Dirty Rush by Taylor Bell Read Free Book Online Page B

girls from Beta Zeta last night.”
    â€œWHAT?! That’s so great!” my mother screamed.
    â€œCalm down, Mom.”
    â€œOkay. Fine.” She was not calm. “How was it? Did you love them? Did they love you? Are you pledging?”
    â€œI’m not pledging. I’m not joining a sorority. We’ve literally been over this four thousand times. I just met them at a party and they were all nice and that was it. Please don’t make a bigger deal out of this than it is.”
    â€œTotally get it,” my dad chimed in.
    â€œThanks, Dad.”
    â€œI’m just happy you got a glimpse. It’s all very hard to understand when you are not involved. That’s all. I don’t want you to miss out on friendships that will last you a lifetime.”
    â€œI’m sure I will make great friends here without joining a sorority. There are other ways to meet people.”
    â€œI’m sure that’s true,” my dad added. “Okay, well, good then. Have fun and be safe, beautiful.”
    â€œI will, Dad. Love you guys.”
    â€œWe love you too . . . Oh, also, speaking of Beta Zeta,” my mother interjected, “you should know that we talked to Kelly last night—”
    â€œAnd she’s coming home for Christmas,” I interrupted. “I know, Mom. She emailed me. That’s great.”
    â€œOh.”
    I could hear the disappointment in my mom’s voice. She loves to be the one to break news about anything going on with the family.She lives for it. I actually felt kind of bad for ruining her moment. Normally I would have pretended not to know about Kelly coming home.
    â€œWell, anyway,” my mom continued, “Jessica is trying to come too. Depends on Matt’s rotation at the hospital. They’re so busy, those two. It would be nice to have all of you girls home for the holidays this year.”
    â€œThat would be great, Mom. Bye.”
    After I hung up I asked myself if it really would be nice to be home for Christmas with my family. I have the type of family that likes to be in each other’s business as much as possible, so being away from them had been a refreshing, clean start. Don’t get me wrong: I think my parents are pretty cool as far as parents go. My sisters are older but have always made a good effort to visit me at home, so we have a closeness that I treasure, but I didn’t necessarily miss any of them.
    Jess, the oldest, was arguably my favorite. She was tall, confident, and always genuinely sweet. Some people are just happy—she was one of them. She always made sure I was well taken care of when I was a kid, but now she had her own life: she’d been dating the same guy, Matt, a medical resident, since her senior year of CDU. Between her job in PR, Matt’s crazy schedule, and the fact that they lived in New York City, I kind of doubted that she’d be home for the holidays. Kelly, the middle Bell daughter, was not so much what I would describe as sweet. She was wild, opinionated, and a bit rough. She always knew how to have a good time, wasn’t afraid to ask for what she wanted, and normally found a way to get it.
    My phone buzzed again—a number I didn’t recognize.
    (302) XXX-XXXX 2:30PM Taylor. It’s Jack. Hope it’s not weird that I’m texting you. Got your number from Meg.
    (302) XXX-XXXX 2:30PM I wanted to apologize if I was a dick or whatever last night. Are you feeling better?
    I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy that Jack had texted me. He was really hot, and although he had acted like an idiot after I fell, it made me feel good that he’d gone to the trouble of getting my number and checking up.
    I found a sunny spot on the stairs outside of the big humanities building, waited a few minutes, and contemplated the perfect response.
    Taylor 2:42PM Hey.
    Jack Swanson 2:42PM Really happy you responded.
    Taylor 2:42PM Did u think I