Bad Rep (Bad Rep, #1)(3)

I found out the guitar guy, Eli Bray, lived in town and worked at a local garage.  He had no plans to go to college and barely made it through high school.  He smoked pot like crazy and did little more than hang out with his cousin Randall and his cousin’s girlfriend, Cicely, playing his guitar.

When I really thought about it, I was slightly mortified to be attracted to someone like that. I was the complete opposite of Eli in every possible way.  But considering my recent descent into slackerdom, perhaps that explained the inexplicable attraction.

Riley hated him and made that clear on the few times I had invited Eli over.  Riley had barely spoken to him and often opted to pretend he wasn’t there at all.  So I started waiting for my roommate to leave before asking Eli to come over, which annoyed me because it felt too reminiscent of living at home with my folks again.

Despite the fact that Eli was motivationally challenged, he was pretty fun to hang out with.  And shit, to be totally honest, he turned me on like crazy.  We hadn’t slept together yet, but there were plenty of other lust-fueled activities to spend our time on.  And truthfully, that was the sole basis for the relationship.

So when Eli suggested that I hang with him at Randall’s, I had a hard time resisting the offer. Considering I knew we would put in an obligatory show for about twenty minutes before Eli would drag me into the spare bedroom.  It made me tingle to think of spending an afternoon like that.

But I had other priorities just then. Ones that unfortunately, didn’t involve hot guitar boy's tongue.

“Can’t, I have to go find a second job.  Had the heart attack surprise of an overly inflated credit card bill this month.” I picked up my pack of cigarettes and headed inside.

The beautiful thing about Eli is that he didn’t immediately chastise me like Riley had.  He didn’t question what I had spent the money on.  It could have been he was being respectful, or more likely, he just didn’t care.  He simply took my word that I had other plans and didn’t push me for more.  But on the other hand, it made me feel like he really could have cared less about what was going on in my life. Which is the very reason I could never contemplate taking this thing we had going on to any sort of other level.  Eli Bray and boyfriend didn't belong in the same sentence.  And for now, I could live with that.

“Okay babe.  Well, I’ll be at Randall’s this afternoon. Come by if you can. I’ll catch up with you later.” No assurance of when I’d hear from him again, just a vague ‘see ya.’

Before I could reply, the line went dead. Okay then. Riley emerged from the bathroom, a waft of steam following her into the hallway.  “You didn’t use up all the hot water again, did you?”  I complained, grabbing my robe from the back of my bedroom door.

Riley shrugged. “Should be a bit left, no promises.”  I groaned and closed the door to the bathroom.

I took out the tweezers and spent a few minutes plucking the crazy bushes I called eyebrows into some semblance of shape.  I pulled the skin at the corner of my eyes and stuck out my tongue.  I  was pretty, even I could admit that.  With dark brown hair that stopped just below my shoulders and even darker eyes.  I was slender without being skinny and was pleased with the way I had curves in all the right places.  Despite my attractive appearance, I had gone largely unnoticed in high school when it came to the opposite sex.  So it had been quite a shock when I came to Rinard College and discovered that guys actually liked me.  Desired me even.

As a result of this new self-realization, I discovered that I liked to date, and date often.  I had had a string of sort of serious boyfriends on and off since I was a freshman.  None of them lasted longer than a month or two.  Now that I was entering my junior year, I had every intention of continuing on my semi-monogamous path.

I was by no means a delusional romantic.  I was 100% into every guy that I dated, but I had never experienced real “love.”  Sure, I had lost my virginity mid-way through my first year of college to a guy I swore was the cutest boy I had ever seen.  But two months later, I found myself being dumped for a hot sophomore with double D breasts in his biology class.  Sure it had hurt, but I got over it.  I always did.  That's how I knew the love bug hadn't bit me yet.  Maybe I was a bit behind the curve in that department.  I thought about Eli and almost laughed at the thought of him being my “one.”

No way in hell.

I rushed through my shower, finding that the water turned frigid after about four minutes.  Damn Riley! I hurriedly got ready, forgoing blow drying my hair in favor of a quick and sloppy bun at the back of my head.

I threw on a knee length black cotton skirt and teal tank top.  Dabbing a bit of lip gloss on and I was ready to go.  Grabbing my brown leather handbag, I followed Riley out of the apartment.  We ran into Eli's cousin Randall as we were making our way to Riley's beat up Volvo.  He was lugging a huge guitar amp out of his trunk.  “Hey, Maysie.  You comin' by later?”  Randall asked in that stoner way of his.  His eyes were bloodshot and a little unfocused, making it obvious a wake and bake had been part of his morning routine.

Riley rolled her eyes and got into her car without greeting our neighbor.  I smiled politely and shook my head.  “Can't.  Have to find another mode of gainful employment.  But I'll try and stop by this evening.  Will you guys be around?”  I asked, glaring at Riley as she gave the car horn a quick toot.