"Hey, Pixie!" Charles shouted as if from across the campus. "You ready for the twilight walk?"
"I told you not to call me that, dick." I reprimanded him. I was already self-conscious about my height and I didn't need a reminder. I met Charles during move-in this year. The STEM house was filled with "nerds" who partied too much, and he was no exception. We lived in the same apartment with two other guys and two other girls, not the most ideal set up.
"You didn't answer the question, bitch." He retorted jokingly. "Are you ready to freeze your ass off in that snow? There's about a foot and a half out there now."
"No…" I growled. Truth be told, I was lying. I had never been sure as to why, but my body temperature had always been oddly low, the cold didn't bother me. But the more I can avoid drawing unnecessary attention to myself, the better.
"Don't worry Alice, I'll keep you warm!" Craig shouted, running out of his room to lift me up into an unnecessarily tight hug.
"You're crushing me! Put me DOWN!" I tried to get out with the little breath I could muster.
"Come on Craig, we're going to be late!" Nicole said while smacking him on the back of the head.
I had feared college at first. Yet another unknown for me. Having been bounced around so much throughout the foster system, a concrete education was not in my past. While challenging, the first semester had actually proved successful. Not without its challenges, but the friends I had found in this unlikely group healed more trauma within me than I would ever let them know. Sarah alone was solely responsible for saving my very soul.
Craig passed around another round of shots messily, a buzz firmly setting into all of us.
We filled our mugs one final time before leaving the dorm in a laughing, huddled mess. The walk was cold regardless of my temperature, but it definitely did not bother me as much as the others. We soon gathered around the steps of Pennsylvania Hall, listening to the President giving her final Twilight Hour speech. Her story spoke the most to me. One of loss and loneliness one ti finally feel seen and hope through this college. Impacted greatly by the ghost of change that constantly loomed throughout the town steeped forever in its bloody history.
The crowd drew closer to one another as a brisk wind set into the night, pushing me sharply into Nicole "Alice! You're freezing, get off of me!"she yelped as she pushed me away from her perhaps a little too rough.
I stumbled backwards influenced heavily by the alcohol by this point, spilling my hot chocolate and vodka all over myself and behind me. It felt like I had hit a concrete wall and when I turned around, I almost wished I had.
"I'm so sorry, my friends are jerks." I rushed out fumbling over my words as I stared up at this Greek God like figure. He hadn't turned around yet, but he hadn't needed to. He had shoulder length, messy blond hair with a triangular, lean, and muscular frame. It seemed like his legs continued for miles as he towered over me. All of this was nothing compared to when he turned around.
"My apologies…" he trailed off. When he had fully turned to see the offending creature that had smacked into him, he froze almost too still to be human. "Alice?" he whispered leaning closer to me.
"Jasper? I..uh…yeah." Damnit Alice. Get yourself together. This gorgeous specimen of a man and you can't form a coherent sentence? How did he know my name? More importantly, how did I know his?
I shook my head quickly. "I'm sorry. To be honest, my friends and I have been drinking before coming here… and there was more in this cup…and well now it's all over you…Did I mention I'm sorry?" I tried to change the subject back to my apology so as not to seem weirder than I already was.
By then the two other towering statues around him had turned and were looking at me with the same expression of shock. Did I have that much to drink, or were they actually that shocked, horrified even? Jasper, if that was his name, was the only one who should have that look, he's the one with hot chocolate and vodka all over him.
"We should probably get you cleaned up and get you some more hot chocolate to stay warm." He leaned in to say with a wink as he pulled away. Who was he, how did I know his name, and why did I trust him like I did?
I could feel my friends' piercing and protective glares burning holes directly over my shoulders.