I heard one of the girls suck in her breath. I was assuming it was the same girl who’d been blushing every time he walked through the room earlier when we were eating. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him before.

I stepped back. “It’s my bad. I might have overreacted a bit.”

“Might have?” The quiet girl snorted.

The other two laughed, relaxing a little bit.

“Get out.”

They went tense once again.

Jordan had been the one to issue that order, and he stepped forward, looming over the girls. “Bren just did you a solid, and you’re too stupid to notice.” A chilled disdain emanated from him. “You’re privileged, and spoiled. This is her house. She lives here. You started talking shit about someone we all care about. Bren was just the first to make an issue about it, then she stepped back, saying she overreacted. That was an opening for you guys. What you should’ve done was show her some goddamn respect and say, ‘Nah. Our bad. We shouldn’t have talked bad about your friend. It’s cool. We won’t anymore.’ And then you should’ve gotten up and offered Bren a fucking drink because you three proclaimed yourself the bartenders tonight. But you didn’t do any of those things and this is me telling you to get out.”

One of the guys laughed, his voice hitching up. “I think we’re good for studying tonight. Maybe we should pack up, head back to the dorms?”

The girls rose, grabbing their things.

They couldn’t grab their stuff fast enough.

No one else said another word. We waited for all of them to pack up and head out. One of the guys held back. “Sorry about them.” He gave me a nod, cringing as he looked around the kitchen. “We’re leaving this place a mess, too.”

Jordan lifted a fist. “Don’t worry about it. Part of hosting. You know the drill.”

The guy laughed, meeting his fist to Jordan’s. “No doubt. Study session at my house next Monday, but we’re hosting a whole-day event before the game on Saturday.”

Cross asked, “What game?”

The guy turned his way. “The soccer game. You in?”

Cross looked at me before he said, “Yeah. We’re in.”

None of us were surprised about the party invite before the game. Soccer was becoming a favored event for the college. We’d gone to a couple of Blaise’s games before, and the crowd was larger each time. He told Cross that he got in because of his soccer skills, but we hadn’t realized that he’d been downplaying them. I didn’t go to Cain, and even I knew he was a big deal.