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Regret is certainly something that hits fast. Standing outside Gretchen’s dorm hall, hands stuffed into her jacket pockets, and hood pulled over a ball cap, regret is the only emotion that Janis is experiencing. It’s already cold enough that she can see her breath under the LED streetlights. Gretchen jogs down the stairs in tights and a short dress, unaffected by the cold (she probably already took a couple shots).
They walk across campus, running into a bunch of Cady’s new mathlete teammates, closer to icicles than Janis in their crop tops and skirts. Herding a bunch of cold cats the couple blocks off campus to the pregame, regret sits in her chest, her hands still tucked into the pockets of her favorite jacket.
As expected, no one is in the backyard, all tucked into the small living room on the plush couch or taking a shot in the miniscule kitchen. Regina emerges from the bathroom in straight-leg white jeans and a halter top, clearly having followed the dress code, a practical opposite from Janis’s dark jeans, green hoodie for a band that no one else has heard of, and vintage leather jacket.
Janis’s favorite jacket—a vintage leather bomber that she thrifted during freshman year—is also Regina’s favorite jacket. That jacket doesn’t usually go to mathletes pregames. Rather be warm and maybe get something spilled on her jacket than be freezing cold. Once Regina gets too cold, she’ll steal the jacket anyway and then Janis will be slightly colder in only her hoodie.
Two shots in, Regina’s still cold enough that she curls her hand into the crook of Janis's elbow, tugging her closer at the corner of the die table. Dutifully, Janis hands over her jacket, making sure that her phone, keys, and wallet are tucked into the pockets of her jeans instead of her jacket pockets. The dark brown leather jacket ruins Regina’s white out outfit. In thanks, Regina wraps her arms around Janis’s waist from behind, dropping her chin on Janis’s shoulder, despite playing rage cage.
Gretchen won’t let go of Janis's arm as they make a turn, one that Janis doesn't want to make. Frats and Janis don't mix. Janis doesn't go near frat row if she can help it, and she certainly can’t help the way that Gretchen won’t let her go. Regina's following her lead, one of Karen's arms slung casually around her shoulders. Gretchen’s carrying on about something that Janis couldn’t follow even if she tried. Karen burps in Regina’s ear at maximum volume. Cady’s somewhere near the front of the pack with her fellow math nerds, drunken laughter ringing out amongst the frat houses.
Just about everyone that attends their university has crammed themselves into the frat houses that line the street, spilling out into the street with tits just about out and holding red solo cups. They pass a group of guys that have collectively lost their shirts. There’s no use in questioning it, even in the cold.
Everyone’s a little on the tipsy end of the scale, all of them having done a shot on the way out of the pre, along with the one too many drinking games they played beforehand. You probably wouldn’t assume that Cady's mathletes team is a bunch of girls that like to go out to the frats on Friday nights, but that’s why they say making assumptions just makes an ass out of you ‘n’ me. Janis had maybe half a White Claw, her face already heating up with an oh-so-attractive Asian glow.
Attending pregames with no intent to ever even know where certain houses are is the entirety of Janis’s college experience. Even a billion dollars won’t sway Janis to ever going to TKE or Kappa Sig. Frats are exhausting and Regina’s tired of ugly boys trying to hit on her and thinking she owes them for being a pretty girl at a frat house.
Without drawing attention to herself, Janis extricates her arm from Gretchen's hold as a slightly more than tipsy Gretchen tells Cady’s teammate on her other arm that they have something on their shirt. When they look down, Gretchen flicks their chin up, dissolving into giggles with Karen while the teammate that Janis never learned the name of gapes.
And in that moment, Janis grabs Regina's wrist and bolts. Running faster than either of them have ever run, they make it around the corner that they weren’t supposed to turn at when the screams of betrayal ring out. Gretchen’s is particularly loud, dramatic in ways that only Karen usually is.
Laughing, they make it half a block with no one chasing them before they slow down. Regina pulls her wrist out of Janis’s hold and tucks her freezing fingers into her pockets. Janis shoves her hands into the pockets of her jeans. Unspoken tradition remains unspoken as Janis walks Regina to her apartment, even though they live on opposite sides of campus, an equally far distance from the mathlete house.
More sober than not, Regina bumps shoulders with Janis every other step, even though her stride is about a stride and a half of Janis’s, so she’s really just forcing Janis to lose balance every second step. More sober than not, Regina’s still laughing at actively running away from their friends. She’s more giggling under her breath than outright laughing anymore, stumbling down the block and looking more drunk than she actually is.
Instead of letting Regina bump into her anymore, Janis winds an arm around Regina’s waist, tucking her hand casually into Regina’s back pocket. It’s just Janis and Regina walking back to Regina’s apartment, a small off-campus spot that’s practically the exact opposite direction from Janis’s on-campus apartment. Janis is used to doing this with Regina, drunk, leaning heavily on her the whole way home. They go out, Regina drinks, Janis doesn’t, and then Janis walks her home, usually draping a jacket (sometimes a hoodie, occasionally a flannel, perhaps one of her nicer jackets, and this time, her favorite leather jacket) over Regina’s shoulders.
Apartments, despite not normally having stoops or porches, sometimes have a sort of stoop, aka the stairs leading up to the third floor apartment that Regina lives at alone. In a very pathetic attempt to be a gentleman and bid Regina goodnight and go home, Janis stays on the top step while Regina unlocks her door, as if that’ll prevent Regina from inviting her inside.
Halfheartedly, Janis declines the invitation, resigning herself to a walk home without her outermost layer when Regina rolls her eyes and completely ignores Janis’s words. Withdrawing her hand from the warmth of Janis’s jacket, Regina winds her hand around the crook of Janis’s arm and pulls her through the doorway, stumbling across the threshold.
The door shuts quietly behind them, and Janis’s favorite jacket gets abandoned on the back of one of Regina’s chairs quickly.