Read Online Beware of Love in Technicolor by Kirstie Collins Brote - Free Book Online Page B

the mall,” he said, and took a sip from the Thermos. “We were just about to leave.”
    “You are coming with us, right?” Brett asked me.
    “Uh, I don’t know,” I started. I looked to John. He met my gaze, and had the same look about him as the night I went to the French film with Brian Deneen.
    “Of course she’s coming with us,” John said, a bit too loudly. “There’s nothing Greer likes more than a party.” He pulled his leather jacket on and looked me straight in the eyes as we all exited his room. He walked in front, his long legs outpacing us. I searched my mind for some excuse to flee, but I came up empty.
                  We walked quickly to another dorm in Area 1. Once inside, Topher found the room we were looking for, and we were let in by a small, freckle-faced girl with a blue Mohawk. Her name was Prim, and it was obvious that it was the connection between the two that brought us all here that night. There was another girl inside, Prim’s roommate, who was a tall, skinny girl named Julie. She had a bottle of tequila in one hand, a cordless phone in the other. I envied them their private room phone.
                  The tequila, though, was a different story. I at least understood part of what was making John act like such a jerk. I wondered what exactly he had in that Thermos.
                  We hung out in the room for about an hour. They passed around the tequila, taking swigs and grimacing and chasing it with shared bottles of orange soda and Sprite. John kept his Thermos to himself. I was thirsty and dying for a Diet Coke, but did not dare ask for something to drink. I noticed that Brett was abstaining, as I was, though he was laughing and keeping up with the silliness despite his sobriety. I sat quietly in the corner. I think John even forgot I was there for a little while. At one point, I met Topher’s eyes and he smiled one of his summer day smiles at me. Then he jumped up out of the desk chair he was sitting in, threw one of Julie’s hot pink scarves around his neck, and stood in the middle of the room.
                  “I am big! ” he exclaimed with dramatic flair. “ It’s the pictures that got small! ”
                  Prim grabbed the scarf by the ends and yanked Topher down onto the bed, landing next to me. She sat on top of him. He looked at me, waiting, ignoring the girl tightening the scarf around his neck.
                  “Really? Do I win this one?” he asked, his face lighting up. Prim stopped her advances. Julie looked up from her long-distance phone conversation. John remembered I was in the room. I stood up to excuse myself to the soda machine down the hall.
                  “ Sunset Boulevard,” I stated, glaring at John on my way out the door. He had a faraway, glazed look in his eyes. It was exactly how I did not want to see him.
                  “Argh,” I heard Topher growl and laugh on my way out.
                  I was seething under the surface. I had specifically told John I wanted nothing to do with this part of his life. How dare he lead me into this situation instead of taking me aside and suggesting I go home?
                  When I returned to the room with my Diet Coke, people were moving about, pulling coats on and moving about to leave the room. Once back outside in the early October night, John walked up beside me.
                  “How are you doing? You ok?” he asked. His feet were having trouble navigating a straight line.
                  “Been better,” I replied curtly.
                  “Whatever,” he replied quickly, and stumbled away, back toward the people who didn’t seem to care what a fool he looked like.
                  Julie took the lead. I don’t think she talked about anything but sex the entire evening. Where, when, and how often she and her boyfriend