Wash off

You shouldn’t do this right now. What are you even thinking? You’re thinking about the night you spent with Nevaeh a week ago that you wish that you remembered more clearly. She finishes spraying herself off and hands you the shower head.

You have decided to be a grownup, but you still watch as she climbs out of the shower and wraps her hair in a towel. Rey wouldn’t have let Nevaeh get out of the shower without at least some flirting. That reminds you. Rey.

You slather on some body wash, rinse it off, and hop out as Nevaeh is leaving in a towel. You wrap yourself in your own towel and head into the hallway, finding it empty and surprisingly quiet.

Usually you can hear a movie or some music or some lewdness going on at this hour, but not tonight. It feels like something’s not quite right.

“Hey,” someone says, and you turn around.

A woman in long coat is coming toward you. You saw her earlier tonight. She’s a cop. You didn’t know that she was still here at the house.

“Hello,” you say uncertainly as she approaches. She’s not out of breath or anything, but it’s obvious that she’s been on the move.

“I’m looking for a girl. She’s blonde. Her name is Hailee, I think,” the detective says, coming closer. You didn’t realize how busty she was when you saw her earlier. Now that she’s up close, it’s very obvious.

“Who were you again?” you say.

“Detective Lopez. I’m here looking into some cold cases that might be connected to CCL house. Before your time,” she says, looking you up and down.

“Then why do you want Hailee?” you ask suspiciously.

“Because I was with her until a little while ago, and I don’t know where she went,” she says.

Now you smell it. It’s faint, but you know what a woman smells like. Detective Lopez’s fingers have been busy. With Hailee? You feel a flash of jealousy and irritation, but… that’s not rational. It’s not cool to get territorial and clingy in CCL, and now you’re a part of CCL. You just… have a thing for blonde cheerleaders. But you and Hailee never really clicked anyway.

“I haven’t seen her,” you say, moving past her and continuing down the hallway, toward your room.

Lopez follows you. “Are you Delilah?”

“Yes.” You pause in front of your door, curious. How did she know that?

“You had a relative in CCL, right?”

She’s talking about your Aunt Rose. She tried to pledge to CCL, but they didn’t let her at the time. Now she works at a bank in Portland. She makes a lot of money.

“Is this your room?” Lopez asks before you can say anything, looking past you at your door.

“Yes,” you say.

“This was Marcy Stevenson’s room.”

“Who’s Marcy Stevenson?”

“A missing person. She disappeared thirty years ago. A lot of bad things happen around here,” Lopez says. “Don’t you think?”

“No. This is a sorority for career minded girls who want to go places.” You remember the pep talk you got earlier about CCL’s values. “It’s about audacity and ambition. I know there’s rough stuff in the past, but now we’re all just thinking about our resumes.”

Actually you’re thinking about Rey’s abs, and running your hands over them.

“I think you’re all so horny that you don’t even stop to think about everything that’s happened here. I think if you knew about even half the history that this house had, you wouldn’t spend another night here,” Lopez says.

You laugh. “Come on. CCL is not what you think.” You open your door, but… your room is not empty.

Julieta is on the bed, wearing… incredibly fancy, yet almost nonexistent red lingerie. She’s holding a coy pinup pose with her rear pointed at the door, but lounging and looking over her shoulder, biting her finger.

Lopez puts her hand on her hip.

“You were saying?” she says.

Slam the door shut or play it cool?