Unconventional

  “Did you sleep okay?” Banyan walked over and pulled me into a hug. He had strong arms, and I liked the hug, which was unusual.

  I nodded. “Sure. I need to thank Maven for the use of his room. And I should probably go see if I can find out about my dorm. I…”

  I never got to finish what I was going to say. The door to the house opened, and Maven strode in. “Oh good, you’re up.”

  Banyan didn’t let me go, which made seeing Maven kind of tricky. “Hi. Thank you so much for your room. You can have it back now.”

  “No worries,” Maven answered, crossing to the fridge. Banyan finally let go of me just as Chance jumped off the counter and came over to hug me, too. Was this a Christmas thing, or were they just both huggers?

  Chance smelled like coffee, and my ever present need for caffeine hit me hard. Did they have any? I didn’t have my wallet, so walking across campus to get some was pointless. The coffee cart was probably not open on Christmas anyway.

  He rubbed the back of my head for a second before he let me go.

  Maven took a long sip of some orange juice he must have poured in a glass while I’d been figuring out the hugging thing. “Okay, so the deal with your dorm is that someone set a fire in the laundry room last night. Fortunately, it was just the basement that burned. Sprinklers put most of it out. The building will need to be renovated and fixed a bit. But it will be safe to be inside of it, living there, when school picks back up on January 7th. I managed to convince them that the few students living there needed to be allowed in to get their stuff. Emails are going out to the rest of the college community today.”

  Banyan patted Maven on the back. “My boy here could convince native Alaskans they wanted to buy snow.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate that. I can go now?” I headed for the door, and Chance grabbed my arm. “In your sneakers and Maven’s shirt while it’s twenty degrees outside? I’ll drive you.”

  He was right. Heat infused my cheeks. I really needed to start thinking clearly. “Thanks.”

  I seemed to be saying that a lot. I was going to have to come up with some way to repay these guys for their kindness. My bank account was low. My parents needed to put some more money into it. They’d insisted they would remember to do so despite being in the middle of nowhere, potentially ducking from poisoned darts. I was going to have to get a job soon if they didn’t. While I wasn’t opposed to working and wouldn’t mind the independence, school was hard for me. I didn’t study all the time for fun. I had to really spend time on every subject I took. Dyslexia didn’t prevent me from doing anything, and I’d certainly learned to compensate over the years, but it did make some things significantly harder.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Oh.” Banyan pulled off his sweatshirt. “Here have this.” He started to hand it to me and then stopped. “Not this one. Hold on I’ll get another one.”

  I didn’t want him putting himself out. “That’s okay. I’ll be fine.”

  “No, seriously. Wait a second. Be right back.” Banyan tore up the stairs.

  “He can’t give you the one he had on because it has our letters on it. The Sigma Pi Iota. Only women who have been officially lettered by the house can wear them. A guy puts up his girlfriend or wife or fiancé for consideration. There’s a whole vote and then a big ceremony.”

  That sounded sort of intense. “You guys have a lot of rules you have to follow, don’t you?”

  “We self-impose them. Keeps what we value important, keeps the ceremonies meaning something. The brotherhood. The legacy of it all,” Maven answered for Chance.

  “It matters to us,” Chance answered. “And it continues to matter to the alumni who are brothers here. When they are asked about their college experience, they talk a lot about this time. They like the networking and still the sense of belonging. Five years ago when the college talked about eliminating Greek life on campus, three quarters of the alumni threatened to pull their money donations. So that was obviously the end of that. My father and brother still love it. I get that it looks funny from the outside. But from the inside, it’s something else I think.”

  Banyan rushed down the stairs holding a black, paint-splattered sweatshirt. “It’s clean. I mean, it’s always going to have paint on it. But I just washed it.”

  I loved it. Instantly. There were so many dots of colors on the black cotton sweatshirt that it almost looked like it had been made to look that way purposefully. “Thank you. I’ll take good care of it. I’ll wash it before I give it back.”

  I’d have to find a laundromat since the one in my dorm was going to be out of order for a while, but I would get it done.

  “No, keep it. I mean as long as you want. Don’t worry about getting it back any time soon or anything. It’ll keep you warm.”

  I took it from him, our hands touching for one second in the exchange. Banyan was adorable. There was no other way to think about it. My cheeks felt warm again. Was I going to blush every time I was near these guys?

  “You obviously paint in it.”

  He one-shoulder shrugged. “I can paint in anything.”

  Maven looked between us, not speaking, but I felt his gaze following us intently. I took a deep breath. “Thank you, Banyan, for the shirt.” I pulled it on over my head. It was huge on me and smelled like laundry detergent. It really would be warm. “I’m not good at accepting generosity or gifts. You three have been so nice to me. I will find a way to pay it back. I promise.”

  “No need,” Banyan answered. “We like having you here, actually. You’ve never come to our parties, right? I don’t think there’s enough alcohol in the world to make me forget seeing you.”

  Maven groaned. “And he pulls out the cheese.”

  Banyan rolled his eyes. “You just wish you had thought of that.”

  “Come on.” Chance took my hand. “Let’s get you back in your dorm before the powers that be change their mind or some red tape alters things.”

  I let him lead me away. What was it about this place that always made me feel like I had eyes following my every move? I turned slightly to glance over my shoulder. This time, I actually did; both Maven and Banyan watched me depart. I smiled at them, suspecting it looked awkward when I did.

  “Bye.” I’d almost forgotten to say it. I would have to get Banyan back his shirt. Otherwise, I wasn’t sure if I would ever see them again.

  Other than having to walk the four flights of stairs—or rather run them since everything Chance did seemed to be at full speed—instead of taking the elevator, I found my room much as I’d left it. I walked inside and looked around. Everything was fine. I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d held.

  Chance walked in after me. “The rooms in this building are big. I kept picturing my freshman year dorms. I forgot that they get bigger when you get older. Only the incoming crew has to suffer.”

  That was true. We’d lived practically on top of each other, and my roommate had hated me. She wanted to be loud and drunk all the time. When she’d started pledging a sorority half way through our first semester, she’d all but vanished, sleeping either at the sorority house or at one of her sisters’ rooms. I think we’d both been glad she’d done that.

  But then I’d met Molly in the student lounge, and we’d hit it off. She’d been my roommate ever since. Only in the last year had she had R.J., which had changed things. That was okay. Life was full of change. I had to roll with it.

  “My freshman year roommate’s name is Miranda Woods. She’s in Mu Gamma Pi. Do you know her?”

  I don’t know why I asked, exactly. I just sort of wanted to know if he was pals with Miranda. I rarely disliked anyone as much as I did her.

  The few times she did come back to the room, it was to take my clothes without asking, and I never got them back. And she was always such a mess.

  “Sure.” He didn’t comment more but looked around. “Oh, Maven has that on his wall, too.”

  I looked where he pointed. “Yes. We talked about it
last night.”

  Chance was so quiet right now. He’d been really chatty in the SPiI house and on the street. Had I done something wrong? “You know he doesn’t let girls sleep in his room. I mean, ever. Not one girl the whole time he’s been here.”

  Okay. “It was really nice of him. Of all of you. I’d have been lost last night. You’re truly my heroes.”

  He spun to face me, a grin on his face. “I always wanted to be a hero, but I’m slacking in the hero department. Maven gave you his coat, and you slept in his bed. Banyan has now partially dressed you.”

  I shook my head. “Not a competition. You were all there. And you seriously helped me. Plus the ride over here right now.”

  Chance didn’t comment and instead walked over to my bookshelf, looking at what I had on it. My room was pretty generic. I had the same comforter I’d had for three years, a blue plain blanket that wasn’t too warm or too cold. I didn’t own too many clothes. I kept my side mostly tidy. It was my bookshelf that was the most interesting to me. I loved books. Devoured them. I could read a book a day if I didn’t have homework.

  I grabbed my cell phone. It was where I’d left it charging in the wall. Molly had blown up my messages. I did a quick scan. She must not know about the fire yet. She was mostly complaining about R.J. He’d stood her up last night. I’d text her later.

  Instead, I looked up a local hotel and dialed the number. This was going to hurt, and I was going to have to use the emergency credit card to pay for the room. I didn’t want to end college in debt, and so far, I’d been very good about not running up charges I couldn’t pay for. My question about whether I needed a part time job had basically been answered. To pay for this mess, I was going to have to get one.

  The woman answered on the other end, and I listened to her greeting before I spoke. “Hi, yes, I’m hoping you have a room free from now until January 7th.”

  “Hold one second please, my computer is running a little slowly.”

  I cleared my throat. I was thirsty. “That’s fine. Happy to wait.”

  Chance shook his head at me. “What are you doing?”

  I covered the mouthpiece on my cell. “Getting a hotel room.”

  “Why?” He put his hands on his hips.

  “I need somewhere to sleep. My parents are in India, and they rented our home in Boston out to three students for the year. I’ve literally got nowhere to go.” I thought I had made that clear the night before? Maybe Chance hadn’t been listening.

  Chance groaned. “Hang up.”

  “What? No.” I turned my back on him. The woman was speaking again.

  “How many people will the room be for?”

  “Just me,” I responded.

  Chance touched my arm to get my attention. “Seriously, Giovanna, you’ll stay with us. It’s just going to be Maven, Banyan, and myself in there from now until school starts back up. You’ve seen we’re not bad guys. Come stay with us.”

  I shook my head at him. “Chance, you can’t possibly want that. I’m basically a stranger.”

  “Sure. But I’m pretty sure we’re going to be… friends.” Why had he paused before he said that word? “Please. Come on. I’m not going to let you go stay by yourself at that hotel. I’ve been there. Have you? Crummy neighborhood. I’ll worry for the next fourteen days. You’ll have to put up with me texting you every two hours to check on you.”

  My mind stuttered. Was he for real with this? “You don’t have my cell number.”

  That was probably the most asinine answer I could give him. In the meantime, I was being rude to the woman on the phone. “I’m sorry, ma’am, I’m going to have to call you back. My apologies.”

  I disconnected the call. It was Christmas, and that woman was working. I had so just not made her day better.

  “Giovanna, what’s the problem? Come stay with us. It’ll be fun. If it isn’t, leave.”

  He made it seem so simple.

  “I can’t keep putting Maven out of his bed.”

  “You don’t have to. You can sleep in my room. I even cleaned it up last night while you were sleeping. To be clear, it wasn’t dirty or paint splattered like Banyan’s can get. Although I think he cleaned, too. I have papers everywhere. I subscribe to my own organization system that only I can understand. It works for me. But there were papers.”

  I rubbed my eyes. “Chance, for goodness’ sake, you shouldn’t have to leave your room either.”

  He held up two fingers. “I have two beds. So I don’t have to leave. We can be roomies.”

  I supposed I should be freaked out by that suggestion, but I wasn’t. A warm flush traveled through me. The whole night with Chance? “I feel like I’d still be putting you out.”

  “I’m not all that nice, Giovanna. I mean, I’m not mean. But I don’t go around offering up my bedroom to every person who needs one. I like you. I liked you in class when you blatantly ignored my attempts to get your red-headed attention.” He brushed a strand of it away from my face. I had not done that. He had to be kidding. Wasn’t he? “You’re really smart. And I like that you say what you think and you don’t giggle. You straight out laugh. I like that you asked us if no one was assaulted in our house or just not reported. That was a straight up balls to the wall question. I like you. I think you could like me, too.”

  I was sure I could. I didn’t have that many friends, but I could tell Chance, Maven, and Banyan were good people. “If you’re sure.”

  In my mind, my bank account stood up and cheered. Chance gave me a million dollar smile. “Awesome.”

  “Do you maybe want to check with Maven and Banyan? They might not want me there.”

  He walked back to my bookshelf. “They’re good.”

  “How do you know that?” He couldn’t just assume. Maven had given up his bed for me and run out first thing in the morning to check on the dorm fire. I wouldn’t blame him if he was capital D-O-N-E, done with me.

  Chance pointed at the books. “Pack some of these. I haven’t read a whole bunch of them. I have to read non-school things to go to sleep at night. Looks like you’re the same. I’ll trade you some.”

  He liked fiction? My heart turned over right then. Maybe I had actually met someone who wanted to talk about non-literary books with me. Oh, I loved a classic, too. I was an English major, but yes, I loved mystery and romance and fantasy.

  I kept my cool. “Okay.”

  If I was doing this, I had to get clothes and get moving on it.

  “As to your question about how I know they won’t mind? First, you’ll be sleeping in my room, not theirs, and second, Maven chased you onto the street to learn your name and Banyan gave you his favorite sweatshirt. If I told them I let you go to a hotel, they’d simply drive to the hotel and get you themselves.”

  It had taken him a little bit to answer me, but I liked that one. They really wanted me around after just meeting me?

  He wasn’t done. “I’m feeding you before we go back. You haven’t eaten yet, and I’m starving.”

  I looked over my shoulder. “I’d kill for some coffee.”

  “I know the perfect place, and it’s open on Christmas.”

  I loved that idea.

  Chapter 4

  I stared down at the pancakes I’d managed to eat a quarter of before I was full. Could I take another bite? No, I absolutely could not. I rubbed my stomach. That had tasted amazing, but I couldn’t fit another morsel in my stomach. Not without pain.

  “How did you know this place was open on Christmas?” I hadn’t even known it existed. I didn’t have a car so I was stuck going to the places within walking distance of campus. Five miles was too far for me to go in search of food. I’d given myself a two mile radius as my stomping grounds.

  He smiled as he swallowed his bacon. “I saw a sign they had up saying they’d be open.”

  The restaurant was full. We were clearly not the only two people who’d gone in search of sustenance on Christmas morning. “This is fantastic.”

  “I
agree. I come here hungover most of the time. I knew I liked it, but boy do I like it more not hungover.” He shook his head. “And that made me sound like a full on asshole.”

  I laughed. “No, it made you sound like a college guy.”

  “Maybe the same thing, right?” He winked at me. “What are you studying?”

  There it was: the requisite what’s your major question. “I’m an English major. How about you?”

  “Biology and pre-med.”

  Now that was impressive. Our little college had a huge acceptance rate into medical school. All graduate schools, really. But med school acceptance was one of the ways the college sold itself to students. In the day of competition, as my father liked to say, all small liberal arts universities had to have something about them that made people want to go there as opposed to paying less at public universities and saving their money for graduate school.

  Ours was theater and science. I wasn’t in either program, but the head of the English department was world-renowned and I loved his classes.

  “That’s incredible.” The brains of some of my classmates never ceased to amaze me. I hated biology. I’d taken what basically amounted to biology for people who are not good at it as my requirement.

  He waved his hand. “I don’t know if it’s incredible. It’s what I always wanted to do. I’m good at science. I hated my English class. I had no idea what Shakespeare was saying. Just tell me what he’s saying.”

  His green eyes sparkled when he talked. They were amazing to look at. “Are you from a family of doctors?”

  “No, in fact. My family makes lingerie. Well, all kinds of women’s clothing but mostly lingerie. Well, we don’t physically make them. We are in the manufacturing of women’s garments.” He took a sip of his coffee. “There I spit that out.”

  I took a sip of mine. It was sweet. Molly always asked me if I wanted any coffee with my sugar. Still, this was the way I liked it. “Bras. Panties?”