“Brant? I thought you two were done?” I asked, digging through a basket for a nail file. Cameo and I had an extensive collection of nail polish that made it hard to locate the files that always became buried at the bottom of the basket.
“We are,” he answered defensively. “We’re just friends.” He sighed, grabbing a nail file for himself. He sat buffing a nail that was already pristine, obviously trying to evade my question. It served him right to get a taste of what probing felt like. Derek was idealistic. He believed in love and soul mates, and was determined to find his perfect match. The only problem was he kept falling back into the same toxic relationship with his ex. That’s one thing Derek and I had in common. We gravitated toward the jerks. I had done it countless times with my ex Jackson. I would break up with him over and over again, but he always had an uncanny knack of dragging me back in. Brittni claimed it was because he played on my insecurities. I would always snort my disgust at her interpretation of our relationship, but deep down I knew she was right. Jackson always knew what to say to make me feel like I needed him. Eventually, the time came when I realized I needed to end it for good. My acceptance into MSC gave me the perfect excuse to make Jackson nothing more than a memory. I tried several times to bully Derek into cutting his losses with Brant, but I also knew from personal experience that no one can force you to end a bad relationship.
That decision is one you have to make on your own.
“Right,” I finally answered, working to keep the skepticism out of my voice.
“I’m going to stay strong this time,” he said resolutely.
I nodded my head in support. “I believe you.”
“I will,” he replied passionately. “I have to do it,” he said before sagging like a balloon that had lost all its air.
“Time to man up, big boy,” I said, dropping my supportive tone for a harder edge.
“Man up, yes.” He repeated my words as he stood. “I better go home and try to grab a shower. That is, if no one has passed out in it.” He headed for the door looking disgruntled.
“Why don’t you crash here for a while?” I suggested, stowing the nail basket on the shelf under the heavy-duty coffee table. It was the sturdiest piece of furniture we had in the apartment. Too bad it was maybe the ugliest table you could ever lay eyes on. We tried to make it look more presentable by covering it with a lace runner Cameo had found at the Second Chance
s consignment shop. It helped some, but not much. We talked about painting it too, but neither of us felt like putting in the effort.
Derek turned to me with a hopeful puppy-dog look on his face. “I can’t just take over your apartment. That’s no different than what’s going on at my place. I won’t impose.”
“What about the fact that we’re asking you to stay? You’re not imposing, nimrod. It just means you’ll be cooking for us a whole lot more,” I said, grinning at him. “You can crash on the couch and stash your junk in my room. It won’t be Buckingham Palace, but it has to be better than what you have now.”
“Seriously, you guys wouldn’t mind?” he asked, striding across the room and swinging me up in his arms. “Shouldn’t we check with Cameo?”
“We’ve already discussed it,” I laughed. “No overnight guests, though. Our generosity doesn’t stretch that far.”
“Deal. Wait, does that rule apply to you too?”
“Hell no. We can have all the guys over we want.”
“Classy. You should make flyers and post that all over campus.”
“Whatever, douchehead. Even if I wasn’t kidding, it’s not like I have any prospects. Let’s just say we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Does that work?”
“I can deal with that.” A wide grin split his face and he let out a loud whoop.
“I’m guessing you told him?” Cameo stood in the doorway with a textbook cradled in her arms.
“What was your first hint?” I grinned as Derek scooped up Cameo into a bear hug, spinning her around. Her squeals filled the small apartment.
Derek stuck around another hour as we sorted through the logistics of our new roommate arrangement. Eventually, he had to go to work, and Cameo returned to studying. If I was smart, I would have worked on my own paper, but no one ever accused me of having any sense. Instead, I continued procrastinating, deciding to call Brittni and update her about my single status. Again.
Brittni picked up on the first ring. “I was hoping you’d call.”
“You were?”
“Yes, my eyes are literally bleeding grading these papers.” She sighed into the phone. “Remind me again why I thought teaching was a good idea.”
“Um, you wanted to corrupt a new generation.”
“That’s right. I plan on taking over the world by turning them all into my minions,” she said, laughing sinisterly. “Enough about my mouthy rug rats. How’s your newest heartthrob holding up?”
I bit back a sigh. I should have counted on the conversation going in this direction so quickly. Now that Brittni was settled down, she was ready to hitch me to the first acceptable bachelor we could find. I couldn’t understand her rush. We were all still so young.
“Tress, are you there?”