Freshmen Dorms

Luke swallowed and took hold of the leash, opting not to say anything that might incur physical fury from Connor. He could kind of tell what Evelyn had been so annoyed about. He tugged Frankie toward him, squatting down and letting the dog sniff his palm just like his old Cocker Spaniel back home did. He glanced up at Connor with cool eyes, suddenly unable to resist. "Probably. I wouldn't know. I don't change dogs very often."

***

Evelyn laughed a bit, releasing Alexis from her choke hold. She sat down on the edge of the desk again so she could see Alexis' face, and then fished around in her pockets for a packet of tissues, passing one to Alexis.

A sudden impish thought struck her. "Here's what we do. I know they say you should cope with bad things carefully, but screw them. When you're heartbroken and been used like this, you get even by dressing up like a slut and playing it on the line between safe and dangerous." She leaned forwards, green eyes glittering with inspiration. "We won't make mistakes, hon. We won't get trashed and we'll carry our best friend, Mace, with us. We've let boys take advantage too long, don't you think?"

"Nah. Just till a better model comes out, right?" Connor snapped slightly, his hands clenching. He already knew he was gonna punch Luke. But was waiting for a good time too.

Frankie sniffed at Luke before licking his hand and nudged his head against it.

***

Alexis dabbed at her eyes, thinking it over. She felt a little hesitant, from the fear, but the hurt and anger over-rid it. "Show him what he's missin' out on, right?" Alexis said, and grinned now. "I'm all for it."

Luke shrugged and rubbed a spot behind Frankie's ear expertly. "Dogs don't have models." He smiled briefly up at Connor and stood. "But hey, it's kind of like cars for some guys. You love it at first but then it gets old."

He knew Connor wasn't talking about canines. He didn't know where these words were coming from but he spit them out anyways. Even if they weren't him.

***

Evelyn clapped her hands, now enthused. "Ash is going ot die," she predicted. "But hell, we need outfits." She sprang off the desk and stalked to Alexis' closet, throwing open the door and flicking through her outfits. She pulled out a tiny black dress that looked more like something she figured Alexis might have worn with jeans. There would be no jeans now. "This is cute. It'll show off your legs if you wear heels."

"Mmm. Why don't we go hit fifth and decide if there's anything there we want?" Alexis put out, as she stood up off the desk seat. Feeling more like herself- the getting-payback bitch was coming back to her. If Luke was gonna just drop her, for some other girl, then it was about time to show him what he was missing.

***

"Neither do women, asshole." Connor hissed, pushing Frankie out gently before throwing his fist over, keeping it low and punched Luke in the face. He stepped back after, and crossed his arms, glaring at him. "I really hope you take better care of Frankie then you do you friends and dates."

Luke rubbed his jaw. It hadn't hurt as much since he'd kind of expected it. He grimaced at Connor. "You know, you should seriously take five. You're one to talk." He snorted, shaking his head as he let go of Frankie's leash. "I think you need a walk more than Frankie does. Go ahead. I'm sure I can make time later."

***

Evelyn cringed. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out, grimacing. "Ash wants to come with," she informed Alexis. "There's no way in hell I'm having her dress like us when she's going to be there on a date with some guy she barely knows."

[[Ev's current outfit for today]]

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"...She does?" Alexis said after a moment, feeling her stomach drop a little but forced herself to forget it.

***

Connor rolled his eyes, shoving the leash back into Luke's hands and slammed the door. Alexis might have been just his cousin, but she was also like a little sister and Luke was that high-school heartbreaker.

Luke shook his head at Frankie and then his lips quirked into a wistful half-grin. "Well, I deserved that," he commented, before turning and heading towards the elevators. He wondered just how he was to get the huge dog out of the building without getting caught.

He punched the button for the elevator and then stepped in with the dog, thankful no one else was riding down. But there would be people in the lobby.

He swallowed and kneeled down to talk to Frankie. "All right, big guy, this is what we'll do. When those doors open," he pointed at the lift doors, and Frankie cocked his head, "you run like your tail's on fire. Run, okay?"

The dog barked and the blond took this as an agreement.

He stood up just as the lift stopped and the doors split apart. "Run!" Luke hissed and Frankie obeyed, more likely because he was panicked than anything else. The Rottweiler darted through the crowded lobby, past jeering students and out the doors, dragging Luke behind him. Luke wound the leash around his wrist and took off across the quad, rounding a building because he was positive security had recognized the dog. He sank down on a bench, catching his breath. "Well, that....was fun," he remarked to the panting dog.

***

Evelyn bit her lower lip, thinking maybe she knew what was going through Alexis' head. "Why don't I go with her tomorrow? It'll be more fun if no one sees us in our porn-star glory till tomorrow night."

She swung herself off the desk, boots clacking to the floor. "Let's hit the streets then, so we can get back before dark." She tugged down the hem of her black I<3 NYC racer-back tank and grabbed her bag, pulling out her sunglasses where she'd stowed them upon returning home. "At this rate we'll be going broke before the month ends. So let's hit a thrift store or something first. We can probably find a shit load of shiny cheap stuff to wear."

"Porn star?" Alexis grinned at this, slipping on her sun glasses and stretching out her back, fixing her sweat shorts. "I swear by the end of this I'm going to look like that Paris Hilton in one of her many porn movies." She joked as she grabbed her bag and let her hair out of it's ponytail.

[[Summarized trip]]

They hit a few thrift stores around Midtown and SoHo. Evelyn toyed with a faux-leather skirt with metallic dotted strips over it. Alexis said it looked dangerous dn the redhead grinned.

She held onto it, and then browsed till she found a faux-leather miniskirt instead. She ditched the other skirt and then went about looking for a skanky-looking top.

Alexis was having a better time, she figured. This thrift-store run was good for her. Evelyn glanced over at her roommate and walked over to where Alexis was eyeing an outfit she'd put together. Evelyn leaned over her shoulder. Not that it was hard to see. The heels on her boots had her scraping 5'9 easily.

"Hey, sexy, Lex," she said, nudging the girl with an impish grin. She ran her finger over the belt Alexis had picked out. "Damn, I'm borrowing that." The outfit was a cute mini paired with a low-cut buttoned top and heels. Low-cut enough, Evelyn supposed. She asked, "Are you getting this?"

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"Totally." Alexis said, grinning widely now. "I love the top and I can zip it down to make it even more.. er showy. And the skirt rests high enough to border line it." Alexis smirked and picked up the two-finger ring she had found. "Don'tcha love it?"

Evelyn nodded, grinning. "You could do major damage with that too." She grinned and held up the scrap of cloth she called a skirt. "Now I need to work out what top will go."

She went back to the end of the store she'd been skimming through and came back with a few things, dumping most of them along the way. She held up a silvery very-low necked frilly top and said, "Let's try 'em on."

She shoved Alexis into one of the three tiny booths at the back of the shop and walked into the next one herself, dragging her array of outfits over with her. She had a leather jacket she could use, she knew, because fall nights could be chilly. She pulled on the leather skirt-thing with some difficulty and then began to wonder if this was such a good idea. Hopefully the fake leather would stretch a little by tomorrow.

She tore off her black racerback tank and pulled on the clingy silvery top instead. She tugged on the heels and then smirked as she lay on a black choker and then, feeling sacrilegious, a layered cross necklace. She put on the studded ring that looked more like a weapon.

She came back out, staggering a bit in the six-inch heels. "You know, she said, as Alexis emerged looking gorgeously slutty (if that was possible) "I'm bordering six feet now."

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Alexis grinned, giving Evelyn's outfit a once over. "We both are- and you look freaking dangerously yet beautifully slutty, m'dear." Alexis chirped with a laugh and adjusted her black sequin skirt a little, and her belt's chain. She turned to look at the body length mirror against the wall and pulled the zipper of her top down a little. She had a push up bra back at the dorms that she could wear that could give her the perfect lift for this top. "I have a push up bra for this too." She said to Evelyn as she looked over the outfit. She had opted against a necklace so it couldn't quite distract.

The two girls paid for thier purchases adn then headed home, dragging thier bags upstairs. Evelyn unlocked the suite door, swiped her cardkey to unlock her dorm room and tossed her bags onto her own bed. She rifled through them for the tiny cross necklace she'd gotten and put it around her neck, grinning at the one she already wore over the low-necked black racerback tank. She got up, kicked off her heels and went into Alexis' room, striking a pose in the doorway.

"Think I should consider what Jesus would do?" she asked lightly. "Hell, we're probably going to get smited." Religion wasn't something she liked to toy with but the irony of the cross necklaces with what James had called her out to be was amusing.

Alexis laughed, sitting on her bed and pulling off her Nikes. "Sweetie, we're going to be the vainest most biggest slutty bitches there. And I love it. Jesus can suck it."She said, not one for religion at all, even though most of her family was Christians.

Evelyn grinned and pushed herself off the doorframe, flouncing onto Alexis' bed. She could feel some of that initial buzz she'd felt in her pre-James days in the city.

"So you know, Danny has cute friends. He's Ash's date," she said with a devilish grin.

"Heh. Yeah?" Alexis said, pushing her Nikes aside, under her bed and pulled her legs up to criss-cross under her. "You goin' for one of them?"

Evelyn shook her head. "We, Alexis." She leaned forwards. "Luke isn't the only guy out there. You're not wasting a hot outfit on no one."

"I wasn't saying he was- I figured I would," Alexis half lied. She felt like maybe guys shouldn't be first priority at the moment. Flirting, sure. Relationships, no. She needed to get her life back on track. Get her head back on straight. Move on from everything with... him, and get back to COLLEGE.

Evelyn shrugged and then stretched tiredly. "Just have fun, is all I'm asking. I'll be your badass body guard, you know? Everything will happen under my watch, so you can relax."

She was determined to do what she said. Alexis was taking a major step here and Evelyn intended to maim anything barring her smooth way. Including a lofty blond with a penchant for guitars.

Alexis nodded. "I promise I will." She said as she laid back against her bed instead. "Hey- Do you ever think women are like... guitars for Lucas? Like- one gets outta tune so he moves onto another?"

Evelyn grimaced. She leaned back against the wall by the bed and hung her legs over the edge to reach the floor. "That's...an interesting analogy. I never thought about it like that." She sighed and ran a hand through her loose hair. "I...I don't know. Maybe he just hasn't matured yet. Maybe he keeps thinking he still needs to play the field for a while longer."

***

The very mature Luke was meanwhile aiming another dash headlong into the lobby. How else was he to get Frankie back in? It was already eight PM.

Luke glanced around and then decided he couldn't loiter longer. He gnawed his lip and then headed up to the freshmen building.

"Dude, this is not fun," he informed Frankie, tugging the dog along. He sighed and tried to come up with something. And failed. so he dialed Connor instead.

"Come get your dog. I can't bring him inside without getting kicked out with him."

Connor frowned. "I can't. I need this dorm. Look- can't you and James just keep him for a while?"

********

"But the field he keeps playing is his friends..." Alexis noted quietly, not able to hide a tad bit of a hurt tone to that. Honestly, she had thought of Lucas as a friend that wouldn't hurt her.

Luke sighed. James loved dogs. But their apartment was already very cramped. Then again, he kind of owed Connor for being a jerk. "How long?" he asked.

***

Evelyn leaned over and squeezed her hand. "I know, Lex, I know. See, this is why Luke and romance don't mix. He might not have that whole rebel thing going but it kind of makes it worse because he's more likable for it. I don't think he intended to hurt you on a platonic front though."

"I don't think I'm heartbroken hurt, Ev. I think it's more of the 'thanks for just dropping me with no explanation' kinda hurt, ya know?" Alexis admitted as she squeezed Evelyn's hand gently. "And I don't mean to sound like every other cliche teenage girl."

****

"Till the security gives up at least. Week or so?" Connor said, his voice still a little cold.

A freaking week?

"Dude," Luke snapped, voice a little colder. "We're college kids. Why not put him in a kennel or something?"

Not that he didn't like Frankie. He'd spent like four hours with him, or something. But Connor was annoying him.

***

Evelyn blew out a breath and then gave Alexis a hug. "It's still coming out cliche," she quipped with a weak grin. "But sometimes, eating chocolate ice cream in front of bad romances is just the best cure for depression so why not this, right?"