The Rules We Defy

Chapter 6

At 7:10, Dominic came knocking on my door. As I open it, I prepare to comment on him being late, but I forget all about it when I see him. I don't know how it's possible but he looks even hotter than he did at lunch. He's wearing dark jeans and a light blue polo hirt that makes his eyes an even richer shade of ocean blue. The shirt hugs his muscular shoulders, drawing my attention to his body again, which I can't seem to take my eyes off of. I'm pretty sure under that shirt he's hiding some ripped abs developed from all those hours in the pool.

"What are you all dressed up for?" I ask, trying to sound cool.

"I'm not dressed up. I'm wearing jeans and a shirt." He's also wearing some really good cologne.

"Yeah, I can see that."

"What's wrong? You don't like it?" He looks at himself as if he's questioning his choice.

I love that I'm making him self conscious. I don't know why. I have no reason to keep picking on the poor guy.

"Why do you care if I like it?"

"I don't." He stands up straighter and crosses his arms across his chest. "So do I get to critique your outfit now?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

He looks me up and down. "Classic black t-shirt and jeans. It looks good on you."

"Not that I care what you think, but thanks. Can we go now?"

He smiles. I think he's starting to enjoy my insults.

We went to a Thai restaurant in a strip mall near campus. It's nothing fancy, which is good. And the meals are $8-10. Also good. Dominic says nothing when I pay for my own meal. He wouldn't dare after the earlier grocery incident. After that, we go to the party I've been dreading. I went to a few parties in high school but never liked them. I couldn't be around all that alcohol. It brought back too many memories of my childhood.

The party is in an old, run-down house. We walked into an open room that had a bunch of old, beat-up couches and a coffee table sitting off to the side. That's it for furniture. It's almost like the house is only used for parties, not to live in. Or if Moorhurst had a Greek system, this place would make a great frat house.

It's 8:30, so it's not too crowded yet, but the people who are there are already drunk. A makeshift bar is set up in the back of the room; a long folding table topped with stacks of plastic cups and bottles of hard liquor. Seeing it brings back flashbacks of my mom and the vodka bottles that were always on our kitchen counter.

I direct my eyes away from the bar and back to Dominic, who now had two guys standing next to him.

"Jessica, this is Brandon," he says. "Brandon, this is Jessica."

I shook hands with a tall, lanky guy with wavy blond hair and a dark tan. Wearing board shorts and a t-shirt, he seems to be going for the surfer look, which is odd given that we're in Connecticut.

"Brandon's a total ass, but for some reason we still let him hang out with us," Dominic says.

The guy standing next to Brandon speaks up. "That's not always true. Sometimes, when Brandon's really drunk, we lock him in a room. He's an angry drunk."

An angry drunk. Like my mom. I can't be around angry drunks. I'm thinking less of Dominic now that I know he's friends with an angry drunk.

"I'm Decker, by the way." The guy extends his hand. He's barely taller than me with short brown hair and black-rimmed glasses. He's wearing baggy plaid Bermuda shorts, a bright green button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and leather sandals.

"Decker may look smart with the glasses, but don't let that fool you," Dominic says. "He practically flunked out of high school."

Decker turns to me to explain. "They didn't understand me there. Math and science aren't my thing. I'm a writer. An artist of the written word. I was far too creative for that school."

"So what's your story?" Brandon asks me. I can already tell I don't like this guy. He seems to have a permanent smirk on his face and his woodsy cologne is giving me a headache.

"I just got here. I'm from Iowa."

"Iowa? Is that in the middle somewhere?"

"Yeah. It's in the middle," I said, rolling my eyes.

Brandon doesn't notice or care. Instead, his attention wanders to the bar. "I'll catch you guys later. It's time to get wasted."

"I think I'll grab a beer," Decker says, eyeing the keg in the corner.

"You want something?" Dominic asks me.

"No, I don't drink."

He gets this confused look on his face. "Really? Like not at all?"

"Why are you so surprised? We're underage. It's illegal."

"I know, but everyone does it."

"Obviously, that's not true because I don't."

"Okay, well, they probably have soda. You want that?"

"Sure. Any kind but diet."

I wait as he goes to the cooler near the keg and gets a can of soda. He fills a plastic cup with beer for himself.

"Do you drink a lot?" I ask him when he returns.

"Hmm. Do I drink a lot? He takes a swig of beer. "Define a lot."

"If I have to define it, then you definitely drink a lot." The smell of his beer is making me anxious and a little sick to my stomach.

"Okay, I admit it. I drink a lot. But I try to limit it to the weekends. And maybe two or three weekdays."

"Then our friendship ends here. I don't hang out with people who drink. I need to go." I start heading to the door and hear Dominic right behind me.

"Wait, you're seriously leaving? We just got here."

"Yeah, and I don't want to be around you when you're drinking. Or around any of these people."

"That's what a party is, Jessica. A bunch of people hanging around drinking."

"I know. That's why I don't go to parties." I go out the front door to the outside with Dominic following behind.

"Hold on. I'll drive you back if you really want to leave."

"You've been drinking, Dominic. You really think I want you to drive me home?"

"I had like two sips of beer."

"I can get back on my own." I start walking down the sidewalk.

"Just wait." He grabs my wrist, forcing me to stop. "I'll make you a deal. I won't drink the rest of the night, okay? Just stay for a few hours. It's your first Saturday night in college. Don't spend it sitting in your room, okay?"

I hear Cody's voice in my head, nagging me to be social. "Even what's in your hand?"

He eyes the plastic cup. "I can't finish this?"

I stare at him.

"Okay, fine." He dumps his beer out on the grass.

When we head back inside, more people have arrived. Music is blaring from some speakers in the corner. Brandon is doing shots with some blond girl by the bar.

"So are you guys close friends?" I asked Dominic as I nodded over to Brandon.

"I wouldn't say that we're close. We don't sit around having meaningful conversations. We just hang out. We were on the swim team together in high school, and now we're both on the team here at Moorhurst.

"Does he drink like that all the time?"

"Yeah. That's why he got a place off campus. He knew he couldn't get away with drinking every night in the dorms."

"Hey, Dominic." A girl in a short white dress with long black hair and a golden brown tan walks up to him. She wraps her arm around Dominic's. "I just got back from Italy. I called you several times, but you never returned my calls."

"I've been busy." He seems completely disinterested in her. He doesn't even look at her.

"What did you do all summer? Did you go to the vineyard?"

"No. I had an internship in DC."

"I thought you hated politics."

"My dad made me do it. I worked for one of his senator friends."

Domind moves over slightly to get some distance from the girl, which only makes her tighten her grip on him and move closer. "Courtney, this is Jessica. Jessica, this is Courtney."

"Hi." she glances at me, then turns back to Dominic. "You need to be at my parent's house next Saturday at 2pm. Don't be late. And for dinner, wear the light gray suit with the blue tie. I'm wearing blue, and we need to coordinate."

He yanks his arm away from her. "Yeah, got it."

"God, what was that for?"

He doesn't answer her.

"You're such an ass sometimes, Dominic." She storms off towards the bar.

"Someone's got a date next week," I said, taking a sip of my soda.

"Can we not talk about that, please?"

Before I can say anything else, Sierra, the girl I met earlier at my room, walks over, wraps her arm around Dominic and kisses his cheek. She glares at me before placing herself directly in front of Dominic and blocking me out of his line of sight. I'm about to turn to leave when Dominic shoves her off him, causing her to shuffle straight into me and knocking my drink to the floor.....