~Keenan~
When I first saw Kevin Alvarez's sister at Haskins' party, the first thing that came to my mind was that she'd come as his personal chauffeur. It was the only thing that could've brought her out on a Thursday.
I watched her for a few minutes before I realised, from her constant phone checks and knee bounces, that she wasn't finding her mission easy.
She did the same thing every time: walk in, go around, maybe get a drink (entirely by chance), find Kevin and then leave. If she's at school parties, she'd dance and socialise for a bit, then disappear, reappear later and then leave.
Although I'd seen her around so many times, we had never actually spoken, and I didn't want our first conversation to be a version of "hey, your brother's out back in the pool doing the coke I sold him," so I relaxed and watched her go around in circles—it wasn't like there had been anything better to look at, anyway.
After a few more minutes of roaming the party, she went upstairs, so I took the opportunity to attend to a few of the shitheads lurking over my shoulder like dogs in blatant need of rabies shots.
It was almost midnight, meaning I'd exhausted my usual supply of molly. All that remained was some strange new shit Rob had sent me and the fools still wouldn't leave me alone. I didn't know what it contained, so I gave a clear warning stating exactly that, then sold it to them. Probably bad for them, good for Rob.
I headed outside to get some air and—if I'd find him— let the sad fucker know his sister was looking for him so she could finally go home.
A few minutes later, I came back inside without doing either of those things. My first sight was of the very same blonde girl I'd been watching, except she was swaying in her steps, barely aware of what planet she was on. Spiked with fear, I spun around to check on the guys, and they all had their fists to their mouths.
That was when I knew I'd fucked up.
~~~~
Joey sits on the edge of my bed and grabs the glass of water from before, her fingers shaky—either with fear or nerves— as she brings it to her lips. She barely takes a sip before setting it back down.
"Look, it's not that bad," I say, doing my best to console her.
"I missed my midterm exams," she says, fear in every line of her face. "Of course, it's bad!"
I shake my head, trying to find the best possible way to relay my next piece of information. "You didn't...the exams didn't hold. They were postponed."
"How?"
I pause again. The more I tell her, the more she'll see me as the rest of them do. There's a chance she already does, but so far, she hasn't shown any signs of fear or mortification at being in the same room with me, so maybe there's a chance she doesn't know who Keenan Reid is—yet.
I shrug. "No idea. But I know that the exams were shifted."
Her face relaxes with relief. "To when?"
"After spring break," I tell her.
She nods and exhales, calm descending over her. "At least that's good news. You know, the last thing I need is my complete ass of a professor on my case." She rolls her tired eyes at the thought of whoever her professor is. "You don't go to Bowen, do you?"
"No, I'm not in college." I usually have no qualms just letting people assume the reason for this, but right now, I want to explain why, so she doesn't see me as some kind of failure. But I'll only do it if she asks.
"What's your name?" She asks, after a few beats of staring at me with her blue eyes like she's trying to figure me out. "I mean, you're familiar, but..." She shakes her head and motions with her hand to her temple. "I can't place you, I'm sorry."
I take a step back and reply, "Keenan."
"Keenan," she repeats, a frown visiting her features briefly, then disappearing, promptly replaced by recognition. "Wait. Keenan as in Keenan Reid?"
I blow out air. Here we fucking go.
She lifts a finger to my face. I bet she's about to get up and find her way away from me. "You know my brother," she says instead. "You're Kevin's friend from Boston, yeah?"
I blink. "Uh. Yeah."
She smiles, her eyes lighting up with what looks like both relief and excitement. "I'm Joey...I mean...wait, duh, you already knew that. I'm sorry, I just..." She seems too excited to form words, so she does the hand thing again. "So wait we're not in Boston right now?"
I shake my head. "You're about a half hour away from your school, in fact. This is my apartment. You're in my bed."
"And I am so sorry for that," she says. "Oh my god my friends!" She face palms, suddenly free to talk and move around me. "They must be worried sick. Where's my phone?" She asks. I purse my lips and she remembers what I said earlier. "Right. Missing. Got it."
She gets off my bed and looks up at me. "Thank you, Keenan. For everything, honestly. I'll tell my brother you helped...after I kill him for sending me on a wild goose chase in the first place." She clenches her jaw. "Can you believe he asked me to come pick him up and I ended up nearly dying without even seeing him?! Our parents are gonna flip their shit if they find out about this. Aw fuck! My back."
"Sorry."
She smiles and then leans back into my bed. "I'll live. Mind if I spend a couple more minutes here?"
I nod. "Of course." She smiles, but I know I have to add one last bit or there will be hell to pay. "And er, Joey?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't tell your brother about this. We don't..." I pause, debating how best to relay the nature of my relationship with Kevin. Instead of saying 'he buys weed and coke from me', I settle on, "we're not friends like that."
"Oh." Is all she says before turning on her side. I get up and ball my fists to prevent myself from tucking her into bed. It's bad enough that I grabbed her jaw to make her swallow pills, I can't keep doing this.
"Hey, Keen," Saanvi grins at me from her spot on my roommate, Tayo's lap as I enter the living room. I throw her a wave and take my former spot, half-lying on the loveseat with my head in my hands.
"How's the chick?" Brett Myers jerks his head in the direction of my bedroom.
"None of your business," I mumble.
His face falls. "Look, we said we're sorry."
"You're lucky she's awake," I tell him, meaning it. If she'd gotten any weird reactions or had to be rushed to a hospital, I would've pounded his jaw in because who actually spikes a girl's drink without her permission?
"If we'd known she was Kevin's sister, we never would've—"
"Yeah. Save your explanation, I don't give a shit."
"Why does it matter to you, anyway?" Wyatt cuts in, joining us from his bedroom. I know he's been listening because how else would he know what to ask?
They're all home today, meaning it's one of the days I'm dumb out of luck. I would've much preferred to stay holed up in my bedroom, but due to current situations and my lack of desire to leave her alone with these people, I'm stuck playing video games with my roommates.
I don't bother giving Wyatt an answer because even I am barely sure why it kills me this much. They've been testing drugs for as long as I've known them. It shouldn't matter that they made a mistake. But it does.
Tayo hands his controller to Wyatt so he can continue the game with Brett while Tayo turns his focus to Saanvi, who isn't his girlfriend but I'm pretty sure he's sleeping with, along with both Brett and Wyatt. These people make me suicidal sometimes.
~~~~
"What's everyone doing for spring break?" Saanvi is asking when I awake from a sleep I didn't even know I drifted off to. Wyatt and Brett have switched places, so that Brett is now on the couch and Wyatt on our small rug, both still playing call of duty. "Do you guys want to come fishing with me?"
"I'm going out of town," I lie, so she won't bother asking me.
"Technically, you don't even have spring break," Tayo chuckles, referring to my lack of commitment to any institution. "More like 'whenever you want' break."
"Is your brother around?" Brett pipes up.
I shrug. "Maybe."
Wyatt nods. "Well if you do see him, get us more of that new dope. That shit hit hard, despite the accident." Brett nods his approval.
I still can't believe he drugged Joey Alvarez of all people. And even though he swears that he didn't know she was Kevin's sister, I know it's a lie. There's no way these fuckers didn't know her. I mean, I basically hate the guy and even I knew her. We all do, so why are they lying?
A door shuts and footsteps descend the stairs, followed by "um, Keenan?"
All of us turn to face the new arrival, who is still in her white shirt and jean shorts from two days ago—I didn't have the mind to take her clothes off while she was unconscious, sue me. She doesn't look half bad, but her face is a beacon of tiredness and her hair is a tangled mess as she stares at the group.
"Holy fuck," Wyatt says in a low voice, dropping his controller to face her properly. "Hey, Joey."
"Hey."
"What do you want?" I ask, not liking the way everyone's focused on her. I doubt she does, either.
"I need to use your bathroom before I find a way to get outta here. Also can I borrow a sweatshirt or something? I'm really cold."
"Yes!" The guys chorus.
She chuckles. "I meant Keenan, but thanks."
I quickly nod, turning to keep an eye on Brett. "Yeah, sure."
"Kay, thanks." She begins heading back up, then stops again. "And can any of you help me call my brother? I don't think I can drive with these knees."
"We can just drive you," Tayo suggests.
"Yeah, or me," Saanvi says, eyeing her from head to toe, her lips pulled into a smirk.
"No. We'll call her brother."
"Who made you the boss?" Brett asks, glaring at me.
I turn to Alvarez. "Would you want any of them to take you?"
She shrugs. "No offense, but just call Kevin. I need to talk to him, anyway." She turns around and heads back upstairs, leaving us staring at the empty stairway.
"She's fucking hot, even I'd do her," Saanvi says after she's gone. Brett, Wyatt and Tayo nod and mutter their agreement. "Right? Reid?" She glances at me.
"Whatever." I boost myself off the couch and head to the kitchen to grab one of their phones so they can call her brother and she can get out of my bedroom as soon as possible.