Page 12 of Devious Obsession
She follows suit a moment later, then looks down at my phone. “Oh, shit. I didn’t stop recording.” She lifts it. “How does it feel to have played at Crown Point Theater for the first time, Ms. Monroe?”
I smirk. “Like a dream come true, Ms. Armitage.”
“You’ll get there one day.” She hooks her arm around mine and hands my phone back to me. “Now, you ready for your first ever hockey game?”
Thalia and I met two months ago. There was an on-campus welcome event for incoming students before the official start of school, and a mixer for transfers. As a junior, I didn’t know what to expect. My community college in Chicago didn’t domixers. Or functions of any kind, really.
Anyway, Thalia and I bonded almost immediately at that mixer, which was pretty lame compared to the parties the freshmen were having. We were both supposed to be living in the dorms, but we decided to take a chance and get an apartment together.
And she’s been stuck with me ever since.
The stadium is up ahead, and we join the masses of blue-and-silver-wearing students filing in through the metal detectors. One of the workers scans my student ID and nods me through, and another peeks in my bag. And then we’re in.
“We’re meeting some of the dance team,” Thalia says. “They’re saving us seats.”
She joined the dance team at the start of school and was immediately swallowed up by that crowd of girls. She’s tried to take me along when they go out, and I keep wavering. Like I want to, but I can’t. The only party I happened to find over the summer was insane. Obviously, it ended a bit differently than I thought it would.
Now, I prefer to stick to my pajamas and movies at night. And I’ve been keeping my head down as much as possible.
“Willow!” Thalia suddenly yells.
She pulls me forward faster, catching up with a blonde girl who’s surrounded by others. My nerves buzz, a reminder that I have never had very many friends. So what if I socialize wrong? So what if they hate me on sight?
“Hey, Thalia!” The blonde hugs her, then seems to realize that Thalia is still attached to me “Oops, sorry. I’m Willow.”
“This is my roommate, Aspen,” Thalia introduces.
“Nice to meet you, Aspen.” Willow gestures to the girls around her. “These are Violet, Jess, Amanda, and Michelle.”
They all nod their greetings, but Amanda’s gaze stays on me. Recognition floods through her, and my stomach twists. She was one of the girls I was talking to before we all drew cards.
“You were at the party,” she says.
“I…”
“Erik throws some ragers, huh?”
We start walking toward whatever section they have seats in, and I glance at Amanda. The last time I saw her was just before the card draw. Although she doesn’t seem to harbor any ill will that my stranger seemed more interested in me than her. Even after she went all gooey-eyed over him.
My stranger.
I bite my lip. I haven’t thought abouthimin a while, although I’ve been keeping an eye out. Crown Point University seems to be just big enough to grant me the grace of avoiding him, though. The last thing I need or want is to see him and have that night thrown in my face.
“Are you a freshman?” Amanda asks. “I thought you were older…”
“I’m a junior.” I frown and try to recall what I told her. “I transferred in this year.”
“The dick was that good, huh?”
She says it so quietly, I have to do a double take. But she just smiles at me. And then her pace increases, until she’s joining one of the other girls at the front of the group.
“Did you meet Amanda before?” Willow glances over her shoulder at Thalia and me. “She graduated last year, but she got a job on campus.”
I force a smile. “Yeah, we met over the summer.”
Thalia nudges me. “You good?”
“Perfectly fine.”
