“I understand why it would be difficult for you to grasp why anyone would care about your opinion—”
“Hey,” I interrupted, but she continued as if I hadn’t spoken.
“But he does. I know we had our issues last semester, but I thought we resolved all that.”
“We did.” If by resolved, she meant we had one conversation and then pretended it had never happened.
“And I’ve had your back on a lot of things, whether you’ve noticed or not. You think everyone here was okay with the fact you lied to all of us for months? You think there was no gossip to quash or drama to intervene on?”
I had thought that, yes. “Not to be bitchy, but dealing with those things helped you since you’re interested in my brother and he was part of the gossip.”
“Regardless of my reasons, it helped you all the same. I’m just asking for a little of that in return.”
I sighed. “How is this my life?” I muttered.
The truth was, other than a genuine fear that I’d one day be related to Aamee, I had no reason to get in the way of their relationship. It had nothing to do with me, and if there was one thing I’d learned over the past six months, it was to stay in my lane as much as possible.
“Your life? How is this my life? I have to ask a guy’s little sister if she’ll let her brother be my boyfriend. It’d be humiliating if I cared more about what you thought of me.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. “You really know how to butter a girl up.”
Aamee rolled her eyes, but she also looked a little desperate—like she was actually concerned I’d ruin her chances with Brody. I grimaced a little at that thought. It was more than a little shocking someone even wanted a chance with Brody.
“You know what you’re getting into, right?”
“Yes.” Her tone was calm but emphatic.
I shrugged. “Then he’s all yours.”
“Really?” she nearly squealed.
“Really.”
She threw her arms around me and clung, and I briefly worried that she’d been body-snatched.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Remember how appreciative you were when you and Brody are living in a trailer by the river, selling repurposed tires.”
She pulled away from me and ran her hands down her pink Gucci sweater. She looked a tad embarrassed by her effusive display, but her words were snarky as ever.
“Please. Like either of our parents would ever let us live in a trailer.”
“Touché.”
Though I wasn’t so sure. My parents had to be reaching their limit with Brody, especially since they thought he was still gallivanting around Europe. He took their calls just often enough to keep them from panicking, but he was going to have to come clean to them sooner or later.
“Well, I’m going to head out,” I said.
“Okay. You’ll talk to Brody, right?”
I sighed heavily as if she’d sentenced me to the guillotine. “Yeah.”
“Great. You’re the best. Well, except for when you’re being the worst.”
“Can’t just quit while you’re ahead, can you?”
“Not really.”
Shaking my head, I said, “Goodbye, Aamee.”
“Bye.”
I walked out of the room, casting a look over my shoulder while Aamee was still in sight.
She was smiling down at her phone, quite possibly looking happier than I’d ever seen her. I guess the saying was true: there really was someone for everyone.
D R E W
I’m not sure how there ended up being so many people in Brody’s apartment. They’d slowly trickled in. Brody had come home first, having finished his Costco run for supplies. Soon after, Carter and Toby showed up randomly with a bag of groceries and asked to use our kitchen. I didn’t even ask them what for, opting instead to gesture them inside and leave them to it.
Toby must’ve texted Aniyah, because she swung by about an hour later, and Xander, who seemed to have a habit of showing up wherever Aniyah had, knocked on our door about ten minutes after that.
Aniyah rolled her eyes when she saw him, but I was also fairly convinced she’d been the one to text him where she was. It was a complicated game those two played.
I looked around at my friends and found myself supremely content with them all over my space. Well, Brody’s space technically, but whatever. The apartment had felt like home for a while, and I’d decided to embrace it. The only thing that dampened the feeling was the fact that Sophia’s dad knew I was living here and could potentially show up at any moment.
When she’d told Brody and me about her conversation with her dad, we’d all been a little tense about what he might do next. Would he show up here to throw me out and discover Brody was back? Would he go a step further and have the police evict me? Sophia doubted he’d go that far, but the worry remained.
“Why don’t you have an app for this?”
I looked over at Xander, thankful he’d pulled me from my thoughts.
“An app for what?”
“Your business. The website’s good, but it’s not super accessible for college kids. You’d get a lot more traffic with an app.”
“I’m sure you’re right. There’s just one problem. None of us know how to make an app.”
“Speak for yourself,” he said with a smirk.
“Yeah?”
“For sure. I’ve been doing shit like this since I was a kid.”
“If you’re good with computers, why aren’t you getting a programming degree?” I asked him.
He pulled his laptop out of his messenger bag and began typing away. “I already have one.”
I furrowed my brow in confusion. “Wait, what?”
“I already have a degree in that. But I thought a degree in business would also be beneficial so I could keep my options open.”
“But…how old are you?”
I knew he was old enough to drink, but I hadn’t thought he was much beyond that.
“Twenty-one.” He continued to type as he spoke, his beanie pulled low on his forehead.
“How the hell old were you when you got the first degree?”
“Nineteen.”
“Did you take a shit ton of credits your first year or something?” I was utterly perplexed how any of this was possible. “And a bunch your senior year of high school? How does that work?”
Xander sighed, clearly irritated by my constant questioning, and looked over at me.
“I started college when I was sixteen.”
“Bullshit,” I blurted out before I could censor myself.
“Nope,” he said, not even bothering to look up from his computer.
“Shit,” I said on an exhale as I relaxed back against the couch we were sitting on. “I mean, I knew you were smart, but not, like, genius smart.”
“Yeah, well, don’t spread it around. It’d ruin my street cred.”
“What street cred?” Aniyah said from behind us, startling the shit out of me. “Why would you ever think you had any street cred?”
“Christ,” I muttered, one hand gripping my chest.
“She should wear a bell,” Xander said as his fingers flew over his keyboard.
“Like a cat?” Aniyah asked, her voice sounding overly sweet as she draped herself over the back of the couch so her head was between us. It had to be a trick. “Or a dog perhaps?”
“You said it, not me.”
“Xander?” she asked.
“Yes?”
“Have you ever been throttled by a woman before?”
“No. But I’m pretty sure I could get into it. Erotic asphyxiation shit, right? I didn’t know you were so kinky.”
She took a deep breath. “Do you have any redeeming qualities?”
“Yup. I can make kick-ass apps.”
“Can you make an app that doubles as a girlfriend? Because I’m pretty sure that’s the only way you’re ever going to get one.”
His lips twitched. “I’l
l keep it in mind.”
“God, would you two just bang already?” Carter yelled from the kitchen.
They both startled, Aniyah pulling her head from between us as she straightened.
“What the hell are you talking about?” she asked, her voice affronted.
“I’m talking about all that”—Carter waved his hand around—“hate-flirting you’re doing. Just have sex and move on.”
“We are not flirting,” Aniyah argued.
“I’m kind of flirting,” Xander quipped, his attention still on his laptop, as if he had very little interest in the goings-on around him.
But I noticed his hands weren’t flying across the keyboard as deftly as before, giving him away. Xander was definitely interested in the conversation.
“You’re…what?” Aniyah nearly shrieked as she tilted her head to regard Xander.
He shrugged. “Flirting, fighting—the basic principles are the same.”
“Oh God,” she gasped. “You really haven’t ever had a girlfriend, have you?”
Xander snorted. “Why? Offering to be my first?”
“Gross.”
“Who’s being whose first what?” Brody asked as he came into the room after being holed up in the bedroom for the past twenty minutes.
“Aniyah is going to be Xander’s first girlfriend,” Carter supplied as he carried a pot over to the sink and dumped it out.
I hoped there was a strainer there.
Brody’s eyes grew large as he regarded Xander. “Whoa. Dude. I figured you didn’t get a lot of action, but shit.”
Xander finally looked up from his laptop. “I’ve had girlfriends before.”
“Non-inflatable ones?” Brody asked.
Xander gave Brody a dry look, but Toby interrupted before he could reply.
“Guys, dinner is ready.”
The four of us in the living room all looked at one another, confusion clear on all our faces.
“That’s what you were doing in there?” I asked. “Making us dinner?”
“Yeah,” Toby answered. “What did you think we were doing?”
“Honestly, the possibilities were endless.”
We wandered into the kitchen and beheld the food as if it were an atomic bomb.
“I’m so confused,” Aniyah whispered. “Grateful. But confused.”
“Carter said he wanted to learn how to cook,” Toby explained.
“And Toby offered to teach me,” Carter added, beaming at Toby.
“That’s so nice,” Xander said. “When’s the wedding?”
“Fuck off,” Carter replied, the words flippant and lacking any heat. “Dig in.”
We didn’t need to be told twice. Toby and Carter had made a whole chicken with roasted potatoes, asparagus, and a salad. Everything smelled delicious. We all filled plates and settled around the living room since the kitchen table didn’t have enough seats for all of us.
“This is really good,” I said between bites.
“Thanks,” Carter said. “I know it’s simple, but I had to start somewhere.”
“I haven’t had a home-cooked meal in forever,” Xander said. “Simple or not, this is amazing.”
There wasn’t much conversation as we ate, all of us too absorbed with our food. We were almost all on our second helping when Sophia came home.
“Who cooked?” she asked.
“Toby and Carter,” Brody answered.
Sophia looked at the two of them quizzically for a moment before moving into the kitchen and fixing herself a plate.
“Thank God I came home when I did, or you assholes would’ve eaten everything.” She looked around for a seat, so I scooted back and patted my good leg.
“You sure?” she asked.
“Absolutely.”
She smiled as she walked over and gently lowered herself onto my lap, careful to keep her weight off my bad leg.
I kissed the back of her neck, and she turned to give me a quick peck on the lips before she began eating.
“All the couples in this room are nauseating,” Brody complained.
“There’s literally only one couple here,” Aniyah said.
Brody scoffed. “Yeah, whatever.”
“Speaking of couples,” Sophia said. “I had an interesting conversation today.”
Brody smiled wide. “I heard. Thanks for giving your blessing.”
“Yeah, well, just don’t expect me to pay her a dowry for you or anything.”
Brody laughed at that, and I leaned into Sophia so I could whisper into her ear.
“Do I even want to know?”
“You definitely do,” she muttered back. “I’ll tell you later.”
I sat back, content. The fact that there was a “later” between us was still somewhat novel. So much so that I didn’t even have it in me to be disgruntled at having to wait to hear the Brody drama.
Instead, I found myself relaxing into the evening, surrounded by great friends and an amazing girlfriend.
I wasn’t sure life could get much better than this.
Chapter Twenty-Five
S O P H I A
“Carter, wait up,” I called when I saw him across the parking lot. I had a half hour before my next class, and I was pretty sure he had at least that.
Carter stopped, his thumbs hooked around the straps of his backpack when he turned around.
“You don’t have class now, right?” I asked. “You wanna grab something to eat? I’m starving and in desperate need of caffeine.”
“Which question do you want me to answer first?”
It took me a moment to realize I’d asked more than one. “Are you hungry?”
“That wasn’t even one of the first two questions.”
“Stop,” I teased. “Since when did you start paying such close attention to detail?”
“Not sure.”
Once I caught up to him, we began walking side by side. “What are you in the mood for?”
“I don’t know. A sandwich or something sounds good.”
“We can go to JoJo’s.”
He looked at his watch.
“I think they open at eleven,” I said. “It’s ten of now.”
JoJo’s had only been open a few weeks, but their food and service didn’t show it. Their menu had everything from mozzarella sticks to salmon, and all of it was good. We walked the few blocks to the small cafe, which was already getting crowded, and got in line to place our order.
After finding seats at the counter facing the window, I took off my jacket and hung it on the back of my chair. We had a few bites of our food and talked about my sociology class for a few minutes before I remembered something I knew Carter would find hysterical.
“Oh my God! I almost forgot. Did you see what Toby posted today?” I was hoping Carter hadn’t—mainly because I wanted to be the one to show him—so I was already taking out my phone. I found the picture I was looking for and thrust it in Carter’s face, excited to see his reaction.
Immediately, his expression changed from casual to something that could only be described as What the fuck is that?
“What the fuck is that?” Carter asked after almost nearly spitting out his soda. He took the phone from me and studied the picture closely.
“That,” I said, barely able to contain my smile, “is Toby’s most recent selfie. Shirtless. In a public restroom.”
“I see that. Why?” Carter looked like he’d seen a ghost. Which I guess he kind of had if he stared too long at Toby’s pale body.
“Read the post. Apparently he’s planning to start bulking, so he wanted to share a before picture.”
“Huh,” Carter said, still studying the picture. “He said he’s getting ‘hashtag swole for summer.’” Carter’s voice was monotone, but somehow he still managed to sound confused.
“I know.” I nearly snorted as I popped a fry into my mouth. “Can you imagine a muscular Toby?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen him without a shirt on, so I’m still taking it
all in.”
Probably thinking it was ketchup, Carter dipped his burger in the cup of cheese he’d gotten with his fries, but he didn’t seem to notice the difference. He just chewed slowly as he stared at my phone.
“He doesn’t have a bad body, necessarily. Just lean,” Carter said. “But he’s got some definition in his abs. And his biceps and shoulders look like a swimmer’s. I think he actually looks pretty good now, but good for him if he wants to get bigger.”
Laughing quietly, I said, “Better be careful complimenting half-naked men in public like that. You already kissed a guy in the middle of campus last semester. You wouldn’t want people to get the wrong idea about you.”
Carter chuckled, clicked the screen off, and handed my phone back to me.
“Oh, I think you got an email, by the way,” he said a few seconds later. “A notification popped up when I was trying to shield my eyes from Toby’s white skin.”
“Thanks.”
I opened my school email, hoping it was my marketing management professor emailing me about a possible internship opportunity for next year. I’d emailed her a few questions about it a couple of days ago but hadn’t heard back yet.
But when I opened my email, the only new email I saw was from Nickson, Elizabeth. I had no idea who Elizabeth Nickson was, but I quickly found out.
According to the email, she was the assistant to the dean of student affairs, and she was emailing to schedule a meeting with me as soon as possible.
“Look at this,” I said to Carter.
He took the phone reluctantly. “It’s not another picture of Toby, is it?”
“No. The office of student affairs wants to discuss possible student misconduct.”
I watched as Carter’s eyebrows pressed together in confusion. “Whose?” he asked, pulling his attention away from the email to look at me.
I was quiet for a moment, still hoping all of this could somehow be a mistake.
“Mine.”
I fidgeted with the notebook I’d brought, clicking the pen over and over again until even I was annoyed by me.
The receptionist looked up a few times from whatever she was doing at her desk, but she never even asked me politely to stop. She actually looked like she felt a little sorry for me. She must’ve known I didn’t do…whatever it was they thought I did.
Truth or Dare You (The Love Game Book 2) Page 19