Nothing But Trouble (Malibu University 1)

“What time should I pick you up?” He reaches out and I lean away, staring at his hand. “Chill, Bailey. You have a piece sticking up.”

“Oh…okay.” He’s trying to be helpful and I treat him like he’s a festering case of the bubonic plague. How embarrassing.

I lean in and he sets about gently brushing down each and every one of my stray hairs, so gently I can barely feel him picking apart the knots. I can feel his breath on my skin. Fresh from a shower, I can smell his shampoo. My scalp tingles and goose bumps break out on my forearms. Lord give me strength.

“Don’t worry about it. I can catch a ride home.”

Finished, he leans back. Simon walks past the Jeep then, squinting into the headlights that are aimed right at him before he enters the building. I glance over and find Reagan staring after him, expression flinty.

A little odd but I cast it aside until he says, “From that guy?” He tips his head at the closed door behind which Simon disappeared, his voice sharp.

“Who, Simon?” I say, thoroughly confused as to why he looks pissed all of a sudden. Between the question and the expression he’s wearing, we’ve passed the little odd threshold and are well into a lot odd territory.

“Is that his name? Skinny-pants guy? He looks like he uses rock crystal deodorant and writes lyrics in his spare time just to impress chicks.”

Uhh…

My brows jack up to my hairline. This conversation has gone way off course, like…made a sharp left into funky town.

“Okay…oookay…” I don’t know what else to say. I’m a little taken aback. I open the door, get out, get my crutch situated. “Thanks for the ride, Reagan. I mean it, really.”

Reagan

Am I going anywhere? Hell no. And the shady dude is not driving Alice home. Luckily for me, I have my advanced chem textbook with me, my iPad, and notes. I spend the next hour and a half holed up in the quiet comfort of my car, studying for an upcoming exam and get more done than if I were doing it at home.

By 9 p.m., bodies start pouring out of the building. I spot Alice walking between a pixie with light pink hair, a collection of tats, and a few piercing––and Shady Sean. Their feet stop when they spot the Jeep. Two curious stares directed at me. His more aggressive than curious.

Nah, bro. Not on my watch.

I’m not going to make a scene. That wouldn’t be cool and Bailey would get the wrong idea. And I like her. We’re friends. Good friends, I’d say after Saturday night. I don’t want to do anything to screw that up. Shady dude, however, is now on notice.

She looked so low-key sexy laughing at the Santa Ana winds blowing her hair up that I almost leaned over and kissed her. It took everything I had to stop myself. Talk about a gut check. Yeah, that would’ve gone over real well.

And this only days after we agreed to be friends. And it had to be done. She had that look in her eye and I was seconds from pushing her down on my bed and fucking her till we both fell into a coma, consequences be damned. And there would’ve been a whole bunch of them. It did surprise me, though. How readily she agreed. My first impression of her that night was that she was into me. Though in hindsight it may have been wishful thinking.

An image of Alice laughing, little white teeth showing, floods my brain and I get a semi. Damn. This is the wrong time and place for this to be happening. With no other way to remedy the problem, all I can do is shift and adjust my sweatpants. Lesson learned––I need to get laid and soon.

Alice turns to the other two, says something I can’t hear, and they move in opposite directions: Pink-haired girl to her Prius in the parking lot, shady dude down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. He eyeballs me as he walks past the Jeep.

Atta boy. Keep walking, shithead.

“You’re still here?”

She looks confused, cute and confused. “Bailey, you look confused. When I give someone a ride I don’t dump them off in front of a strange building and burn rubber out of the parking lot.” Those big brown eyes of hers blink. I sigh. “You might find this hard to believe but I don’t like to see my friends wind up on the side of a milk carton.”

“Have you been here the entire time?”

I hold up my iPad. “Most productive hour and a half of studying in a long time. I’m nailing this chem test. Get in.”

The confused look hasn’t left her face yet. Nonetheless she gets in the car.

“You hungry?” I bite down on the inside of my cheek to school a grin that I don’t think she’d appreciate. “’Cause I’m starving.”