Chapter Text
12:42. Shit.
The heels clicking on the pavement approached the coffeeshop in sight with a picked up pace. To Caitlyn Kiramman, being punctual was not a choice but rather a way of life. Punctuality showed drive, willpower and stability. Three things that she prided herself with. Unless an external force caused her to run late. Like her coach, who decided that a peptalk at the end of practice – thus extending it by five minutes – was absolutely necessary and could not be postponed until next time. Which meant that Caitlyn Kiramman was currently two whole minutes late for lunch with her brother.
A quick shower after practice had been a necessary evil, but with no time to dry her hair she was now forced to wear it up in a bun. Wet. Which meant she would have to wet it again once she got home so she could blow-dry it – otherwise she would be stuck with a frizzy half curl in her usually smooth, straight hair.
Needless to say, she was not entirely ecstatic about the manner in which her day was currently evolving.
Jayce had, to her relief, already colonised their favourite table by the window – they always picked that specific table, and Caitlyn was a creature of habit. Her older brother – sitting tall and broad in the chair that was a size too small for his posture – seemed to have just started on his second espresso, and gave her a rather amused smile.
“About time”
“Shut up” Caitlyn shot back, long fingers unbuttoning the thin pumpkin-orange trench coat she had put on over one of her favourite pair of dark brown slacks from the 50s that she thrifted months before, which she had paired with a silk blouse that sported different shades of green.
“How was practice?” Jayce threw the espresso back like he was taking tequila shot at those awful dive bars he was so keen on visiting, earning him an eyeroll from his younger sister.
Pulling back her chair and sitting down as she finally caught her breath, she gave Jayce a fake smile. “Like every first practice of the schoolyear. No one had practiced during the summer, except for me, and almost all of them seemed to have forgotten the most basic rules of soccer”
Jayce chuckled “not everyone takes a hobby as serious as you do Cait”
“I do not think it’s unfair to expect a bit of commitment from those who play soccer on a college level” Caitlyn argued as her fingers took hold of the menu. Her cerulean eyes scanned over the familiar dishes – these lunch dates were a weekly occurrence the year before and they had decided to keep the habit going this new schoolyear – and she quickly concluded that a salmon pokebowl along with a mango-papaya smoothie would be the pick of the day.
“It’s not even real college soccer Cait. It’s an extracurricular. I know you’re team captain and you like to work hard, but give those girls a break every now and then”
Caitlyn blinked as her eyes were drawn from the menu to her older brother, sitting across from her. “I don’t know what you are talking about”
“Come on Cait, we all know how scary you get when you are passionate about something and want to motivate others to be just as excited as you” Jayce chuckled, waving over a waitress when he noticed that Caitlyn had made a decision.
Caitlyn huffed. “There is nothing scary about my passionate speeches”
“I beg to differ, I remember that one time you managed to get Will to go crab fishing with you on holiday – even though the man is terrified of them - only because you used your scary-Cait-face”
“I do not have a scary-Cait-face”
“I believe I am currently witnessing that face”
“I-“ Caitlyn quickly pulled her face back to a neutral expression whilst putting the menu down.
The waitress chose that exact moment to step up to their table with a far too cheerful tone of voice. Apparently someone was eager for their tip… “Good afternoon, is there anything I could get you two on this beautiful day?”
Resisting the urge to answer the question with an advil against the headache that tone just caused me would be lovely, Caitlyn simply smiled politely as she intertwined her fingers on the table. “I’ll have the mango-papaya smoothie along with a double espresso and the salmon pokebowl please”
“Alright, perfect! And anything for you Sir?” her gaze turned to Jayce, who took a quick glance at the menu and ordered the caprese salad along with a side of sweet potato fries and a black coffee.
“Perfect, I will get that going for you!” the waitress’ eyes lingered on Jayce about three whole seconds too long before she walked off.
Caitlyn couldn’t resist wiggling her eyebrows as a grin found its way to her lips “she seems fun”
“Stop that”
“Stop what?”
“She was not flirting with me” Jayce insisted, causing Caitlyn’s grin to grow a little broader.
“I never said she was”
“And just how has your dating life been this summer Caity?” Jayce seemed eager for Caitlyn to push the heel of her shoe into his toes from the way he called her by that awful nickname that their father always used for her when she was younger.
She took a deep breath as her long fingers played with one of the sugar packets that someone had left on the table. “I spend my summer volunteering at the hospital with dad, I think that about answers your question” she informed him dryly, though Jayce was already in possession of this information, of course.
Jayce did not seem entirely satisfied though, because he had the unnerving urge to push on “come on Cait, you took that two week vacation with Mel. Are you going to tell me that you have not hooked up once?”
“Mel and I went to Rome for a research paper I am doing this semester and we mostly visited museums and monuments” Caitlyn leaned back against her chair as the waitress arrived with their drinks.
She made quick work of throwing back that double espresso. “I don’t know what you want from me”
“I’m just trying to see if I can get my little sister to let loose and have fun” Jayce insisted.
Caitlyn could not help but feel slightly offended at his accusation “I have fun”
“I meant actual college fun. Not I-live-in-a-sorority-with-all-nerds-and-I-watch-too-much-true-crime-and-never-attend-any-parties-ever type of fun”
Another huff. Then a short laugh. “I’ll have you know that true crime series are extremely entertaining and considered to be an excellent form of relaxation by most of society”
Jayce did not seem convinced. “They are. When you’re 80. You’re a sophomore now Cait, Will and I are graduating this year and we just want at least one party where we have seen our little sister let loose”
The thought of attending a party with her brothers sounded like the exact opposite of a night of fun to Caitlyn. Both her brother were a part of the biggest fraternity on campus and had completely emerged themselves in Greek University life.
Jayce and William were twins, two years older than her and starting their senior year – which meant that they were more than motivated to make this year the absolute fucking bomb as William liked to say it. Having two older overprotective brothers on campus was already a lot, but the idea of having them hover over her at a frat party was too much of everything.
“Hm, yes, I am going to kindly decline the offer you are about to make me” Caitlyn informed her brother, knowing exactly what he was about to ask her.
Jayce gave her an unamused glare “you do not even know what the offer is!”
“You are going to ask me to come to your frat party tonight in exchange for you paying our lunch” Caitlyn’s tone was as unamused as Jayce’s glare, though a tat sarcastic, as she brought the straw of her smoothie to her lips and took a small sip.
“I-“ Jayce looked away, his hand gesturing somewhere in the distance as he let out an offended ‘tssk’. “I was in fact not going to make that offer”
“Really?” she placed her drink back down as their food arrived at their table. “Then please enlighten me with your offer Jayce”
“I was going to offer to buy you coffee for a week as well” Jayce protested as he took a fork from the tin can filled to the brim with cutlery, that the waitress had put on the table for them.
“Hmm, how very tempting” was Caitlyn’s sarcastic remark as she mimicked her brother’s movements. “But I am going to pass”
“Oh come on Cait” Jayce rolled his eyes “can’t believe you are too uptight to have fun for one night. You’re starting to act an awful lot like mom”
Now this… this was something that flipped a switch somewhere deep inside Caitlyn. Though she loved their mother dearly, being compared to the stern and stoic Kiramman matriarch was a pure insult.
“I am nothing like mom”
“Really? Because you are a caffeine obsessed workaholic with reading glasses, who would rather spend her Saturday night on the sofa with a glass of red wine and a murder documentary than go out with friends” Jayce dryly informed her as he pricked into his salad with his fork. He decided to make it a little worse as he brought a bite to his lips. “That sounds like mom to me”
Caitlyn simply gave him a blank stare. “Fine. I will come to your preposterously uncultured frat party tonight, but it'll cost you two weeks of buying my morning coffee"
"Deal"
The smug grin on Jayce’s lips made Caitlyn regret her promise in an instant, but there was no way back now. She did not break promises. Even to her brother, who had an annoyingly successful way of getting under her skin.
On her way back to her sorority, she let her mind wander through her wardrobe and whether or not she owned anything that was appropriate for a frat party. The only parties she attended every so often were of a more classic calibre, and certainly not in a house that smelled like beer 24 hours a day. The mere thought made her want to call Jayce and tell him she had gotten food poisoning from their lunch. Unfortunately, he knew her better than to believe something like that and would immediately call her out on it.
Perhaps she could convince Mel to join her to the party – that would at least make it bearable and she’d have one person to have an intelligent conversation with.
Her and Mel met during the first week of their first year at University. They had bonded over their love for old architecture and true crime during the only class they had shared the past year: Criminal justice.
Caitlyn hadn’t planned on joining a sorority, considering she found the entire system of Greek life at Universities an atrocious display of male power and female degradation. That was until she had involuntarily attended the Greek life fair with Mel – who had been interested in one of the sororities from the first week of school.
She somehow ended up getting roped into joining Zeta sorority for Academic Women, which was a terrible name for a sorority that did so much good. They were focussed on female empowerment in the work field and known for only accepting the female students with the highest grades into their house.
Where rushing for other sororities and fraternities meant nights of partying and drinking, rushing for Zeta meant an interview regarding politics, media and general knowledge, and a grade check. They were quite strict and usually only accepted 30 freshmen, of which a lot did not make the end of the schoolyear since they were very strict on excellent grades.
Unexpectantly, Caitlyn had found her home in the sorority that fully supported her thirst for knowledge and her endless drive for academic achievement. This was the start of her second year at University, thus the second year at Zeta, and she now had her own little studio apartment.
With the sorority having academic achievement as a top priority, they made sure that every woman in the house, from second year and onward, had her own studio with a kitchen, small living room, a bathroom and even a separate space for a bed. It wasn’t too big, but it was more than enough for Caitlyn by herself.
After climbing up the two flights of enormous stairs to get to her studio, she knocked on the door beside her own. As she busied herself in getting the lock of her own studio – it had a nasty habit of getting stuck every now and then – to work, she heard the door beside her open and the familiar face of her best friend peek around the corner.
“I have a problem” Caitlyn sighed as Mel’s eyes glanced at the lock that was stuck yet again, and then back up to her navy-haired best friend while she fought the door.
“Uh-oh” Mel sounded more amused than Caitlyn appreciated in her time of need. Her best friend now fully appeared in the doorway, cross-armed and leaning against her doorframe. “Does this have to do with that lock you are fighting, or are there bigger issues at hand?”
The door almost slammed open, a sound Caitlyn hated, when she finally managed to get the lock open – she really needed to get a locksmith to look at that nasty thing – and she sighed in defeat. Her gaze finally found the amused woman in her own doorframe. “I’m afraid it’s bigger than my aggravating lock”
“Big enough that you need a glass of wine to tell me about it?”
“Please” Caitlyn nodded towards her couch as Mel swiftly disappeared into her studio to grab her keys before locking her own door and making herself at home on Caitlyn’s couch.
“Alright, spill” Mel told her as she leaned back against the heap of decorative pillows that Caitlyn had propped up on her 70s inspired couch.
Caitlyn made her way over to her small kitchen, looking through her wine rack to see what she still had in stock. “Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon?” she called out to Mel.
“Did you run out of Pinot Noir?”
“I’m afraid so”
“Shiraz is fine darling” her best friend answered as Caitlyn picked the bottle from her rack and poured them both a glass. The clock on her wall gave her a judgemental reminder that is was only 3 in the afternoon, but who was counting when you had to attend a frat party that night?
Handing Mel one of the crystal wineglasses, Caitlyn sat down after kicking off her shoes, feet folded underneath her as the pair of friends clinked their glasses together.
“Well?” Mel urged as she brought the glass to her lips.
Caitlyn took a large sip before answering Mel’s burning curiosity with the problem she was facing in regards to that night. “I may have agreed to come to the frat party that Jayce and William’s fraternity is throwing tonight”
Mel coughed, almost spitting out her wine at the unexpected news that her best friend – who would rather jump off a roof than go to a frat party – had agreed to such a thing. “I’m sorry, I think I was hallucinating. How, exactly, did this happen?”
A sigh escaped Caitlyn’s lips as she took another sip and settled back against the pillows. “I was on my weekly lunch date with Jayce when he brought it up. Naturally, I declined. Then he made a rather painful, though partially true, allegation that caused me to lose all sense of self and agree to go to the party”
Mel gave her a pained glance “did he play the Cassandra card?”
“He did”
“That manipulative prick”
“I know” Caitlyn sighed as her eyes found Mel’s and her expression changed to one that Mel knew all too well. Without having to say a word, Mel knew hat she was going to ask.
And from her response, she was not happy about it at all. “Oh no Caitlyn. No, no, no, no”
“It’ll only be for one night, and there will be no one there to have a decent conversation with. It’ll be all the other sororities and fraternities together. That is too little intelligence for me to handle an entire night” Caitlyn argued, but Mel shook her head as she took another sip of wine.
“I refuse to attend a soiree as emptyheaded as those frat parties. Besides, your brothers will be there!”
“I definitely do not want to speak to my brothers when they are drunk and hunting for women to shag. They’re the least intelligent sort when they have been drinking, especially William” Caitlyn informed her, though Mel knew the truth to her words as much as Caitlyn did. She’d been experienced it first-hand on several occasions the year before.
“Hmm agreed” Mel seemed less than convinced still.
“It’ll only be one hour. I simply need to show my face, make sure Jayce and William have seen me and then we are gone” Caitlyn promised her. “We can finish that bottle of Shiraz afterwards and watch a movie of your choice”
“Any movie?”
Caitlyn nodded “anything you’d like, as long as you accompany me to that party for at least an hour”
“Fine” Mel sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose to showcase the absolute sacrifice she was making in this scenario. Caitlyn couldn’t contain a snort at the dramatics displayed by Mel Medarda, immediately making her feel better about the party than she had minutes before. “We go for one hour”
“One hour. Promise.”
The sound of a slamming door was a sound Vi had been used to since the dawn of time. Where she came from, slamming a door was more common than someone closing it. In fact, someone who closed the door silently was a fucking creep in Vi’s opinion.
Which was why she did not look up from her phone when she heard the front door slam open and shut. That was, until she realised that she did not actually know who had access to the suite except for her…
Vi’s grey eyes curiously peered over the back of the couch she was chilling on, far enough to see a muscular woman – about her age and rather angry looking with a cigarette caught between her lips – walk into the shared living room.
The woman looked around for a moment, observing the space, before spotting the top of Vi’s head sticking out from the back of the couch.
“You must be my roommate then” the woman’s low, raspy voice croaked once she took the cigarette from her mouth. “Name’s Sevika”
Ah yes. The roommate.
When she had arrived that morning, she had immediately picked the slightly larger bedroom of the two situated in the suite she was to share with a roommate. They had their own bedrooms, located next to each other, and a shared kitchen, backroom and living room between the two of them. Rather luxurious in Vi’s opinion – though she had spend her first year at Uni in a tiny dorm that she shared with a roommate who was addicted to crack, so anything was an upgrade from that, really.
“Cool” Vi sat up, pushing herself off the couch so she could help the new roommate carry some bags in that were still in the hallway. “I’m Vi”
“Pleasure” Sevika seemed like the grumpy type that would leave her alone most of the time, which was really fine by Vi. As long as she was not addicted to crack or any of that shit, it’d be cool.
Rushing for a fraternity had not been on Vi’s to-do list in the first place. But she had spent her first year at Uni in that tiny dorm with a terrible roommate and no friends. Making friends at University was harder than they made it seem in the advertisements, especially if you were not part of a club or anything like that.
With a major in social work and her only extracurricular being boxing, Vi hadn’t found anyone interesting around that first year – and it had been quite lonely.
So when starting her second year, she had taken a chance on rushing for the largest fraternity on campus. It had been an easy pick, because she was definitely not joining a prissy sorority – she would gladly fuck any of those pretty sorority girls though – and since recent developments had made fraternities and sororities available for all genders, Vi thought she might give it a chance.
She’d always gotten along with guys better than she had with girls anyways, and she got a social life with it as well as a decent space to live in.
“So, you excited for the party tonight?” Vi tried. Showing a bit of interest in your roommate felt like the decent thing to do in situations like these. Even if Sevika did not seem like one for small talk.
Sevika shrugged as they carried her bags towards the empty bedroom that was meant for her. “We’re getting free alcohol and pretty sorority girls so I am not complaining”
Vi chuckled “I feel you on that. What are you majoring in?”
Sevika dumped a large bag on her empty bed as she turned to Vi and handed her a packet of cigarettes. “I’m on an athletic scholarship for kickboxing and I take some marketing classes so they can’t kick me out for just focussing on sports. You?”
Vi took a cigarette from the packet and gave her a little nod as a ‘thank you’ before answering. “Social work, but with boxing as an extracurricular”
“Nice” Sevika unzipped her bag as Vi made her way out of her roommate’s bedroom so she could smoke her cigarette out the kitchen window. “Oh by the way-“ her roommate called to her before she could step outside.
Vi’s head whipped back to the muscular woman “Hm?”
“I don’t have any rules or anything, just don’t bother me when I bring a girl back and we won’t have a problem” her roommate warned her.
“Sure, as long as you do the same for me”
“Got’cha”
Vi held up her cigarette as a ‘salute’ before making her way to the small kitchen they shared between the two of them. The window had a large windowsill that you could easily sit in, so Vi settled by the open window and lit the cigarette before taking her phone from her pocket.
[1 unopened message from Little turd]
Little turd:
what’s crackin’ sis? vander’s worried bc he hasn’t gotten a call that you broke some wacko’s jaw yet
Vicycle:
tnite is the first party of the year, still chance of getting that phonecall 2day
Little turd:
i hate it when u use text slang, you’re def too old for that shit
Vicycle:
stfu
Little turd:
that how u talk to ur sis nowdays? harsh, i’m mentally ill you know
Vicycle:
u being a menace has nothing to do with that
Little turd:
whatever. i miss u or sum dumb like that
Vicycle:
miss u too turd
Little turd:
asshole. i better not see u with your tits out on some rando’s insta story tonight
Vicycle:
i’ll get laid discretely
Little turd:
no. too much info. go touch grass
Vicycle:
love you too
Little turd:
yeah whatever.
Vi grinned at the string of texts exchanged between her and her little sister. They had a strange sort of sister bond going that only they really understood, but it was fine and they really cared for each other.
Hell, Jinx was the whole reason Vi was studying Social work in the first place. Kids like Jinx, who went by Powder when they were younger, were so fucked up by the foster system and CPS that they didn’t know how to function in society. Getting a chance to help those youths was one of the few things she was really passionate about.
Because she knew how shitty foster care was. And how fucked up society could be.
About two minutes after the last text, Vi received another one.
Little turd:
love ya
It made her smile.
Leaving Jinx behind when she started her first year at University was the hardest thing she had to do in her life so far. She hadn’t planned on going to Uni in the first place, because she wanted to stay home and be there for her sister, but the girl had been insistent on Vi going to college.
So she’d applied.
And – entirely unexpectedly – gotten in. With three fucking scholarships.
She really hadn’t expected she’d get in. Not because she was dumb, on the contrary, she was quite smart. But she had a hard time concentrating on anything longer than fifteen minutes and her thoughts always ran through her head a million miles an hour. So her grades and test scores were not great, but her letters of recommendation and her motivation had been the thing that had gotten her accepted and those three damn scholarships.
Vi still thought it was absolute insanity, but she had learned to roll with it.
By the time Jinx had texted her that last text, she had burned through her entire cigarette and she pushed the bud into the ashtray that she had proudly placed on the windowsill just hours before.
She did not smoke regularly, just during exam weeks when she was stressed and at parties. Still, she did not decline when she was offered.
Deciding she had enough of spending her afternoon in her room, she put on a sweatshirt and ventured out into the hallway, down the stairs to what she knew to be the gameroom. They had all sorts of ancient arcade games in there, but also various videogame consoles.
And Vi was in the mood for a bit of Mario Kart.
The gameroom was huge, though not as occupied as Vi had expected it to be. Perfect. That meant more Mario Kart for her.
She made her way over to the Nintendo Switch station where two guys were just rounding up their latest Mario Kart match. She hadn’t met them before, though they looked strangely similar to each other. Was this a case of you-start-to-look-like-your-best-friend-if-you-spend-enough-time-with-them? Or was it just her imagination fucking around with her?
“Hey dudes” she greeted them as she took a seat next to the two chairs they were occupying “mind if I join in on the next one?”
“Fuck yeah, of course!” the dark haired one immediately replied. “The more the merrier”
Vi grinned, leaning over to grab a console from the side table as the guys wrapped up their match. The lighter haired one groaned as he fell back in his chair, clearly the sore loser of the two, and the dark haired one grinned at his victory as he pumped his fist in the air.
The dark haired guy turned towards her after punching the other guy in the arm for being such a fucking pussy, and he held out his hand. “I’m Will by the way, and this is my brother Jayce”
“Cool, I’m Vi” she took Will’s hand in a strong handshake and gave the lighter haired one – who was named Jayce apparently – a nod. She did not get anything from the guy except a groan. Apparently he was a bigger pussy than Vi had initially thought. “Brothers huh? Like, actual biological brothers or more like ‘he is my best friend so I call him my brother’ brothers?”
Will let out an audible laugh as he leaned over and took a beer from the cooler at his feet “no, we’re biological brothers. Twins, actually. I’m the oldest”
“Ah yes, now I see it” Vi agreed, accepting the beer that was offered to her and taking the cap off with her teeth. “Alright, so we wanna play or what?”
“You two are going down” Jayce groaned as he sat back up and leaned his elbows on his knees while getting in position to start another race.
“I doubt that, I have faith that Vi is going to beat your ass” Will teased his brother, though the guy did not seem too pleased with it.
And then he made a big fucking mistake.
“Please, like a woman could beat me at this game” Jayce laughed, immediately making himself Vi’s new common enemy with those degrading words.
“I don’t know Jayce, maybe if you were less of a cunt you’d stand a chance” Vi spat back as she picked Koopa Troopa and a good fucking kart. She was going to end that motherfucker.
Will let out a loud laugh at her snide comment and Jayce just rolled his eyes, clearly not recovered from his previous loss, as the countdown started.
It was a silent race for the first lap, apart from the usual “NO” “fuck off” and “I WAS NOT EVEN IN FIRST PLACE YOU STUPID FUCKING BLUE SHELL”, until Jayce was the one to – surprisingly – start a conversation in the middle of their game.
Maybe he used it to throw them off.
“Hey Will, guess who’s coming to the party tonight?”
Will’s attention was entirely on the screen, though he seemed to vaguely register his brother’s words. Vi just kept the fuck going because she was in first place with Will very close behind her. “I don’t know, Sandra?”
“Nope, you are right about it being a woman though”
Will seemed to have a hard time concentrating on both the game and the question at hand. “The fuck should I know man, is she hot?”
“Ew, no please do not ask me that” was Jayce’s whine of an answer.
That seemed to be the clue that Will needed because from the quick glance that Vi took to her right, Will’s eyes had widened and his tone was more than excited. “No way. You’re shitting my dick”
“Nope” Jayce chuckled, shooting a blue shell towards Vi in front at that same moment.
Motherfucker.
“What does that mean? Who’s coming?” Vi interfered, too curious for her own good about who the fuck got these two guys so riled up with her attendance to a frat party, right as they entered their second lap.
Will was the one to answer. “Our little sister”
Vi chuckled “the way you say it makes it sound like she is 6”
“Ew” Jayce groaned once more.
Will simply chuckled. “She’s a sophomore here, but she is a real nerd. Like, extremely. She completely drowns herself in schoolwork and actually likes it. She never goes to parties, never lets loose really, so her coming to a frat party is like a bigger thing than… than a heatwave in December”
“Oh wow” Vi chuckled, pushing her kart over the finish line to start her third lap as she used the shortcut that she had found several months earlier during her Mario Kart tournament with her siblings. “So your sister.. is she hot? More importantly, is she single?”
“Woah” Jayce immediately paused the fucking game. Honestly, the nerve of this guy. He turned towards Vi, looking dead serious as though he was about to explain the evolution theory to her or something. “I think you missed like the first basic rule we have here in our fraternity”
Will rolled his eyes at the dramatic-ass attitude that his brother was showcasing, Vi had to agree it was a bit – maybe a lot – over the top. “There’s this unspoken rule that you aren’t allowed to fuck the sister of one of your frat bros” Will explained.
It made sense, probably helped prevent a lot of fights, so she nodded. “Alright, I’ll keep it in my pants then” she joked “though I doubt she is my type, the way you describe her”
Will chuckled, punching Jayce in the knee to get him to resume the race. “She’s definitely not the type that sleeps around, though I really do not want to hear about her sex life. Oh and she has reading glasses”
“Oh wow, that is a real fucking turn off” Vi laughed out loud as she shook her head. “Lucky for us, there are plenty of women coming to the party tonight”
Will nodded as they continued their race. It ended with Vi coming in first place, Will second and Jayce fifth. That man really needed a lesson or two of how to properly use the fucking items because he was a real mess.
As they finished up the game and started on their second beer, Jayce disappeared somewhere Vi really did not care about, and she was left with Will. She didn’t mind. He seemed like a nice guy.
“So can I ask you something?”
Vi looked up at Will’s question directed towards her. “Anything, shoot”
She took a large swig from her beer as Will seemed to need a moment to think on how to best word the question he wanted to ask her. “From what you mentioned earlier, you’re into girls… right?”
Vi almost spit out her beer as she laughed out loud. “Yes I am. Like, full on lesbian”
“Okay, cool” Will nodded as he took another sip form his beer and gave her a little grin. “I never had a bro who was a lesbian”
Vi really liked this guy.
“Well, now you do” she confirmed, holding her bottle out. “To hot women”
Will laughed, clinking his bottle against Vi’s before taking a swig “to hot fucking women”
Vi took it one step further “to fucking hot women”
“Remind me again why we are here?”
Caitlyn honestly could not answer the question asked by her best friend. She had regretted agreeing to this party the moment she said “yes” to Jayce. Honestly, what was the fun in a party where the purpose was to get drunk and shag the first person you saw?
It was an uncultured, women-hating tradition that Caitlyn was more than happy to burn to ground if she got the chance.
“Just an hour Mel, then we’re going home”
She blissfully ignored the sigh and “fine” from her best friend as they made their way into the frat house where the party had already been booming for several hours.
After careful consideration and a heated discussion with Mel, Caitlyn had picked one of the few scandalous dresses she owned to wear that night. The fabric fit perfectly around every curve of her slender body and accentuated her tiny waist and larger bosom. If she was going to a party, she was going to do it right.
After pinning her hair up in a loose bun, leaving some strands loose so they framed her face nicely, and putting on some light but necessary make-up, she was more than ready to go. She had to admit that Mel had put in quite some effort as well – an admirable amount for someone who was not keen on going in the first place – as she wore a dress as well. A white one though, a bit longer than Caitlyn’s tiny one, but with a split that reached up to her hip and showed off her beautifully long legs.
Caitlyn had always found it rather amusing that, though both of them were into women, they had never overstepped that boundary of friendship. They had shared a drunken kiss or two at the opening of an art gallery in their first year, but nothing more than that.
Perhaps because Mel wasn’t her type.
When looking back at the women she had dated, they were all more masculine presenting lesbians. Caitlyn had always found herself more attracted to those types of women than pretty, more feminine women like Mel.
Still, her last date was 5 months ago and the last time she had sex was over 7 months ago.
God, she really needed to let loose.
Shaking off those intrusive thoughts, she made her way inside the enormous fraternity house with Mel hot on her heels. They had only nurtured two glasses of wine before coming to the party and that was far too little to actually enjoy herself in this setting, so Caitlyn immediately made a b-line for the kitchen.
With both her brothers having spend every year of their University life in this same fraternity, she was more than familiar with the map of the house and where everything was. Including the gameroom, where she was more than likely to find her brothers playing some dim-witted game like Mario Kart or Grand Theft Auto.
As they entered the kitchen, she could see Mel’s disapproval of the entire situation and Caitlyn had to admit that she agreed. It was an enormous kitchen, littered with empty and half-filled bottles, beer spilled all over the counters and even the floor and several randomly opened bags of nuts laying about.
Deciding that a drink from the fridge was least likely to give either of them food poisoning, Caitlyn managed to find a half empty bottle of rose in the back.
“This is the only wine they have, unless you want the cheap kind of Chardonnay, but no one has touched it so I would take my chances with this one” Caitlyn informed her best friend, who took two clean, empty red solo cups and nodded as Caitlyn emptied the bottle in both their cups. At least they’d have one drink to keep them occupied while they dragged themselves through the next hour.
“Cheers” Mel sounded miserable as she held up her cup and Caitlyn sighed as she pushed hers against her best friend’s.
“To a quick hour so we can go back home and watch whatever movie you want” Caitlyn joked, trying to make the situation better than it was, but the sweaty people all around her really made her more miserable than she had initially thought she would be.
Just as Mel was about to reply, a voice interrupted their conversation. “My oh my. I was afraid this party would be full of those Barbie-doll sorority girls, but you are a sight for sore eyes, darling”
A deep brown and cerulean pair of eyes found a large, muscular woman making her way over to the two of them, though she was clearly speaking to Mel.
Taken back, Caitlyn watched as Mel’s entire body language and facial expression changed when the – rather handsome if Caitlyn had to say so – woman made her way over to them.
A sly grin played on Mel’s lips as she replied with a “I must admit I thought the same, but it seems I was too quick to judge”
Mel was not the type to be easily seduced, but Caitlyn knew that the woman loved flirting with people she found attractive. So Caitlyn took a step back as she watched the scene develop in front of her, slowly nursing her wine through it all.
“Glad to hear we are on the same page” the muscular woman grinned, taking Mel’s hand and placing a kiss on the back of it. “The name’s Sevika”
“Mel Medarda” her best friend introduced herself. “A pleasure to meet you”
“Likewise” Sevika’s grin never wavered as she looked into Mel’s cup “what are you drinking?”
“Rose, they did not have the type of wine I usually prefer” Mel informed her, making Caitlyn involuntarily giggle at how incredibly posh that sounded in a setting such as this.
It seemed that Sevika had no trouble with it – she even seemed to enjoy Mel’s posh tone and behavior – as she took the cup from Mel’s hand and placed it on the kitchen island. “We can’t have that, can we?” Sevika winked “I happen to know a room where they keep the quality wine, not this crap… how about I show you?”
“I-“ Mel’s gaze found Caitlyn’s, but the navy-haired woman shook her head.
“Go” she mouthed, knowing that she could always fall back on her brothers and she did not want to ruin Mel’s chance of actually having fun at this party. Something neither of them had expected when they stepped into this place.
About a minute later, she was by herself once more, in that large kitchen with a cup of poor quality rose in her hand. Time to find a familiar face.
She ventured out into the larger areas, to see if she might find her brothers somewhere without bumping into too many people who spilled beer all over her. It was a quest more difficult than finding the correct shade of pastel to wear to a wedding, but she managed.
After a scavenger hunt of 20 minutes, she found both her brothers in the large living room of the fraternity. Jayce was leaning against the fireplace, beer in his hand and seemed to be talking to Viktor – which surprised Caitlyn. She had met Viktor, Jayce’s lab partner, a hand-full of times and he did not seem like the type to attend these types of soirees either.
Her other brother, William – she refused to call him Will like everyone else did – was sitting on the sofa by the fireplace, with a blonde in his lap who looked far too simple-minded for him.
She had always been closer with Jayce than William. Jayce was a better listener, and though he teased her as any sibling did, talking to Jayce was a lot easier and more intelligent than conversing with William often was.
Deciding to greet her more dim-witted brother first, she made her way over to the sofa.
“Holy shit” was the first thing from her eldest brother’s mouth when he spotted his little sister. “You actually came! When Jayce mentioned you’d be here tonight, I thought he was joking” the blonde in his lap was long-forgotten, apparently, because William immediately got up to come over and hug her.
From the smell of his breath, he had been drinking since the late afternoon. Wonderful.
“Good evening William” she greeted him as she returned his embrace. She had to admit that between her two muscular brothers, William gave the best hugs. She could not help but smile as she hugged him back.
Both Jayce and William were slightly taller than her, which often made them a notorious trio of siblings considering Caitlyn was already sporting an impressive 6 feet in height.
“Please drop the fancy talk for one night, okay?” William sighed as he pulled away and nudged her shoulder gently. “I’m really glad you are here”
“Yes, well I was not easily convinced” Caitlyn admitted “Jayce pulled the mom card on me”
“Oof, rough” William’s face sported a pained expression, because they both knew what it meant. “Still, you’re here!”
“I brought Mel, but it seems that she has been swept off her feet by a handsome roguish woman” Caitlyn joked, taking another sip from her rose to forget the fact that she was so painfully out of place.
“Typical” William chuckled “are you having fun though?”
Caitlyn repaid that question with a dry glare, letting him know that she was indeed not having a fun time. At least not yet.
“Oh come on Skittle, just try and relax. Play some beer pong or something!”
“Don’t call me that, thank you” she quickly interfered. Skittle was her nickname from when they were younger. It referred back to a time period where Caitlyn had been obsessed with Skittles and William had come to the conclusion that Skittle was close to Kibble, which was what they called her before the Skittle period because she was a child obsessed with cats.
“Cait!” Jayce waved her over, pulling her from her misery that was William bringing old nicknames back into fashion, and she gave her eldest brother a sweet smile.
“Jayce wants me” she got on her tiptoes to press a kiss on her brother’s cheek “take care of yourself. Call me if you need anything, just not for condoms or the morning-after pill”
“Got’cha” William answered with a wink before turning his attention back to the blonde woman, who had been patiently waiting for him to finish his conversation – what a bimbo.
She quickly made her way over to Jayce and his lab partner – though Caitlyn had a feeling there might be more going on between the two of them – and pressed a soft kiss on Jayce’s cheek. “Well, I am here. Am I allowed to go now?”
“Absolutely not” Jayce shook his head, earning a laugh from Viktor. “How long have you been here? Be honest”
Caitlyn sighed “about 30 minutes?” another sip of rose helped her feel a little more at ease.
“Which means you have at least 30 more minutes to go before you are allowed to go” Jayce teased.
Viktor gave her an apologetic smile “if it’s any consolation, I was forced to be here against my will as well”
“Glad to hear I am not the only one” Caitlyn grinned, taking another sip from her rose only to find that it was her last. Damnit.
She really needed another one if she was to get through the next 30 minutes of this horrendous party. “I’m going to get another drink, I’ll see you two in a bit okay?”
“Sure! Just don’t let me find you sneaking off before then!” Jayce called back to her as she made her way through the crowd. The only thing he got in return was the finger that Caitlyn triumphantly threw his way without looking back.
Making her way back to thee kitchen was easier than making her way to the living room. That place had been packed to its full capacity and though she was not opposed to the company of her brother and his lab partner, she was not going through that crowd again to reach them. No way.
Which meant she was stuck in the kitchen, but at least she got a refill of wine. Even if that wine meant the awful Chardonnay that no one had touched, and she knew why when she took that first sip.
With the scrunch of her nose and a shake of her head, she decided that there was no way she was going to take another sip of that monstrous drink they dared call wine.
“That bad huh?”
Caitlyn’s attention was pulled towards an amused voice on her right. Though she had been prepared to tell that person off, she had not been prepared to come face to face with – quite possibly – the most attractive woman she had met in her lifetime so far.
She perfectly embodied Caitlyn’s ideal type. The short pink hair, shaved on one side, the pierced nose… even the tattoo on her face was the cause for a deep blush on Caitlyn’s face in an instant. The woman was a bit shorter than her, though a lot broader and muscular than Caitlyn was. Her muscular arms and shoulder made Caitlyn curious if those muscles extended to her stomach and her back.
Her tattoos were the next thing that caught her attention. The black gear on her neck seemed to go two ways – up into her hairline and down into her button up shirt. It made her wonder just how far down those wonderfully intricate tattoos went.
Even her grin was something that caused Caitlyn’s knees to weaken. She had a soft spot for women with a cheeky grin and an even cheekier mouth, something the woman across from her seemed to possess – judging from the way she was looking her up and down without shame.
“It’s a crime against humanity to call this wine, really” Caitlyn replied, a soft laugh in her voice that definitely would not have been there if this wasn’t her fourth glass of wine. She had to admit that her tipsy state did get rid of the sharp edges.
“Try my drink then” the pink-haired lesbian dream of a woman offered, to which Caitlyn’s smirk turned into a small frown.
“Is there something in it?”
Pink-haired lesbian dream chuckled “do I look that much like a bad influence?”
It was the wine. It must have been. Because she answered with a more than confident “you do look like my worst decision tonight”
Something in pink-haired lesbian dream shifted, perhaps because she just realized that Caitlyn was as into her as it appeared to be the other way around.
Then that cheeky grin found its way back on the woman’s lips and she held up her cup “trust me. It’s a mixture of vodka, strawberry liquor and sprite. It’s quite sweet… like you”
Caitlyn had not come here to flirt, she really hadn’t – but something about this lesbian woman of her dreams was making her desperate to make all types of terrible decisions tonight.
It was the wine. It was definitely the wine.
However, she did take the cup. She found that the exact eye color of the woman in front of her was hard to determine, even when she looked straight into them, so she went with a stormy grey as she took a sip from the cup that had been offered to her.
Pink-haired lesbian dream had been right. It was quite sweet. Though not too sweet and Caitlyn immediately found herself craving more. Whether she craved more of the drink or the woman in front of her was yet to bet determined though.
“That’s quite good, actually. Could you make me one of those?” she kindly asked as she handed the cup back to its very pretty owner. The owner nodded putting her own cup down and grabbing the ingredients she needed to make Caitlyn that same drink.
“I knew you’d like it, you seem like the type to need something sweet every now and then” her lesbian dream teased, giving her a lopsided smirk that immediately made Caitlyn’s knees feel like Jell-O. “I’m Vi, by the way”
“Caitlyn” she introduced herself, though the only thing on her mind for the next two minutes was the name of the woman who was making her a drink.
Vi.
She was not usually like this. She was not the type to swoon over a woman three minutes after meeting her. She usually preferred a few dates in which she got to know someone. Sometimes it would lead to sex, sometimes it wouldn’t. For some reason it never led to a relationship though, but she had learned to let that go a long time ago. Perhaps she was simply not cut out for that type of life.
“Here you go Sweetcheeks” Vi grinned as she handed over her cup. One sip was enough to determine that Vi was allowed to spend the rest of the evening with her if that meant she got more drinks like these. She loved her wine, she truly did, but sweet cocktails and mixers like these had a very special – yet secret – place in her heart.
Caitlyn could not resist the urge to roll her eyes at Vi’s little nickname, though she really did not mind. “You seem quite at home here” she noted.
Vi nodded “well I’m part of the fraternity, so I hope I do”
Ah. That was an interesting development. She knew that the fraternities and sororities were not allowed to discriminate against gender anymore and had to allow anyone to rush, but she had not actually expected that fraternities would allow women into their circles. Though, Vi seemed like the type to fit right it.
“What about you?” was Vi’s question as Caitlyn took a sip from her drink. “You do not really strike me as the typical sorority type”
Caitlyn couldn’t help but chuckle considering how right Vi was in her assumptions. “I’m not, but I am a part of Zeta” she called out to Vi as the music was almost too loud to talk over.
“Zeta?” she could see the woman think “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that”
“It’s- you know what, never mind” Caitlyn shook her head and took another sip, deciding that it was not worth losing her vocal chords over explaining what her sorority was all about.
It seemed that Vi had the same thought in mind. “Hey, you want to play a round of beer pong?”
“Sure” she had about 25 more minutes to get through before she was allowed to leave, might as well spend it on a round of beer pong. “I’ve never played though”
“Don’t worry” Vi shook her head as her free hand clasped around her wrist “I’m kind of an expert”’
“That a relief” Caitlyn called out to her as she let the pink-haired woman lead her downstairs towards the game room. She quickly took another step as they descended down the stairs. Perhaps tonight would be fun after all.