“Look, I’m taking care of the Wendy situation.”
“It’s not just Wendy. Your friend Theo, well…”
“Well, what?”
“He strikes me as kind of psycho. He creeps me out.”
“He’s just…different.”
But who was I kidding? Wendy, Theo, all of them. They’d changed since high school.
Maybe Murph was right to want to get away from all of it. Who could blame him? If I could get away from it, I’d go running myself.
“When are you leaving?”
“I’ll be out by the end of the week,” he said. “My new place isn’t nearly as nice as this, but I can’t deal with the nutcases that come around.”
“You don’t think I’m a nutcase too, do you?”
He laughed at that one. “Of course not. Except so far as you hang around those other nutcases.”
I let out a laugh as well. “You can still come around. Have a beer.”
“I know that, and you’re welcome at my new digs anytime. I’ll get you the address. And Brad?”
“Yeah?”
“I hope things work out with you and Daphne. She’s gorgeous and hot, but I think she’s genuine as well. I think she’ll be good for you.”
I nodded. “I hope things work out with you and Patty. Or Sloane. Or whoever.”
He laughed again. “I’m not even close to wanting a relationship. Patty and Sloane are both great. Why should I choose?”
“I suppose you don’t have to, until one of them forces you to.”
“I don’t like ultimatums. I’m young. I’m still sowing my oats. Maybe you should do the same.”
I shook my head. “I’m going to see how things go with Daphne. I’ve never met anyone like her.”
“Good luck with it.”
“I’m not seeing her tonight, though. You want to get a drink?”
“Sorry.” He polished off his beer. “I have plans.”
“Patty?”
“No.”
“Sloane?”
He smirked. “No.”
“Dude, you’re going to hell. You know that, right?”
He laughed. “What a way to go, though.”
Murph was a heck of a guy. He and I had been roommates all last year. He’d put up with a lot of Wendy bullshit, but he’d never left. Of course, she hadn’t pulled a gun on him last year.
Daphne was out with the girls tonight, and now Murph was gone, so I was free.
I could do anything.
I checked my watch. Nearly eleven.
It was the last evening before classes began, and there was only one person I wanted to see.
She might be back at the dorm by now, and if she wasn’t? I’d wait.
Chapter Forty-Five
Daphne
“I can’t believe you agreed to this,” Patty said as we walked down to the guys’ floor. “Why didn’t you just answer the question?”
“I didn’t want to. If I’d told them I was at Brad’s ranch, they’d have pounced on me with a million questions, and I didn’t feel like talking about it to two people I hardly know.”
“Okay, I can understand that, but Daph, you have to take off your shirt on the guys’ floor!”
“I don’t have to. You can just say I did.”
“Daph…”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to ask you to lie.”
“Then how are you going to pull this off?”
“Remember when I got Flo to agree to anywhere on the guys’ floor?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll find a closet, and you can stand watch and time me.”
Patty laughed. “You’re devious!”
“Not devious. I just pay attention to wording.” I paid attention to everything these days because I didn’t want to forget anything that happened to me ever again. I’d grown very observant.
“What if we can’t find a closet?”
“The laundry room.”
“Good call. Guys don’t do laundry. But what if they do? Plus, it’s the night before classes begin. Someone will probably be doing a load.”
“Then we’ll knock on Ennis’s door. He’ll let me do it in his room. Then I take off my shirt for sixty seconds, you time me, and we’re done. No lies.”
“You’re such a schemer!” Patty said. “I love it.”
“It’s not a scheme, Pat. I’m following the rules.” I smiled.
“You’re one smart cookie.”
We walked onto the guys’ floor. A few guys passed us and said hi.
“Where do you suppose a closet is?” Patty whispered.
“I have no idea. Let’s try the laundry room.”
We walked to the end of the hallway where the washers and dryers sat. Crap. Someone was using them. The little room was vacant at the moment, but a guy could walk in at any time and check on his laundry.
“I guess it’s Ennis’s,” I said.
“I hope he’s there,” Patty said.
We arrived at Ennis’s room and knocked. No one answered.
“How can he and his roommate both be out?” Patty said. “It’s eleven.”
I looked around. The room to the left of his said Dirk and Gene on the front. Dirk the jerk—the one who thought life wasn’t worth living without bacon. I hadn’t been a fan when I met him, but at least I knew him. “Let’s try Dirk and Gene,” I said to Patty.
“Okay.” Patty knocked on the door.
Dirk opened it, dressed in a T-shirt and boxers.