Page 18 of This Changes Everything

Chapter 7

NEW YORK 20 years old

“HE’S TAKING A BATH.” I WAS PACING BETWEEN BEN’S AND MY twin beds and holding my phone hard against my ear. I could tell from his huffing through the phone that Ben was dodging piles of garbage as he walked home from his shift at Lifers Bar & Grill.

“A bath?! What happened to drinks?”

Ben and I had been living together for three months. We had already fallen into a comfortable routine of texting, weekend date days, pushing our beds together to watch TV, and then separating them again for sleep.

“We did that already!” My whisper was harsh. I looked at the bathroom door. My date, Ethan, was still in there. It was my first date since I’d moved to New York. No, that’s wrong. Technically, it was my first date in years. I had met Ethan at my internship and thought he was cute, witty, and charming. We had a fun back-and-forth.

“Ethan said it had been years since he took a bath and that his apartment only had a shower. I offered it up as a joke.” I raked my hand through my hair and gave it a frustrated pull.

“Ellie, he didn’t hear it as a joke. He heard it as an invitation, you absolute dumbass,” Ben hissed through the phone.

“I realize that now! But it’s been sixteen minutes. I can hear his ass squeaking against the fiberglass.” I grabbed my lucky golf ball that I’d held on to since the Women’s Long Drive and rubbed it across my strained forehead.

“If you want to get in there, then get in there!” Ben barked.

“It’s too late! I haven’t slept with a thousand men. My number is two. TWO! I don’t know what I’m doing!”

“Does he know you live with a guy? Bold of him to take a bath in my tub.”

“I think so. I don’t know. He’s nice. He’s from Nebraska. He’s twenty-five. He was a magician in college—”

“Ellie, no!” I could hear Ben stifle his laughter through the phone and traded the golf ball for a glass of wine.

“He told me he has a washer and dryer inside his apartment, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t let that go! What am I supposed to do, go back to the laundromat? Fuck that, Ben. Fuck. That.” I shivered, thinking about our four-block trek to the laundromat every two weeks. Ben and I would sit in horribly mismatched clothing and inside-out underwear for hours, claiming our machines like hungry vultures and watching them spin hypnotically. The laundromat felt like a literal death spiral where we were both the predators and the prey.

“What’s that noise in the background? Are you watching TV?”

My eyes widened, and I threw my face into my wine. “He said he’s a history buff,” I muttered. “I thought I’d put on a documentary for after he got out of the bath, as a special surprise and to make him think I’m smart, too.”

“What did you put on?”

“Um . . .” My eyes darted toward the television. “Fahrenheit 9/11.” I waited ten seconds before breaking the silence. “Ben?”

“This is dire, buddy.” Ben snorted. I just knew he was clutching his stomach. I could practically see his delight shine through my phone.

“I told you, I don’t know what I’m doing! I didn’t even realize how much of a date this was until after he got in the bath. I. Am. Bad. At. This!” I whispered aggressively.

“No. Shit.”

“You can’t come home,” I begged.

“I can see Grayrock. I’m looking at our Christmas lights right now. I’ve had a long shift and I’m tired, so I am, one hundred percent, coming home to see this shitshow. You either get in there and take a bath with your magician—”

“Ben!” I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Or it’s gonna be so awkward when he comes out all wet and you’re sitting there watching Fahrenheit 9/11 with your full-grown-man roommate.” Ben was howling now. “Holy shit. I’m so excited!” His laugh was infectious.

“I can hear how naked he is.” My eyes fell to the closed bathroom door, knowing Ethan was behind it. For a moment, I put myself in Ethan’s shoes. He was probably sitting uncomfortably in the tiny tub, cold water barely covering his body, his dick and balls floating to the surface of the filmy water, and wondering what I was doing. I had to cover my mouth to keep from spitting out my wine with laughter.

“I mean it, I’m coming! And I’m really close!” I could hear Ben’s breath quicken.

“Stop running!”

Ben was laughing again, and I hung up as angrily as I could with an iPhone. I chugged my full glass of wine and, like a clumsy child, took off my clothes. I stood in front of the closed bathroom door and drew in a strained breath as I reached for the door handle.