AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?” she asks me.
I sniffle. “Nothing. You’re very perceptive. You’ve given me a lot to think about. I mean, I don’t even know where things are going with Mason, and a lot of that is on me because I also didn’t know what I wanted and every single time I got together with him, I told myself it was just a one-time thing. Which is ridiculous. We’re both starting to catch feelings and living in denial. I mean, he gets mad as hell when I wear anybody else’s jersey, and I was ready to spit nails when I thought he was back with Lexi.”
“Jersey? Say what?”
I shake my head. “Never mind, it’s silly. Thank you for listening. Also, you dropped ice cream on your comforter.”
“Oh, fuuu ... dge. Damn it,” she laughs, “I feel like I can’t even say real swear words around you, kinda like the way you can’t admit that sex exists when I’m in the room.”
She leaps to her feet. “Get up,” she orders me, and strips the comforter off the bed, scattering pillows, and walks over to stuff it in a laundry basket.
My head is whirling. She is making excellent points. I absolutely love my job, but if it turns out that Mason and I really do want a relationship together, why should I have to choose? It feels like going back to the nineteenth century, when female teachers were required to be un-married.
We both sit down again. “By the way, fuckity fuck fuck fuck,” she adds. “Ha. I swore right in front of you.”
“How dare you,” I say dryly. “All right. Let’s pick a movie to watch and order way too much pizza. Because tonight is a night for making poor decisions.”
“Woohoo. Let’s chug a whole bottle of tequila each,” Ruby cheers.
I shake my head at her. College students don’t experience three-day hangovers the way those of us ancient ladies in our late twenties do. “Not that poor.”
34
ROWAN
“We wish you a zombie Christmas,we wish you a zombie Christmas ...” Pax sings as he lugs a sack of presents into Mason’s living room.
Yes, the only way to get Mason’s hockey buddies to show up on a weekend night to help wrap presents is to hold the zombie movie marathon they’ve been thirsting for more than ... brains.
“That décor in the lobby is next level, Raker, but this place is insane. I’m guessing you had nothing to do with it,” Pax says, sticking his tongue out like a child.
“And you’d be right.” I glance at Mason, who’s too busy wrapping a present to even look at Pax.
Since it’s the holiday season, the lobby of Mason’s building is decorated with Christmas ornaments and whoever did it went all out. It’s beautiful. Mason’s apartment has a pre-decorated artificial Christmas tree, but the rest of the place looks like the scene of a horror movie.
Which was all my doing.
I actually hit up a friend who works in movie theater merchandising and got a few post-apocalyptic backgrounds, featuring ruined cityscapes with zombies staggering in front of them. I’ve arranged them around the apartment, along with foam gravestones with zombie arms and legs coming out of them, hanging cobwebs, and posters warning of a zombie outbreak. I’ve strung up yellow crime scene tape that says “Stay out—infected.” and signs listing the symptoms of zombie infection. Oh, and I can’t forget the bloody handprint window clings.
I’ve spent days researching zombie-themed party food and buying the ingredients and putting it all together.
Hey, when it comes to party décor, I do not half-ass it.
Pax drops his bag on the living room floor. He’s the last one here; Beck, Logan, and Noah are already manning the wrapping station. Ruby is standing next to them overseeing and helping the ones who are wrapping-impaired, which is most of them. Andy, Leo, Drew, and Hollis stand around twiddling their thumbs. The rest of the guys I don’t know well try to look busy. Okay, all of them are basically standing around. Thank heavens they’re good on the ice, because none of them will ever land a job in the gift-wrapping department, a fact I’m sure haunts them at night.
Noah brought a lovely girl named Mia with him, and she’s volunteered to help, so she’s hanging with Ruby. If it wasn’t for those two, not a gift would be wrapped.
“Thanks ladies. You’re lifesavers.”
Mia looks up and offers a smile. Ruby is too engrossed in the task at hand to even bother replying.
I’m passing out glowing green drinks in themed cups that sayToxic waste. All our drinks are zombie-themed and non-alcoholic.
The food and drink table has pizza creatively cut to look like chunks of human flesh—I know, gross—and meatballs made to look like eyeballs and zombie cupcakes with pink squiggle frosting that looks like brains and zombie finger cookies with sliced almonds for fingernails.
“You really went all out,” Mia says admiringly, as she wraps up another package for Noah. “Here, sign it, dude.”
“I feel like a fraud,” he sighs and quickly squiggles on it with his Sharpie. “You’ve done all the work.”
