Taking Chances(10)

“Hey, hey! What's up Princess!”

“Princess! Where've you been all my life?”

I bit back my groan and smiled at the guys as I sank into the seat next to Bree, I tried not to let my disappointment show when I didn't see Chase there. No sooner had I cursed myself for spending the extra time trying to look perfect today, than two hands appeared on either side of my plate and I felt a hard chest press against my back and warm breath against my ear.

“Have you been hiding from me, PG?” He chuckled when he felt me shiver.

“Why, you miss me?”

“Of course. You're my favorite, remember?” His nose brushed along my neck and I almost turned into a puddle right there.

I sighed dramatically and leaned away from his intoxicating presence, “Sad to say you're not mine.”

“You sure about that?” He tapped a finger on my arm that was now covered in goose bumps.

“Chase! Stop bugging her, go sit down.”

I blinked over to Breanna, remembering we were at a table with a group of other people. Chase sat a few seats away and I was grateful to be able to think clearly again. I looked around the table to see Chase's four housemates, two other girls I knew to be girlfriends of Brad and Derek, with another girl I'd never seen before who was openly glaring at me. After shooting her a dark look I continued my inventory of the rest of the table, on the other side of Chase were two guys I had seen at the party, but didn't know their names, and across from them was a pair of gray eyes smiling at me. I dropped my face to look down at my salad and counted to five before slowly lifting only my eyes to find him engaged in a conversation with Chase. Raising my head a little to get a better look, I took in his short buzzed hair, warm smile and single dimple on his right cheek as his laughter boomed across the table. His build was slightly bigger than Chase's, and the way his shirt stretched across his chest and shoulders, I’d bet he was perfectly muscled. Dear God, and I’d thought Chase was the most attractive guy I’d ever seen. This guy was…just wow.

“See something you like?” Bree leaned into my side, looking down my line of sight.

“What? No.”

“Uh huh, that's why you're biting the crap out of your lip. He's looking at you again.”

My head shot up, causing the mystery guy to smirk as his eyes met mine. I felt my cheeks start to burn and forced my head back down and towards Bree.

“How do we know he's not looking at you?”

“Ha! I knew you were staring at him.” She grinned and took a massive bite of her burger.

“Wow, that's attractive.”

She tried to talk around the mass in her mouth, “You're just jealous you didn't get one too.”

Looking down at my salad I grimaced. My stomach was flipping so much now I don't think I could eat at all. “Do you know his name?” I whispered in her direction. Before she could answer, Drew interrupted.

“So Princess, how come we haven't seen you lately? It's been like two weeks, I feel so unloved.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes at him, “Oh I’m sorry, did your girlfriend deflate already?”

The entire table burst into laughter and Derek was slapping him on the back while trying to keep his drink from spewing out of his mouth and nose. A couple of the guys started making fun of “Mindy the doll”, and I was glad the attention was away from me.

Bree leaned back towards me and whispered, “His name's Brandon, he lives with the guys too but he wasn't at the party.”

“So you know him well?” I wanted to look at him so bad, but didn't want to risk being caught staring again.

“Not really, he's only a Junior, and he lived in the dorms last year. I just met him this week during lunch.”

“Only a Junior?” I asked confused.

“Yeah, the rest of the guys are Seniors.”

“Oh.” I looked up at her but gestured towards Brandon with my eyes, “Anything going on...?”

She smiled and nudged me before sitting up straight, “I've already got my eye on a couple other guys.”

I nodded remembering that she'd been talking about some guys in our dorm all week that she had classes with. Hearing my name, I glanced up to see Chase's fork paused halfway to his mouth, his jaw set tight, and his eyes burning holes in Brandon who was talking with one of the guys across from him. When he was done killing him a million different ways, Chase's eyes cut across to me and his entire face relaxed. He nodded slightly and resumed eating.

“Party tonight, you girls game?”

Bree snorted, “Seriously Zach? When have I ever not been there?”

“Princess?”

Bree answered for me, “Of course she'll be there.” then she whispered to me, “It won't be anything like the first one. There probably won't even be twenty people there. They save the big parties for Friday nights.”