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“A couple of hours still, why? Do you miss my sexy face? We both know you’re dying to get a piece of this.”
“Are you telling me there’s finally a chance? Oh my gosh!” he says in a high-pitch fan-girl style voice.
I bark out my laughter. “So, you can’t wait to see me.”
“You know it, but also, I was wondering if you had somewhere to stay while you’re here helping your family?”
“I’d planned to stay with my parents. My old room is still free of charge. Probably since they are doubling it as a storage space for construction materials.”
He’s quiet for a minute, which tells me whatever he’s going to ask me next probably isn’t going to be something I’ll like. Still, nothing can be as bad as Sydney calling me to yell about Cinnamon.
“Travis, I need a favor,” his voice fills with apprehension.
“Let’s hear it,” I say, pulling off the interstate and into a gas station to fill up and get a Red Bull. When he doesn’t answer right away, I add, “You lonely? Need me to come and cuddle with you?”
“No, it’s actually for Nina.”
The mention of his little sister is like having someone pour a bucket of cold water over my head. The carefree, light mood I’m always in when I talk to my best friend dissolves in a blink of an eye with one simple name. Nina. The only girl I’ve ever actually cared for. The only one I saw a future with. The only one I could’ve imagined marrying. Shaking my head, I try to shake away those thoughts.
I felt all those things for her, but she ripped my heart out and tap-danced all over it.
“What about Nina?” I ask slowly, doing my best to hide the sour taste she left me with, not that her brother knows anything about that.
“She’s looking for a roommate…” he pauses, and for a few seconds, neither one of us speaks. “Like really bad, and immediately, but only until she can find a permanent one. You would be kind of perfect…” He trails off again.
Grady actually wants me to live with his sister? This has to be a sick and twisted joke.
Part of me thinks yes, I’d do anything to help my buddy out. But another part, a bigger part thinks no way man, stay away. As far as you can.
Images of Nina pop into my head. Nina smiling at me sweetly and innocently. Nina closing her eyes right before I kissed her plump lips for the first time. Nina naked, sprawled out and moaning my name underneath me...
No, no… the answer is no, Travis.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, man,” I tell him. “Besides, I’m with Sydney, she wouldn’t like that.” A little white lie won’t hurt anything. He doesn’t know what happened between us. How she used me back then and how I’ve never really gotten over it. Maybe that’s why I date crazy unavailable women. It’s Nina’s fault.
“You’re still with that crazy woman? Don’t you remember the last time you were here? She put shaving cream all over my house.”
“I forgot she did that.” I laugh, remembering that night vividly. Sydney might be batshit crazy, but never boring, that’s for sure.
“Look, Nina’s wanting to go on Craigslist, and as her big brother, I don’t want her to end up with some psycho. I’ve seen what they do to their roommates on Help My Roommate Is A Murderer With A Shoe Fetish.”
“That’s not a real thing.” I roll my eyes.
“It’s close enough. Can’t you at least think about it… for me,” he practically begs. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
Immediately a million scenarios run through my head, and every single one of them ends badly, and they just get worse from there. Still, I can’t…
“Guys and girls shouldn’t live together, it’s just not a good idea.” God, I sound like a nun. He must be realizing that something is off by now.
“Come on, boy scout, you respect me enough not to hook up with my sister. You’re the only one of my friends that I trust enough to allow near her.”
Great, just when I thought this couldn’t get any worse. Now I feel like a steaming pile of dog shit. I wish he hadn’t said that. If I’m honest with myself, I don’t think I can handle seeing her again. Let alone living with her. Plus, Grady sees me as this good guy that wouldn’t touch his sister, and the reality is I’ve already slept with her once.
“Just think about it,” he pleads one last time.
“I will,” I lie, “I’ll call you when I get into town.”
We say our goodbyes, and I end the call feeling guilty as hell. Thoughts of the time I spent with Nina surge forward. I wish I could say that I haven’t thought about her in ages, that I forgot about how she smells like candy, sugary and sweet, and how soft her skin is. But that would be a lie. I think about her all the time. Think about what we could have had and what I lost that night at the party.
