People filter in over the next 20 minutes until the lounge rec center is brimming with lusty late teens.

Mostly everyone I recognize as people from this dorm hall, but there are a handful of people I'm sure I've never seen here before. Maybe they're new transfers this semester. Or maybe I've just never noticed them before.

"Yoooo!"

"Hey, wazzup!"

"Hi guys. Take a cup." Darren greets them.

A group of four guys walks in from outside, already rowdy as all heck. My stomach tightens when I look, with nerves or excitement I don't know. No luck.

This is good. It is.

I can't see Jake again. I don't want to see Jake again. I want to leave the party and music and go back to the silence of my dorm room and sit under the string lights, and prep for classes tomorrow.

"Need a refill, Elle?" Darren eyes me from the door.

"Nope." I shake my head, looking into the bottom of my cup.

I took three whole sips of my beer. This way when Nikki asks, I can say Yes, I had a drink. Sure, it was good. No really, it was good.

"No. NO. STOP. The alcohol does NOT leave this lounge!"

I see Darren chase after two girls disappearing through the lounge door.

I glance around the crowd for Nikki and Chloe, searching over the heads of tall guys and girls in three-inch heels. I spot them sitting cozily on the couch against the wall. Then I spot Lucy talking to Darren and Kyle, an RA from another hall on the other side of campus.

A group of blonde girls is congregating around the vending machines and Tasha is still nowhere to be seen. Some roommate. Not that I mind. We've always been friendly, but never friends. Not like the way I am friends with Nikki or Lucy. Or even Darren and Carter.

The dorm hall bulletin is already plastered with rainbow-colored papers and university posters. Study group notices. New dodgeball team sign-ups. After hours studio sessions. People looking for dates. An advertisement for a bombshell drop on Mix Tape Radio (MTR), the campus radio station. Yes, we pretend it's 1995.

You name it and the bulletin has it. It's a good community board. Good for some things. It's where I found my Lit Lovers group last semester. I begged Carter to join with me.

I put my cup down on the edge of the foosball table and decide to slip out while no one is looking. Justin Beiber's Sorry plays to my escape. Poetic, I think.

I walk down the hallway and up the one flight of stairs to my room. I only pass three love-sick couples on the way. Surprisingly low. I see a hipster bro wearing a beanie and skinny jeans who reeks of pot. The smoke cloud hovers over him. I scrunch up my nose as I pass.

I stop outside of my door, and I think I hear someone on the other side. I check my phone it's almost 9:45. Probably Tasha is finally back. I turn the key in the lock and push open the door. The first thing I see is the warm glow emitting from the string lights. The next thing I see...

"Oh my God!" I gasp. I can't help myself.

All I see is a tan man standing against the bed, blue jeans on but no shirt. His thin but muscly back is to me, and I can see Tasha's legs wrapped around his waist. I know it's Tasha because a.) It's her bed and b.) She's wearing her heinous red spikey heels that I hate. Thankfully, she has opted to remain fully clothed (though I'm sure not if I arrived a few seconds later...). Their kissing sounds more like animals mauling each other than anything human.

"Elle! Ah, s–sorry!" Tasha giggles. Her words slur, which does not surprise me.

"Tasha!" I shout, accusatory and still partly in shock.

I should have just gone to the library like I wanted to tonight or locked myself away in the clock tower. I wouldn't have had to walk in on –whatever I walked in on! Some horror dorm room picture show!

"I'm sorry. I thought you'd be at the party longer." Tasha pushes the guy away from her and smooths out her braids.

The guy picks up his shirt and swings it over his shoulder like a towel, not bothering to put it on. I can't help myself from admiring his back. He turns to face me and a large grin spreads across his face.

Jake.

"Well, this is awkward." Jake flashes a toothy, cocky smile.

Something tells me this isn't awkward for him at all. Something tells me this is his casual behavior –getting caught giving out dorm room specials to unassuming freshmen. All in a first day of school's work!

He crosses the room and stops unnecessarily close to me. Only six inches separate my chest from his bare skin. His lips look just as cherry red as they did in the bookstore, just as soft and supple and perfect.

"Elle," Jake says my name quietly, almost whispers it, a devilish smirk pulling at his lips.

"H–hi," I stutter. Jeez.

Half of me cannot believe he even remembered my name, but the other half wonders if he picked Tasha solely because he knew it was my room too.

I can't look directly into his eyes because I'm afraid my face will burn bright red. This may be the closest I've ever stood to a bare-chested man. And something tells me Jake knows this –something tells me Jake is enjoying this.

"I'll just be... going, then?" Jake asks Tasha but doesn't move his eyes away from mine. It's like they're glued to mine!

"Later," Tasha says casually. She hops down from her bed without even looking at me.

I can't stop looking at Jake –at his T-shirt hanging from his broad shoulders, at his hair which is just as disheveled as it was earlier during the snowball incident. He catches me staring and I panic.

"B–bye." I barely manage to get it out. Pathetic.

"See ya, Elle," Jake whispers as he walks past me.

...

Tasha skedaddled shortly after I walked in on her and Jake's private party, and I can't help but wonder if she went to find him and pick up where they left off. I lay in bed, unable to sleep, replaying the night in my mind.

Did I want Jake to show up? How did I feel after seeing him with Tasha? Maybe I should have taken that refill Darren offered.

One thing is for sure, I was definitely more embarrassed than Jake was. The look on his face when he walked past me –it was almost pride. Or pleasure. Or both!