Loud: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Male Romance) (6 page)

CHAPTER
SEVEN

Brooke

As soon as the professor said Emerson’s name with
mine, my blood ran
cold
. What
the hell? I mean, seriously,
what the hell?
Of all the names her
computer program could have randomized, it had to put me with the one person
I'd been trying to avoid like the plague.

As if it hadn’t been enough of a shock to see him
walking into the lecture hall and taking a seat right behind me. I'd imagined a
jock like Emerson would be taking business or marketing or sports management
classes — anything but advanced chemistry. But there he was. And so, for the
rest of the class, I'd had to sit there, feeling super uncomfortable, with him
literally
breathing down my neck.

After the professor dropped her bomb, there was
absolutely no way I could avoid contact with him. Not only did he live next
door to me, but he was also my lab partner for the semester. The
entire
semester. Absolutely perfect. Why
couldn't life have been kind and just partnered me with the uber-nerd a few
rows down — the one who looked like he weighed about ninety pounds
soaking
wet
in his
Star Trek
t-shirt with coke bottle
glasses, a bad case of acne, and a mop of mousy hair. You know, someone who I'd
have absolutely
zero
attraction to. Not the cover model jock from next
door. The same jock who made me weak in the knees every time he looked at me.

And, I hated admitting that. I hated that I couldn’t
stop myself from feeling that way about someone I barely knew. All it did was
make my life more complicated. In so many ways, I felt as though the Andrew debacle
was still hanging over my head. For that reason alone, I didn’t need
complicated. I needed logical. Simple. Clear-cut.

Being lab partners with the
one
person on
campus who I wanted nothing to do with, well, it was none of those things. As
the professor kept rattling off names pairing lab partners together, I tore off
a scrap of paper from my notebook and scribbled my email address on it.

That's all Emerson was going to get from me. Just an
email address. Not my Facebook, not my Snapchat, not my Instagram, and definitely
not my phone number.

Not that any of those would have really made much
difference considering he lived on the other side of my bedroom wall. A bedroom
wall that I wasn’t so sure he wasn’t desecrating with a slew of bimbos on a
regular basis. My thoughts suddenly flashed to the noises I'd heard on Friday
night and Saturday morning. Had it been him or had it been Chris?

An unwarranted and bizarre concoction of sensations
ran through me — hostility, repulsion, annoyance, and as much as I hate to say
it, jealousy. Maybe even a little arousal.

I shook my head to rid it of the thought.
No. Hell no! There's no way, there's just no
way…

“That's all, class,” the professor announced, snapping
me out of my trance. “If you didn’t see who your partners are, a few students
were absent today, so that could be the case. Just come see me and we will get
you in contact with your partner during the next class. Anyway, you have your
reading assignments to do before Wednesday, so please see to it that you do
them, or you'll quickly find yourself in over your head. I don't slow this
class down for slackers and have no sympathy for lazy students who don't do
their assigned readings. Now, if you have any questions, you have my email. Don't
hesitate to contact me if there's anything in your reading you're having
trouble with. Alternatively, if there's something serious you need to discuss,
you can find me in office 15C on the third floor of this building. Class
dismissed.”

I briefly considered heading straight to office 15C to
see if something could be done about this practice partner situation. But I
thought about what the professor had said — lab partners could only be switched
for very serious issues. I was fairly certain that an unwanted attraction to my
lab partner, as serious as that might be to me, would not be seen as such by
the professor.

With everyone getting up and leaving the hall, I
hastily packed my bag and turned around to leave, as well. I handed the scrap
of paper with my email on it to Emerson — practically shoving it in his face —
and spoke in a tone as cool and emotionless as I could manage while avoiding
eye contact.

“Here, Emerson. If you need to ask about anything for
class, here's my email since we're lab partners now. Otherwise, well, you know
where I live.”

He took the paper, looking strangely confused. For a
moment, it looked as if he was about to say something, but I cut in before he had
a chance.

“Well, that's it, I gotta run now. See ya.”

I pushed past him and hurried out of the lecture hall,
hoping he hadn't seen the blush spreading across my cheeks or picked up on the
nervous, awkward way I was walking as I passed him. I merged into the river of
students in the hall and headed on to my next class which was one of the
electives I had chosen — astrophysics.

I hoped I wouldn’t see him in that class, as well, but
with the way things had been going, I wouldn’t have been surprised.

***

After a hectic first day of classes, I sipped green
tea and watched the sun as it sizzled on the horizon, hanging just below the
tips of the distant hills. I leaned out off the edge of the balcony and glanced
to the side. Thankfully, Emerson's balcony wasn't within view, so I could relax
without having to worry that he or Chris would walk out, shirtless most likely,
and start bugging me while I was trying to unwind. Homework for the evening had
been completed. Dinner had been cooked, eaten, and the kitchen cleaned, leaving
a plate for Leslie when she got home from her meeting. She’d told me what it
was for, but I couldn’t remember for the life of me. But if I’d had a long
first day, her day had been longer. I settled into one of our patio chairs and
took in the evening.

From inside the apartment, I heard the front door
open.

“Hello?” Leslie called out, shuffling in with both of her
hands full of bags bulging with groceries.

“Hey, I'm out here,” I said glancing into the
apartment from my perch. “You need a hand with those?”

“Nah, I'm fine. Just gonna drop 'em off in the
kitchen, then I'll join you out there.”

A minute later, Leslie walked out onto the balcony,
carrying a small, potted plant in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.

“Violets,” she said as she put the plant down. “Our
first flowers for the apartment. It's up to you to get the next one. Sound like
a plan? We take turns getting plants for the balcony until we've got enough to
fill it up and make a real garden out here.”

I smiled; I'd always loved gardening and growing
things.

“Yeah! Sounds perfect. And, we can get a few herbs
growing for the kitchen, maybe some cherry tomatoes and chilies, too.”

“I like the way you think.” Leslie plopped down in the
seat beside me. “So, tell me, how was your first day? Good classes? Any hot
guys?” she said with a wink and a cheeky smile.

I sipped on my tea and shook my head. “You will
not
believe what happened.”

I proceeded to tell her about the unusual events in
chemistry class and the situation with Emerson being my lab partner that
existed because of said events.

“Oh my God, Brooke! You’ve got to be kidding me. Wait.
Are you serious?”

“Not even joking a little bit, Les. I have been
partnered with our hot neighbor and it really looks like there's no way out of
it. Like, none. At all.”

She chuckled and shook her head.

“Fate,” she said softly.

“What?”

“Fate, girl,” she echoed. “Something is telling you
that you should be paying a bit more attention to the man next door.”

“Oh, come on. It was just a coincidence, nothing more.
Seriously.”

“A coincidence would have just been him being in your
chemistry class. Being lab partners, put together by a randomized process on a
computer? Nope, that's way beyond mere coincidence. That right there? That's
fate. You two are meant to-”

“Stop right there, Leslie Marie. Do
not
say
that I'm meant to be with that douchebag.”
 

“Aww, come on, Brooke. Don’t ya think that's a bit
harsh? I know he's a bit of a party boy, but it seems a bit too soon to be
judgmental like that. I mean, you don't really know the guy-”

“You saw the strumpets at their apartment for their
party over the weekend, right? There was enough silicone in that pack of skanks
to keep the Titanic afloat. Have you never heard the saying about how you can
judge a person by the company they keep? Applicable here, Les,
very
applicable.”

“First of all, strumpets? Who even says that?” she
laughed. “Second, it kinda feels like you're shutting him out without even
giving him a sliver of a chance.”

“Look what happened last time I gave a guy a chance.”

She put a sympathetic hand on my shoulder and gave it
a squeeze.

“Bee, not every guy is gonna be like Andrew. You
gotta
let that go. It's really messing you up by holding on to it like this.
C'mon, Brooke, you're gorgeous, you're crazy smart, and you're such a
sweetheart. It's a waste seeing you build these walls around yourself and not
letting anyone in just because you’re afraid they'll hurt you. You can't live
your life like this — especially your college years! You're supposed to be out
meeting new guys, having fun, living life! I know you're serious about your
studies and that's great! It doesn't, however, mean you can't also have a
social life, you know? There are plenty of students who get their 4.0 who also
go to parties once in a while and even have romantic partners. It's all about
balance, BeeBee. Balance.”

“I'll get over Andrew in my own time, in my own way, okay?”

I sipped my tea and turned my eyes away from Leslie; I
didn't want to have that conversation. I wasn’t ready for it.

“You've been
getting
over him
for the last nine months, Brooke,” she said quietly. “Or, at least,
so you say. I don't see much
getting
over
going on.”

“Can we change the subject already?” I requested,
almost snapping at her. I immediately felt guilty about how aggressive my tone
was.

“I'm sorry, Les,” I insisted. “I didn't mean for it to
come out like that. I know you've got my best interest at heart. You really are
my best friend. I really love having you around, it’s just that…”

“Aw, don't worry about it, Bee! That situation with
Andrew was just… Look, I know how bad it was. I was there with you, remember?
And, I know betrayal like that is ridiculously hard to get over. But he doesn’t
deserve any more of your time or grief. I just want to see you happy again.
That's all. I just want my best friend in the whole world to be happy.”

“Awww. I so love you! Come here,” I commanded, and I
gave her a big, tight hug.

“You’re right. No more of my time. So, enough about
me,” I insisted as I let Leslie loose from my grip. “How was your day?”

 
“It was okay.
How would you like to act in a TV show like
The Walking Dead?
”

“Horror would be
such
fun to do! But I wouldn’t
be opposed to a little rom-com action with a hot guy,” I said with a laugh.
“Why? Where did that question come from?”

“Well, I may have a part in a student film coming up.
Some sort of slasher flick, plenty of blood.”

“Nice! You'll kill it. Pun fully intended.”

We both chuckled.

“They might need some extras if you’re interested,”
she added.

“That might be fun. Keep me posted.”

“You know I will.”

“Alright, Les, I need some sleep,” I said. “I left you
a plate from dinner in the fridge if you’re hungry.”

“That sounds awesome. I've got a long day again tomorrow.”

“Yeah, me, too – I’m gonna grab a shower and hit the
sack.”

“Night, Bee.”

“Night.”

I stopped by the kitchen to rinse my cup then headed
to my bathroom for a hot shower. It was just what I needed to wind down before
bed. After a lingering in the shower for a while, I shut the water off and
proceeded with my bedtime routine. I dried my hair just enough that I could put
it into a braid and it would finish drying while I slept.

The moment I stepped into my room, I could hear it.

That noise again. Yep,
that
noise coming from
the other side of the wall. Muffled grunts, groans, moans, and the rhythmic
thumping of a headboard against the wall growing faster and faster.

“Oh my word, again? Really?”

I stood in silence for a few moments, not quite
knowing what I should do. Well, not in silence exactly; it was kind of hard to
block out the sounds coming through the wall.

I ran through the options in my head. Should I tell
Leslie? Should I knock on the wall? Should I maybe knock on their door and
confront them? Or write a note and slide it under the door? Should I put on
some headphones and listen to music to drown out the sound?