He cups the nape of my neck in his hand, and I pull back just the slightest bit, so our eyes can meet. His thumb traces my jaw, brushing over my bottom lip. I’m leaning in to close the final inch between us when theAvengerstheme song blares out of my bag.
Seth’s arms fall and he puts several steps between us, breaking whatever spell the embrace held us under.
“Sorry, that’s May’s ringtone,” I mutter, digging through my bag to fish out my phone and let May know she has the worst timing ever. “Sorry,” I say to Seth again, swiping to accept the call. “May? Is everything okay? If you’re not dead, I’m going to kill you.”
“Fuck yeah, better than okay. We’re on the list for Warwick tomorrow night!” She’s practically shouting in my ear.
Groaning out loud, I hold the phone away from my head to protect my hearing. “May, I don’t know if I want to go to a club, like, ever. And this is definitely not an emergency.”
“I didn’t say it was an emergency. You’re the one who picked up the phone.” Her indignance is clear despite a fuzzy connection.
Granted, she’s not wrong. She has no idea what she interrupted, but that doesn’t mean I’m not annoyed as hell that she killed the moment. “Well. That doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want to go dancing.”
“LP, Warwick is the perfect place to pick up a one-night stand. You’re going. We’re going. You know I’m right.”
I groan again, because sheisright. Even though I canthink of few things I want less right now than hooking up with a random guy, the fact of the matter is it’s on my list, and I not only agreed to it, I insisted upon it. And we’re quickly approaching the end date of this whole shebang. I might as well put thebanginshebang.
I sigh, loudly and dramatically so she knows how much I hate this plan. “Okay, fine. We’ll go to Warwick and I will get my one-night stand.”
It’s only after I say it that I remember Seth is standing just a few feet away from me, listening to every word. Even though the night sky shadows most of his face, the emotion in his eyes is thick. Is he angry that I’m about to complete one of my toughest tasks, and maybe, potentially, push ahead in the rankings? Or is that hurt? Why would he be hurt?
New hurt, old hurt, so much hurt lies between us.
“May, I gotta go. I’ll text you later.” I hang up before she can say goodbye. “Sorry. I should’ve ignored that.”
Seth shoves his hands in his pockets. “No big deal. Sounds like you have important plans.”
“Well, I do need to complete the challenge.”
“Yes, you do.” His shoulders slump in defeat, like he doesn’t realize that all I want from him is a little resistance.
“I did agree to have a one-night stand.” I’m goading him, pushing him to see if he’ll snap. I wait for him to say something, anything, to give me any sort of hint as to what’s going on in his head. If he asked me not to go through with it, I honestly don’t know what I’d say.
“That you did.” He gives me a half wave and a stoic smile and crosses the parking lot to his car. “Good night, Parker.”
It’s getting harder and harder to watch him walk awayfrom me, but it seems to be our recurring pattern, and I’m more than ready to get off this carousel. I could never say I was excited about the prospect of picking up a man at a club for a little casual sex, but maybe it’s exactly what I need. Maybe in order to get Seth out of my mind, I need to put another man in. My mind, that is.
24
I personally have never subscribed to the whole notion of getting over one person by getting under another, but if it works for you, have at it! (Use protection!)
—Lana Parker, “Tried and True Ways to Move On from a Breakup”
#NOBOYSALLOWED
LANA:Guys. I’m freaking out.
TESSA:What’s going on?
LANA:I am attempting my one-night stand task tonight and I’ve literally never done anything like this before. I am freaking out.
COREY:You mentioned that
TESSA:I’m afraid I’m not much help on this topic, but I totally understand why you’re freaking out and it’s okay to feel that way.
COREY:I on the other hand have plenty of experience with this topic so let me just say a couple things.
Use a condom!
