The Four Beta Brothers

Chapter 2 - The Flirt

JUNIPER

I woke up the next day, hoping the day before was just some sort of nightmare, because I didn’t even know where to begin if it wasn’t. Moira was my roommate, which meant I would be forced to see her daily if I didn’t change my living situation. The fall semester was several weeks underway already, so the chances of spare living arrangements were slim.

I still had to try. I forced myself out of bed, feeling the ramifications of my fitful attempt to sleep. I was either crying or staring at the ceiling feeling numb for the majority of it. If I slept at all, I had no idea how much sleep I had actually gotten, but I knew it wasn’t enough.

Even still, there was too much to do today to wallow. With Moira against me, it was nearly impossible to convince everyone of the truth, but I wasn’t about to roll over and take this treatment. I had worked too hard for years to let it all get thrown away in my senior year.

I put my headphones in as I walked to the housing department on campus. I didn’t want to risk hearing what other students were saying about me. At first, the need to know had nearly consumed me. I listened to everyone I passed, wanting to know just how foul the rumors were, but at some point, I realized it wasn’t worth it. It only hurt to hear the students I had done my best for disparage me without any actual proof.

It was too hard to wrap my mind around. I knew life could be turned upside down from one terrible night, but I never thought something like this would happen.

I made it to the building without anyone stopping me. I avoided all eye contact, but it didn’t stop me from seeing the stares and fingers pointing my direction in my peripheral view. When I pushed through the door, I was surprised that someone else was at the counter, talking to the head of the housing department.

“If we could get a private suite for the three of us, I would appreciate it. We prefer to stay together. I’m sure you understand that.” The man at the counter leaned forward and touched the lady in front of him. She instantly blushed at his touch.

“We’ll see what we can do for you.” She stepped away from the counter, pink still filling her cheeks.

“Thank you. You’re so kind,” he said. He was dressed in a blue cardigan and the collar of a white shirt peeked out from beneath it. I could only see the back of his head, but his dark hair was perfectly styled, and there wasn’t a wrinkle on his clothes.

Something about him screamed perfectionist, and I had a feeling he was used to getting what he wanted.

I took a seat to wait my turn, since I didn’t know how long this would take. As I sat, the chair made a small clink sound, and the man waiting at the counter glanced back at me.

I didn’t recognize him, which surprised me. What were the chances of multiple transfer students arriving at the same time? We rarely got transfers after the school year started. It was difficult to get accepted to CUW in the first place, and unless someone dropped out, new students rarely arrived after the first week.

Not only that, but there was something familiar about him. His eyes were ocean blue, but they looked like they came from the depths of the ocean, mysterious and unknown.

He smiled at me, and his entire face lit up from the gesture. It was like he had flipped a switch, purposely oozing charm to make everyone around him swoon.

It had the opposite effect on me. It made me grind my teeth. It felt fake, and I had dealt with enough fake people recently.

“You’re in luck, Asher,” the woman said, practically dancing back into the room. “We have one suit available for you and your brothers. I will have it cleaned, but you all should be able to move in around dinner time.”

Brothers.

“You’re the best, Janice.” Asher took her hand again and cupped it with both hands.

Janice flushed at the gesture again. She was his senior by at least a decade, but I’m sure that made her feel even better. A young, attractive man was basically flirting with her. I wondered whether or not she realized he was flirting with her to get what he wanted. Either way, it wasn’t my place to say anything.

“I’ll give you a call once I have the keys. I can have someone show you around campus in the meantime, if you’d like.” The twinkle in her eyes made it obvious she wanted to be the one to show him around, but she couldn’t leave her office.

“No, thank you for the offer. I have some plans I need to get to anyway. You have a wonderful day, though.” Asher took a step back and turned to the door. We made brief eye contact, and he winked at me before leaving the building.

I stared after him for a moment, feeling a flutter in my chest.

Janice cleared her throat. “Is there something I can do to help you?”

I jumped to my feet so fast I bumped the chair in the process. I slung my bag over my shoulder and rushed to the counter. “Yes, I was wondering if there are any rooms available to transfer to. My current living situation needs to change.”

Janice looked me up and down and scowled. This was not the same woman I had seen a moment before. “There are no rooms available.”

My chest tightened at her sudden shift in manner. I feared she had heard the rumors and knew who I was, so she didn’t want to help me. There was a chance that she was always like this—except when a handsome young man flirted with her. This made me even more annoyed at Asher, even though I had only seen him for a few minutes at most.

“Can you at least check? You found a suite available for that guy.” I glanced behind me, but Asher was nowhere to be seen.

“There’s no point in checking. He and his brothers are transfer students. It is my responsibility to find them a place. You already have housing. It’s not my fault if you can’t get over a petty dispute with your roommate.” She crossed her arms and looked me up and down. She assumed the reason I wanted to transfer, and it was clear she wasn’t interested in asking for the real reason.

The transfer students were brothers, which would explain them arriving at the same time. I was sure Asher and Ethan were related now. Asher looked like the younger of the two. There was a third one here, too, if I heard Asher correctly.

“Please. You don’t understand. I can’t keep living with my roommate. She hates me. How am I expected to live in that kind of environment?”

“That’s not my problem. Talk to a counselor or something.” Janice sat down and adjusted her glasses. She started typing away on her computer as if the conversation was already over.

I couldn’t stand it anymore. Between all of the students whispering my name and this lady completely dismissing my issues, I felt my chest breaking.

I slammed my hands on her desk and leaned over. “Look. I’m not asking for much. Just double check if there’s anything available. Is that really so hard to do? You were fawning all over that other student a minute ago. Are you really that weak for some cute boy?”

Janice turned away from her computer with raised eyebrows. “Throwing a fit won’t make it so you get your way, young lady. Insulting me won’t change the fact that there are no rooms available, either. I would recommend talking to a counselor to get that attitude of yours under check, before it gets you into serious trouble.”

I stood up, grinding my teeth together. I didn’t have an attitude—not usually. I was always respectful to my elders, even when they didn’t deserve it. However, this was just a cherry on top of a bad twenty-four hours. I knew I should apologize for my behavior, but it didn’t matter anyway. It wouldn’t make this lady treat me with anymore respect.

Knowing this was a pointless battle, I turned on my heels and stormed out the door. I wasn’t in the mood to force apologies and suck up to someone who didn’t deserve it. The door slammed behind me, but that didn’t slow me down. I didn’t know where I was going, but I just had to get away from that woman.

Heavy footsteps synced up with mine as I stormed off, and when I glanced to the side, I was surprised to see Asher walking next to me.

“Bad day, I take it?” he asked, easily keeping up with me.

I slowed my pace. “Something like that. Can I help you with something?” I didn’t understand why he was talking to me.

He shrugged. “No. I thought I could help you with something.”

This made me stop walking altogether. “What could you possibly help me with?”

He smiled and shifted so he was standing directly in front of me. “Has anyone ever told you how beautiful your smile is?”

“Flirting with me isn’t going to get you on my good side like it did for Janice.” I didn’t know what kind of game Asher was playing, but I wasn’t interested in being toyed with.

“You don’t like me,” he noted. He crossed his arms and looked me up and down.

“I don’t know you.”

He smirked. “You still don’t like me. Is it because I flirted to get my way? Because there’s nothing wrong with being a little friendly. Or maybe you’re just mad because you didn’t get your way.”

My mouth fell open, but I didn’t know what to say. I was fully expecting Asher to deny his flirting and act innocently, but he blatantly admitted it.

“I thought you said you wanted to help me, but you’re only taunting me.” I couldn’t bring myself to smile as I stared at the handsome man in front of me. His presence was more irritating than it should have been.

“That’s not true. I gave you a compliment. I meant it. Your smile is beautiful.”

“I haven’t smiled in front of you.” Asher was definitely playing games.

He shrugged and smiled. “I can just tell it is.”

“Look, I don’t have time for this. I don’t need your help, so thank you, but no thank you. Bye.” I started walking away again. There were too many things on my list for the day to waste my time talking to this man.

Asher fell into step next to me again, and I had a feeling I wasn’t going to shake him easily. “At least tell me your name. You know mine, don’t you?”

“Why do you care?” I kept walking, knowing how rude I was being. I didn’t feel like myself, but I also didn't have the energy to change that right now.

“Because I’m new here, and I don’t know anyone. I thought we could be friends.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked up at the sky as he spoke.

I slowed my pace again, studying his face closely. Despite all of his teasing and flirting, he seemed to be completely genuine. “I’m not the person to befriend. Trust me on that.”

“You seem like a perfectly good person to befriend. I know you’re in a bad mood, and you only see me as an annoying flirt, but if you give me a chance, I can show you a different side of me that I think you’ll like.”

I stopped walking again, looking at Asher closely. Part of me wondered if someone convinced him to be my friend to play a prank on him, but he was too attractive for that. As a new transfer student, girls would fall head over heels for him, and if he was my friend, it would taint his perfectly clean reputation.

“It’s not you that’s the problem. If you heard the rumors going around about me right now, you would realize that.” Even if I tried to be his friend, it would fall apart as soon as he heard the lies Moira spread about me.

“Good thing I don’t listen to rumors.”

“Associating with me could ruin your reputation. I don’t think that’s a good way to start at a new school.”

“I don’t let the pressure of others influence my opinion of pretty girls.” He winked to add flair to his statement, and it made me wonder if he knew how to turn off the flirting. “Tell you what, why don’t we get coffee, and you can tell me about these rumors? Then I’ll decide what’s best for me.”

I looked him up and down. There were a million things to do on my list for today, but talking to someone who didn’t hate me while getting caffeine was actually tempting.

“Juniper,” I said, holding out my hand. When Asher tilted his head, I added, “My name.”

Comprehension lit up his eyes, and he took my hand and kissed the back of it. “I’m Asher. It’s nice to meet you.”