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“We will not be sleeping naked together,” she insisted. “Clothes or the deals off.”
“Fine,” he grumbled, “I’ll wear shorts to bed—but no T-shirt.”
“Deal,” she quickly agreed, and he wondered why Savannah would be so quick to agree to him not wearing a shirt. Did she like seeing him half-naked? Well, that would just make her a martyr and he didn’t like playing those kinds of games, but he’d figure that all out later. Right now, he liked that they were actually coming to terms about them all staying at the house together. This way, no one would have to give up their summer.
He pulled into the driveway of the rental house and cut the engine. “Should we continue talking about the rules or do you want to involve the rest of them in these decisions?” he asked.
“Let’s finish going over the rules for the two of us sharing a room, and then, we can fill in the others and come up with some beach house rules,” she said. That was fine by him because he was sure that once they were done discussing these rules of hers, Savannah would disappear for the rest of the day, and he wasn’t sure how he actually felt about that. He was starting to like her, even if she was bossy and a bit overbearing.
“Does the room have an attached bathroom?” she asked. He was pretty sure that she knew that it did.
“Um, yeah, why?” he asked.
“I’m assuming that we’ll be sharing that too?” she asked.
“At the same time?” he asked.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she breathed, covering her hand over her face. “I’m assuming that we’ll both be using it at different times of the day. Do we need to make up a bathroom schedule?” she asked.
“If you are asking if I can have a bowel movement on demand, the answer is no,” he said. She was getting out of hand with her demands and Brooks knew that if he didn’t push back some, she’d take things as far as possible.
“I’m tired of the sarcasm,” she grumbled.
“Good, because I’m tired of having to come up with pithy remarks,” he admitted.
“Do we need a schedule for showers and the such?” Savannah asked.
“No,” he said, “I’ll work around your schedule. I’m not picky about when I shower or any of that stuff. As you know, there is another full bath in the main part of the house and if I need to, I can just use that.”
“That’s very generous of you, Brooks,” she said.
“Not a problem,” he said. “Rule number three,” he went on. “How about you drop the formalities, and we try to be friends?” he asked.
“Formalities?” she asked, “I’m not sure what you mean by that.”
“You’re so stiff and formal around me,” he explained. “I’d like to try to be friends with you, but you won’t drop the act, Savannah.”
“I’m not putting on an act for you, Brooks. This is who I am. I’ve always been this way; you can ask Norah and Ginger. Kids used to make fun of me in school—calling me an uppity bitch and all the other stuff that they could come up with. But I assure you, this is who I am.” Now, he felt like shit for saying that to her. He’d never accuse any one of being an uppity bitch.
“Kids could be so mean back in school,” he said. “I’m sorry that you had to go through that.”
“Thanks, but it’s not something that you need to apologize for, Brooks. I’m used to it,” she admitted. His heart ached a little bit for her and now, he was starting to think that he had judged Savannah all wrong.
“Any more rules for just the two of us?” he asked, trying to change the subject.
“I can’t think of any,” she said. “How about we go in and tell the rest of the group what’s happening?” she asked.
“Sounds good,” he agreed, “I’ll be right in. I just have a quick phone call to make.” He waited for her to get out of his car and disappear into the beach house. He was going to call Melody to let her know that they were going to share the house, but he wanted Savannah and her friends to receive the full refund. It was the least he could do for calling her stiff and too formal around him. And from now on, Brooks planned on watching what he said around Savannah because seeing the hurt in her eyes didn’t make him feel good at all.
Savannah
Savannah hated that Brooks saw her as uptight and what did he call her—oh, yeah, stiff and formal. She hated that she let him see her hurt or told him about the mean kids in school that always teased her. She still wasn’t sure why she had shared that little gem with him. She needed to get herself together and find Ginger and Norah. They were going to have to sign off on sharing the beach house or all the rules that she just made with Brooks would be for nothing.
“You’re back already?” Ginger asked. “Should I take that as a good or bad sign?” she asked.
“It depends on what you mean by bad and good,” Savannah said. “How was spending the night in Jude’s room?” she asked.
“It worked out great,” Ginger said. “He’s a really nice guy and he’s not looking for anything—you know girlfriend-wise since he’s moving to the West Coast at the end of the summer.”
