Enjoy this one! There's some new faces to get to know...
*
Not Interested
Flashes of the night before woke Kaitlyn the following morning. Her eyes were stuck shut with mascara, though she managed to open them eventually. She was in her room, her clothes were flung over the chair at her desk and the place was a mess. There were empty vodka bottles, knocked over plastic cups and spilled drinks littered around the floor.
Mike groaned in his sleep beside her, and she craned her neck to look at him. His arm was woven around her stomach, which she didn't like to admit felt nice, and the other was under her pillow. He breathed slowly, in and out, but didn't wake just yet. Kaitlyn blinked, just to be sure it wasn't a dream, then gently lifted the covers to get a look at herself underneath.
Just wearing a bra.
So it happened.
She tried to peek at Mike under the covers too but he rolled over, groaning again as he woke up. He seemed to take a moment to adjust, and when he did he looked around regrettably at her. He smiled nevertheless and sat up in bed.
'My head hurts,' he mumbled.
Kaitlyn nodded in agreement.
'Do you remember anything from last night?' he asked then, rubbing his eyes and not catching the look of embarrassment on her face.
'Me?' she feigned confusion. 'No,' she lied. 'Just that we drank a lot, then we crashed here.'
Mike frowned and looked her up and down. He spied the fact that she was wearing a bra, but thankfully he couldn't see further under the sheets. He threw the cover off himself and stood up. Kaitlyn braced herself for the sight, but he was wearing a pair of boxers.
She sighed in relief and hugged the covers. 'I feel so fragile.'
'Same. I think I'll head back to my room and sleep for, I don't know, forever.'
Kaitlyn nodded; she was perfectly agreeable to him getting out of there as quickly as possible. He dressed quickly, then moved around the bed to her. He gave her a kiss on the lips. 'I had fun last night. Shame I passed out right after we got back here.'
Kaitlyn swallowed. 'Yeah, shame. Don't worry about it.'
She didn't care enough to be upset. It did irk her, though, that he'd forgotten.
He went to the door, and just as he touched the handle it opened from the other side. There stood a beautiful blonde, dressed head to toe in designer.
'Small world,' said Mike, standing aside for the girl to come in. 'Catch you later, Kaitlyn.'
Kaitlyn waved him goodbye, then promptly tried to bury herself in the covers.
'Oh no you don't,' said the blonde girl as she marched into the room, closing the door behind her. 'You're not getting out of it that easy.'
Natalya sat down on Kaitlyn's bed and dragged the covers away. She fixed her with an expectant stare and waited. Kaitlyn only shook her head.
'What was that?' Natalya prodded.
'That,' said Kaitlyn, snatching the covers back. 'Was my first time.'
'Do you even like the guy?' Natalya asked in an accusatory tone. She hadn't eaten a bite of her food yet. Meanwhile, Kaitlyn was on her second round of fries.
Kaitlyn shrugged. 'He was nice.'
'That's not what I mean,' said Natalya. 'I mean do you like him? Like, like him.'
Kaitlyn furrowed her eyebrows. 'What?'
'You know what I mean.'
Kaitlyn slumped in her seat. 'I don't want to talk about it anymore, alright? I mean it. It's my body and I can do what I like, alright Judgy?'
'Judgy? That sounds about right.' A guy stopped by the end of their table.
'Get lost, Wade,' said Natalya, eyeing the Englishman with disgust.
Kaitlyn looked up and got a good look at him. He was tall – very tall, in fact. Kaitlyn supposed he might play for the football team. His nose looked like it'd been broken several times, but it didn't take away from his handsomeness.
'So rude,' said Wade, before joining his friends at another booth.
'Who was that guy?' asked Kaitlyn.
Natalya rolled her eyes and picked up her fork, ready to dig in to her burger. 'Let's talk about something else.' Her eyes darted to the door suddenly and she paused. 'Like AJ.'
Kaitlyn felt herself go cold as she turned slightly to catch a glimpse of the girl she desperately wished hadn't walked in.
'Oh no,' Kaitlyn muttered, turning back and putting her head in her hands.
'Relax,' said Natalya. 'She's leaving again. Who's that guy she's with?'
'How should I know?' Kaitlyn said, craning her neck to have another look.
The boy's hood was up, covering his face, and he had his hands in the pockets of his oversized hoodie. He pulled the hood down a moment later, and tugged some headphones out of his ears that AJ apparently hadn't noticed. She was talking about something while the boy looked disinterested entirely. He looked up and caught Kaitlyn's gaze on him. She sent him a polite look, not too inviting, but he didn't return it. He merely turned around to order something from the counter. AJ continued to whiter on beside him.
'What's his problem?' Kaitlyn asked, picking at a fry.
'I don't even know who he is, but if I had to guess I'd say he might be the guy Randy was telling me about a few days ago.'
'Randy Orton?'
Natalya nodded. 'You remember him?'
'Yeah, I remember,'said Kaitlyn, smirking. 'Mom and Dad were pretty angry when I came back with a hickie on my neck, especially when pictures turned up on Facebook of us making out.'
'Ew,' said Natalya, pulling a face. 'He's nice enough, but I wouldn't want to get involved. Doesn't matter anyway, he has a girlfriend now. I remember your mother giving me an earful when I came home for Christmas break because of that, thank you very much.'
'I was surprised, too. I didn't think they'd realize I was gone.'
'Kaitlyn…'
'What? It's true. They barely knew I was around these last eighteen years. Not like Uncle Jimmy. He knew I was always having slumber parties with you for a reason.'
'Well he loves his niece,' said Natalya, smiling at her cousin. 'And we know your parents sort of suck sometimes. We just never say it.'
'I wish you would.'
'Never mind. You're here now.'
Kaitlyn smiled at the thought, though she wasn't sure how much of the smile was genuine. She was pleased to finally be away from her house, but was it really so much to ask for her parents to pay her a little attention every now and then?
'So what are you doing tonight?' Natalya asked, quickly sipping her drink. 'It better not be Mike Mizanin.'
'Okay, let's stop with that now. I wanted to do it, he was sweet, and I wanted to get it out of the way.'
Natalya frowned. 'You shouldn't want to 'get it out of the way' though. You should wait until you're really ready.'
'Maybe I was ready.'
'How do you know? You were a virgin this time yesterday,' said Natalya.
Kaitlyn rolled her eyes.
'Let's move on. Tonight I don't know what I'm doing. Might start on one of the very many books I have to read this semester.'
'Sensible choice,' mused Natalya. 'I'm going to dinner with Tyson before the year starts and we don't see much of each other.'
'Has he proposed yet?' Kaitlyn asked, feigning boredom. At the sight of her cousin blushing, she grinned. 'Seriously, it's been forever. Do you think he'll ask soon?'
'I don't want to think about it,' said Natalya, hiding a smile with difficulty. 'Just in case it doesn't happen.'
'Sensible choice,' Kaitlyn repeated with a smirk.
'Whatever. Just go home and read, I'll pay for this. You get the next one.'
'Alright. I'll see you tomorrow maybe?'
Natalya nodded. 'You should really make friends with people your own age though, Kaitlyn.'
Kaitlyn laughed. 'But I like hanging out with you, Grandma!'
Natalya's mouth dropped open but she didn't argue. Kaitlyn grabbed her things and made for the door. She looked back at Natalya as she left, giving her a quick smile, then headed back in the direction of her dorm room. It was a nice day. The weather was bright and warm, and Kaitlyn decided that it was time she properly showed herself around the campus grounds.
The first place full of people Kaitlyn came to was a small coffee shop, tucked away behind the sporting grounds. It was bursting with people, but it was still quiet; people were dotted around the tables, reading books, writing and some people sketching. It was a quiet place by the looks of it, not the kind of place you'd come in a large group. The décor was something, with old leather arm chairs and wooden floors, then colourful wallpaper. Kaitlyn liked it. She checked she had some dollars left from lunch with Natalya, then made her way in and ordered a vanilla latte.
'I'll get that,' said a male voice from behind Kaitlyn.
She turned around to tell whoever it was that she could buy her own drink but forgot all words save one when she saw who it was.
'Hi,' she said, giving him a coy smile.
John Cena. Star football player from her high school, a year older, attractive. Kaitlyn had a well-documented crush on the jock throughout almost all of high school, and he knew all about it of course. He was friends with Natalya's boyfriend, Tyson, and the four of them had hung out before. Tyson had let slip that Kaitlyn was crushing hard on him. Come to think of it, she hadn't paid him back for that yet.
'Hi,' he said, wrapping his arms around her and lifting off the ground. 'Natalya told me you were coming here this fall. It's good to see you.'
'You too,' said Kaitlyn when she was back on solid ground.
'What are you studying?'
'Classics.' Kaitlyn took her drink from the girl behind the bar.
'Hey John,' the girl said with a smile.
'Hey Mickie, how's things? Randy good?'
'Randy's great,' she replied, beaming.
She must have been the girlfriend Natalya had mentioned. Mickie headed off to serve some other people, so Kaitlyn and John found themselves a table towards the back of the café where they could talk without getting glares for disrupting the silence.
'So classics, huh? I always knew you were a smart kid.'
'You make it sound like I'm five,' said Kaitlyn, taking the first sip of her latte.
'Sorry,' he said. 'But it's true. How are you liking your dorm and stuff?'
'It's fine. I'm living alone, which is nice. My roommate never showed, but I'm not complaining. I get more room, can be as loud as I like and can invite whoever I want over.'
'Yeah,' he said with a knowing look. 'I heard you were at Mike's last night.'
Kaitlyn pursed her lips. She felt she knew where this was going.
'I didn't make it to the party until late, and by that time Mike had disappeared with 'some chick who couldn't keep her hands off him'… you know her?' he asked, looking amused.
'Who told you that?'
'A girl I know.'
'Was her name Layla, per chance?'
John smirked. 'She's a loudmouth, but she's pretty harmless.'
'She sounds it. I met her last night at the party. A girl called Maria introduced me to her and some other freshman girls.'
'Did you like them?'
Kaitlyn nodded. 'Rosa and Tiffany, they're freshmen too, were fine. Rosa's pretty open about things, and Tiffany seemed sweet. Maria was cool.'
'What about Layla?' The amused look hadn't fallen from his face.
'She wasn't happy when I went over to Miz, and she definitely wasn't happy when he and I left together if she's been telling people about it. But I'm sure she's harmless,' said Kaitlyn dryly.
'Maybe not totally harmless,' he admitted, and then looked more serious. 'Be careful with that guy. He's a friend but… he's not great with girls.'
'I'm fine.'
'Alright.'
'So what about you?' said Kaitlyn, desperate to change the subject. 'You the star of the football team here, too?'
'If I was would you still have a crush on me?' Kaitlyn laughed, but felt a blush in her cheeks nonetheless. John went on, 'I'm on the football team, yeah. We're pretty good. We've got some new players coming in this year and they're pretty good. One of them is British and he's brutal.' Kaitlyn had a feeling she knew who he might have been.
'We have a friendly coming up, actually, before the season kicks in. You should come.'
'Maybe I will,' she said.
'Maria's a cheerleader, so she'll be there. You won't be alone.'
'I'm sure I could drag Natalya along to watch with me.'
'Good luck with that,' John took a sip of Kaitlyn's drink and smiled. 'I've struggled to get her to come to a lot of them.'
'She likes football, though.'
'That's what I thought. I don't think she likes seeing her baby Tyson get hurt. The game's next week.'
'Awesome,' said Kaitlyn, snatching her drink back from him. She pulled out her phone and passed it over to him. 'Put your number in there and we can hang out some time. While you're at it put Maria's in too. I could get to know her better, I think.'
'Yes, sir,' said John, typing away.
'And hey, what is it exactly about Mike that I should stay away from?'
'Just don't think you can be the one to change him. I've seen girls try and fail, and I'm not taking away from them. They're great, it's just him.'
'Was Layla one of them?'
'They dated last year for all of two months before he bottled it.'
'Huh,' said Kaitlyn. 'Something tells me she's still a little territorial.'
'Layla's a spitfire,' said John, and for a moment there appeared to be a look of fondness on his face. 'You just have to get to know her.'
'Why would I when she's telling people about what happened with Miz and I like it's her business?'
'Miz?'
'Michael Mizanin is a bit of a mouthful, so I call him Miz. He's okay with it.'
'I'm sure he is,' said John. He handed her back her phone. 'Hang out with Maria, she's great. And if you ask I'm sure she could shed some light on Layla and Mike, if you're interested.'
'I'm not interested,' said Kaitlyn defensively.
John smirked. 'Clearly.'
Come back for more! x
