Page 6 of Vibes

“This is so going on the dorm page,” Kelsey says, and her words are slow to register as I focus on Dylan. I don’t even live in the dorms. “Bri, come see the dweeb all soaking wet!”

Glaring at Dylan, I decide to let Kelsey do whatever she feels she’s entitled to for social media clout. It’s not that important to me right now. “You can’t take a hint?”

“I told you baby, no one says no to me.” He winks, but there’s something sinister behind it. There always is.

Shaking my head, I turn away from them. Dylan’s not going to follow me after a stunt like that, not right away. He wants me to be embarrassed and have my guard down, and I just don’t have the energy for this crap tonight. This is supposed to be a night focusing on all of Cora’s drama, not mine.

I hate jocks.

Frustrated with myself, I chuck the bag of sex toys on the counter. It appeased Londyn's need to make me feel sexy and now I have the perfect outfit to pretend I'm either a dominatrix or I lost a fight with a shredder.

“I bought the smallest things in the store,” I joke aloud, wondering if I should be more concerned about these conversations I keep having with myself. “Well, I guess the vibe is a bit like having Dylan back, am I right?”

At least no one responds in the silence, and I’m not to the point of answering myself yet. I drop into my favorite spot on the couch and start scrolling social media, distracting myself from anything I should be doing.

The big news, of course, is about the missing hockey players. After the party on Friday they supposedly got a little too wild and are still MIA. They are all still missing as far as I know, which sounds like it’ll make tonight’s game next to impossible to win. I don’t know what the rules of hockey are, but that’s got to be detrimental, no?

The fact that they are still missing is all anyone’s posting about, so for once I actually know what’s going on with sports. I wonder how many players can be missing before the team has to forfeit? Do the Lords have enough players to actually play the upcoming game? What happens if the missing five never show up again?

I know things are tense between Flynn and Cora, but I’ve been hearing that some of the team members are hoping to go pro. So why would they risk their chances by doing something as reckless as skipping a game? It’s all the guys who spend the most time with Flynn. I can’t imagine the guys are planning some dramatic appearance for tonight before the game. After missing practice, surely the coaches wouldn’t even let them on the ice.

I’ve seen posts from some of the girls who fawn over them, pretending like they know something they don’t. Of course, it has to be Kelsey who posts the most useful update, and I vaguely recall hearing her brag about her upcoming career in news reporting. At least she listed everyone by name. Hell, she tagged the accounts.

I stare at each name: Flynn Donahue. Lachlan Haberman. Oliver Baez. Theodore Baez. Jaxen MacIver.

Oh gosh, the two similar names have to be the twins I’ve heard about on the Denver Lords team. I definitely remember seeing them at the party, circling Londyn like fresh meat. I just didn’t recall their names. I’m pretty sure I’ve vaguely heard Jaxen mentioned here and there too, but there’s so many reposts clogging my feed it’s hard to do much more than gloss over the names. I don’t know where any of them are, and if I did, I don’t have a reason to hide it. Only Flynn and Lachlan are somewhat familiar to me.

Part of me is a little worried about that riddle Cora blurted out towards the end of the party. I really hope it didn’t have any real meaning, but when I tried to ask her, she shrugged me off. I don’t think Cora has any powers because… well, that would be ridiculous.

I suppose five missing hockey players is a bit ridiculous too. It made the local news, and hopefully they just partied too hard and are sleeping it off somewhere. I don’t want to seriously consider something bad happening. It makes my imagination run wild.

Straightening my replacement glasses, I eye my textbooks strewn across my coffee table. I should be cramming for my physics test this week, but I’m too distracted right now. I want to binge some trash TV and eat my weight in ice cream until I feel like crawling out of my bed again.

I call it the Dylan Effect. He has this superpower of destroying my mood just by crossing my mind. He knew all the buttons to push and how to tip me to the point I felt insane, like every single thing in our relationship was my fault. He gets off enough as is these days taunting me outside my apartment, and that’s not the type of problem I currently want to share with my friends.

Groaning, I massage my scalp as I try to shift my focus to something, anything, happier. The pixie cut is something I went for post break-up, and it’s done wonders for my self confidence. I like the look, and knowing Dylan despises short hair makes me love it even more. Although my backup glasses aren’t my first choice, I know he isn’t a fan of the large frames, so I’m spitefully enjoying those too until I replace the pair he broke.

I grab my bag of naughty purchases and head towards my room. I rarely have guests, but just my luck someone would come over the day I have a bag from a porn store sitting out. Besides, Londyn might come over and poke fun at me if my toys are still sitting on the counter after a few days.

I don’t tear the packaging off my new purchases immediately. I’m a bit of a germaphobe and I have to clean every item I buy or I simply can’t use it. Setting the bag down on the bedside table, I know I’ll more than likely not even crack open the new box tonight. After the party my sex drive took a dive, and working myself up doesn’t bring the same release that it used to. If I had the balls to, I'd kick Dylan in the dick for ruining something else for me.

Maybe Londyn was right and adding a couple things to my one-handed adventures might keep masturbation from becoming mundane.

As I pass into the bedroom I catch sight of myself in the floor length mirror, finding my eyes drawn to the little imperfections as I set things aside to change. Stripping out of my jeans and crop top, my body gives a sigh of relief without the constraints of the skintight outfit. As much as I wish I had juicy curves like Londyn or skyscraper legs like Cora, I’m on the slimmer side with more of a rectangle shape than hourglass. My breasts are almost comically large compared to the rest of my narrow frame, and I might have a flat stomach but I get almost as many comments on that as I do the disproportion between my hips and chest. People like to make a comment about everything and anything, and sometimes it hurts when it’s all about body image. I like how I look, but that joy is dimmed when others feel they need to tell me all about what they don’t like.

Thanks ever so much for my body dysmorphia, Dylan.

The only thing bugging me about my appearance recently are the micro-bangs. They are getting a touch too long, and I’m an emotionally driven person so if I’m in a bad headspace one day and go for the scissors they end up shorter than I intend.

Forcing my mind to empty, I change into an oversized shirt and boy shorts, going through my night routine. At the end I lay out a towel and some toy disinfectant in the bathroom, going back to the bag with my purchases.

The fishnet thing that I bought gets tossed into my closet before I grab the other package and return to the bathroom.

I glare down at the little bullet toy. I know next to nothing about the For Her Pleasure line. I can’t say I’ve ever done that much research into sex toys. Cora literally works at a sex shop, so if there was something wrong with the product I doubt she would sell it to me.

It’s bright pink, which isn’t surprising. I go to open the box and see a spot where the seal is slightly torn, which makes me double-check the packaging. Everything else looks in order, so I take a breath and pop open the box.

Is that what made Cora do a double take? If she was concerned about tampering, she would switch the product out. I’m confident in that.