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“Sure!” I call after him while he pushes the door open. The sound of running water and laughter greets my ears. “I’d like to see you try.”
“Try what?” Mike asks, standing with only a towel wrapped around his waist.
For a guy that drinks as much as Mike, I’m surprised he’s not portly in the gut region. Instead, he’s lean like the rest of us, with a four pack. There’s still a bit of fat hanging around the middle, but nothing much to concern with. He doesn’t look like the average beer drinking and pizza eating college student despite his diet. As I stare at Mike, I realize he’s also a pretty good looking guy. He’s taller than Seth, with wet slicked back hair. When it’s dry it looks almost black, and his eyes are a chocolate brown. But I feel nothing—no fluttering of my heart, no flushing of the face, not even giddiness as he flashes a smile towards me.
“Nothing to bother yourself with, Mike,” says Seth.
My gaze swivels towards Seth and I watch him open his locker, my heart slamming faster in my chest as my eyes run up and down the length of him. My face flushes and I press a hand against my cheeks, hoping they aren’t bright red. It is hotter in here with the showers running, at least so I tell myself. I step towards my locker, needing something to do to distract myself from Seth taking off his shirt. My hands fumble with the dial and it takes me several tries to open my locker door.
Yep. This is definitely a Seth thing. But why him? He’s a complete fucking asshole. Am I a masochist? Is that what this attraction is?
“So, boys, party tonight,” Mike continues, his voice having a shakiness to it as if he’s nervous. “You coming?”
“No can do,” I hear Seth say. A part of me really wants to turn around, but I know his shirt is off and I refuse to allow myself to stare at him any longer until I figure out what the hell is going on with me. “I have… plans.”
I glance at Mike simply to keep myself from staring at Seth. Mike pouts and he turns to me, a sad smile marring his face. “What about you, Goode? Party?”
“I also have plans.”
Mike’s eyes narrow. “What kind of plans?”
“Planny-plans,” I say hesitantly, unable to come up with a good excuse.
Mike sighs and plops himself on the bench, his hands covering his face as his sigh turns into a very loud, drawn-out groan. “This is about Charlie, isn’t it?”
“Charlie?” I hear Seth ask, and this time I do turn around to give him a sharp scowl, which doesn’t come off as angry as I wanted it to, because Seth is holding his shirt in his hands, standing casually, naked from the waist down. “Who’s Charlie?”
“Rachel’s friend Charlie,” I say, trying to sound irritated. How can Seth not remember Charlie? The girl practically hangs on Rachel’s arm every time we see them walking through campus together.
“My ex-girlfriend Charlie,” Mike says sadly.
“Oh,” Seth says with a knowing nod. “Yes, Charlie. Yep, we can’t hang out with you because of that.”
Mike groans and I give Seth another sharp look. He sure has a way with words. “Rachel told us what happened,” I say as nicely as possible.
Mike rubs his palms over his face. “It all happened so fast. One minute we were fine and everything was amazing, and the next she hated my guts. I have no clue how to fix this.” Mike’s hands slip away and he looks up at me with large puppy dog eyes. “I didn’t even want to break up, but then Charlie was ranting about how I already have a new girlfriend, which wasn’t true!”
I raise an eyebrow. “That’s not what I heard.”
“Well, it’s not true!” Mike shouts while popping up from the bench. He grabs my arms with a firm grip and pulls me so close to his face. For the briefest moment, I worry he’s going to head-butt me. My vision fills with his chocolate brown eyes. “My cousin visited me and we got coffee together. That has to be it! I would never cheat on Charlie. I really, really like her.”
“Then why were you hiding her?” Seth asks. “Didn’t she want to come out in the open and you told her no.”
Mike grimaces. “Yeah, I might have said that.”
“Why?” I ask, all of my pity for Mike dissipating immediately.
Mike sighs and releases my arms, his butt plopping back down on the bench. “Okay, so I was lying. I was just angry when she admitted to keeping me a secret from everyone.”
I groan. “Aww, Mike. No.”
“I know. I know! Not my greatest moment. But it really hurt. I might not be the smartest, but I’m cute. Girls like me. Why wouldn’t she want to flaunt me in front of her friends? I felt like something was wrong with me.”
That’s terrible. I have never been in that situation, and I never want to be—to have a girlfriend embarrassed of you. Why would she even bother dating him if she was so concerned what her friends would think? Not to mention, Rachel is Charlie’s friend. Rachel has never disliked Mike.
“Nothing is wrong with you,” I say while resting a hand on Mike’s shoulder, offering him what little support I can. As much as I love Rachel, her friend is shitty for hiding Mike, but I don’t know what more to say to make the guy feel better. Maybe go to his party, even though I have an anatomy test tomorrow?
“But everything was going so well before.” Mike sighs and shakes his head, looking defeated. “I just want to go back to the way things were. Any ideas on how to win her back?”
