College Boys

A Not So Overwhelming Intro To College Parties

MAYA

"You said that was a friend of Logan's?" Shanae's sitting on her bed scrolling through what I'm certain is Logan's followers on Instagram, attempting to track down Lucas. I walk to the middle of the room and start unpacking.
"Yeah, Lucas. He's one of Logan's oldest mates."
"I can see that now. How have I not heard of this Lucas before?" I shrug.
"It's not some big secret, he sort of grew up near us, and him and Logan always hung out. I guess he was always around somewhere, but they left for college and that was that. I met you and we were too busy having our own fun to notice." I remember Lucas being over a lot, but unless they were making fun of me for no reason, him and Logan and their other mates were always hiding somewhere else. I didn't really notice when Lucas was around, but once he and Logan left for college, things shifted a bit. I didn't dwell on it.
"But you two seemed to be getting all personal in each other's spaces, maybe he's closer to being part of the family than he thinks!" I throw a shirt across the room at Shanae.
"It's not like that, we fell."
"Fell doing what?"
"I was being an idiot, oh but, oh my god, you're going to love this!" My hands cover my face again and I turn to Shanae.
"What? What? Tell me now!" She springs to attention on the bed and I immediately start giggling.
"I fell earlier, straight through his door and landed on the floor between his legs." I rub my face, feeling the warmth of my pink cheeks again. Shanae gasps, jumping off the bed.
"Oh my god, you saw it, didn't you?!" I nod, still hiding my face. "And you were having a go at me for drooling over those other boys! We haven't been here and hour and you saw a freaking college penis! I love Creswick already!" She bursts into laughter, pulling my hands away from my face. We can't stand upright, pains shooting through my stomach from the laughter.
"Guess that was one way to start our college adventure." There's banging on the door.
"Come on freshies! Party gear on! See you at Mac's in twenty!" Some boys holler, thumping the door a few more times. Shanae grins at me, bouncing from toe to toe.
"Let's go party!" She spins me, then pushes the boxes over, tipping out all our clothes and shoving a pile of white material into my hands. "Hurry up! Today has already been eventful, imagine what college at night time will bring!"

*

College at night time doesn't bring as much as you'd expect. Someone needs to have a serious chat about the build up to college parties. Maybe we came to the wrong side of campus, but our first frat gath is nothing to gloat about really. Shanae and I aren't wandering around some massive house in awe at the crazy wild party life of college kids. The moment we stepped through the door, Shanae's first words were:
"This is it?" This is the second time today we've come to realise there are many parts of college that don't hit you with overwhelming emotion as you grow up imagining.
It's not that the party is bad. It's just, well, a party. The main difference is that no one is freaking out about trashing the place because there aren't any parents coming home at the end of the night. But, in saying that, there seems to be some sort of different respect in the air. Yeah, it's trashy, but no one is running around destroying things in the risky way we would at high school parties.
Of course there's plenty of alcohol on offer, and drinking games trailing from the first lounge through to the kitchen and backyard.
Shanae and I are walking through, analysing the situation. At least Shanae dressed us on theme. It's orientation white night — dress in all white and let yourself be 'tainted by the first night of college'. Some stupid idea of initiation I guess?
Each room of the two-storey frat house is filled with staggering students, most with a typical red cup in hand, swinging their heads, arms, and hips to the bass vibrating all the floors.
"First, we drink." I point to the kitchen where piles of unused cups are stacked. Shanae and I grab each other's hands and weave through the drunk and disorderly to the counter.
"What are we drinking tonight?" Shanae asks, scanning the open bottles and bowls of alcohol. Before she can take from a punch bowl, I tug her arm so she faces me.
"Rule number one: no drinking from random open drinks, including punch bowls." She watches me hike the side of my dress up a bit, pulling a flask from the strap high on my thigh.
"I like the way you think Hartley!" She grabs the flask and pours us a drink each.

It doesn't take long for my feet and fingers to start tingling. The key is to drink enough to feel floaty, but not so much that you can't walk properly. Shanae and I spent over an hour moving between the rooms and dancing with different people, attempting to socialise. I shouldn't say attempting, it's actually quite easy to make friends at parties if you just talk and dance with people. Some guys ended up setting a smoke machine up in the front lounge, which was fun and all, but I really need fresh air. Gotta keep the sober and tipsy balance. I sign to Shanae that I'm going to duck outside. She's grinning, nodding, giving me thumbs up, and shooing me away in a few seconds. I think the tall blond whose hands are pinching at her waist has a bit to do with that.
I push through the crowd to the back door. I saw a flicker of a fire to the left of the door earlier on. Sure enough, my feet hit the decking and my face is immediately hit with the heat of a fire. I scrunch my nose up. And a cloud of pot smoke.
"Little too strong for you, hey Freshie?" A long-limbed guy with fluffy light brown hair calls out to me from across the small fire pit. I look around the group sitting at the fire, immediately clocking five joints being passed between seven of them.
"It's alright, most freshies have never smelt pot in their lives before coming here, there's no reason to be ashamed." It feels like baiting, but I'm not opposed to joining the group. Again, it's pot circles at parties are nothing new. I've been hot-boxed twice before during high school. At least if I sit with them tonight, it's by choice.
"It just really hits you when you step out that door. Nothing wrong with it, just wasn't expecting it." I shrug and brush the bottom of my dress, offering a smile.
"Wanna join?" The brown haired guy returns my smile, accompanied by encouragement from the rest of the group, offering me a place at the fire. I walk around and sit next to him. The group whoops in satisfaction at recruiting a 'freshie'. The guy nudges my arm and I look into his eyes. They gentle and brown, with a hint of adventure glinting in the firelight. He holds out the joint. I take a hit. He watches me closely, expecting a big reaction I guess. I give him none. When I pass him back the joint he smirks. "I'm Xavier. Welcome to college Freshie."
"Maya." I state, looking back to the fire. I see Xavier examining the side of my face. I take another hit. He nods.
"Maya. I like it. So, what brings you to Creswick, Miss Maya?"
"Just Maya. And Creswick has been the dream for my best friend and I for years. We finally made it here." The fire dances in front of us. My limbs are so close I can feel the embers pricking my knees.
"And what do you think now that you've made it, Just Maya?" I glance at Xavier, who is smirking again.
"So far it has been everything we dreamt and also a completely not so overwhelming introduction to college." Xavier's shoulders shake with his head as he lets out a laugh.
"Yeah, welcome to college. Underwhelming is it's second name."
"What about you? What brought you to the dashing halls of Creswick?" Xavier hands off the last of his joint, pulling a cigarette from his jacket pocket, passing it to me to hold while he lights it. He takes the cigarette back and looks up pondering my question.
"Well, I always dreamt of following in my father's footsteps, attending the same college he did, majoring in the same classes and clubs, becoming the leading promise for a brighter future, all to one day hear him say 'I'm proud of you son.' Then he'd shake my hand, welcome me into the family business, and I could continue his legacy with pride." Xavier's eyes grow distant, the story playing behind his iris'. He gestures in front of him to paint the picture before taking another drag of the cigarette.
"Plus, the sex is pretty crazy." He refocuses his gaze back to me, grinning with a wink. I smack his arm.
"You're so full of shit."
"No, I'm serious! I'm here to make daddy proud and make the most of the college sex while I can! It's a wild ride." I shake my head at how stupid Xavier sounds while he continues to insist that college is the place where you'll have the best sex of your life and blah blah blah. I lose track of all the shit he's talking, especially when the rest of the group starts to chime in. They pass around the other joints and I lose track of the conversation all together. All I know is my body hurts from laughing at nothing.
"You've gotta be joking right?" My head snaps up from the fire. Immediately, the fun feelings leave my body.