Cat didn’t stand on the small porch of the rundown home for very long, maybe a minute. Martin, his mane of hair flowing in gentle curls down to his shoulder, opened the door.

“You came!” he called, opening it more to invite her in. They must have just ordered pizza; she could smell the grease from the porch. Cat thanked him for letting her in, and tried to get her bearings.

This house was old, probably built in the 40s, and hadn’t really been updated much since. The floors were a worn tile that maybe had a pattern on it once upon a time, but the corners of the grout were so worn that she could hardly tell if it was an old pattern or an obscene amount of wear and tear.

Martin led her through the small hallway to where the house opened up to the kitchen, and switched back to the living room. Most people seemed to be in the kitchen and dining room.

Hanging by the counter was Cam, talking to a very attractive, dark-skinned guy by the sink. They immediately noticed her approach.

“Hey, Cat!” Cam called, surprised. “I thought you worked tomorrow morning?” She hadn’t told him that. Someone had been gossiping. She silently wondered how often Nate talked about her at water polo practice.

“I read my schedule wrong,” she opted to say, shrugging. “Turns out I don’t.”

“Hey, that’s awesome!” He lifted a solo cup, then gestured between her and the curly-haired cutie he spoke to. “Do you know Brad? Brad, this is Cat. I’m sure you’ve heard about her.” What was that supposed to mean?

“Um, hi,” Cat said, waving shyly. Martin excused himself to tend to something more interesting, and Cat shrank a little while she stared at her friend. “Good things, I hope?”

Brad met her halfway to shake her hand. He had a massive smile that lit up the room: definitely Cam’s type. This was his date.

“Nice to meet you officially.” His handshake was a little gentle, but his voice was soft and even. “I’d only heard people talk about you.”

“Excuse me?” Now her eyes went wide.

“In passing! I mean, like Cam mentioned you, and stuff.” As gentle as Brad was, his words didn’t calm her stomach.

“I--I don’t know what that means,” she said, laughing nervously.

“I mean, we talk about you,” Cam said with a shrug. “You were the girl that almost died.” She sighed.

“Is that my reputation?”

“No, you’re also one of the few people that can put Peter in his place so easily. And I think--” As Cat’s heart hammered, Cameron gestured somewhere to the dining room. “I think you’ve got Trenton in your stats class, and he seems to be under the impression that you put everyone in their place easily, so.....” What! Cat stared at him.

“Am--am I a bitch?” She added a smile to try and make a joke of it; rather than agreeing, Brad seemed to disagree.

“I’d say no-nonsense. Like, not a doormat.” Though she had to think that if Peter ever spoke about her, he hardly hard anything nice to say.

“I didn’t think I made much of an impression at all,” she admitted. Cam waved his hand at her, as if to dismiss her thoughts.

“You’re one of my best friends, of course you make an impression.” Aw! “Here, let’s get you a beer!”

“Cat!” called the familiar voice behind her. She tried not to frown. Nate.... Cameron caught her expression, and it seemed like Brad did, too, because they laughed as Nate came up from behind her. “I didn’t know you were here!” Upon seeing how excited he was to see her, Cat felt her stomach sink. God, she hoped he didn’t actually have any real feelings for her.

“I just got here,” she said, giving him a small smile. He dressed up a little. He had a green polo and Chinos on, which was a step above everyone else’s graphic tee and jeans.

“Can I take your coat for you?”

“I’m fine for now, thanks....” Cat cleared her throat and glanced between Cam and Nate. “I’m not planning on drinking too heavily, you know. Just needed a good, uh, break for the end of the semester.”

“You don’t want to celebrate?” Nate asked, cocking a brow.

“No, no, no--I just mean I’m sticking to beer and stuff. I’ve not been too great at limiting myself or pacing myself.” And she wanted to make it a bit clearer to Nate that she wasn’t a fan of what he did last time. He seemed to take her hint loud and clear; his cheeks burned red and he ducked his head a little.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Have you been blacking out a lot? I heard once you black out, it’s really easy to just keep doing it.” As Nate asked, Brad leaned in closer to Cam to whisper something. Despite her initial paranoia from what they said about her making an impression, she could tell that whatever it was, was definitely private and had nothing to do with her or Nate. Cam smirked, seemingly getting a very familiar glint in his eyes.

“We’re gunna go mingle,” Cam said without looking to them. And, with Brad’s hand in his, they slipped out of the kitchen and into one of the other rooms. She couldn’t get a good feel for the layout, but she thought it might have been outside or something. Typical Cam. Her stomach swirled nervously as she watched her friend leave. There went her safety net….

Cat stole their place in the kitchen beside the keg and poured herself a cup. This was the cheap stuff--lot of head, more bubbles than beer. Oh well. Couldn’t expect much from a fraternity.

“Want to go sit down?” Nate asked, right behind her. Cat braced herself, and glanced around.

“Um, want to introduce me to some people? I don’t think I know as many as I thought I would.” She gestured to a couple people that chatted in the corner by the door to the side yard, and to the doorway to the dining room where laughter erupted.

“Oh, I actually don’t know very many people here,” he admitted, laughing. “Just the team and a few of their girlfriends, really. More people got invited last-minute. But sure, let’s see who’s around.” Nate gently reached to touch her arm, more to twist her around and show her to the living room on the other side of the wall. He didn’t seem to be too forward, at least. She could handle him when he was toned down.

Nate remained on his best behavior as he introduced her to the rest of the water polo team. The captain, Thomas, seemed like a nice enough guy. It seemed like every position had a backup, and Nate was the backup goalie while Isidro had a broken leg. Isidro wasn’t there tonight, though, as he was getting his cast removed. Nate seemed to be very bothered by it whenever anyone mentioned it, so Cat didn’t ask any questions. She got the feeling that no one was much of a fan of Nate as their goalie.

There weren’t very many girls, to Cat’s surprise. Only a few girlfriends from the team gathered around each other; Cat obviously didn’t hang out with them; not only were they considerably older, but it looked a lot like a suburban barbeque: dads cooking, moms drinking wine and herding children. She wasn’t about to give Nate any ideas that she had too much in common with the girlfriends--this wasn’t a date.

But mingling with some new people was nice. Thomas brought a friend Katie, and her roomie, Theresa. They seemed nice enough. Then there was one girl, Georgia, who had perfect skin and was thin and tall enough to be a model that said her date was in the restroom. Georgia was kind, eager to get drunk, and had dark, thick hair. Cat hesitated around her. If her date wasn’t someone she’d met already, it must have been Peter...and he was kind of why she was here.

At least this girl was different than Tanisha, that poor ex of his he kept stringing along. Georgia had a rainbow shirt on underneath her jean jacket, which had a matching embroidered patch on it, and was rather bubbly. Even her nails were painted with a sheer, bright nail polish that had a slight shimmer to it. She was a ray of sunshine and easy to talk to, so Cat decided to stick around a bit longer than when Nate introduced her to anyone else.

“What’s your major?” Cat asked as she sipped on her beer. Nate seemed hurried, but Cat pretended not to notice, instead ignored his pull on her arm by saying, “Whoops, sorry,” as if she’d run into him. At least he was easy to pretend to be clueless around.

“Oh, I don’t go to school. I work, actually. Do you go to Bay Area?” Cat couldn’t help but notice that every question she asked, Georgia followed up with another, twisting it back around to be about her. That was such a telltale sign of a genuine person. How on Earth did Peter get her to come here?

“I do, I’m undeclared. Where do you work?” The sound of the bathroom door opening behind Georgia made Cat let out a small chuckle. “Let me guess: cell phone sales and repair?” Georgia seemed delighted that she guessed correctly. As if on cue, Peter stepped out from the rest room and joined the group, shocked. What shocked Cat more was that he just wore a plain tee and jeans. No button-up for this party? Georgia seemed like the kind of girl to dress up for, not someone like Tanisha.

“Cat, what are you doing here?” he asked, brow raised as he glanced over to Nate.

“Talking,” was her initial answer. But that sounded a little bitchy, and she actually liked talking with Georgia, so she added a laugh to make it sound like a joke. Peter narrowed his eyes at her.

“I mean, don’t you work tomorrow?” Christ, Nate! Did the water polo team just sit there and gossip all day instead of swim, or what? Cat tried to hide her reaction, but Peter stared at her in a way to remind her to answer.

“Turns out I don’t. And this is the last party I’ll get to go to for the year, so....”

“What?” Nate sounded surprised. “You’re not coming to the big one next week?” He sounded so upset by it, like he was planning to ask her to go. Oh, gosh. She needed to be a bit more clear. Friends, she yelled at him telepathically.

“I’m going home Thursday,” she said, shrugging as if it was no big deal. Maybe if she brushed him off more, he’d get the hint.

“Well,” Peter sounded, shrugging, “you look nice--a lot better than you did yesterday.” Now her cheeks burned, and she didn’t have any foundation on to hide her embarrassment.

“What was yesterday?” Georgia asked politely. The cup Cat held crinkled a bit from her grip, echoy and loud.

“P-presentation,” she answered with her eyes to the ground. “A big presentation.” Until that moment, she’d nearly forgotten why she came here in the first place. Talking with new people was nice, but not worth the stress of dealing with Nate. But she didn’t come here to deal with Nate, she came to see...if maybe she’d been seeing Peter the wrong way.

“Oh, you’re empty. Refill?” Nate asked. He grabbed for her cup without her response.

“Just beer, please,” she reminded him when he disappeared. It took her a moment to remember that he and Peter didn’t get along. Normally, that would have been a bonus. Now it kind of made things weird.

“Are you in that class with Peter?” Well, at least Nate, Cam and Peter didn’t gossip about her to Georgia. She seemed to be one of the few people that hadn’t heard of her by name.

“Communications, yeah,” she answered.

“Charming girl like you must have kicked his ass!” she said through a loud laugh. Peter rolled his eyes. Georgia’s presence, as nice as it was, made Cat’s heartbeat spike. She was here to see how Peter reacted around her now that--now that what? Nothing had actually changed. What was she doing, going to a party with Nate just to sit there and talk to Peter? He had a date. She was older, prettier. Thinner, taller....

“Here you go,” Nate called, suddenly reappearing. Cat turned to him and offered a smile, reaching for the closest cup, but he hesitated. “Oh, um. This one’s yours,” he said, shoving the other one he held to her hand.

“Oh, sorry.” Didn’t catch him for a germaphobe that was afraid of sharing drinks. He had no issue shoving his tongue down her throat at the last party. She tried not to let that thought linger in her mind. She took a sip of the very full cup of beer, and glanced to Nate. “Thanks. This is probably my last one for a while.”

“Are you driving?” Georgia asked suddenly, eyes wide. Cat shook her head.

“No, just....” She sighed. “I’m, um, pacing myself.” For real this time, Nate, she wanted to add. When she glanced up at Peter, he seemed to be studying something in the distance. “I have a tendency to go too hard too fast.” Or something like that. “I...I don’t want to black out or anything.” She couldn’t help but notice that one of Peter’s dimples faded onto his cheek. She couldn’t tell if it was from a deep frown or not, but it seemed like it might have been. Something about it made her stomach swirl, so she took another swig of her beer.

“Hey, it’s okay to celebrate,” Nate said, holding up his cup. “End of the semester. Just finals, then we’re free for the rest of the year.”

“Calendar year, but still,” Peter said. He wasn’t all that focused on something else after all. Just avoiding looking at Cat. “Blacking out isn’t exactly fun.” While Georgia and Nate were keeping up a pleasant tone and polite smiles, Cat and Peter had abandoned the attempt. She was a little more certain, now, from his reactions. No matter what happened at Hannah’s party, it didn’t seem to matter now. He must have seen it as a mistake, just based on his tone. It was almost like he meant to say, Blacking out is a mistake. Kissing her was a mistake.

“That’s not always true!” said Nate, laughing. “Sometimes it’s a lot of fun!” Cat and Peter remained silent, which Georgia and Nate must have taken as some sort of agreement, because they just laughed. Nate gestured with his cup again. “To the last stretch!” Finals didn’t really seem like a proper thing to toast to, but Cat participated in his toast and let him clink his plastic cup to hers, and took a swig when appropriate.

“You seem relieved the year is over. Or anxious...or something,” Cat murmured to him.

“I feel like I wasted it,” he answered too quickly. “Not enough appreciating what’s around. Yanno?” His eyes flickered up and down her frame. He raised his brows at her expectantly, but she could only shrug. She knew it was supposed to be some sort of layered compliment or something, but she didn’t respond to it.

Georgia tried to get Nate’s attention. “You one of the guys that live here?” she asked, gesturing broadly to the small cove they found themselves in. Nate nodded.

“Yeah! Mi casa es su casa. Right? Did I say that right?” He looked to Cat for approval. She didn’t give him an answer.

Peter crossed his arms. ”Se esta comportando de manera extraña,” he muttered. Cat nodded without even thinking. He was right: Nate was being a little weird. Weirder than not-date nerves should allow.

“What’s that mean?” Nate asked.

“Just another way to say mi casa, su casa,” Peter lied. At least it was a little nicer than when Cat called the waitress at La Hacienda a donkey. And she wasn’t about to call him out on his translation lie, either.

Nate accepted the explanation at face value. “Want to go sit down?” This was the third time he’d asked her, so she relented.

“Alright, for a bit, I guess. Maybe eat something?” She hadn’t eaten since her early dinner with Hannah and Kelsey. She could go for more pizza. “I smelled pizza when I came in.”

“That pizza is disgusting.” Nate offered his opinion without prompting, but draped his arm on her shoulders to twist her around. There wasn’t a really good way to shrug his arm off without being rude or making it too obvious--and she wasn’t here to embarrass him--so she let him, though Georgia seemed to have caught her expression.

“Let’s hang out before the night’s done,” Georgia said with a big smile. Cat twisted around to agree, despite Nate’s enthusiastic pulling. Peter’s frown was deep set at her; she tried not to look at him, but he just had this expression of--was it pity? Disappointment? Like she made an ugly choice or something. Like when she reacted to Nate’s flirtation after they’d returned from the Health Center. What business of his was this?

She tried not to let it get to her as Nate led her to the living room. Some sort of TV drama was on with subtitles, and a few people meandered around or sat in extra chairs, chatting, keeping relaxed. Lots of them ate the pizza Cat smelled earlier, but the couch was empty.

“Anything else to eat?” she asked as she lowered herself to the plush couch. She gave Nate plenty of space to sit by the end, but he chose to sit on the other side of her, instead, to squeeze in close, his thighs touching hers. Cat scooted over a bit, laughing too hard. “Sorry, I gave you, like, no space,” she opted to say as an excuse to scoot further away from him. He wasn’t really taking any of the hints.

“I’m not sure what else there is to eat,” he asked, glancing about. “Beer nuts?” He gestured to the coffee table in front of them. Cat shrugged, and leaned forward to set her cup down. “I mean, at least beer is filling. Liquid bread, right?” Nate gestured to her. “Do you like it?”

“The beer?” He nodded, and she shrugged. “I suppose, sure.” To show she meant it, she reconsidered putting it down and took a swig at the same time he did.

“Good.” Okay, he was officially running out of things to talk about, if watered-down frat beer was his topic of choice. She was about to try and come up with something to talk about, but Nate adjusted himself to face her fully--the telltale sign he was into her, and for none of his buddies to approach. Ugh.... What could she say to get out of this?