Hell yes, I am. I’m not going to leave her alone in here to fuck with my shit or throw up all over my books.
“You bring out the worst in me.” Her comment surprises me out of my silence.
“That’s harsh,” I snap at her. I bring out the worst in her? She doesn’t even know me. I continue: “And yes, I am going to sit here and babysit you. You’re drunk for the first time in your life, and you have a habit of touching my things when I’m not around.”
I sit down on my bed as she cautiously takes a drink of my water. Thought so. The room is probably beginning to spin for her. Poor girl. I watch her carefully as she gulps down the water. The way her eyes close and she licks her lips when she’s finished, the way she breathes too heavily. I stare at her without her noticing and try my damnedest not to overthink why I’m staring at her in the first place.
There’s just so damn much that I don’t know about her, so many things I want to know.
She seems so readable from the outside. She’s blond, beautiful in a simple way, and I can tell by the old-fashioned way she speaks that she spends hours and hours with her face buried in a book. Yet her temper and the giant chip on her shoulder make me wonder what’s underneath all that.
“Can I ask you a question?” I speak without thinking. I try and smile at her, but I get the feeling that I look like a fucking creep.
Her brows push together. “S-s-s-s-sure,” she says, drawing out her answer.
What the hell am I going to ask her? I had kind of assumed she would tell me to go to hell.
I go for the easiest question I can think of. “What do you want to do after college?” I know that I should’ve asked something more personal, something to help me win this game with Zed.
Tessa seems to ponder the question, tapping her finger against her chin before she answers. “Well, I want to be an author or a publisher, whichever comes first.”
I could see that, easily.
I don’t tell her that I plan to do the exact same thing. Instead, I stare blankly ahead after rolling my eyes.
“Are those your books?” Tessa waves toward my bookshelves.
“They are,” I mumble.
“Which is your favorite?”
Fucking Christ, she’s nosy.
“I don’t play favorites,” I lie. She’s getting too personal, and she’s been in here awhile. Her knowing my favorite books won’t help me get what I want.
I need to turn this around, make it less personal. I need to annoy her. “Does Mr. Rogers know you’re at a party again?”
My smirk complements her scowl. Mission accomplished.
“Mr. Rogers?”
“Your boyfriend,” I explain. “He’s the biggest tool I have ever seen.”
“Don’t talk about him like that. He is . . . he is . . . nice.”
I can’t help but laugh at the way she fumbles for a compliment about her loafer-wearing boyfriend.
She waves a finger at me. “You could only dream of being as nice as he is.”
“Nice? That’s the first word that comes to your mind when talking about your boyfriend? Nice is your ‘nice’ way of calling him boring.” I laugh.
“You don’t know him,” she insists with admittedly impressive fearlessness.
“Well, I know that he’s boring. I could tell by his cardigan and loafers.” I’m laughing now, really laughing, and my stomach tightens. I can’t help it. When I look up at her pissed-off expression, I laugh harder, imagining the human Ken doll whining over a hole in his cashmere sweater.
“He doesn’t wear loafers.” Tessa covers her mouth to hide her need to laugh. I get it. I would laugh, too. She takes another drink of my water and I keep going.
“Well, he’s been dating you for two years and hasn’t fucked you yet. I would say he’s a square.”
As my words hit the air, Tessa spits water back into the cup.
“What the hell did you just say?”
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”.nidraH ,elohssa na er’uoY“
—nehw steg ehs yreif woh evol I ,naM
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.ekawa erew uoy nehw uoy ot teg tsael ta dluow ma 00:3 ta eno derugif I os ,stxet rehto ym ot dednopser t’nevah uoY .tuoba uoy ot klat ot tnaw I gnihtemos s’erehT .yb pots ot tnaw uoy fi thginot rennid gnikam s’neraK :neK morf txet rehtona ,tekcop ym ni ffo seog enohp ym reh hctaw I sa dna ,enoemos rof moor eht dnuora gnikool s’ehS .rouqil fo elttob a morf knird a gnikat ,nehctik eht ni s’asseT ,sriats eht fo mottob eht ot teg I nehW
