Shaken and annoyed from both encounters now, her eyes flickered to the stairs, and for a few precious seconds, she considered leaving without Anna. After all, if it hadn’t been for her insistence, she wouldn’t even be here right now, dealing with these asshats. But she knew she wouldn’t leave her friend behind, so instead of heading back to her dorm, she headed to the second floor.

What felt like a lifetime later, she was finally at the top of the stairs. As she paused to catch her breath, she counted at least a dozen rooms with closed doors. Apparently, locating Anna wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d hoped. Her mood turned as dark as night, and she leaned against the nearest wall and closed her eyes – which added the highly unbeneficial effect of making the room spin like a merry-go-round. She was never mixing cold medicine with alcohol again. No, she was never drinking again. Ever.

Once her equilibrium was somewhat restored, she sucked in several gulps of air. Then, using the wall for support, she made her way to the first door, knocked, and pushed it open without waiting for an answer, interrupting the occupants and continuing until, finally, near the end of the long hall, with only three rooms left, she found Anna lying on a bed with her skirt shoved to her waist and her shirt opened, exposing a flat stomach and a belly button ring. A shirtless guy stood next to the bed fumbling with his pants. She recognized him – he had handed them a beer when they arrived – and he was not the same man Anna had headed upstairs with.

What was his name? Charles? Chase? And then she didn’t care because the first words out of his mouth when he turned to see who had interrupted were, ‘Come to join the party? I always say, the more the merrier.’

Seriously? As of right this second, she was swearing off frat parties, too.

Anna snickered and lifted one hand to wiggle her fingers in what could’ve meant hello or come here. Either way, it was time to get her out.

Grateful for a door to hold onto, Rachel ignored the guy still struggling with his zipper and said, ‘Lezzgo.’ She swallowed and tried again, this time enunciating each word like she was learning a new language. ‘Let’s. Go.’

To her surprise and delight, Anna agreed. ‘’Kay,’ she giggled. ‘Help m’yup.’ Her words slurred together in two smooth syllables.

And while Rachel wasn’t convinced she’d be much help, she was willing to try, so she stumbled forward with an unsteady gait, made all the more unsteady because of her high heels, and headed to the bed where she reached out a hand to help her friend up.

But instead of pulling her up, Anna dragged her down, laughing.

The bed was softer than she’d expected and closing her eyes felt like the best idea in the whole world. ‘Need to leave,’ she muttered, trying to resist sinking further into the inviting mattress, but kind of forgetting why she needed to resist at all.