Sweating, Cameron ascended the steps of his frat house, hand trailing the railing, heart racing.  He'd gone for an afternoon run that encompassed a majority of campus.  He thoroughly enjoyed running, or just exercising in general.  The after-effects were always so great; he always felt empowered and super-human afterwards. 

Lifting weights was good for his upper-half, but he liked being outdoors and out in the elements more, especially in Spring and Summer.  Early fall was good, too.  The looks girls gave him were for confirmation more than anything.  Cameron knew he looked good; he especially liked when other people confirmed it with their eyes.

Tugging at the sweat-soaked, Alpha Chi Epsilon shirt sticking to his abs, he reached the top of the stairs and walked down the hall, passing by shut doors.  Some of the guys were in the library, studying, an act foreign to Cameron.  He hadn't studied since middle school.  He didn't really see the point. 

Freshman year of college, he'd made decent grades, and he'd partied harder than he'd been doing this year.  College was about meeting people and having fun, not holing up in the library, overdosing on caffeine, and freaking out over midterms and finals.  The future didn't care about what grade he made in the lab.

Within the frat, he was known as the partier, and in his opinion, there was no greater title.  He was the one invited to every single event, at every single frat and sorority.  Of course he had a reputation of getting drunk all the time, but that wasn't entirely true.  For every five parties he attended, he got completely smashed at only two of them.

Hell, being at a party was how he'd met Heather, one of the hottest girls he'd ever seen.  His frat had been mixing with Pi Delta Delta, and he'd seen her from across the room, sipping casually from a red cup.  She had a reputation as a catty bitch, but he didn't care.  She toned it down around him, and... well, she was hot.

They weren't even really together.  What they had was something best described with the word 'open'.  She knew he slept with other girls, and he assumed that she took down other dudes.  It wasn't that big of a deal.  Cameron wasn't looking for a serious girlfriend, just someone he could lie next to at night and then kick out if they got to be too much in the morning.

Traipsing down the hall, he stared at each of the wooden paddles engraved with initials of brothers' past.  Tugging at the midsection of his shirt again, he put his hand out to push open the door and then stopped.

Instead of being open, as expected, the door was cracked.  And from where he stood, he had a full view of Kith, shirtless and seated on his bed.  Holding his breath, he studied her figure.  She didn't look that much different pregnant.  He'd never seen her without a shirt before, but she looked basically the same as any other half-naked girl.  Her bra was black and lacy.  Inhaling a bit, he studied the slight curve of her stomach.  He tried to think of how it would look in a few months, but failed.  Curly, dark hair spilled over her shoulders, shielding her face from view.

It was perfect because he didn't want her to suddenly look up and see him.  A closed door meant that she was inside changing clothes; that was the rule they'd established.  He'd just been walking; it wasn't his fault.  She was the one who hadn't shut the door completely, and it wasn't like he was doing anything truly weird.  He was just looking at her.  That wasn't that creepy.

She was pretty.  Her hair was so dark he couldn't decide if it was a deep brown or black, and she had those almond-shaped eyes that were so green, they were unnerving. 

He'd always thought she was pretty.  But she was two years younger than him, and because she hung out with Austin all the time, she was more like a younger sister than a dating prospect.  Even though they'd never really talked prior to her moving in with him, he couldn't date a sibling.  It was wrong, and just plain weird.

She's in high school and she's pregnant, he thought.  There was no way they'd be anything.  That was even weirder than the two year age difference.  He was in college; he liked college girls.  Besides, she was supposed to end up with his younger brother.

He couldn't take his eyes off her though.  Kith also had that thing about not being touched.  That just makes me want to touch her, he reflected.  But he had a strange feeling that she thought she was better than him, a thought that wasn't that farfetched.

"Shit." Backing away from the door, he knocked on the side. "Kith, you in there?"

"Yeah, hold on," she said quickly.  He heard movement and rustling, and then the door opened.  She'd thrown on a gray t-shirt and a jacket. "Where've you been?"

"Running," he answered while stepping around her.  Tossing his iPod down, he dug through his drawer to find a change of clothes. "What are you doing?"

"Homework."

"You're always doing homework."

She didn't have anything to say to that.  Shutting the drawer, he twisted his boxers in his hand and glanced around the room.  Things felt a little strange since he'd just spied on her.  It's not like she knows, he told himself.  And again, it wasn't that weird.  He'd just been looking.  There was no harm in that.

"I'll be in the shower," he said quickly, grabbing his toiletries.

"Is it true that that girl you live with is pregnant?" Graham Markham asked.  The two of them were in the neighboring frat house, which meant that Cameron's journey to booze hadn't been a long one.  Tugging his hair off, he sipped from his red cup and wiped his mouth off.

"Yeah," he nodded.  Instantly, he remembered that he wasn't supposed to tell people.  But he hadn't exactly told.  He was asked, and it was pointless to lie, at least to him.  Two girls in short, black dresses stepped over their outstretched legs, headed towards the keg in the corner.  He couldn't even blame his affirmative response on drunkenness.  He wasn't drunk, only mildly tipsy.  A few more drinks could change that though. "But she's okay."

"Isn't she seventeen?" another one of his friends asked.  He was wearing white shorts and a sleeveless man-tank; the front bore the letters of his fraternity.

"Yeah," Cameron nodded again.

"Damn," he whistled. "Her life's over."

"Yeah," Cameron agreed.  He felt like an asshole for agreeing, but it was true.  Kith was cool and everything, but she hadn't even graduated high school yet.  She was the girl he'd never expected to get pregnant.  She was too nice and too smart and too... not the type anyone would expect to become a teen mom, as judgy as that was.  But now she was.  And the asshole who did it wasn't even in the picture.  Kith was all alone.  Sure, she lived with him now.  But what happened after the kid was born?  Frat houses weren't the place to raise babies. "She's... it'll be rough."

Wearing a neon blue racerback tank matched with a tight, black skirt, Heather seated herself on the arm of the red couch.  Tilting Cameron's head back, she kissed him on the mouth, and then reached for his cup.

"What are you talking about?"

"Kith," holding the cup out of her reach, he took another mouthful and swallowed.

"Oh," her voice got a little more nasally, a little more annoyed.  Cameron was so used to that tone that he didn't really pick up on it. "I'm sick of doing it in that spare bedroom. I want to go in your room."

"We can't," he explained for the millionth time. "That's Kith's bed."

"That's your bed," she said darkly, tracing her blue nails back and forth across his neck.

"She lives in my room," he corrected her. "It's her bed for right now."

"She needs to move out."

"Shut up, Heather," he muttered.  Before she'd come over, he'd been in a fairly decent mood.  She talked about Kith all the time, for no good reason.  He already said that they weren't doing anything.  He wasn't lying either, which made her refusal to trust him irritating.  She'd never brought up the fact that he slept with other girls.  It was just Kith.

"Aww," Leaning over, she rubbed the top of his head through his hat. "I wanna go with you tonight."

"No," he finished off the rest of his beer. "I'm not interested."

"Why not?" her voice sliced through the air.

"I think I'll take someone else home tonight," he replied.  He didn't actually mean it.  He only said it to piss her off.  Looking at her face, he knew that he'd accomplished his goal.  Eyes narrowed, she stared back at him.  Maintaining his straight face, Cameron didn't move.  He simply shrugged like she should've expected that answer.  He wasn't having sex with anyone that night.  Even if he'd been in the mood, she'd ruined it by coming over and harping on Kith being in his room.  There was nothing wrong with the spare bedroom.

"Fine," she said shortly.  Standing up, she tugged at the bottom of her skirt and stalked across the room, no doubt searching for some drunk frat boy to make him jealous.  Sighing happily, Cameron checked the time on his phone.  It was only eleven.

"I think I'm turning in early," he rose from the couch.

"Why? We all know you're not going to class," his friend commented.

"Shut up, man. I got shit to do." That was a lie.  The frat house had lost its appeal.  He just wanted to go home and lie down.  Hopefully the TV in the lounge was free.  If people were there, he might have to pretend to be drunker than he actually was so they'd leave.

Half-saluting his friends, he exited the house, jogged down the steps, and headed down the sidewalk.  In less than five minutes, he was within the confines of the A.C.E house.  Cramming his keys in his pockets, he poked his head in the lounge.  All the couches, armchairs, and beanbag chairs were empty.  Pumping his fist in the air, he silently celebrated, and then headed up the steps.  Reaching his room, he pushed the door open without really thinking.  She wasn't awake.

"Damn," it took a second for his eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness.  The room spun, but cleared; he stood in the doorway, staring into the interior of his bedroom at absolutely nothing.  Something stirred in his bed. "Kith?"

She didn't respond.

"Hey," he said quietly, wondering if she would wake up.  Studying the floor to make sure it was clear, he walked carefully over to the side of the bed, and stared down at her.  Her dark hair was spread out around her head like some sort of halo.

She probably doesn't know I'm here, he thought to himself.  Like days prior, he studied the slight angles of her face, the way her mouth was partially open.  She had school tomorrow, which was probably why she was in bed already.

He heard her sometimes in the morning, walking back and forth between his room and the bathroom.  Her movements never really attracted his attention.  She was always nice enough to move around the room as if she was invisible.  It was impressive.

Reaching his hand out, he hesitated a bit before stroking her forearm.  Her skin was so soft.  Laughing quietly, he touched her arm again, and then moved to her hair.  It was even softer than her skin.  Since he wasn't entirely sober, it was like a small child ferociously petting a cat on the head.  She still didn't move.

Stepping back, he stared at her sleeping form, kind of wishing she would wake up.  Kith just laid there, probably dreaming about school.  Sympathy overtook him; it was sad that she was seventeen and pregnant.  She was supposed to go to college next year.  He'd never heard her talking about this college, but she was meant to go somewhere.  Now she was just going to sit around all day, taking care of her kid.

That was bound to be a sad, boring life.  Turning around, he tossed his hat to the side and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.  Hopefully something somewhat entertaining would be on downstairs.

"The TV still better be free," he muttered, bouncing down the stairs.