“Naked? Do tell,” I asked, sipping on my drink. Bastian scooted his chair closer to mine so that our legs touched. It made it easier to hear him over the bar, but far more distracting.
“Gabe had this crush on this cute blonde cheerleader across the hall. He never stood a chance with her, but somehow, Leo found out that she had never gone streaking.” He took a sip of his drink and grinned at me. “Have you ever gone streaking?”
“Once, but I want to hear your story first,” I teased.
“Anyway, Leo wanted to help Gabe out, so he organized the whole dorm floor to go streaking down the Oval. He even made up posters to hang in the bathrooms to advertise it.” He laughed. “Gabe was thrilled. Practically the entire hall went. We got out to there and everyone starts dropping their clothes. Of course, it's cold.”
I laughed. “So you just looked normal, right?”
“Yup.” Bastian grinned proudly at me and continued his story. “We all took off running. There's naked people everywhere. And then the cops showed up.”
“Oh no!” I slurped at the last of my drink. I hadn't meant to drink it so fast, but it tasted so good I hadn't slowed down.
“Everyone panicked. Clothes were flying as people scrambled for cover and of course, Leo lost his pants and his shirt in the process. He ran the whole way back to the dorm, butt naked, thinking the cops were after him the whole way.”
“Where was Charlotte?” I asked, wondering how she fit into this story.
“In my room waiting for me to get back. She was visiting me for the night, and I didn't want my little sister streaking with a bunch of college boys, so I told her I had class and that I'd be back in an hour,” he explained. “Leo's keys were in his pants and his room was across the hall from mine. So when he saw my open door, he ran right in thinking he could borrow some clothes from me until he could get back in his room.”
“And there was Charlotte...” I could just imagine Charlotte's face when Leo walked into her brother's dorm room butt naked and flushed from running in the cold. No wonder she couldn't stop blushing around him.
“It was rather traumatizing for both of them.” Bastian laughed, shaking his head. “Gabe never let him live it down.”
“Did Gabe end up getting the girl?” I asked. “I mean, that was the whole reason for going streaking, right?”
“She ended up dating one of the cops.” Bastian's eyes twinkled as he sipped on his drink.
“Poor Leo! All that work and nakedness and Gabe didn't even get his girl.” I started laughing and Bastian joined in.
I loved hearing Bastian laugh. It was rich and deep, with a joy that just made me want to join in with him. I could listen to him laugh all day. I could listen to his stories all day. I wanted to hear more, to find out more about the people in his life and everything I could in his world.
Bastian reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone. I could see the light going off as a call came in. He looked at it and then looked at me apologetically.
“It's Charlotte with an update on the app. Would you mind terribly if I took this?” His gray eyes held hope that I wouldn't be angry.
I smiled at him. “No, say hi for me. I'll go get us more drinks.”
“Thanks.” He smiled, relieved that I wasn't going to get angry. I understood that he was a billionaire and that required he take the odd phone call when we were out having fun. Business never stopped. Besides, I liked Charlotte.
I made my way over to the bar. It was busy, with three servers working. I found an empty space and wiggled my way in to get my order.
“Hey, hot stuff,” a drunk voice said behind me. I didn't turn to acknowledge him. I was here with someone and I wasn't interested in dealing with anyone who called me “hot stuff.”
I grabbed my drinks from the bartender and turned to leave, but blocking my way was Mr. “hot stuff.” He had on a garish salmon t-shirt and lime-green plaid shorts that made my eyes hurt just looking at them.
“Excuse me,” I said, trying to work my way around him and not spill my two drinks. I just wanted to get back to Bastian, not deal with some drunk frat boy.
“Come on, baby, let me buy you a drink...” the man slurred, looking me up and down and grinning. His oversized aviators fell off his head and he stumbled to pick them up. It gave me my opening to escape.
I held up my two drinks, as I moved. “Not interested.”
“Denied!” yelled one of Salmon-shirt's buddies, pointing at Salmon-shirt. There were three of them at a pool table, all wearing different versions of the plaid short/garish t-shirt combo. They all began to laugh at Salmon-shirt, so I just I hurried away and back to Bastian.
“Anything important?” I asked as I sat down and slid him his drink.
He shook his head. “Just Charlotte checking in. Things are right on schedule.”
“How is she?” I asked, hoping he would read into the question a little bit.