CRASH (A Logan Brothers Novel) (27 page)

“
Jesus Alice, what is it? It's
7 am on a Saturday!” she said, opening her pristine room to me. She
was a real
girly
girl, with pink and
various shades of red and purple being her preferred colors. It was
so much more welcoming than my dive down below, large cushions dotted
around her bed and various posters and pictures littering the walls.
She was lucky enough to have parents who could, and would, pay for
just about anything she wanted, so didn't have to suffer a room-mate
like I did.

I walked in and sat down, my
tiredness now banished as my head tried to compute what exactly was
going on with Jenny.

“
So, get this,” I said with
more energy than you could reasonably expect a college student to
have at that time on a weekend morning, “Jen's moved out.
Literally, she's just gone like a puff of smoke. I wake up, right,
and she's not there. She must have moved all her stuff at the crack
of dawn or something.”

I think I was speaking too
quickly for Tess to keep up. That's what the look on her face told
me: I could tell she had no idea what I was on about.

She could only manage a “huh?”
and a bewildered expression before I slowed down and tried again.

“
Ok, so I got in yesterday
night after being in the library and Jen was there. She literally
went straight to bed at about 7 pm and I carried on working. I woke
up just now, about ten minutes ago, and she was gone. All her stuff,
everything. Oh, and she left a note.”

I handed the note to Tess, who
sent her sleep deprived eyes over the words, her confused expression
not abating as she read.

“
Sooo, she's gone? But she
doesn't say why?”

“
No,” I shook my head,
“weird huh? Guess I'm gonna a new room-mate now though.” My voice
deflated slightly at the thought.

“
Not necessarily,” said
Tess, “there might be no one to fill it. It's the middle of the
year Alice, you might get lucky.”

I smile threatened to spread
across my face. “Really?”

“
Yeah, you might just get your
wish of living alone after all.”

After a few more minutes of
natter Tess shooed me away and I returned to me room. It was so weird
walking in there without Jen's side all pimped out, the place looking
like an empty shell: more like a prison cell than a college dorm
room.

For the rest of the morning and
into the afternoon I continued to beaver away, my mind working
overtime to get the paper done. I had always been a 'last-minute'
sort of girl, often leaving my work until the day before it was due,
so the fact that I was pushing for the finish line more than a day in
advance was pretty shocking to me.

It was mid-afternoon when I
heard a knock at the door. I ignored it, not expecting anyone or
wanting a visitor right now, and turned back to my books.

The door knocked again.

“
Look Tess, if that's you
asking me to go to Tom's party again tonight then you can leave it,
OK!”

There was a silence on the other
end, then a man's voice, deep and smooth.

“
I'm looking for Jenny. This
is her dorm isn't it?”

I wanted to tell the man that
she wasn't in, but my curiosity got the better of me. Jenny had never
had a gentleman caller to my knowledge. Maybe this guy knew something
about her leaving?

I stepped towards the door. “It
was,” I said, “but she's gone now.”

I peered through the peephole
and saw him, his strong chin dimpled and dusted in stubble, his
cheekbones perfect, his eyes a piercing blue. Even through the blurry
glass I could tell he was gorgeous.

His voice went suddenly stern.
“What do you mean, gone?”

I could see his jaw clenching on
the other side of the door, the dimples in his cheeks growing deeper.

“
That's all I know. She left
suddenly this morning.”

He brushed his hand vigorously
through his long dark hair. He seemed agitated, his eyes narrowing.
He wore a dark jacket with a high collar - or was it a hood - that
shrouded the top and sides of his head, creating a shadow over his
face that made his complexion hard to see.

“
Who are you anyway,” I
asked.

He
turned suddenly and seemed to look right at me, causing my heart to
jump into my throat. I stepped back from the peephole, my breath
caught in my lungs. Surely he couldn't see me? Not from a foot away
from the door?

“
I'm just a friend, I need to
talk to her. Are you sure she's not in there?” He spoke slower now,
his words distrusting.

I stayed back from the door, the
nerves building inside me. “No, I'm not lying to you. She's gone.”

“
What's your name?” he said
suddenly as soon as I'd answered. He had an authority to him, one
that forced me to answer.

“
Alice.”

“
Well Alice, my name's Kyle.
If you see Jen, please tell her I dropped by.”

Clearly he didn't trust that
she'd left. I stepped back towards the door and before I could try to
convince him further, he was gone, walking swiftly away back down the
corridor.

My pulse began to slow as I sat
back down at my desk. Who the hell was this guy? If that's Jen's
boyfriend, then my God she's done well for herself. Those eyes, that
jawline, those puffy lips.

I tried to steady my mind as I
returned my gaze to my books, but my heartbeat kept up, pumping away
inside my chest. I couldn't focus, I needed a break, needed a
distraction, and I knew just where I'd get it from.

Tess
is gonna love me for this.

Chapter
4

An hour later I was sat back in
Tess's room once again, vodka mixer in my hand, music blaring from
her iPod speakers.

“
Girl, it's good to have you
back!” she was shouting as she bounded from side to side in a
skimpy skirt and top.

“
Yeah well don't go getting
too excited. I'm only gonna stop by for a little while. A few drinks
is my limit hun - need to polish my paper tomorrow.”

“
Ah me too, now let's live a
little, huh! We're young, let's act like it!”

I knew she'd gotten her paper
done days, possibly even weeks ago. She was like that - diligent at
work, hard at play. Plus, she didn't have to work outside of college
like I did, so could easily dedicate more time to her work if she
needed to. She had it easy - not that I ever told her that.

I needed the distraction though.
I'd been working straight all day and was way ahead of schedule, so
it was nice to be able to relax for once on a Saturday night without
having to traipse into town and wait on people all night.

It was the first time Tess and I
had been out in a long time - too long - so I could see why she was
so excited, grabbing her hair brush and lip syncing to Miley Cyrus.
Not my choice of music, but fun enough. She jumped on the bed and
started twisting her body and flicking her hair, doing her best
impression of a rock star. I thought it was jarring - her pretending
to be a rock star while singing along to a Miley Cyrus song! Not a
combo that went together in my head.

It wasn't long before we were
cruising on down to another dorm block a few minutes walk from ours.
The ground was slippery beneath our feet, and my knees were shaking
beneath my large coat, the only protection I had against the biting
wind.

Tom had money, a lot of money,
and despite his incredibly yawn-worthy jockness, he was actually
pretty generous when it came to hosting parties, putting out plenty
of alcohol and sinking hundreds of dollars into themed decorations.
This time, it was 'fight-fest', I guess owing to his love of
'slasher' movies like Scream.

What Tess hadn't told me was
that, not only was the party themed, but it was fancy dress. Not that
it would have made a difference if I'd known anyway - it wasn't like
I had the time to go out and get an outfit.

As we walked into the building
it became clear that we'd be two of only a few who hadn't made the
effort to dress up. There were vampires everywhere, ghouls and ghosts
jumping out from behind pillars at unsuspecting girls, a group of
werewolves howling as they downed their cups of punch. People had
really made an effort.

A guy dressed as Freddy Krueger
came creeping towards us, tilting his head and shaking his long,
knife-like, fingers in our direction. “Freddy's coming for you,”
he growled as he approached - I guess it was a saying from one of his
films.

Tess squeezed my arm as if she
was actually frightened, but it was pretty hard to be intimidated
when there was another Freddy Krueger just off to his left doing the
robot dance.

“
Great party Tom,” I said,
recognizing his voice under the mask.

He pulled off the grotesque
visage and his handsome face appeared, a look of disappointment on
it. “Ahhh, how'd you know if was me?” he moaned.

He had short blond hair that
sprung into curls and hung slightly down his forehead. His face was
tanned - it always seemed to be that way - and his eyes were a
shallow blue. I'd have thought he was good looking if he wasn't such
a monumental dick most of the time - a stereotype who liked to play
up to his image of the rich kid/star football player/womanizer. It
was so immature.

Tess, though, she did like him.
I guess they were from the same walk of life - the mansions in the
hills to my hut down on the plains. Not literally, of course - I
didn't live in a hut - but the analogy is pretty apt. Suffice to say,
they both had money, I didn't.

“
Hey Tom,” she said shyly,
“I love the theme!” She was always a bit like this around Tom,
her usual bounciness and confidence slightly deflated by his
presence. I didn't get it personally, but I could see why half the
campus had fallen for him. Tess was just one of that number.

He smiled at her and I felt her
quiver next to me. “Thanks, what can I say, I...”

TOM...YO
FREDDY!

A loud chorus came from behind
and he quickly turned away, flung up his hands, and roared as he
launched himself into a group of guys all standing with red paper
cups in each hand. One guy had taken put his own spin on the Edward
Scissorhands outfit by strapping two cider bottles to his hands
instead.
Edward Ciderhands - that's what they called it.

Tess looked on slightly
forlornly as he started jumping around in a huddle of monsters and
nightmarish creatures. Underneath I guessed they were some of the
football team, owing to their size. I patted her on the arm. “Let's
get a drink, huh?”

It was bizarre in there - I'd
never been to a party quite like it. The effort everyone put in, and
the amount of money they must have spent buying or putting together
their costumes, was actually pretty impressive. I saw a pretty
intimidating version of Death, a couple of Jason's, and a host of
cackling witches who really seemed to be staying in character.
Probably drama majors.

I lost count of the number of
zombies I saw - some pretty lacklustre, others looking like they'd
just walked off the set of Dawn of the Dead. There were a couple who
looked like they must have spent about 3 hours in the make-up chair
just for this one night. The amount of time people had on their
hands. Jealous much.

I don't know if it was just me
but I was finding it hard being social in there. I had literally no
idea who most of the people were - not because I didn't know them or
hadn't met them, but because they were so hidden in make-up and masks
that I just didn't know who I was talking to most of the time.

They'd come up to me with their
masks and make-up and start chatting away as if we knew each other.
We probably did, but I didn't know it. It was as if they assumed I
could see through their outfit, or just tell by their voice who they
were. But no, with the amount of noise in there everyone was
shouting, making their normal talking voices impossible to determine.
It was fun enough though, guessing who they were by what they said or
how they spoke. Only with a few did it occur to them to actually take
of their masks or reveal their true identity.

Tess, as always, was flirting
away with the football guys, trying to make Tom jealous. I just
didn't get the infatuation, but it seemed to be one shared by a lot
of the girls. I could see them all looking over at him and giggling
to each other. Oh how simple their worlds must be. How they must
actually be enjoying the college experience. If I ever had time to
even think about finding a boyfriend, or even hooking up with a guy,
maybe I'd be the same.

The only guy there who caught my
eye was a mystery. He hadn't made much of an effort, simply wearing a
V for Vendetta mask to fit in, but it was the way he was acting that
was most intriguing. He cruised around, not drinking, not talking to
anyone, just subtly checking out every girl in there.

He was tall, and I noticed a
thatch of dark wavy hair sticking out from above his mask. I don't
know whether he was just incredibly shy to talk to women or what, but
I didn't see him utter a single word to anyone as he disappeared in
and out of view.