by Steph Nuss
She rolled her eyes at him and scoffed. “I’ll be fine. Just sit back and enjoy the game.”
“Come on,” I said, shaking my head at them. “I’ll show you guys to the room.”
The girls followed me into the hallway, down to the second door on the right. They’d been here many times to hang out, but rarely did they go into any other room besides the living room, kitchen and bathroom.
“This is it,” I said, opening the door to my guest bedroom.
Bayler and Elly quickly entered the room, rolling the luggage behind them. Tessa hung back and admired the room from the doorway.
I leaned against the doorjamb and smiled down at her. “Like I said, feel free to change anything you don’t like. I want you to feel at home here.”
“Thanks, Justin,” she said, for the millionth time this week, and I was growing tired of it.
“You’re welcome, again,” I said, nudging her arm. “You don’t have to keep thanking me, you know. I’m happy to have you here.”
She blushed, shaking her head. “This room is twice the size of my old one.”
“Then I’ll leave so you girls can enjoy filling it up with all your stuff.”
“Hey, Tessa?”
At the sound of Trey’s voice in the hallway, we turned and found him walking our way.
“I want to see this new crib of yours,” he said, playfully grabbing her shoulders. “Wow. Is that a king-sized bed? And a sixty-inch flat screen? Screw this, Tess. You can have the apartment back. I’ll move in with Dr. Jameson.”
Hearing my professional name fall from the kid’s mouth made me do a double take.
Was he in one of my lectures?
“Trey, I told you not to call him that,” Tessa stressed, shaking her head. She looked up at me, her teeth worrying her bottom lip. “I’m sorry. He’s a sophomore at NYU and he’s—”
“I’m in your Monday, Wednesday, Friday nine o’clock class,” he interjected.
“That’s where I’ve seen you before,” I stated with a smile. I hardly remembered any of the students who came to class, mostly because a third of them rarely showed up, but Trey hadn’t missed a single lecture since school started. I couldn’t forget the faces of students who diligently attended every lecture. “Why don’t we grab a beer and let your sister unpack?”
“Okay!” he exclaimed.
“I don’t think so!” Tessa sang. She pinched her brother’s cheek and smiled at me. “This one’s only nineteen. No alcohol.”
“Oh, come on, Tess!” he cracked, rolling his eyes. “It’s one beer.”
“Let the kid have a beer!” Cash yelled from the living room.
“Yeah, Mom!” Fletcher continued, laughing.
“Please!” Carter begged, joining in on the harassment.
She sighed audibly and then pointed at Trey. “One, okay? That’s it.”
“Gotcha,” he said, giving her a salute. “Thanks, sis!”
“Come on,” I urged, pushing him back toward the living room.
“I’m sorry,” Tessa giggled beside me. “He can be such a shit sometimes.”
“Don’t worry about it. I can handle Trey and the rat pack.” I smiled back at her and nodded toward her room. “Go unpack. I’ll get you something to drink, and if you need anything else, just holler.”
“Okay, thanks.”
When I entered the open main room, I found Trey leaning against the island, checking out the kitchen cabinets, while the rest of the guys sat in the living room watching the game. I joined Trey in the kitchen and grabbed a beer for him and Tessa.
“Here you go,” I said, handing it to him.
“Thanks, man” he said, as he popped the top off and took a swig. “Your place is really nice; I know Tessa will like it here. I appreciate you letting her move in with you.”
“I’m happy to have her here,” I replied, taking a drink of my own beer as I studied him. From the moment he walked through my door, he seemed like an upbeat guy. But now, as I watched him pick at the silver label of the beer bottle, his rootless features gave away his guilt. “You know she loves you. She wouldn’t have agreed to move out if she didn’t.”
“I know,” he said with a weak smile. “I just didn’t think she’d give me our place. There was no talking her out of it, either. I tried. She’s just so stubborn sometimes.”
Laughing, I nodded along in agreement. She’d nearly turned down my offer just because I wouldn’t let her pay rent. She’s stubborn all right. “She just wants what’s best for you.”
“What about what’s best for her?” he asked, quizzically.
“What do you mean?” I asked, studying him more closely now. “She’ll be safe here, I promise. If that’s what you’re worried about.”
“It’s not,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s just that—never mind. If I told you, she’d probably kill me. She never talks about it, so I’m sure none of her friends know.”
His words interested me more than they should. I probably should’ve just let it go, because if Tessa wanted us to know whatever the hell he was talking about, she would’ve told us, but she was my roommate now and I had to know what worried him. “Know what?”
He turned his anxious gaze toward the hall for a second and then stared back at me. “I’m only telling you because you’re going to be the one living with her now, and I don’t know what else to do. She would seriously have my balls if she found out I told you though.”
“I won’t say anything,” I promised.
Taking a deep chug of his beer, he finished it off and set it aside. He spoke in a low, soft tone. “Tessa has these nightmares sometimes. She hasn’t had one in a while, but when she does, she just cries uncontrollably in her sleep. I don’t know why or what brings it on because she won’t talk to me about it, but I just thought you should know because the only way to calm her down is to lay in bed with her and rub her back to let her know she isn’t alone. Our mom used to do that whenever one of us couldn’t sleep. I’m not saying you have to calm her down. I just wanted you to know so if she ever has one, you can call me.”
He handed me a piece of paper with a number on it, and I quickly slipped it into the front pocket of my jeans. “Thanks. I’m glad you told me.”
“Told you what?” Tessa asked curiously, walking into the kitchen. She examined our surprised expressions and smiled. “What have you guys been talking about?”
Trey cleared his throat and replied, “I was just telling him that I’m a photography major, you know, so he’d understand that psych isn’t my strongest subject and maybe cut me some slack.”
I laughed, mentally commending his ability to lie on cue and praying she bought it.
Tessa rolled her eyes. “Justin, don’t cut him anything.”
“Hey, he already provided alcohol to an underage student,” he explained mischievously. “I was seconds away from blackmailing him into upping my C to a B.”
“Sure you were,” Tessa countered, shaking her head. She smiled over her shoulder at me and asked, “Did you get lost with my drink or is a girl just supposed to help herself around here?”
“You live here now,” Trey said, motioning to the fridge. “I think you can help yourself.”
Laughing at their sibling banter, I popped the lid off the extra beer in my hand and offered it to her. “Sorry, I got held up by your brother’s conniving ways.”
“She taught me everything I know,” he teased, laughing to himself.
“Don’t believe a word he says.” She lifted the beer to her lips and tipped it back to quench her thirst.
The grin on my face widened. “I won’t.”
Without another word, she wandered back out of the kitchen, and Trey and I immediately relaxed.
“Nice cover-up,” I praised, giving him a high five.
His smile turned smug. “Been covering up shit around her for years.”
“I heard that!” Tessa yelled from the hallway, causing us both to nearly jump out of our skin. “And I will
find out what you two were talking about!”
I grabbed another beer for myself and then nodded toward the living room. “Let’s just play it safe and watch the game with the guys.”
“All right,” he laughed.
“But thank you for letting me know,” I said quietly, patting him on the shoulder. “I promise she’ll be all right here.”
“Thanks. I appreciate you saying that.”
***
When I entered my room again, I found two sets of eyes glaring at me. Elly was sitting on the bed with my laptop in her lap, and Bayler was standing next to her looking equally pissed.
“What the fuck is this shit?” Bayler asked, pointing to the screen.
“Please tell me you aren’t seriously considering online dating!” Elly shrieked.
I must’ve left the site up from last night when I finished making my profile.
Taking another long chug from my beer, I downed at least half of it and then walked over to the bed. I quickly grabbed my laptop out of Elly’s hands, closed it and slipped it back inside its sleeve.
“That’s none of your business,” I snapped, placing it on top of the desk.
“The hell it isn’t,” Bayler said, taking a seat next to Elly. She stretched her legs out on the gray comforter and crossed her ankles. “Why in God’s name would you sign up for online dating? Especially now that you’re living with your dream guy.”
Rolling my eyes, I plopped down into the chair at the desk and sighed. “I need to try and get over him. I can’t even tell you the last time I went out on a date, let alone the last time I got laid by a guy who wasn’t battery operated.”
“Tessa,” Elly said softly, shaking her head. “What’s gotten into you lately? You’re usually so positive when it comes to relationships, and now you don’t even want to give Justin a try?”
“You really think he’s going to cross that line with me now?” I asked harshly. “Because I certainly don’t. We’re friends, and now we’re roommates. Justin would never chance burning those bridges, and you know it.”
“So, you’re throwing out the blueprints for the one bridge you haven’t even tried building with him yet?”
“Why are we talking in code?” Bayler asked in a frustrated tone. “The guys are watching football. They’re not going to hear a damn thing we’re talking about.”
“She’s right,” Elly said, taking a deep breath. “Why are you so quick to give up on him? If I’d given up on Carter years ago, we wouldn’t be happily married and expecting a baby right now. You encouraged me to be with him when he moved back. Hell, you started planning our wedding the minute you heard he was back in my life. What happened to that girl?”
“She had a reality check.”
“Well, dating other guys isn’t going to make your feelings for him go away,” Bayler stated, her green eyes piercing me. “Trust me, I gave up on Fletcher, thinking I didn’t need him, only to find out that I do. My life is better with him in it. Justin’s part of your life just as much as you’re part of his, now more than ever. What makes you think that’s going to change if you tell him how you feel?”
“Because I’m ‘the scrappy one,’” I muttered, kicking one of my empty suitcases. I knew my friends jokingly called me “the scrappy one,” but it was true. “I wasn’t cut from the same cloth the rest of you were. I didn’t grow up in a nice home with wonderful parents who set up trust funds for their children. I didn’t graduate high school and go on to follow my dreams. I’ve scraped through life.”
“You haven’t had it easy.”
Elly would know. We became friends after I finished the counseling program I was ordered to take when I was eighteen.
“Did you see the way Fletcher looked at my three suitcases? Like he couldn’t believe that’s all I had.”
“I think he was just surprised, that’s all,” Bayler insisted, folding a shirt. “He didn’t mean it in a bad way.”
“I know he didn’t,” I said, standing up. I reached for a hanger and went back to filling the closet. “It’s just … I want to be like the rest of you. I want to be happy, and maybe have the job of my dreams someday. I mean, no offense, Elly, but being my friend’s receptionist is not my dream job.”
“Jesus, I would hope not,” Bayler teased.
Elly laughed. “No offense taken.”
“Justin deserves more than the girl who’s still scraping through life.”
Bayler threw a shirt at me and scoffed. “Oh, come on! We’re all scraping through life, just dodging different obstacles. And you know what, I would love to be ‘the scrappy one’ in this bunch. You can throw a right hook better than some guys I know, and you carry a knife and mace in your purse, and you know how to use them! So, don’t give me this bull about how he deserves better than that. He’d be lucky to have an independent woman like you. Next excuse, please.”
Elly and I laughed at her response, and I ended up flopping down on top of the bed next to them. Staring up at the ceiling, I smiled and thought about how lucky I truly was to have friends who called me on my bullshit. “I think maybe I just need to get back out there to prove to myself that Justin’s it for me, to kiss a few frogs before working up the courage to go after my prince.”
“Now you’re talking like the girl I know,” Elly said proudly.
“Fletcher is going to be pissed when he hears you’re trying online dating,” Bayler said, giggling softly to herself.
“I know,” I groaned, as I turned my gaze to Elly. “And let me guess, Carter will be, too?”
“I swear I didn’t tell him about your feelings,” she said, holding her hands up in defense. “He figured it out.”
“Sure he did,” I deadpanned, tossing a shirt at her.
“Well …” Bayler stated, “You kind of suck at keeping it a secret. I figured something was up with you and Justin at Carter and Elly’s wedding.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t trained in the art of secrecy like you Jennings!” I said, ducking from the shoe she tossed at me.
“Wait,” Bayler said excitedly, waving around the other shoe. “If we all know, how do we know Justin doesn’t not know?”
“Say ‘know’ one more time,” Elly teased, laughing uncontrollably.
“Shut up!” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m being serious here. He’s a smart guy. Surely, he’s figured it out by now.”
Elly rested her head on Bayler’s shoulder and simmered her laughter. “I’m guessing Justin hasn’t had the greatest experiences when it comes to women. You know how he went to college at a really young age?”
“Yeah?”
“While the rest of us learned what to do and what not to do during our pubescent high school years, Justin went through all that during college. He was still a minor compared to most of his classmates. Do you remember what teenage boys are like?”
“Ugh, the acne,” Bayler shuddered, shaking her head.
“And the smell,” I said with a cringe.
“The fumbling hands attempting to diddle our skittles.”
I laughed. “The premature ejaculation.”
“Exactly,” Elly continued. “I don’t know the specifics, but I can guess it would’ve been hard for him to find a girl who wasn’t just using him to get an A.”
“Yeah,” Bayler agreed, her voice lined with skepticism, “but he’s not in college anymore.”
Elly sighed and deferred the conversation to me. “Bay, I could walk out into the living room completely naked right now, and the only guy, with the exception of my brother, who would attempt to cover me up would be Justin. He’s smart and sweet, but it’s as if his brain is so full of knowledge it won’t allow him to focus on anything else, specifically women. He’s completely oblivious to me.”
“Well,” Bayler huffed arrogantly, “then I think online dating is just the thing you need for him to wake up and smell the pussy.”
“Smell the pussy?” Elly repeated in a confused tone. “Do I even want to know where this is going?”
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“Yes, my pregnant grasshopper, you do,” Bayler said, patting the top of her head. “Justin’s going to start hanging around Tessa more often now because they live together. Maybe he sees her in a towel after her shower. Maybe she looks super cute cooking them dinner. Maybe he starts noticing her scent lingering around the apartment. But you know what else he’s going to see? He’s going to witness her going on all these dates with guys who are not him, and you know what that means? Jealousy. He’s going to become jealous, which means he’ll have woken up and smelled the pussy.”
“That’s your suggestion? Make him jealous?” Elly asked in disbelief. “The last thing she needs to do is make him feel more insecure when it comes to women and dating.” She turned to me with her brows furrowed, anger radiating from her. “Please tell me this online dating crap isn’t just some ploy to get him to notice you.”
“It’s not, I swear,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t want to make him jealous.”
“Good.” She relaxed back against the headboard and rubbed her forehead. “I’m all for you getting back in the dating game, but do not play dirty, Tessa.”
“I would never do that to him,” I said solemnly.
“Okay.”
We looked over at Bayler, who had her arms crossed over her chest and her lips pressed into an arrogant smile. “What? He’s gonna smell the pussy. You just wait.”
“Isn’t it roses or coffee or something he should be smelling instead?” Elly asked with a cringe, suffering from a bout of pregnancy brain.
I bit back a laugh as Bayler fell over into a fit of giggles. “I think she meant, you know, when a guy goes down on a woman, he gets a whiff of her—”
“Pussy!” Bayler smirked, laughing even harder.
Elly placed her hands over her baby bump and attempted to mask her mortification with a shameless smile. “My baby’s first word is going to be ‘pussy,’ isn’t it?”
“Probably,” I laughed with a shrug.
She reached for the pillow and smacked Bayler with it. “Now, get up, bitches! These clothes aren’t going to unpack themselves!”