"For you, I would cross the line,"

Lia shakenly ran her hands along the outfit she was wearing, examining herself in the mirror. She slipped on a black skirt, the fabric hugging her curves almost perfectly as it ended right in the middle of her thighs. She wore black tights underneath, giving just a little bit of coverage along with some short black boots. The boots had a bit of heel on them, but not enough to where her feet would be killing her the whole night. Along with the rest of her outfit, she wore a light blue spaghetti string tank top, one that ended right above her belly button. Part of her feared she was exposing too much, but at the same time, she'd seen plenty of other students dress like this in class.

It had been a few days since she'd last spoken to Ethan in person, only catching glimpses of him whenever they were in the mess hall. She didn't have any classes with the boy, let alone activities outside of classes. She did, however, find herself texting him constantly; therefore showing they talked to each other every day. 

Her hair had been thrown up in a simple half-up half-down look, something showing she wasn't trying extremely hard. It was a simple mixer, something for the students to celebrate the beginning of the school year. She'd only honestly been going because Ethan had invited her, and found herself wanting to impress him.

The sound of knocking on the bedroom door caused Lia to look away from the mirror, glancing over to see Amanda swing the door open. "Cute boy's out there waiting on you." She crossed her arms over her chest, a smirk resting on her face.

Lia just sent her a look, one Amanda found amusing. She herself had dressed to go to this mixer, as Lia wanted her to come along. It took little to no convincing, as Lia hadn't even gotten the entire question out before Amanda was bouncing off the walls in excitement. 

Immediately they started planning their outfits, as this was the first party of the year; the one that mattered the most. They would meet all the people that they hadn't met yet, and this would show that they're more than just students at Blackmore University.

"He's going to hear you," Lia whispered, her hands seeming more nervous than before.

Amanda glanced back to the living room, where Ethan awkwardly stood and watched out of the window. He'd yet to notice her look, showing he'd been completely oblivious to their conversation. The blonde then turned back to Lia, rolling her eyes as she shut the door for some privacy. "He's out there sweating his dick off." She joked, causing Lia's eyes to widen.

"Don't say that! He's probably annoyed I'm taking too long." Lia glanced back in the mirror, pulling the ends of her skirt down.

"No, he's probably worried he's going to fuck up any chances he has with sleeping with you tonight." Amanda poked at the other girl's side, causing Lia to swat at her hand.

"That's not going to happen either way," Lia said. She then walked over to her bed, grabbing the blue jacket that she'd held onto since the last time she actually hung out with Ethan. She had it neatly folded, resting it over her arm as she grabbed the last of her belongings. "I'm ready," She then said, earning a look from Amanda. "What?"

"Oh, nothing." Amanda sing-songed, sending another look toward Lia before opening her door back up.

Lia just rolled her eyes at this, walking out of the bedroom to see Ethan still looking out the window. He seemed to be lost in thought, but at the sound of the two girls exiting the bedroom, he shot up, turning around.

He'd been dressed in a blue polo, a color he wore often. He had dark blue jeans on as well, his arms bare from any type of jacket.

"Did you guys plan this?" Amanda asked, earning looks from the both of them. "The-the blue?" She then elaborated.

Lia glanced down at her shirt, realizing she and Ethan were both wearing light blue shirts. This caused her blush to deepen, covering her stomach with the jacket.

"No," Ethan softly said. His eyes were locked on Lia, seeming to be unable to look away.

Amanda saw this and rolled her eyes. "I'll be out there," She said. "Don't take too long or I'm leaving you guys."

It was silent as Amanda left the dorm, the door softly clicking shut. The two were then surrounded by silence, neither of them saying anything. Lia felt awkward, the thought of running back to her bedroom flittering through her mind for a split second.

"You look-" Ethan spoke as he stepped forward, beginning to break the distance between them. "You look beautiful, Lia." He finished, finding himself stopped directly in front of her. She glanced up, her light eyes meeting his dark ones. He then found himself beginning to feel nervous, more than he felt before. "I mean, not that you don't look beautiful usually-" He began to mumble, his palms growing sweaty from nerves. "I just think you look-" He stopped, glancing around before back at the girl. "I'm going to shut up now."

"You look good too, Laundry Basket." She complimented, a small smile growing on her face. She then held out the blue jacket to him, to which he looked down. "I thought I should return this, it's been a while."

Despite having the urge to tell her to keep it, Ethan grabbed it anyway. He hung it over his arm the way she had, feeling too hot to bother putting it on.

"We should probably get going before Amanda leaves us," Lia then said, causing the boy's eyes to snap to hers.

"Right, sorry." He spoke, earning a soft smile from the girl standing in front of him.

Lia didn't say anything and instead turned away from Ethan. She made her way toward the dorm door, swinging it open. Ethan reached above her head to grab the door, holding it so she didn't have to. This gave her a whiff of the cologne he'd been wearing, her stomach erupting in butterflies as she realized how close they were.

Even with her back turned to the boy, she couldn't help but feel nervous. He didn't even need to be looking at her for her to practically melt. She did her best to hide her feelings, knowing this was just a simple friendship blooming.

It wasn't any different than her friendship with Ozzie, or even Jonah. Just another boy she'd befriended, the only difference being she found herself attracted to him physically, mentally, and emotionally.

She hadn't ever felt anything like this. Not even with Isaiah, who she'd known for an extremely long time before getting into any type of relationship with him. Her entire body buzzed with excitement just from Ethan sending her a text. He could make direct eye contact with her, and she'd become a sweating mess. She'd be lucky if she didn't melt under his touch!

The door clicked shut behind the two, causing Lia to glimpse back to make sure it was locked. As soon as her confirmation was true, she began the walk to the stairs.

Ethan nervously glanced at the girl before back in front of him, moving his hand to the small of her back. The simple gesture almost caused both of them to throw up from the butterflies erupting, more and more seeming to grow each and every passing second.

Her skin burned hot underneath his touch, and as cheesy as it felt and sounded Ethan could have sworn his fingers felt full of electricity. It was just the same as when she'd reached across the table, touching their hands together the other night.

It had been something neither of them had felt for anyone before, but it was something that both of them wanted more of.

"Jesus, took you guys long enough." Amanda's voice called out as soon as the two came into view.

She stood next to Ozzie and Cleo, who had been patiently waiting. They were lost in their own conversation, they wouldn't have even realized that Lia and Ethan walked up if it weren't for how loud Amanda had called out.

"Where are Joshua and Jonah?" Lia asked, ignoring her roommate.

"They're going to be late. They wanted to go get food before but decided to go right before the party starts instead of hours before." Cleo answered.

Cleo was dressed in a simple sweater and jeans, the sweater being a cute beige color. It was a wonder to Lia how she was surviving in the thick material, as despite it being August it was actually quite warm outside.

This could only mean that the frat house where the mixer would be taking place would be ten times hotter, as the number of bodies and movement happening in one place would cause a lot of hot air to flow throughout the building.

"Of course, that's not surprising at all." Amanda crossed her arms with a sigh, "Well let's get going before we're late as well."

The group began the walk to the frat house as they'd planned to earlier that day. When word got around that the mixer was happening, Amanda had somehow convinced both Cleo and Ozzie to go, who convinced Joshua and Jonah. Although the frat house was off campus, it wasn't a far walk and nobody really wanted to be the designated driver.

Ethan and Lia walked behind the other three, watching in silence as the group in front of them joked. They were once again comparing Ozzie to the famous Andrew Garfield, something that popped up in almost every conversation thanks to Cleo.

Amanda had only gone along with it due to knowing how annoyed Ozzie got, whereas Cleo was doing it to send hints to Ozzie that she'd found him attractive.

Andrew Garfield was Cleo's all-time favorite celebrity, and so anytime the running joke came along that Ozzie favored him - Cleo was throwing hints left and right that she was into him.

Poor Ozzie had been completely oblivious, however, seeming to not catch the hint. He just sighed in annoyance as the conversation continued, more insults coming left and right depending on who included themselves in the topic. The majority of the time Lia just watched it happen, and so she just smiled to herself as Ozzie sent a look back at her as if he were silently asking for help.

"They do this often?" Ethan softly asked, making conversation with the girl.

Lia, almost forgetting Ethan had been there due to his silence, nodded in response. "On a daily basis. Quite annoying if you ask me." She answered, looking up at him. "Cleo does it to sneakily call him cute. Amanda does it to annoy him, and the guys just go along with it."

"Cleo likes Ozzie then?" Ethan asked, sending small glances toward Lia. "Like they're a thing?"

"No," Lia said. "Ozzie doesn't realize it. He's too annoyed by the others. I think she could literally tell him to his face she wants to go on a date and he wouldn't take the hint."

"Oh, so like- what about you?" Ethan then asked, catching Lia's attention.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Are you- you and Ozzie, like-" He stopped, removing his hand from the small of her back. He used the same hand to rub the back of his neck, seeming to try to find the right words to say.

"What?" Lia asked, before realizing what Ethan was implying. Her nose scrunched up as she started shaking her head. She stopped right where she'd been walking, causing Ethan to follow suit. "No no no, not like that." She assured, "Ozzie's just- he's just Ozzie."

"He's just Ozzie?" Ethan asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"It's not like that. Platonic, absolutely." Lia told him, "I'm not- dating anyone no."

"Okay, good." Ethan let out a breath of relief, before realizing what he said. "Not that it's good you're single, I just-"

"Ethan you realize I wouldn't have asked if you had anyone special at home if I was in a relationship, right?" Lia asked, cutting him off.

Ethan's face flustered, realizing how stupid this entire conversation sounded all because he felt a small pang of jealousy towards Ozzie. "Right, yeah."

"Not to mention I wouldn't have gone on a walk with you at two am." Lia continued, smiling at him. She'd somehow grown the confidence she'd been missing earlier, and before she lost it she decided to continue on. She reached down, grabbing his hand. "Let's get caught up before we get lost," She said, lacing their fingers together.

Ethan just looked down at their locked hands, shock written on his features at the sudden boldness from the girl. Only moments before she had been all flustered and almost too afraid to say anything, and now it was as if a switch flipped. She'd boldly grabbed his hand in front of anyone and everyone around, almost like she was proud to be with him.

This made his heart warm, as it was a feeling he'd never felt before. He never knew what it was like to feel embraced this way; not by any girl or his own family. He'd never had someone warm up so quickly to him, despite not knowing much about him.

True, they'd spent what felt like forever texting and questioning each other. Unfortunately, there were some things he'd been unable to tell Lia, despite his urge to just tell her everything about him. There was something about Lia that had made him want to spill his guts to her and tell her everything that involved his life. From his siblings to his parents, to where he grew up and what it felt like living with the type of family he did.

But unfortunately, he couldn't. And part of him thinks he never could. And when Lia finds out the truth about him... She'd hate him forever.

His thoughts were interrupted as they'd finally arrived at the mixer. People were already littering in and out of the frat house, red solo cups or glass bottles in their hands. There were plenty of people that the group recognized from classes or just simply passed by, but then there was still a huge part of the group that had never been seen before.

Lia found herself taking in the looks of everyone around. She definitely didn't feel overdressed anymore, causing the feeling of insecurity to simmer down to the bare minimum. She waved hi to anyone she recognized from her classes, keeping her left hand locked with Ethan's right. The last thing she needed was to lose him, considering they'd already lost the rest of the group as soon as they walked through the door.

"Do you know what we're supposed to be doing here?" Lia asked, catching Ethan's attention. "Like, obviously it's a party but I've never been to a party like this before."

"You haven't?" Ethan asked, his voice loud so the girl could hear him over the booming music. She just shook her head, her cheeks tinting a dark pink from the heat. "It's okay, neither have I." He then added, causing a huge smile to rest on her face.

Ethan smiled at her, her smile being one of his favorite things about her. Of course, there were lots of things he'd already come to love within the bit they'd been talking about, but with each day that passes, he finds another thing to add to the already long list.

"You want me to go grab us some drinks?" Lia asked, leaning in closer to the boy. She continued to hold her hand in his, using her free hand to grab onto his shoulder as she leaned up on her toes.

Despite her being slightly on the taller side, Ethan still managed to tower over her. He wasn't extremely tall compared to her, but she still seemed to feel short next to him.

Ethan glanced down at the hand gripping his shoulder, seeming to take notice of how touchy Lia had been that night. Realizing she'd asked him a question, he finally met her eyes. "I can come with you," He offered, to which she shook her head.

"The kitchen's right through there," She said, pointing a finger off to the side. "I'll be five minutes at most depending on how many people I gotta push. You keep our spot here."

He just nodded in response, not seeing any reason to argue with her. She then slouched back to her usual height, both of her hands leaving Ethan's body. She began to walk away, the boy quickly shaking his head as he gently grabbed her hand to pull her back.

She looked at him in confusion, but he just lowered his head down to her ear. "I'm going to come looking for you if you're not back in five," He said.

Lia smiled a big smile, nodding in agreement. "Good." She squeezed his hand one last time before letting go, beginning to squeeze her way through the sea of people.

It didn't take her long to get to the kitchen, and immediately she was greeted with the smell of weed. She ignored it, finding her way to the coolers where all of the alcohol was located.

"Shit, he didn't tell me what he likes to drink." She sighed as she looked through the choices, grabbing a simple wine cooler for herself.

She didn't want to get drunk, so she would just sip on wine coolers and be fine. Without knowing what Ethan would like, she just grabbed another wine cooler of a different flavor so she could give the boy the choice first so she could just drink the other one.

"Fancy seeing you here," A voice spoke from behind Lia. She froze in her tracks, the wine coolers almost slipping from her hands as she felt a body pressed awfully close behind her.

The all-too-familiar touch caused her to go into shock, seeming to be unable to move from her spot. Her throat dried up, the room beginning to spin as Isaiah's arm snaked around her waist.

Maybe she was overdramatic, sure, but the feeling of Isaiah touching her brought back too many memories she'd worked so hard to forget. She felt nothing for the boy but hate, which was saying a lot considering Lia didn't really hate anyone.

"It's been too long since we've been to any function together, huh?" Isaiah asked, spinning Lia around in his arms.

This put her front pressed up to his, the wine coolers smashed between them as she clung onto them as if her life depended on it. Her eyes widened as she realized how close they were, bouncing around as nobody seemed to take notice of how uncomfortable she was.

"You would find a way to corner me here," Lia spat out, glaring at the boy in front of her.

She could smell the alcohol on his breath, the weed drenching his clothing. He was more than under the influence, and the party had barely even started.

"I'm not cornering you at all, babydoll." He held her closer, only causing the girl to squirm in his grip. She tried to push herself away from him, but of course, he was much stronger than she was. He was a gym fanatic, always finding time to work out. His muscles compared to hers - which were little to none - could overpower her in seconds.

"No but you're holding me against you," Lia said. "Let go of me, Isaiah. I swear to god I won't hesitate to scream."

"Wouldn't be the first time you've screamed for me, baby." His mouth neared hers, causing her to physically gag.

It was as if nobody around them cared, causing her to almost regret coming. Almost.

As if right on some type of queue, Ethan had popped up right next to the two. He had an angry look in his eyes as he glared at Isaiah, already knowing exactly who he was thanks to previous conversations with Lia.

"Let go of her," He said.

Isaiah didn't bother to spare a glance at Ethan, assuming he was a random party-goer. Lia pushed harder against her ex-boyfriend, grunting in defeat when she failed to push him away.

Ethan glanced around worriedly, knowing he was going to lose if he tried to do anything to Isaiah. He never realized until now that he was standing so up close, but the guy was jacked. As he looked at Lia, and saw nothing but fear and hatred in her eyes as she stared at her ex-boyfriend, all his thoughts about embarrassing himself left his head.

He didn't hesitate to grab the guy's shoulder, aggressively pulling him back. This caused a moment of weakness, one Lia didn't wait to use to pull out of the guy's grip. Her back hit the counter roughly, but that was the least of her worries as she watched Ethan shove Isaiah back.

Isaiah looked at him in confusion, which just twisted into anger. "Wait, I know you." He pointed a finger at the taller boy, his finger bouncing up and down. "You're the guy who's trying to bang my girl!"

Lia looked at Isaiah in disgust. "I'm not your girl, and I don't know who you're hearing these things from but it's not like that."

Isaiah ignored Lia, sizing Ethan up. "It's hopeless, dude. Move on."

Lia stepped forward, ignoring the pain in her lower back as she began to pull Isaiah away from Ethan. Isaiah shoved Lia away, pushing her back. This caused her to hit the counter harder than before, a pained whine leaving her lips as the wine coolers slipped from her fingers.

Ethan, who watched this interaction only felt angrier. He shoved Isaiah harder than before, the room becoming hotter as he backed the guy up. "Don't touch her like that you fuckrag!"

This began to catch the attention of people nearby, and Lia made eye contact with Ozzie. He'd been standing near the foyer with Cleo, Amanda, and a couple of other people she recognized, part of them being her dormmates Anika and Mindy.

Ozzie didn't hesitate to begin pushing people, making it to Lia's side in no time. He wrapped his arms around her comfortingly, his eyes bouncing between the girl and the two men beginning to shove each other harder and harder each time.

A fight was beginning to break out, and it didn't look too good for Ethan as he was the one to technically start it. Chad, the guy that Lia had met through Tara and Mindy, found his way over to the two fighting guys. He tried to grab onto Ethan, who only shrugged him off at first.

"Come on guys, this isn't the time to fight." He tried to reason, but after one last shove to Isaiah, Isaiah didn't hesitate to throw the first actual punch.

He hit Ethan right in the eye, causing the boy to double back in pain. Lia screamed out in worry, beginning to reach out to the curly-headed boy but was stopped by Ozzie. Ozzie knew that if Lia were to run to Ethan's side, she'd be right in the line of fire, and that was the last thing he wanted.

"Dude, seriously?" Chad asked, holding his hands up. "That's uncalled for."

"That little bitch boy started it!" Isaiah screamed out, motioning to Ethan who had been holding his eye in pain.

Lia looked at Isaiah in fear, before back to Ethan. She needed to go check on him, as none of this would even be happening if it weren't for her. "Let me go, Ozzie."

"No."

"Ozzie I said let me go,"

"No!"

"Ozzie!" She screamed, turning to face him. "Ethan's hurt. It's my fault."

"Ethan's a big boy, he can take care of himself." Ozzie began dragging Lia away from the mess. She began to squirm in his arms, but much like Isaiah she was no match for the tall boy. He pulled her away from the group of people without much problem, Cleo and Amanda following quickly.

Meanwhile, Ethan squared back up to Isaiah in anger. "Me? You're the one touching girls who don't want to be touched!"

"Seriously?" Chad asked again, looking at Isaiah in disgust. "Dude... that's nasty."

"What's nasty is your little boyfriend here-" Isaiah stopped, pressing a hard finger to Chad's chest. "Likes to mess with women who aren't available."

Chad's jaw clenched, his eyes darting to where Isaiah pressed his finger to his chest. "Dude, you got two seconds to remove your hand or we're going to have a problem." He glanced over at his sister and friends, who just stared at the situation in shock.

Tara shook her head at him, but he just looked back at the angry man in front of him.

"Oh, yeah? What are you gonna do about it, pussy-"

That was all it took. Chad didn't hesitate to throw a right hook, knocking Isaiah back into the refrigerator. There were immediate cracks, blood gushing out of the man's nose as he cried out in pain.

"Chad!"

++

4114 words.

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* This chapter is not edited *