Right?
“Leo, are you about to ditch me? Because if you are, you better pony up and say it,” she said. “A better offer came along?”
“Not exactly. I’m so sorry,” I said in a rush. “I hate myself for asking but is there any chance I could convince you to let me have both tickets so I could take a friend from college? She’s never seen Måneskin before and she really loves them.”
“What?” Aunt Sloane yelled. “You’re ditching meandyou want my ticket? I don’t even get to go anymore?”
“I’m so sorry. I feel terrible, okay? I made a bet with a friend and told her if I won, I’d take her to a concert. It turns out she loves Måneskin and is hoping that’s the concert I’ll take her to. I feel like a total ass but—”
Sloane sighed. “You gave my ticket awayto a fuck buddy?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to. People ditch their families for sex and love. Which is it, kid?”
I hesitated. It wasn’t really either of those things. It was so much more than sex for me, but I wasn’t going to start throwing the wordlovearound when Sophia hadn’t even caught up to the idea that I wanted to ask her out for real.
“Sex,” I finally answered, not wanting to reveal my infatuation with someone who’d literally come to mebecauseof my reputation. I’d only further embarrass myself when everyone realized I was the one who was going to have their heart broken in this arrangement.
“You owe me big time,” she said firmly.
“Really?”
“Yes. I’ll email you the tickets.”
“Thank you. Thank you! I’ll pay you back for the tickets. And we can go to any concert you want next. I saw Shinedown is coming next summer.”
“You better make sure your fuck buddy doesn’t love them too,” she quipped. “This girl better be really hot if you’re ditching me.”
“She is so fucking hot, Aunt Sloane. And she’s smart too.”
“That seems doubtful if all it takes is one concert ticket for her to fuck around with you,” Aunt Sloane said. “Feel free to bring my apology gift to Thanksgiving.”
I laughed. She didn’t really want a gift but I’d probably buy her something anyway. “You’re the best, Aunt Sloane. I owe you.”
“What was that? The best? Like world’s best auntie?” Aunt Sloane had been vying for this position since before I was even born, and I was pretty sure it all boiled down to the fact that my parents had gotten her and her wife each a mug that saidWorld’s Best Auntie. She’d neverhandled sharing the title very well, especially since I’d been so close to Aunt Lavi when I was little.
“Will you let that go yet?” Aunt Lavi yelled in the background.
I chuckled. “You know it, Aunt Sloane. The title is yours again. But you have to break it to your wife,” I said before saying goodbye and hanging up so I could grab some dinner before the bus took off.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sophia
Leo and I couldn’tstop having sex. It was a problem I never once thought I’d have. And I got it now. I understood why Jia and Alyssa sounded the way they did during sex; passionate and enthralled. That’s how I felt when I was with Leo, which was almost daily at this point. For two people with remarkably busy schedules, we managed to squeeze in a quickie almost every day. It was exciting and made the whole experience even more fun. I went to his place a lot and he’d been to my suite a few times, though after those encounters, I got a whole lot of eyebrow raises from my roommates who still maintained that I should be sharing more details with them and that Leo Harrison did not hook up with the same girl this many times.
As far as I knew, they were right, but I wasn’t worried about it. We were having a great time, and we had an arrangement I was sure he’d just call off if he got bored. He seemed like someone who didn’t apologize for what he wanted, and he was always upfront, so if he wanted to stopscrewing me between classes or after his games, he’d tell me—plus he seemed perfectly happy thus far.
A little over a week after he won the concert bet, I was getting ready in my room, waiting for him to meet me downstairs. The venue was only a ten-minute drive away, and we were going to get dinner nearby. When he’d confirmed a couple days ago that we were going to see Måneskin, I’d squealed like a little girl getting to meet Cinderella for the first time. I had been into Måneskin for years but most bands didn’t fly to Hawaii when they toured so I’d never seen them live. I was beyond excited, wearing a pair of ripped jeans, knee-high boots, and a black Måneskin T-shirt cinched at the waist. I tousled my hair in the mirror, letting my long dark locks fall over my shoulders.
I frowned. “Hey, Alyssa. Do you think I should put my hair up?” I yelled. She’d been in the living room binge watching a show when I started getting ready to go out.
“Fuck no, Hawaii.” Leo’s voice startled me, and I turned to face my open bedroom door. He smirked. “You look incredible.”
My cheeks flushed. Even after all the sexy things he said in bed, I still reacted this way to his appreciative stare. This outing kept feeling more and more like a date even though I tried to force myself to remember that Leo Harrison didn’t date. He’d even told me so himself. He hooked up and he had friends. Apparently, he also took his friends to dinner and concerts.
“Thank you,” I said with smile, glancing back at the mirror one last time.
