Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

JULIEN

Move-in day is utter chaos. The dorm hallway is a mad rush of noise and people bumping into one another. On the way up, I had my feet stepped on twice and an elbow to the kidney. People keep stopping by to say hi. I have no idea who most of them are. A few minutes ago, someone cranked up their music to ear-splitting. Country, and not the good kind. The kind where a guy croons that his pickup truck is sexy. Kill me now.

Unzipping the suitcase, I look at the neatly folded clothes stacked in three piles: shirts, shorts, jeans.

"Babe, drawer or closet?"

Elijah smooths out the wrinkles in the fitted sheet he stretched over the dorm-issued mattress. "Good shirts and jeans in the closet. T-shirts and shorts go in the bottom drawer."

"Got it."

He is very OCD about the order of stuff. Underwear has to be laid flat, socks rolled just so. And God forbid if you don't color coordinate everything like a fucking rainbow. I swear that's how he organizes his closet. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet—which has never made sense to me. Aren't indigo and violet the same thing as purple?

I go into the closet and grab a handful of hangers. Fallon must have worked his magic once again because Elijah and Ash were placed in the ‘ritzy' dorms, as everyone calls them. Newer, better upgrades, more living space, and no more communal showers. Elijah and Ash have their own en suite.

"Dad said JD was in the Sunday sports section of the newspaper today," I tell Elijah as I drape my favorite pair of his jeans over a hanger.

They hug his ass in just the right way and are frayed at the bottom cuffs. Elijah shirtless and barefoot wearing only these jeans is pure eye porn.

"JD Hallstead, quarterback king of HH. My cousin is famous. Just like my soccer god boyfriend."

Elijah points to the poster of me he tacked up onto the wall next to the bed. He blows it a kiss, and I roll my damn eyes. I hate that fucking thing. The head of the athletics department decided it would be a good fundraising strategy. Two dozen players from various sports were chosen for promotional materials like posters, calendars, and campus billboards. I was one of them. There's also a banner of me ‘bending it like Beckham' hanging from the rafters at the main entrance of the soccer stadium. That one I like. I'm going to beg Coach to let me have it when I graduate.

Elijah plumps the pillow he stole from my bed this morning. He said it smelled the most like me. He actually sniffed every single one. It was hilarious.

"JD's first game is in three weeks on a Friday. Since you'll be away at the exhibition match in Charlotte, I may go. Drive up to Highland after class. I'll see if April wants to come. I can pick her up on the way."

JD is Elijah's third or fourth cousin—I can't remember which. Maybe fifth. I never knew he had a cousin until recently. JD was a freshman at Highland High when Elijah was a junior, and I had absolutely no clue he existed. Elijah said there was a lot of bad blood between his dad and JD's father that somehow trickled down to the sons. After years of ignoring one another, Elijah and JD reconnected this summer when we ran into him at the park one day.

Changing the subject, I ask, "When's your dad arriving?"

"Should be here by two."

I'm glad he'll get to see his dad after his bitch of a mom ruined his plans to see April today. Unfortunately, a consequence of his plans being canceled was that he moved out of the condo this morning instead of tonight. One more reason to hate her.

Elijah and I look over when Ash loudly exclaims, "Hells to the yeah! Elijah Barnes is in the house!"

Ash literally drops everything at the door and comes rushing into the room, tackling Elijah to the bed that he just meticulously made.

He pins Elijah down and sits on his chest. "What the fuck, dude? I thought you weren't going to be here until tonight. Hey, Julien." He sends me a wave over his shoulder.

"Hey, Ash."

Elijah tugs on Ash's ponytail. "It's finally long enough for a stubby tail."

"Mei loves it."

Ash rolls off Elijah, and I'm suddenly embraced in an enthusiastic hug.

"Do you need any help bringing stuff up?" Elijah asks him.

"I've got two more boxes and a couple of suitcases. Mom is waiting by the car. She'd love to see you."

Elijah kisses me on his way out the door. "Be back in a few."

"Take your time."

I go back to unpacking the suitcase and putting things away. There's something hard and rectangular hidden between the folded shirts, and a grin spreads when I find a framed photograph of Elijah and me. It's one Liz took at the Fields. I'm leaning over the handlebars of his dirt bike, our lips locked in a steamy kiss. It was taken the week after I came out to my family and friends.

As I stare at the photograph, my heart expands with so much love. It's amazing how that love never lessens, only grows bigger and stronger as time goes by. I kiss my fingertips, then touch the glass of the frame.

"I'm going to ask him to marry me," I tell Fallon.

I knew he was standing there. The man has an unmistakable aura. He walks into a room, and it crackles with barely leashed energy. I may have also overheard some girls out in the hallway go apeshit when they saw him. Fallon has rockstar status on campus. The king of CU. Gorgeous, rich, full of aloof attitude. He's the guy every woman wants, and every man wants to be like.

Fallon steps into the room and not so nicely slams the door shut in the faces of four girls who have congregated in the hall outside.

"About damn time," he says.

Setting the picture frame on the desk, I turn around and lean back against it. "Is it too soon?"

Elijah wants to have the college experience. I do, too. But we've been together for three years now, almost four. I want all the trappings of marriage. The commitment, the life, him and me forever until death do us part. Elijah is my endgame. He's the dream I've always wished for.

Fallon unwraps a stick of gum. "Fuck, no."

Suddenly feeling anxious, I ask, "What if he says no?"

"He won't."

"He said no to moving in with me."

A single dark-blond eyebrow lifts. "He did?"

"Yes."

"Well, trust me when I say that you'll get a very different answer when you go down on one knee."

He smirks in that cocky way that gets him laid. I've seen the power of a Fallon Montgomery bad boy smirk and its effects on the female population. He smiles and panties instantaneously drop to the floor. Liz was the only girl who was immune to it. Maybe that's why Fallon was so interested in her. Liz represented a challenge. The thrill of the chase. That unattainable thing you want because you can't have it. Speaking of…

"Did you see Liz yesterday at the track when you were with Ry?"

Ryder said she had a blast. He taught her how to drift. Showed us a video he took. I couldn't believe how good she was.

"No."

Fallon's tone makes sure to shut down any further conversation about the matter.

The door bursts open and a bumbling Elijah and Ash come stumbling into the room, arms laden with large square moving boxes.

"Why are there girls with their ears plastered to the—" Ash starts to ask.

"That's why," Elijah interjects when he sees Fallon.

"Fal- lon ," Ash chants. He drops his box on the floor and bumps Fallon's fist. "What brings you to the peon side of campus?"

"Wanted to come by and see if El needed anything."

After Elijah made an offhand remark a few months ago, I began to truly understand Fallon's motives for suddenly deciding to attend CU. Elijah came for me. Fallon came for him and Ry. Just one more reason to love the guy. Fallon hides behind his rich-prick persona, but the heart he locks behind a barricade of apathy and fuck-you attitude is huge.

Elijah sets the box he's carrying down on Ash's bed and greets Fallon with a back-slapping hug.

"Dad's coming. Come have dinner with us before he heads back to Highland. Belly's is having another karaoke night."

Even though he's speaking to Fallon, his last comment is aimed directly at me. He blows me a kiss over Fallon's shoulder.

You are such a troublemaker , I mouth.

Fallon jerks away, horrified. "I'm not fucking singing."

Ash sends Elijah a quizzical look. Belly's is where Justin attacked Elijah in the men's restroom. After months of avoiding the place like the plague, he came with me and my teammates for one of our bonding nights. Said he needed to face his fear and not let it control him. I was so damn proud of him. Kicking the crap out of Justin was one thing—which he did spectacularly. Elijah is physically capable of taking care of himself. The lingering mental mindfucks he dealt with after what happened is a whole other story. He still doesn't like to be in small, confined spaces.

"Just come have dinner," Elijah insists.

Not able to withstand Elijah's hopeful pout, Fallon huffs. "Fine. But you have to come to the frat party tomorrow night."

Ash's "hell yes" is drowned out by my and Elijah's despondent groans. Every one of his parties ends in some kind of major drama that usually includes a fight.

Fallon takes our grumbled protests as an affirmation. "I've got shit to do."

"Hey, Fal, we're friends, right?"

I don't trust the mischievous Cheshire grin that consumes Elijah's face.

"That's a really stupid fucking question," Fallon retorts.

"So, if I kissed you, it'd be okay because we're friends."

"Elijah," I growl.

Ash looks thoroughly confused. "Am I missing something?"

"Don't you dare," I warn.

"Tit for tat, baby. Liz kissed you. Only fair."

"It wasn't like that," I immediately refute.

Ash's mouth drops open. "Who is Liz, and why did she kiss you?"

Fallon suddenly hauls Elijah to him, and the kiss he plants on him is neither brief nor innocent. It's also hot as hell to watch.

"Fallon, please remove your lips from my man before I drop-kick you out the window."

Fallon releases a stunned Elijah. "Text me when Daddy Barnes gets here."

When he opens the door to leave, a shrieking trio of girls comes toppling into the room. He steps over them as if they aren't even there.

The brunette is the first to untangle herself from the pyramid sprawl. "Hi. Sorry."

Stronger than her petite frame looks, she grabs the ankles of both her friends and drags them out of the room.

Elijah slides in next to me, curving an arm around my waist. "I'm so glad I'm gay."

Without warning, I tackle him onto the bed and pin him underneath me. "Payback's a bitch, Angel."

"Will someone explain what the hell is going on?" Ash exclaims.