"Man, you gotta get out of this funk. You've been like this the whole week, what's up with you?"

I rolled my eyes at Patrick and continued blasting my music through my speaker, head buried under my pillow while I contemplated what I was going to do with the fact that Virginia refused to speak to me, and what that meant for my relationship with her father. 

"Hello? Bro, come on. Get your ass up, we're going to my party tonight. I still don't know why you didn't join the frat and come live at the house this semester like last year. These dorms fucking suck," Patrick tried again, kicking a stray coke can that my roommate had left strewn on the floor. 

"I really hate that frat house, man. You know that. Leave me alone, I have shit I need to do."

"What, like mope around your room while listening to sad girl music? No, I'm not letting you. Get. Up."

Two hours later and I had unfortunately done as Patrick had wanted me to do, and we were firmly in the middle of a ridiculously hard game of beer pong while I watched him throw back shot after shot in the hot, sweaty, and mildly disgusting frat house filled to the brim with people I'd never even seen before, some of them incoming freshman and new pledges. 

"See? I told you this would be fun!" Patrick said as he threw back the rest of his Corona Lime, words slurring and eyes red from the recreational smoking he'd taken part of in as soon as we'd arrived. 

Me? I just felt...out of place. This had used to be my scene the entire freshman year, and while I was considered a 'player' with girls, partying had just gotten...old. 

So, no, I hadn't partaken in smoking, only sipping on a beer until it turned warm and soured in my mouth.

And then, it was as if the seas parted and the sun shone on the inside of the frat house, in the middle of the night. The music hushed, conversations slowed to a snail's pace, and no one moved, at least, in my head. 

Slow motion, her legs stepped to the beat of the pulsing music and I couldn't tear my eyes from her legs wrapped in tight jeans, contouring the material to her skin and her her hair brushing the waistband of said jeans, the dark, silky smooth strands swaying as she stepped inside. 

"Hey, hold my beer," I told Patrick, not bothering to stop to discern if he was actually going to listen to me or not. 

The throng of partiers parted for me as I tore my way through the thick crowd, eyes wide as I passed, probably considering my height, or maybe it was the fierce look on my face? I didn't care, I just wanted to see her, talk to her, figure out what the hell I had done that was so wrong for her to ghost me like that. 

It wasn't like we were dating, far from it, but I knew that I hadn't made up those moments that we'd shared. Out in the rain, or later on the court when she'd leaned in, gorgeous eyes closing automatically as I grew closer and closer and-

Wait, did that motherfucker just-

Yes. Yes he did. That piece of shit asshole with a painted green face Shrek looking motherfucker just grabbed a handful of V's boobs, and he took his time while doing it, too. 

He'd been trying to place a green for go sticker on her chest, and her friend's chests as well.

I heard her snap at him, but the asshole didn't care. He called her Pocahontas. What. The. Fuck. 

While she did share a resemblance with the animated version of her, no way would I ever point that out to her face, only thought it in my head. She probably had that all her life, there was no way I'd ever point it out. 

If anything the asshole was trying to make it seem like a compliment but V wasn't having it. Thank god.

She said something about if he had nothing else to say, but the words dried up in his throat upon seeing me. Yeah, that's what I thought, motherfucker. 

"There a problem here?"

I didn't glance at V, because I knew if I did I would get sucked into her beautiful brown doe eyes and want to wrap myself around her completely, shield her from the rest of this party and steal her away somewhere alone, but I needed to take care of this asshole first. 

"I- um, hey Eli. What's up man? Missed you this semester at Sigma!"

Oh, so this piece of shit was a member? Well, that made things easier. 

"Well, I don't even remember you, so that makes one of us. V, you good?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Its this dickbag that needs to learn some manners, and not grope random women whenever he feels like it."

"Grope? Nah man, I was just giving them stickers!"

I didn't need to hear V's account or side of the story, I'd seen it all before my own two eyes, but even if I hadn't, I'd still believe her over the prick in front of me. 

"Listen, Shrek wannabe, get the fuck out of my face before I do something you'll regret. And oh yeah, maybe say you're fucking sorry while you're at it."

"Eli, I-" Green faced motherfucker interrupted V before she could say what she'd been planning on. 

"Hey man, this was all in good fun. I didn't do anything they didn't want."

"Excuse me? Oh hell no. Hazel hold my phone."

V stepped closer to Shrek and pointed a finger in his chest, hard enough to make him stumble back into a table filled with solo cups, and as they tumbled to the ground, the commotion caused most of those within our direct vicinity to look our way. 

"If you think you can touch a woman without her consent, then maybe you won't mind an ass beating without your consent? Sounds about right, huh?"

His arms up to protect his face, V had a hold of his shoulders and before I knew what was happening, her knee was shoved directly in Shrek's junk. Ho-ly shit. If I wasn't already hung up on this woman before, well...

Howling in pain and bent over at the knees, V bent down low to whisper something menacingly into his ear before pushing him down into the pile of yellow, red and green solo cups on the ground, just as the rest of the crowd erupted into cheers and laughter at the guy writhing around on the ground clutching his junk. 

"And by the way, that paint makes you look like the piece of snot you really are, maybe you should keep it on to warn others who come near you."

And then she shoulder checked me and walked away with her friends chatting excitedly beside her. 

What. The. Fuck. had just happened?!

She shoulder checked me, like I was one of those who had done her wrong, but I was nothing like the piece of snot who'd grabbed her without her consent.

"V, wait up," I yelled after my momentary shock left me. 

Her friends turned around with her, arms crossed in front of their chests like they were trying to show a display of power, or support for her, like I was the one who, again, had done something wrong when I had done absolutely nothing. What was going on, did someone tell her something about me? If they had, then...why?

"Hey Eli. What's up?"

Her voice was cold and detached, like it had been when talking to the snot goblin earlier, nothing like the warmth that usually coated her voice when she spoke to me. 

"Can we talk somewhere, please?"

Her friends looked to her for confirmation that it was okay, and after V thankfully nodded her head yes, I almost yelled out in victory. Yes! She was actually going to talk to me and tell me what she thinks I did, or what I actually did to turn her off of me. 

Necks craned to look up at me, her friends Bea and Hazel weren't the least bit threatening but they still squinted their eyes and gave me twin glares, and while normally I would've laughed at the fact that they thought they were scary, I kept my expression neutral until they left her with me, arms linked hand in hand, but before I could reach out and grab V's hand to lead her to the backyard where it was quieter, she turned on her heel and...expected me to follow her?

I didn't mind the view...but I knew it must've been serious if she was acting this cold towards me.

In the backyard, the initial place I was planning on taking her, she found a small area by the fire pit that wasn't filled with yelling and laughing people, drunk and stumbling over themselves. 

"So, what did you want to talk about?" She asked as she took a wooden wicker seat while I did the same with one across from her, but I noticed that she refused to look me in the eye, only gazing to the left of my head or the ground. 

"I was hoping you could tell me why you completely ghosted me," I started, just as Mia spotted me along with Maddie from the side of the backyard that held the pool. And then they started walking over towards us. Great. 

V's eyebrows shot up into her hairline, and she finally met my eyes, and it was like the breath had been knocked out of me, out of the both of us, actually. 

Warmth seeped from her, and I leeched onto whatever she gave me, even if it was only an ounce of what she'd given me before. Some of that frost around her demeanor melted, and I could've sworn that my heart skipped in my chest just from the tiny amount of attention that she gave me. Her chest rose and fell quicker than it had only seconds ago. 

Maybe it wasn't just me, then. She felt it, too. She had to. 

"Eli, I know your...reputation. I know I'm not the only girl you were talking to, and I know that you were with-"

"Eli! Hey, Virginia! What's up?"

Maddie and Mia stood before us, drinks in their hands and cautious smiles on their faces, just as V was concerned about my 'reputation'. What perfect timing.