Unconventional

  I did miss sex. Two years without it. Why was I thinking about this now?

  “Well, it was nice to meet you two.” When in doubt, I could call upon my manners. “I’d better get going, and you’d both better get inside. It is, as we’ve said multiple times, cold out here.”

  Just then, a car pulled down the street, stopping next to us. It was a red SUV with tinted windows. The passenger side window rolled down. A third guy’s face became visible. He was dark haired but not as dark as Chance.

  “Hey, are we having some sort of event here on the street? What is the matter with the three of you? It’s cold out here. Oh, look you’re talking to Giovanna.”

  Okay, I really didn’t know this person at all. No noticeable accent. This was a small school, but I’d always assumed most people had no idea who I was. And I’d been pretty much fine with that. “I—”

  Maven interrupted me. “You don’t know him either? Wow. You two really don’t make much of an impression on pretty girls. Me? She’ll never forget her introduction to me. This is Banyan Iburgess. Banyan, you seem to know Giovanna?”

  “Sure.” He smiled. “She runs the literary magazine. You hired me. Granted, over email. I’m doing the cover this year. The artwork.”

  “Oh.” Now that he’d said the name. Yes, I knew his work. “You are so talented.”

  Banyan’s face lit up like a Christmas tree at my compliment. “You think so?”

  “There’ll be no shutting him up now.” Chance laughed. “Watch out, Giovanna. He loves fans.”

  Banyan rolled his eyes. “Don’t listen to him. He’s jealous. Straight As boy there can’t hold a paintbrush to save his life.”

  Maven pointed at the house. “Seriously, come inside.”

  “Sorry, but I just met you three.” When in doubt, honesty worked. “And I know better than to go into a fraternity house with three guys I just met, particularly in light of the fact that the campus is basically empty right now. Don’t be insulted, please. I wouldn’t go into an apartment either. Or a car.”

  Maven nodded. “It’s smart. But I’d like to point out that there has not been one—not one—sexual assault accusation made against any member of SPiI since I’ve been a member. I’m the president now. The guys know my take on this matter.”

  “No sexual assault by any member or none reported?” Oh hell, why had I said that? Every once in a while, despite my introverted nature and my just general shyness, or sometimes just my lack of liking anyone around, I couldn’t seem to keep my mouth shut.

  Maven’s smile was slow. “I really like you. I do. I mean, I kind of thought I would. There’s something about you. And you’re not afraid either, which is…yeah.” He ran a hand through his blond hair. “Okay. If any of my brothers or pledges were to disrespect a woman, the police would be making two arrests that night. One for whatever it was the asshat did, and the second would be me for the beating I’d give the guy. We are all accountable to each other and for each other. That’s how this works.”

  “Well, come on.” Chance shrugged. “We’re here right now because we fucked up. She has to know that. The incident was widely known around campus. She has reason to think if we could let that happen, we could make other questionable choices.”

  The incident? I was going to have to text Molly. She’d explain it to me. For now, I was going to keep quiet. I’d said enough. More than, actually.

  “There is a difference between a pledge joke—poorly thought out and executed horrendously—gone wrong and sexual assault. They hung underwear from a flagpole. It wasn’t…”

  “Enough,” Banyan interrupted Maven and Chance. “Yes, we all know why we’re here cleaning up the campus this holiday instead of being at home doing whatever it is we do there. Giovanna, I approve of the thought. Don’t go into any fraternity houses alone. Except mine. Mine is safe. But, yes, don’t do that until you believe me. Do you have a car?”

  I didn’t, actually. It was weird for people on this campus not to have one. My father had told me if I made good grades, I could have one for after graduation. I wasn’t sure I would need it. My plan was to go to graduate school in New York City. I wouldn’t need a car there. Not that I’d told them that, yet. I tended to hold back on informing my parents about my plans until I absolutely had to. This course of action minimized the amount I had to speak to them about my life.

  “No.”

  Banyan pouted dramatically at me through his car window. “Too bad. I was going to suggest you go get your car and you could follow me to dinner. We could all do that. They’d get in this car. You in your own. Then everyone is safe and happy.”

  “It’s three o’clock.” Did they eat dinner at three o’clock? “Or were we going to drive in this hypothetical plan two hours away to eat?”

  Banyan sat up straight. “Oh, I can think of a lot of places I’d like to eat two hours from here. Come on, Giovanna. I’m totally not scary.”

  I laughed. This really had become amusing. That didn’t mean I was getting in the car with them. “You guys have a great afternoon. I’m going to get going now. Good luck with whatever this is you have to do to make up for your incident. This has been unexpected.”

  I turned my back on them and walked away. When I finally turned the corner, I didn’t feel their gazes on me anymore. My pulse raced, and I tried to pretend it wasn’t because I’d had the attention of three hot guys for a few minutes. They were probably bored and feeding off each other’s energy. Maven had decided it would be fun to shout at me across the street. Chance had come to see what Maven was doing. And Banyan stumbled on us all. I was the only female around for them to flirt with for a while.

  Yep, that was it. I sent a text to Molly. She’d been my closest friend since freshman year. Even if lately she spent a lot more time with her boyfriend than me. I had other friends, but most of them were like me—they studied and went to the movies. She was the only one I knew who actually had anything to do with Greek life on campus by dating her DKI boyfriend. The Greeks pretty much stayed to themselves. Sorority girls dated fraternity guys. They partied, studied, and had drama all the time with each other.

  I just met Maven, Chance, and Banyan. I didn’t use last names. There couldn’t be more than one guy on campus with their first names. They’re here doing something for some sort of incident?

  It took almost no time to get the response. !!! Yes! The SPiI guys got in trouble. Their pledges got caught putting underwear up the main flagpole in the quad. Stupid prank and stupid to get caught. They have to do three hundred hours of community service by June or they lose their charter. The SPiI board was pissed. That’s Chance’s fault. He’s their pledge master. But it all comes down to Maven’s responsibility. Banyan’s not off the hook too—he’s their social chair. They’re all responsible. There are like 12 of them on the board. They’re all there. Wanted to get a jump on their punishment.

  Well that was interesting. It explained the underwear comment. And why they were here. I shook my head. It was like a different world or something. What would possess grown men to run underwear up a flagpole?

  I kept walking, and my phone pinged again.

  If I wasn’t with R.J., I’d want to be with Chance. He is hot. How are you? I’m sorry. I should have thought to invite you again. Do you want to come to my house?

  She lived three hours away. The invite was, at this point, fruitless. I wasn’t going to get on a bus to make it for Christmas Eve dinner. Not to mention, R.J. was going to be there, and I couldn’t stand him. He had mean eyes. Direct contrast, in fact, to Maven’s. R.J. seemed angry at the world.

  I’d been alone here for a week and would be through New Year’s. Everyone would get back to campus before January 7th for classes to start.

  I’m okay. Thanks for the invite. See you next year.

  I put my phone in my pocket. She was right. Chance was hot. But then so were Maven and Banyan. I wouldn’t throw any of them out of my bed.

  When I’d gotten up this morning, the last
thing I’d thought would happen was spending time talking to SPiI brothers on the street. Life was funny sometimes.

  Chapter 2

  A blaring alarm meant to raise the dead sent me darting from sound sleep to total alertness all at once. It was two in the morning, Christmas Day, and the fire alarm in my mostly empty dorm blared warning. I grabbed my shoes and ran for the door. We’d done a fire drill upon moving in during the fall, but I’d hardly paid attention.

  Okay, I had to think. Some things were basic. In a fire alarm situation, the elevators weren’t going to work. I ran for the stairs. Fortunately, I lived on the fourth floor and not the tenth. I took the stairs two at a time. A few bangs here and there echoed as the few others staying in the dorm for the holiday exited. I didn’t know any of them personally, but the Residential Advisor, Emily, had told me that there were six others.

  The closer I got to the ground floor, the more I smelled smoke. My heart raced so fast I could hear it in my ears. I really, really hoped it wasn’t blocking the door to the street. I pulled my shirt over my nose, bent my head, and kept running. When I got to the lobby, I found the hallway clear and the smoke coming from the wall vents. What did that mean? Smoke traveled upward. Was there a fire in the basement? The laundry room? I’d let the firemen find out. I just ran out the door.

  There were two others out there, and fortunately within minutes, a total of seven of us stood on the street staring up at the building as the firemen arrived. They moved us back.

  And then there was noise. Chaos.

  I still held my shoes. I’d carried them all the way down, never putting them on. I bent over and shoved my sneakers on my feet. I made myself breathe. There had been an actual fire. That hadn’t been a hypothetical thing.

  Earlier, I’d pictured my family trying to find my frat boy murderer. This time, I pictured them receiving the tragic news that their daughter had been burned to death. Was it negligence? Would they hire a top litigator to sue the school? Run fire safety lessons in my name?

  “Hey!”

  I turned around to see Maven, Chance, and Banyan rushing toward me. It was Chance who’d called out. “Are you okay? We heard sirens.”

  They weren’t alone. A crowd of guys wearing SPiI shirts formed behind them as well as some guys wearing the same plain gray sweatshirt, obviously all meant to look the same. That was bizarre. It was Christmas Day. What were they all doing here?

  I blinked trying to bring myself to the here and now. Stress always made me shut down. “There’s a fire.”

  “Shit.” Maven looked around. “Guys. Okay, we’re only going to be in the way here. We need to leave so these people can do their jobs without worrying about having to save our stupid asses from falling debris or ashes or anything that might come off the building. Come on. Back to the house. Tomorrow, we’ll figure out ways to help. Into the cars. Go. Now.”

  Maven must really hold a lot of sway. Everyone behind him started moving except the guys in gray sweatshirts. They stayed still. Chance whistled loudly. “You, too, children. Back to the house.”

  The guys in gray sweatshirts walked in a single line back to their cars. Banyan touched my back. “Hey, pretty girl, you okay?”

  I snapped out of it. “Yes. Sorry. You should go. I have to stay here till this is over.”

  Maven put his hand on my arm. “Why do you have to stay here?”

  “I live here.” Why wasn’t this clear? “Pretty much everything that belongs to me in the world is inside of there.”

  “You staying here, freezing, in pajamas isn’t going to help that.” Chance tugged the end of my braid. That was when it occurred to me what I was wearing. Not that it particularly mattered in this situation, but I’d never meant to leave the dorm in my blue flannel pajamas and a white tank top. The wind picked up and snow dripped slowly from the sky hitting my exposed arms. I stared down at myself. Oh this was bad. Any second my shirt was going to be total see through, and as soon as my adrenaline wore off, I was going to be freezing.

  I nodded. Chance was probably right. “I don’t have any choice, really. My wallet is inside there. I can’t go anywhere without it. I can’t even get a hotel room. My parents are unreachable. I…” I stopped talking. I didn’t want to cry. I would physically not let those tears fall. I sucked them in. Hard. I would simply not speak until I was sure I wasn’t going to break down. It was hard, but I’d successfully managed it before. Nothing was ever made better by letting them out.

  “Here.” Maven took off his coat and wrapped me in it. It was black and leather. So he did have a coat. That would be funny, if I could say that aloud. But I couldn’t speak. Not yet. Tears were too close. “You’re not going to stay out here for hours—and it could be hours—for them to figure this out. You’ll come with us. I know you have that thing about frat houses. You’ll be safe. I promise. We’ll stay with you, all three of us, and there are women in the house right now. Ridge’s sister is here for the holiday. And two of the guys have girlfriends.”

  I wanted to argue. Earlier, I’d been quite adamant that I wasn’t going into SPiI anytime soon without friends with me. But these guys were here, and I was alone in the world. Chance squeezed my hand. “Come on. Let’s get you somewhere other than here.”

  I let him bring me along. I wasn’t even worried. Maybe my lack of worry was caused by the shock of the evening, or maybe it was just that there was something about these three that said they wouldn’t hurt me. They’d heard sirens, and they’d left their beds to come see if they could help.

  I was on autopilot. Banyan scooted in next to me in the backseat of a blue car, not his red SUV from earlier. It smelled new. Maven got in the driver’s side, and Chance in the front passenger seat.

  Banyan had brown eyes. I hadn’t noticed them before. He’d been too far away for me to see them. They had a little bit of green in the center.

  “That was scary as hell, I bet.” He squeezed my fingers. “I’ve never been in a fire.”

  “I have,” Maven added from the front seat as he pulled the car onto the street and away from the scene behind us. He didn’t add any more. Did that mean he hadn’t been scared? Or that he had been?

  Chance turned around to regard me from the front seat. “Are you hungry?”

  “No, thank you.” I shook my head. “Wait. Please stop. You should take me back. You don’t even know me. Really, you shouldn’t be putting yourselves out for me.”

  This didn’t make sense. People were inherently mean. If there was anything I’d learned over the years of traveling through hundreds of different cultural studies at my parents’ side, it was that humanity was basically the same everywhere. And all of it pretty much sucked.

  Banyan let go of my hand to rub my back. “So far, all we’ve done is put you in a car. Oh and Maven gave you a coat. Got to that faster than me. We’d do this for anyone.”

  “There are six other people who are currently unable to get in their dorm rooms.”

  Chance nodded. “Good point.” He picked up his phone and started texting. “I’m going to ask Ridge and Greg to go over and make sure everyone has somewhere to go. You’re right, Giovanna, we were very focused on you. Lots of reasons why that might be.” He looked at Maven. “Okay if I say the directive comes from you?”

  “Absolutely.” Maven spoke and then pulled into the driveway of SPiI as Chance put down the phone. “Any of them who want to come here are welcome. We’ve got lots of food. After I’m gone, they can run this any way they want to, but until I’ve graduated, this place stays the house we pledged. Yes?”

  Chance nodded once. “Absolutely. On board all the way, Mr. President.” Maven smirked at Chance who turned back to me. “We’re really not doing anything much here. It’s not like you’re going to owe us some giant favor.”

  Banyan winked at me. “Just a couple of small ones?”

  Maven groaned. “She’s not ready for jokes yet. She’s still half convinced we worship Satan in the basement.”

  I hadn’t a
ctually thought that. I smiled. “Do you all don robes and cover yourselves in cow’s blood?”

  There were religions that did that sort of thing. I’d seen it. That was beside the point. They were right. They’d been nothing but nice to me, and I was protesting something I actually needed—a place to stay until I could go back to my dorm.

  I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

  It was Christmas. I would, somehow, believe in the goodwill of men, or at least SPiI brothers in this case.

  I didn’t have my cell phone. If it burned down or was otherwise destroyed in this mess, I was going to be in big trouble. I didn’t know my parent’s international phone numbers. I would have to call Harvard and get them to deliver them a message.

  This was going to be a mess.

  “Are you hungry?” Chance asked me again as we got out of the car and headed toward the house. “I had the pledges bake last night.”

  He held the door for me, and I walked through. Maven and Banyan followed behind me. It was significantly warmer inside the house, and a hissing sound greeted me. It took a second for me to identify the noise as the radiators warming up the old house. The dorms were newer and the heating systems more updated.

  The last time I had heard this hissing noise had been in a bed and breakfast in New Hampshire my mother had taken us to when she needed out of the city to finish her paper. I’d read my book and listened to that noise.

  I shook my head. Memories were funny. Just a sound of hissing air could take me to another time and place. Chance was waiting for me to answer. These guys were learning fast I was usually lost in my own mind.

  “Um, no. I don’t usually eat in the middle of the night.”

  Maven looked at Banyan. “It is the middle of the night, isn’t it?” Banyan shrugged and touched my shoulder while he passed me going down the hall. Maven spoke again. “We are sort of nocturnal here. If we didn’t have classes, we might never see daylight. It was hard over the summer to work. I had to completely readjust my body.”