Summary: A series. At the ten year suite-mate reunion with all of your Hartfeld friends, Chris honors a pact that you made during senior year. This is for anyone out there like me whose MC dated James and missed her chance with Chris due to his emotional unavailability in Book 1 (or anyone who just loves Chris Powell, really).
Disclaimer(s): I do not own any characters originally introduced in The Freshman. This series takes place mostly during a time jump. This series will be based on my own perceptions of the characters, and not all recollections of their history together will be cannon to each reader.
Stepping back into the loud, air conditioned club, you find Kaitlyn, Leighann and Abbie in the middle of the dance floor. James pats you gently on the small of your back to urge you toward them. You see him walk off in another direction and imagine that he’s going to rejoin Zack, Chris, Tyler and Zig, wherever they wound up.
Abbie’s face lights up when she sees you approaching. She dances her way backward to make space for you in their circle and you shimmy your hips to the music. When Kaitlyn turns, she’s holding her drink in the air and singing along to the lyrics. You can’t help but join her as the beat seems to thump from within you and it takes your body over.
“Are you having fun?” she yells in your direction, still dancing.
You gesture for Kaitlyn to hand you her drink and you take a generous sip before handing it back. “It’s better now!” you smile.
The four of you continue to dance and drink as the alcohol buzz sinks deeper into your system. The DJ starts to play songs that bring you back to your college days at Hartfeld, and as you revel in the memories with your friends, you can’t seem to wipe the smile off your face.
“Hey,” Kaitlyn grabs your attention, leaning in close to your ear, “quarterback, six o’clock”.
Your brow creases. “Huh?”
“Checking. You. Out,” she enunciates. Kaitlyn dances around you, spinning you discreetly so you are facing the opposite direction. When your six o’clock is now her six o’clock, she tilts her head back to gesture behind her.
Your eyes focus carefully behind Kaitlyn’s head. Among the crowd of people, shuffling, shaking and grinding, is Chris Powell, in the distance, standing still. Watching you. You can just barely see the other guys talking and laughing next to him, and he is clearly not engaged. His eyes are fixed on you, and to your surprise, he does not look away.
You bite your lip as your body heat seems to pool at your core and set you on fire. You continue to dance, slowing the sway of your hips seductively. Hands in your hair, your eyes remain locked on Chris. And in that moment, the place becomes a blur while your mind seems perfectly clear. The melody of the song and the movement of the bodies fade into the background until all you can feel is the bass pumping through you like a heartbeat. In that moment, you’re not sure what gets into you, but you beckon him toward you. And before you can second guess yourself, he’s on his way over.
At this point, you’ve lost sight of everyone around you, including Kaitlyn and the others, who look on from just a few steps away. The smile that lifts your cheeks when Chris places a hand on either hip feels natural and carefree. Your fingers find their way to the back of his neck, and you dance close.
Your breath hitches and begins to pick up speed when he looks you in the eyes. The sliver of his irises that you can see behind his pupils are blue as the ocean in the moonlight. It feels like he’s boring a hole through your face. He twirls you suddenly with ease and presses himself against your back, intensifying the friction, but it’s when he takes your hand and spins you around to face him yet again that you giggle like crazy into his neck.
Taking in his scent, you start to process just how close you are to Chris. Chris, the first boy you met when you arrived at college; who took your breath away. Chris, the one who surprised you with his kindness and his charm. The one whose friendship you’ve valued through the most vital times of your life…
You crane your neck to meet his eyes as his lips are closing in on yours. They brush softly.
Chris Powell, the one that got away.
“What?!” you blink, being pulled almost violently out of your ecstasy. Chris’s focus is beside you now, brows furrowed with concern. You look to your left to find Zack, distraught, with a kung fu grip on your arm.
“Did you hear what I said?! I hooked up with the bartender! What is the matter with me?!” Zack looks as if he’s on the brink of a panic attack. His hands have flown up and are pulling at the sides of his hair.
Your eyes go wide. “Zack, just, hang on a second. Take a few breaths. Let’s go take this outside”. You hardly get the chance to make eye contact with the others before the two of you are halfway out the door. Everyone who had witnessed Zack’s state exchanges looks with one another.
Standing as far out of anyone’s earshot as possible, you place a hand on each of Zack’s shoulders, “Now, wanna start from the beginning?”
Zack takes a deep breath and exhales through his mouth. “The bartender–Alex–and I have been kind of flirting all night. I figured it was all just playful and harmless but, I was still enjoying it. Then he made a comment that he thinks I’m totally cute and, well, basically…”
Your eyebrows shoot up, waiting for Zack to quit looking at his hands and spit it out.
“…We made out”. He meets your eyes, feeling shameful.
“You made out… like… in the bathroom?” Zack nods and you feign a scandalous gasp. “…Was it good?”
“Oh my god, I’m horrible! How can you joke at a time like this?” He throws his hands up again, beginning to pace. You chuckle to yourself, feeling bad for teasing him.
“Hey, hey!” You reach out to him, “I’m just messing around! I’m sorry; I’m back, now. Come here”.
“You don’t get it!” He sighs, “I’m so torn up over being on a break from Sam. It felt good to get some attention. And, if I hadn’t stopped myself, who knows what we would have done?” His eyes well up with tears.
“But, you did stop,” you remind him.
“Something came over me when things started to feel heated. I couldn’t let it go any further”.
“That’s good!” You proclaim, “Zack, you’re obviously feeling guilty about this and that’s because you care about Sam, right?”
Zack nods, “Yes, of course I do! So, we have a little hiccup and, what? The first thing I do is go and fuck everything up royally?”
“Look,” you say, calming your voice, “I know that you’re hurting and I won’t take that away from you. I also can’t tell you how to feel about what happened tonight. But, I will tell you that this doesn’t have to break what you have with Sam. You just have to decide what it means”.
Just then, Kaitlyn and Abbie come walking out toward you, soon followed by the rest of your friends. Zack doesn’t turn around to face them.
“Hey, you guys,” says Abbie tentatively, “Is everything okay?”
You look at Zack, who nods a little. “Yeah,” you reply softly with a smile, “I think it is now”.
“We were worried,” you hear a voice coming from behind the girls as Tyler steps forward to put his hand on Zack’s shoulder. Zack breathes, turning slowly to Tyler and the others. He offers a half smile.
“It wouldn’t be a reunion without a little drama, right?” he blushes.
You pat him gently on the back. “You wanna stay out here a little longer to talk?”
“Nah, I don’t want this to totally ruin my night out with you guys,” he says, “I might not get a complete do-over, but I’d at least like to focus on having a good time with my friends before we call it a night”.
Zig and Chris each throw an arm around Zack’s shoulders, walking him back into the club. You can hear him direct a question to nobody in particular as you follow behind. “Has somebody else at least fallen down or gotten into a bar fight yet? Dance battle? Anything?”
“Actually…” Kaitlyn pipes up, shifting her eyes quickly to you and then to Chris. You start to blush, pleading silently that she’s not about to say what you think she is.
“…Zig has found himself his very own stalker”. As she finishes the sentence, Kaitlyn shoots you a subtle wink and a smirk. You exhale and return with a look that says, ‘Dear god, thank you’.
Everyone laughs. Zack smiles, “Oooh, that’s even better than I could have dreamed of!”
Zig shakes his head, “Well, I don’t know if I would call her a stalker as much as maybe an… admirer”.
Chris cackles, causing Zig to break into laughter as well. “Whatever makes you feel better, man”.
“Okay, I need to hear this,” you prompt, smile growing on your face.
Tyler takes responsibility for recounting the story, “This woman comes up to Zig–clearly hammered–and starts touching his arms and his chest and asking him all kinds of personal questions. He danced with her–”
“–biggest mistake of my life,” Zig interjects.
“He danced with her, thinking he could slip away afterwards and avoid being a jerk. But she found us at the other end of the place, like, twenty minutes later. And she was saying all sorts of things. She said she wanted to have a threesome with Zig and James”.
“Oh, baby!” You manage to tease through your side-splitting laughter.
“Except, she kept calling me David,” James says, eyebrow cocked.
Chris slaps his knee, head falling back with laughter, “Davidddd, let me call you Daddyyy”
“Yikes, the pregnant wife thing backfired on you, huh?” You clench your teeth uncomfortably. James rubs his temples and shakes his head. Chris continues to laugh, triggering a domino effect of laughter from everyone else.
You all talk and laugh over the music for a while longer until it’s just about time to call it a night. Abbie and Tyler prepare to call the Ubers while a few of you use the restroom. The group is huddled near the exit when you notice that Zig is held up outside the men’s bathroom with a girl who’s just walked over to him. He looks kind of distressed.
You elbow Tyler, “Is that…?”
Tyler gasps, “The stalker!”
“I’m going in,” you step forward definitively, your friends snapping their gazes forward with a sudden interest. You march in a straight line up to Zig and his dreadfully sloppy pursuer. Zig’s eyes get wide when he sees you approaching.
“Zig, what the fuck is this?” You say when you stand in front of them, arms crossed, eyeing him meaningfully.
“Uh…” Zig mumbles, unsure of where to go with this.
The girl looks at you, then back to Zig, then back to you. She momentarily loses balance. “Zig, who is this?” she questions.
You scoff, “Ha, interesting how he hasn’t mentioned me”.
Zig starts to understand what’s going on as he looks between the two of you. He’s about to open his mouth when the girl plants both feet forward to face you and places her hands on her hips.
“Listen, I don’t know what business you have with Ziggy, but–”
“–Babe, it isn’t what it looks like!” Zig exclaims with wild eyes, looking at you.
“Babe?” the blonde echoes, scrunching up her face at him.
“The hell it isn’t!” You yell, “Honestly, Zigmund, I am done with you and your games!” You point your index finger at him and then stand on your tiptoes to smack him across the face before finally storming off. Strutting right past your friends and through the doors, you smirk at them playfully before ending your performance with a huff.
Left hand on his cheek, Zig is a bit stunned before shrugging at the blonde helplessly and then making a point to run off after you, leaving her behind. The rest of the group shuffles out behind him to join you outside.
“Aaand scene!” You smile, curtsying for your audience. Kaitlyn, Leighann and Zack are applauding.
“Sorry about your face, Zig. Also… you’re welcome”.