“No, I went to like one frat party and I don’t remember what the house was,” I said.

“Oh yeah,” she said. “We went to that one Phi Kappa Delta party together but all the boys there were pretty immature so we left early.”

I recalled the event and how some drunk guy spilled beer all over both our shoes. Then I realized that had been Gary’s frat. His story about having to skip the hockey game with Hunter because the guys at PKD couldn’t unclog a toilet made a lot more sense now.

Hunter chuckled. “If any guy does that to you tonight, Lorrie, I’ll teach him a lesson.”

“Oooh, so protective,” Daniela said. “Wish I had me an MMA fighter boyfriend.”

I smiled at her, slightly blushing.

“I can introduce you to a few of the guys down at Bigg’s Gym,” Hunter said. “Although, I gotta warn ya, they’ve got some rough edges.”

“Even better. I like a guy who’s a little unruly. Makes it all the more fun to change ‘em.”

Hunter and I both laughed.

We walked up to the porch and Hunter held the door open for both of us as we went inside. The house was full of people. Wagon Wheel was blaring from a stereo somewhere and people—especially the girls—were singing along with the chorus: “Heyyyy mama rack me!”

“Banjos, man,” Hunter said, shaking his head as he watched a group of drunk girls slurring words off-pitch, drinks held high in the air. “They’re like catnip for Midwest girls.” He looked at us. “Thirsty? I’ll get us some drinks.”

“Thanks, Hunter,” I said.

Like a true gentleman, he went to get Daniela and me drinks while we hung out in the living room watching an overly competitive group of people play beer pong.

“So how have Hunter and you been? You guys look so cute together!”

“We’re doing great. I actually feel like we’re kind of obsessed with each other,” I mused. “Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

“It’s a good thing from what I can see. You’ve got this glowy aura going on. I haven’t seen you look so happy in a long time, Hunter has quite the effect on you. To be honest, I’m actually kinda jealous . . .”

I flustered at her compliments and giggled. “Yeah, I guess I’m pretty lucky things have worked out between Hunter and me. We’ve certainly had our ups and downs before getting to this point. But now that we’re dating, I’m glad he’s in my life.”

Daniela nodded and smiled. We exchanged a few bits about Hunter’s awesomeness and began to scan the room for a potential guy for Daniela when Hunter returned, balancing three drinks with two hands. “Here ya go ladies!”

Just as we offered our thanks to Hunter, the music unexpectedly changed to a rap song.

“Awww yeahhh. Now this is what I’m talking about! I love this song!” cried Daniela, shaking her hips and waving her drink around in the air to the hypnotic beat and explicit lyrics. “Make it nasty! Make it nasty!”

“What song is this?” I said.

“You haven’t heard this?! Jesus, Lorrie. It’s Make It Nasty by Tyga. Duh! Please at least tell me you’ve heard of twerking.”

“Of course I’ve heard of twerking!” I said, slightly offended by the accusation. I turned to Hunter to see if he was judging me and he was simply smiling. “Everybody knows about Miley Cyrus and that VMA performance.”

“Well, this is like THE twerking song. You can’t listen to it and not want to shake your butt. It can bring out the slutty side in any good girl! It’s gotta be like some form of subliminal messaging or something.”

I listened to the lyrics, noting that there was nothing subtle about the chorus: Make it nasty! Make it nasty!

“I’m gonna find a guy to grind on. I’ll see you guys in a bit,” Daniela said before grabbing a random guy nearby and tugging him to the open dance area.

Although this wasn’t my kind of music, I began warming to the song from seeing everyone having fun. I was considering dancing as well but didn’t think Hunter was the dancing type.

“C’mon, babe. Let’s dance too,” Hunter said with a mischievous grin. “I wanna see your twerkin skills.”

He led me by the hand over to where Daniela and her dance partner went.

“You like dancing?” I asked Hunter.

He gave me a lopsided grin. “You know what they say about fighters: they’re good both on their feet and off.”

I smirked at him. “I agree with the ‘off’ part. I guess we’ll find out about the ‘on’ part.”

I began swaying to the beat, dancing in front of Hunter. I wasn’t the best dancer in the world, but I knew how to move my body to at least look like I knew what I was doing. I was surprised to see Hunter actually moving his feet and dancing instead of just nodding his head like I saw most of the guys doing. Most of the guys were just shifting side-to-side with a drink in one hand while their girl did all the work. I noticed that during the chorus, the girls would bend over and vigorously shake their butts in front of the guy’s crotch.

As we continued dancing, I saw a few girls eyeing Hunter. It would’ve bothered me before but after everything that’s happened between Hunter and me in the past week, I felt confident shrugging it off. I was enjoying myself and having such a great time with Hunter that I decided to be adventurous and try twerking on him. I bent over and began shaking my booty. I looked back to gauge his reaction and saw his eyes wide and filled with lust.

“Jesus, Lorrie. That’s so sexy.”

Encouraged, I bent further until I was parallel with the ground, continuing to shake my bottom like a salt shaker.

“Yeah, you go girl! Make it nasty!” I heard Daniela shout over to me. She was twerking on her man too but that guy looked lost, like he couldn’t handle what Daniela was shaking.

I bent down until my hair was touching the ground then I slapped the floor and arched my back as I came up slowly. Curious, I glanced back and saw Hunter looking borderline ready to ravage me on the dance floor in front of everyone.

I glanced at the other girls admiring Hunter and noticed their expression had turned from jealousy to disdain.

Yeah, that’s right. Hunter’s MY man, I thought smugly.

Hunter lightly slapped my backside. I turned around and playfully tapped my hand against his chest. “Cool your jets, Hun, you’re burning up.”

“My jet’s on fire. I wanna crash into you so bad, it hurts.”

“Save it for later tonight. We’ll crash and burn together,” I whispered into his ear seductively.

By the time the song ended, I’d worked up a sweat and was breathing hard like I’d ran five miles; I desperately needed a glass of water. Who knew booty-shaking could be such a workout?

I had a lot of fun dancing and letting loose with Hunter. After Daniela remarked on how she’s never seen me so lively before, I went to the kitchen to get myself and Hunter another drink, a smile on my face knowing that Hunter and I were going to have some amazing sex tonight.

A curly-haired frat guy wearing a striped polo over a noticeable beer gut approached me, cheeks rosy from a few drinks. He face seemed familiar but I couldn’t place it. “Lorrie Burnham, out partying.”