Page 121 of Tell Me I'm Enough

I hear her huff under her breath. “Heusedto be.”

“Soyou’rethe girl he’s always talking about?”

“He talks about me?” she asks.

“He never says a name, but he’s always talking about the girl from his past that he regrets losing.”

“Hmm, must be another one of his many girlfriends,” she says, spitefully.

I look over to Simone in the passenger seat and raise my brows. She just shrugs and smiles back, not knowing anything.

“I haven’t seen him with any girl since I met him my freshman year. He’s too holy and all pure now.”

She laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “Yeah, that shit’s an act.”

I just put my hands up. “Hey, that’s all I’ve seen at least.”

“Enough talking about that devil of a man,” Simone says, trying to back up her friend.

“Hey, that devil—angel—of a man ismyfriend,” I tell them.

I see Lani shrug in the rear-view mirror. “Maybe get better friends?”

Simone and I just laugh, and we all change the subject as we pull up to the house.

I get out and open the back door for Lani first before walking around and opening Simone’s door, reaching my hand out for her to take.

I nod my head at her once she’s out of the car. “You look good.”

She smiles. “Thanks. I wanna hit a triple F tonight, figured I’d look my best while doing it.”

“What’s a triple F?” I ask.

Lani walks up beside Simone. “Have fun, get fucked up, and forget.”

I nod. “Well, the Gamma house is next door, so we don’t need a DD,” I tell her. “You can stay there. Let’s make it happen.”

By the time the party really gets going, the Sig house smells like a bunch of different cheap colognes, spilled beer, and a lot of future bad decisions—which, honestly, is pretty on brand for this house.

The beat is so strong that I can feel it through the soles of my shoes. Someone’s already blown out a speaker, someone else is yelling about beer pong rules and someone cheating, and I’ve got a red Solo cup in my hand that somehow keeps magically refilling by itself.

That’s how it always starts—one drink turns into five, and before I’ve even realized, I’ve stopped counting.

Simone’s glued to my side at first—laughing, bumping into me when someone passes by too closely, and stealing sips from my cup because she doesn’t want to hold her own and is too paranoid about drinks getting spiked when they’re left unattended.

Lani disappears when her brother and his crew show up, leaving Simone and I to get into trouble all by ourselves with no supervision.

Suddenly, Simone and I are surrounded by a bunch of Gamma girls who are hyping her up and dancing with her, while also trying to get my attention and grinding on me.

Tank shoves past me with two girls hanging off him.

“Mason! My man!” He slaps my shoulder so hard I almost spill my drink.

Simone laughs. “Is everyone here legally required to assault you?”

“Pretty much,” I say. “It’s in the pledge contract you sign freshman year.”

She snorts and takes my cup, draining half of it without blinking.