Does Logan love Wren, or does he merely think he’s in love with her? Hmm. There’s one way to be sure. Alas, tonight is my and Wren’s date, so he’ll have to wait. Maybe I’ll pay him a visit tomorrow, and I’ll see just what his choice is when he comes to the end of the maze.
Ifhe makes it to the end.
Chapter Seven – Wren
Sloane is sitting on the edge of my bed, providing opinions I don’t ask for about the outfits I try on. When I told her I had a date tonight, she was reserved but excited—until I told her who the date was with, and then she let her excitement show, much to Elias’s chagrin and envy.
A hot professor who is no longer off-limits since he’s not my professor anymore.
I don’t know where exactly we’re going out to eat, but I can’t picture Reese at any super fancy establishment, but a place like McDonald’s doesn’t fit him, either. With how much the man helped me last semester, I realize I don’t know that much about him.
It’s a revolving door of outfits until Sloane decides she’s going to dress me up. Everything in my closet, apparently, is for grandma’s… something reminiscent of Logan. He’s insulted my choice of fashion before, many, many times.
I didn’t tell her about him showing up here yesterday. I couldn’t. That kiss still replayed in my mind, too, as much as I tried not to think about it. At the time, I wanted nothing more than to let him kiss me all over, let those hands of his rediscover me. Honestly, I don’t know how I was able to pull away from him and tell him to leave. That kind of willpower had to have been magic.
Sloane reappears with a pink blouse and a sleek pair of black pants. She shoves them toward me, saying, “Here, try these.”
“Pink?” I say. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in pink.” Call me crazy, but Sloane doesn’t seem like a girl who likes pink.
“That’s because you haven’t. I’m more of a red kind of girl.”
I go to change. Sloane is a bit thinner than I am, but most of her clothes fit me anyways, even if they are a little tighter incertain places. The blouse is a bubblegum pink, a few buttons near the collar, which I undo to reveal my collarbone. The pants are stretchy around the waist, so there are no buttons or zippers to speak of. They’re quite form-fitting, curving along me and making it look like I actually have a cute butt.
Dang, I actually look okay.
When I return to my bedroom, Sloane’s lips quirk upward into a grin. “There you go. That’s the one. See? I knew we should’ve just picked from my closet to begin with. All your shit is just… shit, sorry.” She shrugs, and though she apologized, she doesn’t appear sorrowful at all for insulting my entire wardrobe.
She waits a moment before saying, “Reese is going to lose his mind when he sees you. How late do you think you’ll be? Think you’ll be going anywhere else after the restaurant?” Though she doesn’t say it, I know what she’s hinting at: she’s trying to see if I plan on hooking up with him.
After everything that happened with Logan last semester, I really shouldn’t be hooking up with anyone, but then again… new year, new me, right? Let’s not forget how crazy that masked man made me at that party. Maybe I do have it in me to hook up with Reese.
“I don’t know,” I say.
“Well, all I know is, after the crap that happened last semester, you deserve to have some fun, and who better to have some fun with than a sexy professor?”
I chuckle. “You’re lucky Elias isn’t around to hear that.” If he was nearby, he’d make his presence known; that one has a mean jealous streak.
“He can bite me.”
“It doesn’t bother you he’s so jealous?”
“Nope. In fact, I think it’s kind of hot.” She flips some of her blond hair over her shoulder. “He’s not the only jealous one. I can get very, very jealous. It’s one of those things that drew ustogether, in the beginning. Both of us wanted to show ownership over the other, although we had different ways of showing it.”
Showing ownership over the other person. Hmm. I can’t say I’ve ever wanted to be in a relationship like that, but hey, whatever floats their boat. I suppose, as long as both parties are aware and consenting, ownership can be sexy in its own way.
My phone buzzes, and I check it. When I see Reese’s name pop up, my stomach gets all these butterflies. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I’m actually exciting for this date, that I’m looking forward to it.
Really, it’s my first real date since I broke up with Mike. I’m not counting anything that happened with Logan, for obvious reasons.
The crazier part is, I feel ready.
“He’s on his way now,” I say, and I tuck my phone into the slim back pocket of the pants I wear. I go to my wallet and pull out some cash and tuck that into the pocket, too. Carrying a purse around sucks; it was something I decided when I was young. As a little girl, I never fell into that trap. Makes things a little more complicated now, but I make do.
Sloane comes with me downstairs, and we wait in the living room with the blinds open. It’s pitch-black outside thanks to the short winter days, but we’ll see Reese when he pulls up.
The more minutes that pass, the more nervous I become. I’m excited for this date, yeah, but I’m also anxious about it. What if something goes wrong? What if something bad happens? Or, worse, what if somethinggoodhappens? If I feel a connection, would it be so bizarre to want to continue the date well into the night? Maybe hooking up with him isn’t off the table.
My roomie must sense my anxieties, because she confidently tells me, “You’ll have fun. And if, say, something bad does happen, just text me and Elias and I will race over to where you are and kick Reese’s ass.”
