even if your dancing was the spookiest thing at the party
Nick:I didn’t send anyone to the hospital, so I’m calling that a win.
Ramona:what are you up to this weekend?
Nick:Perusing the endless abyss that is LA apartment listings. Debating auctioning off a kidney. You?
Ramona:contemplating the meaning of life, etc
what kind of bachelor pad are you looking for?
Nick:An affordable one.
It’s been so long since I did this on my own. I have no idea what I’m supposed to be looking for.
Ramona:something with a pool and a jacuzzi, definitely
a built-in backyard pizza oven
maybe a chicken coop? you could name them after your favorite psychologists
Nick:See, this is what I’ve been missing. My priorities are completely out of whack.
Would you…maybe want to come with me to check out a couple places?
18
“You’re seeing someone,” Lexi informshim over breakfast the day after Halloween.
“Good morning?” Nick counters, pouring himself a mug of coffee.
His sister ignores this. “I can tell. You look different. And you keep grinning whenever you look at your phone.”
He does his best to bite back a smile as he takes a seat across from her at the table. Goddammit.
Despite the late night, Nick forced himself to wake up early, swim some laps. He thought it might shake him out of the infatuated haze the party had dragged him into.
Evidently not.
“Who is it?” Lexi presses, passing him a plate of pancakes. Audrey’s off at a cooking class, which explains why these pancakes are less symmetrical than usual.
“You don’t know her. And we’re just friends.”
“That isnota just-friends kind of look.”
A sigh as he sinks his fork into a pancake. Maybe it would be a relief to confide in someone about it. His sister could tell him that he’s being a colossal idiot, therefore ridding him of the notion that he can have any kind of extracurricular relationship with Ramona.
“I’m not sure how to say this,” he begins. “But I’ve been sort of spending time with…Ramona Wilder?”
Lexi gives him such a blank look that at first he thinks she might not know who she is. “The singer in your class,” she says, a note of confusion in her voice.
“I know. It’s absurd, and it’s inappropriate, and it could get me into a lot of fucking trouble.” With a groan, he reaches for his coffee. The caffeine barely helps.
“She’s older than the rest of your students, though, right?”
“Twenty-six.” Now that he’s started talking about her, apparently he can’t stop. “She is twenty-six, and she has multiple Grammys, a luxury Range Rover, and a cat named Janet.”
A long pause, and then Lexi bursts out laughing.
