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“I can tell that you’re trying to talk yourself out of going, but it’s no use, roomie. I’m not going to a whole ass New Year’s Eve party alone. You know the rules.”
“I’m not sure why I’m forced to make decisions based on a series of rules you created.”
“I didn’t create the rules,” she bites back. “It’s girl code! Stop trying to make it complicated.”
“Whatever, Kennedy, just let me look around the store for a little bit. I might find something else cheaper.”
“Fifty dollars is a deal for a dress of this quality, and this is the most inexpensive boutique near campus. If you want more of a selection, we’d have to drive to the strip and I can’t imagine that you’ll find anything cheaper than fifty dollars at Crystals.”
“Fine,” I huff. “Let’s check out.”
We grab some veggie burgers from a local plant-based restaurant that mostly VCU students patronize and eat them in the back of our Uber on the way home.
“Do you ever feel nervous about taking an Uber out here?” I whisper as I stare at the back of the head of the driver, thinking about my conversation with Neo.
“What?” She looks confused. “No, I take them all the time. This is Vegas. You’re basically forced to take a car everywhere. That’s why I want to bring my little Toyota here, but I have to convince my father to ship it to me, because there’s no way I’m driving it across the country.”
“Understood, it’s just that Neo doesn’t seem to ever take them and I was wondering if there?—”
“How do you know Neo doesn’t take Ubers?” she asks suspiciously.
I take a bite of my burger, buying me some time to think of a response other than, “Oh, because I’m fucking him now and he told me.”
“I’ve seen him around a few times while you were gone and he’s always got one of the players driving him around,” I reply, suddenly wishing I hadn’t brought up this topic at all.
Kennedy laughs. “Oh yeah, that’s basically them hazing the freshmen. They think they’re so much better than everyone because they bring in so much money to the university, but they’re really just like every other organization on campus, making those boys do their bidding. Crazy, right?”
I stare guiltily outside the window as we pass the outskirts of campus. “Yep, real crazy.”
* * *
New Year’s Eve
“So, where exactly are we going tonight?”
Kennedy turns on the television to watch people gather at Times Square in New York as she starts applying makeup primer to her face.
“Gamma Sigma Gamma,” she answers.
My stomach churns.
“Wait, we’re going to a frat party?”
“Yeah,” she says like she already told me.
“You didn’t tell me that.”
“We’re in Valencia City. Where else would be going? The clubs in Vegas are going to be packed with drunk tourists and they’re probably going to be checking ID. We have to stay local.”
Crap.
“And you know, Ray is a Gamma,” she adds. “He pledged his freshman year during football season. Impressive, right?”
“I guess.”
“Can you believe that they get started lining up this early?” Kennedy points to the screen. “I mean, it’s only five o’clock there. What are they going to do all day?”
“Hell, if I know.”
