This wasn’t that. This was sex without any of the good parts. Or at least that’s what I imagined sex was like since I had seen no reason to partake in it and no men had tried very hard to convince me otherwise. Dirty, sweaty men rubbing against you until they were too tired to keep going. Both of you trying to match a rhythm and failing miserably.
It was my twenty-first birthday, and I was alone at a bar while my friends did things that I had no desire to do. Typical. It was fine. I hadn’t wanted to do this to begin with. I hadn’t wanted to put on a skanky club outfit.
More than anything, I hadn’t wanted to leave the sorority house. Not after last night. Not after the alley.
I sighed and turned back to the bar, sipping the vodka cranberry and enjoying the burn. It wasn’t the worst night I’d ever had. At least the music drowned out the people, and I could pretend like it was just me and the bartender who was slower than freaking molasses.
Then a hand brushed the middle of my back, and I sat up straight, turning to snarl at whoever it was.
It was Tony. Sasha’s boyfriend. Not my favorite person, and definitely not someone I wanted touching me. I wasn’t allowed to yell at him though. It was one of those unspoken sorority rules.
He was officially in the douche club. Or frat club. I wasn’t sure there was a difference. He always had that purposefully messy hairstyle, some polo shirt with an animal on it, a pair of jeans that cost at least a hundred dollars, and a pair of retro sneakers because “they were cool” according to him.
Tonight, he wore a salmon polo, and he was giving me creepy looks as his gaze drifted down to my chest. Sasha reached around his waist and grabbed his ass. “You look bored, Rose,” he said, ignoring his girlfriend.
She was pretty with a very typical sorority girl look. Long blond hair with obvious highlights and lowlights. A slightly rounder face than she’d like, but still cute. She had a very girl next door look naturally, but she primped enough and wore the right makeup and outfits to look like a sexier version.
“You could come dance with us,” Sasha yelled, her voice barely audible over the music. That was nice. I really didn’t want to listen to either of them. Tiffany was still dancing with numerous guys crowded around her.
“I think I’m going home soon,” I shouted back.
“Come on. We’ve only been out for an hour. You need to experience your birthday. You only get to turn twenty-one once, you know?” She may have been annoying with drastically different priorities than me, but she wasn’t a bad person. She’d been there for me last night, and she hadn’t told anyone.
“Fine, but can we go somewhere else? Maybe just a bar or something? I don’t like dancing.”
Sasha chewed her lip and glanced at Tony, but then she nodded. “Yeah, I’ll get Tiffany.”
She turned and left the bar, grabbing Tony’s hand as she left. I ordered another vodka cranberry since it would take a while to get her away from the crowds of people with their hands up her skirt.
I looked into the mirror again, and I saw a man standing behind me. Jet-black hair that hung down below his shoulder, lips that seemed too red to be natural, and features that were just a little off. Beautiful beyond anyone I’d ever met, but off.
More than anything, his eyes were different. Not the shape of them. Not really the placement on his face or even the color. Deep blue that made me think of the oceans. But they seemed to pull me in with an energy I’d only seen in two people in my life.
My mother and father. I’d forgotten so many things about them, but I’d never forget their eyes. They burned with a fire that couldn’t be forgotten.
Now, I was seeing that same fire in his eyes. I turned around trying to see the rest of the man who was looking at me. There wasn’t anyone with long black hair. I stood up, looking through the crowd. He should have been easy to see. He’d be tall and so different from everyone else.
He wasn’t there, though. He’d disappeared in the half a second it took to turn around. How was that even possible?
I sat back down on the barstool, but when I looked at the mirror again, he was still there. I blinked, but he didn’t disappear. He gave me a half-smile, our gaze meeting in the mirror, and I turned around as fast as I could.
Instead of the man, Sasha, Tony, and Tiffany stood behind me. I looked all around just as I had before, trying to spot the man, but he was gone.
“Who are you looking for, Rose?” Tiffany asked.
“A guy with long black hair. Like a clean rock star or something. He’s tall.” Everyone started looking around, even Tony.
“I don’t see anyone like that,” Sasha said after a few moments.
I frowned, my lips pressing together as I took one last look around. “I was looking in this mirror, and he was there, but when I turned around, he was gone.” I sat back down and looked in the mirror, but he wasn’t there.
What was going on? That was so freaking weird. Was I going crazy? Last night, I did something and got away. An impossible thing. Now, I’m seeing a guy in a mirror when he’s not actually there.
I left the rest of the drink in the glass and shook my head. I called the bartender for my tab, and then we left the club.
Something was going on. Something strange. Maybe I really was going crazy. I looked at Sasha and Tiffany, doing my
