sneakers to drop with a pair of hollowthunksto the floor. They were the new Series Sevens and deserved better. But while he knew later he'd regret treating them so badly, just then? Logan couldn't bring himself to care.
This morning's practice had been wind sprints across the training field. Then three hours back-to-back of getting his ass handed to him in class, followed by an entire afternoon of karaoke drills in the heat. By the end, Logan nearly threw up like Stimmons and O'Keefe had.
"Rough day?" Wally asked from the top bunk where he'd been typing something on his laptop.
Logan just grunted into his pillow, too tired to respond. He knew he'd feel better if he could drag himself into the shower to clean off. But that required moving, and therefore was more effort than he was capable of right then.
Usually, he'd shower in the locker room after practice, maybe have a soak in the team's hot tubs or sit a spell in the steam room. The facilities at San Morado University of Technology might not be as top of the line as some of the division one schools, but they were still pretty dope. Far better than the fraternity house's tiny, rinky-dink shower that shared a wall with the room they'd assigned him.
At least it didn't see much use. Ashton hadn't been lying when he said most of the guys would stick to the newly refurbished showers on the second and third floors at the front of the house. He had, however, conveniently left out the bit about it being supposedly haunted.
According to the story, it was some ghost of a former frat brother who'd had his number called during the Vietnam War; who couldn't get a deferment even after he'd gone and shot off his toe.
If I died in someone's messed-up war after being sent overseas, there'd be a whole list of people I'd haunt before picking on a bunch of college guys
All the frats and sorority houses on campus had a story like that, though. Some ghost or poltergeist just spooky enough for the seniors to frighten the pledges with, but not so much to turn anyone away. Logan was almost positive it was complete bunk, except that there'd been a couple of late-night trips to the bathroom where he —
Well, he couldn't say for certain itwasn'tDrafted Danny Ninetoes he'd seen out of the corner of his eye, could he?
At least it turned out to be just as quiet as Ashton had promised. But between the supposed ghost and the three-flight walk-up, it was easy to see why the little attic room had been available. Calling it a two-man was a stretch, though. They couldn't even fit a desk for both Wally and Logan; so they took turns on the tiny one shoved into the corner, or headed downstairs to the dining room if either needed to write a paper.
Still, having only a single roommate meant they could turn off the lights when either wanted to sleep. Unlike the 10-man room on the second floor, affectionately known as 'Party Central' by the rest of the house.
Fun as it had sounded at first, by the third week, Logan's envy had cooled completely. Honestly, between all the reading, and papers, and classwork the professors here seemed to expect of them — much less the all-night Smash Knights marathons and music spilling out into the hall — he didn't know how those guys weren't going mad from sleep deprivation. Probably helped that they only had classes and house stuff to worry about, and not the full-time grind on top of it all that came with being on the football team.
Butstill.The size of the room aside, it made Logan thankful he hadn't been given a bunk closer to the action. Or hell, one that shared a wall with that ruckus. The other fraternity brothers might call him an old man for clocking out at midnight, but Logan was shit on the field if he didn't get at least a few hours of sleep each night.
Like to catch them awake and running laps at six am in the cold. See if they come banging on the walls, screaming and hollering at three am then
At least Wally hadn't turned out to be a completely awful roommate. Just as big of a nerd as he'd been in high school, of course, filling his share of the bookcase with an entire shop's worth of robots and anime figures. None of the ones with hilariously big tits, much to Logan's disappointment.
Not out ondisplay. That's probably what he's got stashed in that lockbox at the bottom of his closet. The one shoved under his laundry bag last week that he didn't want me to see
Did he think Logan was going to turn him in for having a secret stash of porn, in whatever form it took? Not fucking likely.
But even then, the one normal thing about the guy and he goes about it in such a bass-akwards way. Can't have a folder buried on his laptop like most guys. Has to go and lock his dirty mags in a fuckingsafe.
Oh, now maybe that was it. Videos were all well and good — very,verygood, as Logan's newly liberated search history could attest — but there was just something about holding vintage porn…
Must be pretty hardcore not to share, though,Logan thought, shifting to a more comfortable position as he considered what kind of kinky stuff Wally might have locked up in that box. But even if it did turn out to only be some naked catgirl figures, it was probably for the best Wally hid it away. Especially given how often the alumni liked their impromptu tours to 'drop in and see the old place'.
And every one of them dropping in specifically to 'say hello to the pride of Minotaur House' . All with some ancient, dusty-ass memory that means I gotta put a pause on my homework yet again, just to shake another old dude's hand and be bored to tears with stories of his so-called 'glory days'
Would they leave off if they knew all those missed and interrupted assignments were about to cost 'the pride of Minotaur House' his spot on the team?
