Ronnie stares at me, then begins to cackle. “Wow. Your romantic life is crickets for the entire time I’ve known you, and now your first time out of the gate, you’re dating multiple guys at once? When you decide to do a thing, you really go all out, huh?” she says with a shit-eating grin.
I shake my head, my glasses sliding down my nose. “No. No, no, no. We are not dating.”
Ronnie’s eyebrows are practically in her hairline now. “So, what, you’re just fooling around?”
I pick up another chip, ready to shove it into my mouth, but what would be the point? I’m not getting out of this conversation, and I’m no longer hungry. I toss it back onto the desk. “Sort of.”
“Sort of?” Ronnie tilts her head in confusion. “What do you mean sort of? You either are or you aren’t.”
I sigh and shove myself away from the desk and my half-eaten lunch. “Remember that list you found the other week?”
“Obviously.”
“It fell out of my purse.” I close my eyes, reliving the humiliating moment when I walked into their living room to find them looking at the stupid pink paper. “Right in front of them. And they kind of offered to help me complete it.”
“Lucky boys, having that just drop into their laps. Any lucky you, too, it sounds like. A no-strings v-card punch is not a bad way to do it.”
“Maybe,” I hedge. “They asked me to go out with them and I told them I’m not interested in dating anyone at the moment, but we could do this instead. They agreed, and I’m really just hoping they don’t keep pushing the dating thing.”
Now that we’ve started the list, I wouldn’t mind finishing it with them. But not if it’s going to get complicated.
“Does that mean you just fooled around the entire weekend?” Ronnie’s eyes get big again. “How much of your list did you get through?”
“No, of course not.” I have way too much going on to spend an entire weekend just fooling around. My homework would never get done at that rate. “I told you, we also watched a TV show, made meals, and we got a lot of studying done too. They’re also really good students, and they’re hoping to graduate with honors.”
“But you’re not dating them,” she clarifies.
“No, definitely not.”
“I don’t believe you, but okay.” Ronnie chuckles as she stands to grab her shower caddy out of her cupboard.
“I’m not,” I insist. What about that is confusing her? I just said quite plainly that I don’t want to date them, or anyone. And even if I hadn’t just said it, this is not new information for her.
“As long as you’re happy and having a good time, you can do whatever you want,” she assures me, snagging her towel off the top corner of her cupboard door. “But you need to leave me a note or text me when you’re not going to come home overnight, because safety first.”
“I know,” I agree. “Even the guys felt bad about that. And they promised to remind me next time.”
I can’t believe I forgot to tell her this time. It’s not like me for something so basic to slip my mind. Although I was thinking about other things at the time. Sexy things. I was distracted.
She snorts. “Yeah, you’re totally not dating.”
It’s clear she doesn’t believe me, but before I can respond, she closes the door behind her, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the realization that once again, I have neglected to send a text I should have remembered.
Pulling my phone out of my purse, I pull up the group chat with the guys.
Home from work. I should have texted them right away like I had said I would, but I didn’t want to ignore my best friend to text the people I just spent the whole weekend with. Assuming she’d have even let me have the fifteen seconds it would take to type out the message.
Glad you made it home safe, texts Sebastian.
Felix sends,If you had come here after instead, we could have another movie night.
Is movie night going to become a euphemism for ticking items off the list? The thought makes me giggle, and sends an exciting little chill up my spine. I feel bad now for judging other girls for hooking up with guys. Now that I’ve done it, I can see what all the fuss is about.
We could plan something for next weekend?I type out, then immediately regret it. Did that make me look too eager to see them again? I don’t want to give them all the power in … whatever this is.
Lukas replies before I have a chance to unsend the message.We actually have plans already for next weekend. It’s Nationals, so we’ll be in New York.
Shit, it’s Nationals already? I had no idea. Why didn’t they say anything sooner?
