"Here," Hannah passes me a drink on Friday night, "liquid courage."

I rolled my eyes but took it anyway, "I don't need liquid courage. I'm fine." Okay, maybe I did. I took a sip of this rum and coke and immediately wanted to down it, but I knew I probably shouldn't. I had to pace myself. "Thanks."

She smiled at me and eyed the room. "Okay, see any hotties?"

I did actually, but I didn't know about them. "That guy's not that bad," I pointed him out.

"Oh no," Hannah tells me, "hooked up with him last week. Terrible kisser. Terrible."

Oh my gosh. Ha. "Hannah," I laugh with her, "then I don't know. You pick someone for me, I guess."

She looked around the room with excitement and landed on a guy. He had dark hair and I couldn't see his eyes exactly, but I think they were light. He was dressed casually, a red cup in his hand as he was talking to a few guys. He turned for a second and I was able to see his face fully. He was pretty cute.

"That guy," she tells me before pushing me, "go."

I stopped myself and went back to her. "No, I'm not just going to go up to him."

Hannah rolled her eyes, "Fine, come with me," she grabbed me by the arm and led me over to where he was, "I'm going to push you slightly into him and the rest is in your hands, okay?"

"Han, no," I tried telling her but it was too late. She grabbed my hand and brought me even closer.

She casually was going to bump me into him, but someone ended up bumping into Hannah pretty hard which resulted into me bumping into this guy pretty hard and of course he spilled his drink all over my shirt.

ALL OVER IT.

I looked around for Hannah, but she was already gone. I don't even think she realized what had happened. Oh my gosh. Embarrassing.

"You okay?" he asks me, looking down at my shirt. Thank God it's not a white shirt, but oh my gosh. This is a fucking nightmare. "I'm sorry."

He's sorry? Ha. It was all Hannah's fault. "No, it's okay. I'm.. I'm sorry I bumped into you."

He smiled at me and then picked up his cup he dropped in the process. It was empty now because his beer was all over me. Well just my shirt. A little on my pants, but those were black. "I'll go get you some paper towels," he tells me and I'm confused about this whole thing.

I bumped into him pretty hard and he doesn't even seem to be mad about it. Ah, is this working? Is he interested? Am I going to hook up with him?

Before he could leave to get some towels, though, a voice interrupted.

"I got it."

I looked up and saw Troy standing there with a small smile on his face. What is going on here? Why does he always show up out of absolutely no where?

This guy looked back at Troy and gave him a small smile. "Yeah, sure man, go for it." The guy shot me a small smile and then before I knew it, I was being pulled by Troy and not heading towards the kitchen.

What? What's going on? He was dragging me upstairs, but not really dragging. I was walking up on my own, but I was still confused by the whole thing.

He grabbed a key from his pocket and opened one of the room doors. We walked inside and it was not what I was expecting a room in this house to look like. It was clean, it smelled good and it looked like a normal boy's room. Not a college room. Definitely not a frat room.

"What are we doing?"

Troy looked back at me and just shot me a smile before walking to his dresser. He grabbed a plain black shirt and tossed it to me. "Put this on. You smell."

I rolled my eyes and caught the shirt. I opened it up. It was a Beatles shirt and I was absolutely in love with it. "No, it's okay," I tell him. I wasn't going to wear his shirt. That's... weird. And to be honest, I'd probably want to keep it.

"Okay, if you want to go around all night smelling like beer, then fine, be my guest."

No, I definitely didn't. Ugh.

He smirked at me once he realized that I was actually going to put it on. "Bathroom's right there," he pointed to the right.

I looked over and yeah, there was a bathroom in here. And to my surprise, when I walked in, it was clean. Absolutely clean and not disgusting. Do I judge too hard sometimes? I never imagined a guy's frat room would be like this, let alone the bathroom.

Quickly, I took off my shirt and put on his shirt and took the smell in. It smelled like laundry detergent and I could whiff it all night. But that would be weird.

I came out of the bathroom and Troy was just sitting on his bed with a book. I did take a little long in there. I changed, I used the restroom and I freshened up a little bit.

But I didn't expect him to start reading a book. A book I actually like.

He looked up at me and smiled. "Nice shirt," he put his book down on the nightstand and got up. "You can leave that shirt here if you don't want to be carrying it around. You can get it later."

Yeah, I really don't want to. "Thanks," I tell him, handing it to him since he's reaching for it.

He throws it on top of his dresser and then turns back to me and suddenly, I feel a little weird. Not weird, but nervous.

I feel nervous.

Troy's just looking at me and sort of smiling and we're all alone in this room and should I do it? Would he want to make out with me? I didn't get a chance to make out with the other guy and I know Hannah will be pissed if I don't kiss someone tonight so should I got for it?

Uhh. Am I subconsciously going for it? Because I'm now in front of him and we're silent. And not saying anything at all. He's looking down at me with a small smile and he's reaching for my hair to push it back behind my ears.

He's so unbelievably hot, I can't take it.

It also doesn't help that I'm in his shirt. Ahhh I now want to make out with him SO bad. He's sooooo good looking and he probably kisses good.

I don't know if this was his intention the whole time, bringing me up here and being nice by lending me a shirt and then he was going to suck me in. Or if he's just genuinely a nice guy. I don't know. Maybe it's the first one. He is a frat guy, after all.

But I didn't care in this moment. We're ridiculously close, not saying anything and I so badly want to kiss him. I haven't kissed anyone in three months.

And before I know it, he's leaning in and we're kissing. He tastes like beer and mint and surprisingly, I'm loving in.

He pulls me closer and deepens the kiss as I snake my arms around his neck. He slowly brings his hands up from my waist to my back and then to my face where he's gently cupping it and I'm feeling butterflies all over my stomach. Maybe it's because I haven't done this in a while. The first kiss. It's been almost two years since I've had a first kiss with someone. Or maybe it's because he's fucking hot. Or it could be that our chemistry is undeniable. I mean, we have walked to class twice this week and I did see him another time where we ended up talking while we walked to the parking lot. This isn't that random of a hook up, but it's a hookup nonetheless. And Hannah is going to be so proud of me.

I pushed forward and it ended up pushing him back, straight into his dresser and it was like in those movies where they bang on the dresser because they're so into it and everything falls, but nope. Not here. Nothing fell. But we moved away from it and somehow found ourselves on the bed.

And I just went for it. We started making out hardcore and I was really feeling it. He tasted SO good. And he was a damn good kisser. Better than Brian.

It was good for about 5 whole minutes. Straight up making out and then he sort of turned me over and looked me in the eyes before reaching down to put his lips on mine and something just came over me.

No, I wasn't going to have sex with him. No, I can't. And I won't.

I immediately pushed him off and got up and straightened myself out. "Sorry, I, um, I gotta go."

I looked him in the eyes and he looked confused, like am I really turning down sex with him? But I am. I'm not going to have sex with someone I barely know. No way. I had to get out of there. I fixed myself up a bit, got off the bed and ran to the door and opened it as fast as I could. Because this wasn't me. I'm not the kind of girl to go raound making out with people. I got carried around. And it led me to being in a position where I could have had sex. Oh my gosh. This could have been so bad. What if he was someone who didn't let me leave when I wanted to? Thank God he did.

"Gabriella!" I heard him scream my name, but nope. I was already to the stairs.

I ran down them as fast as I could, went to find Hannah, and got the hell out of there.

This night needed to be over.

"That is why you don't go to someone's room, Gabriella!" Hannah tells me as we're sitting on the floor of her room eating some In N Out.

It's in a tone that makes it seem like I'm supposed to know that or something. And sure, yeah, it's common sense, but I'm not this person. I don't know the rules. "Obviously not. I know that now!"

"Yeah, you're just supposed to make out with them in a corner or something," Peyton jumps in as she turns around in her chair at Hannah's desk.

I rolled my eyes. She wasn't even there. "You weren't even there."

Peyton laughed and joined us on the ground as she took her burger and fries out of the bag after she checked her Facebook on Hannah's computer, "I know, but still. You don't go upstairs or to some room with a guy you barely know. You know what that's going to lead to."

"He wasn't even my target!" I basically shouted as I squirted ketchup all over my fries, "I didn't even know where we were going, and to be honest, he was an acquaintance so I thought he was going to help me out. And he did, but then, yeah..."

It was the truth. He was sort of an acquaintance. I definitely knew him the most out of everyone at that party except for Hannah, of course.

Was it his intention? I don't know, most likely. He's in a fucking frat for crying out loud. It's like a rule to hook up with girls, probably. But I never wanted it to get that far. To the point where we were maybe going to have sex. No, thank you. I didn't even have sex with my last boyfriend until we were 5 months in.

Peyton sighed, "Okay, it's not the end of the world. Nothing happened. You're fine."

"Yeah, you're right," I think about it. She's right. I don't have to go to those stupid parties anymore. Nope.

Hannah grabs some ketchup and opens it with her teeth and makes a little pile in her basket of fries, "I still think you need to have fun and just hook up. It'll take your mind off of Brian, who I know you still think about."

I do still think about him. But not in a 'I want to get back together' way, just I don't know. I was comfortable with him. I had a serious boyfriend in college, my grades were great, I had great friends. Everything was perfect. And now that I'm single... it feels weird. Not that I need a man, but it just makes it feel like a real college experience now. You know? No boyfriend and you're on the hunt for one. Well, in my case, Hannah's on the hunt for me.

But maybe I do think about Brian in that way. He was in my life for a while, after all...

"Two to three more parties," she suggests to me, "two guys. That's it. And then I'll stop bothering you. I just KNOW this works."

Hannah is a self-proclaimed relationship expert even though she's not in one, but strangely, I trust her. And I really need her to get off my back.

So I agreed. "Fine."

Peyton laughed, "I'm so happy I have a boyfriend."

I was jealous of her. I liked being in relationships. But did I need one? Nope. Definitely not right now. Junior and Senior year are the most important. I'll go along with Hannah's request and then that's it. But honestly, I'm fine. I'm over Brian... I think.

"There's a party tomorrow..."

No. "Can I just maybe take this weekend off?" I ask Hannah as I grab my milkshake, "I'm not feeling it."

She rolled her eyes, but she understood. "Yeah, yeah. What do you wanna do tomorrow?"

"Can we go bowling? I haven't been bowling in forever!"

Peyton's face lit up and she started nodding her head in excitement, "Oh my gosh, yes! Liam and I were just talking about it, actually. We've been wanting to go. Let's get the group together, yeah?"

I nod as I reach over for some fries, "The usuals. And I don't even care who else. I just really feel like bowling."

"Done!" Peyton took out her phone, probably about to text her boyfriend.

And this is why I'm so happy I stayed in San Diego.

I have my two best friends, all our other friends here that didn't move away. It's the best.