HATE LOVE

I laughed. Cal isn’t exactly known for its formality and Jill was right. Most people wore sweats, so my pajamas weren’t particularly odd. Even the no-shoes thing wasn’t that weird, as there’s a group on campus that calls themselves the “Barefoot Trotters,” advocating a return to nature and barefoot walking. It’s pretty crazy, the soles of their feet are like leather, tough and horny.

But that was beside the point.

“Well, I showed up late and in my jammies because the night before, I got together with Theo Wainwright.”

Jill’s mouth dropped open.

“Are you serious? How?” she breathed.

I paused for a moment. Should I tell her about the abduction? Because that’s what had happened, for sure, but biting my lip, I decided against it. Given that Theo and I had ended up in bed, going into the kidnapping vein was too much information that no longer seemed relevant. So instead, I fudged.

“Well, I was standing next to the bike racks over by the gym, and Theo walked by,” was my white lie. “He recognized me from my photo, and we struck up a conversation.”

Jill nodded solemnly.

“Totally, Mia. You’re so beautiful, you don’t even know it,” she huffed, eyes wide. “And then what?”

I paused again, thinking furiously.

“And then we got to talking, one thing led to another, and soon we were on a date sort-of,” I said helplessly, smiling a little. “We’ve been communicating, and I guess that’s why there are flowers now.”

Jill’s nose wrinkled.

“That’s some communicating,” she teased. “But seriously Mia, this is so awesome. A billionaire wants you, and I’m so jealous. You rock.”

I smiled again but said nothing, merely chewing the Danish pastry as Jill kept on.

“He obviously has a thing for you,” she intoned. “He wants to be serious, honey. Why else with all these flowers?” She gestured expansively. “Honestly this stuff must have cost at least four figures.”

Groaning, I chewed on my pastry puff. “I know, I know. But did you see all the photos I posted of him?”

Jill fanned herself. “Yes! Obviously. The entire world did, you made sure of that as Anonimo.”

I scrunched up my nose. My friend was the only one who knew what I’d done. I’d sworn her to secrecy.

“But that’s the thing, Jilly,” I said slowly. “He sleeps with tons of girls. I’m just one notch among a thousand on his bedpost.”

She cocked her head to the side, eyeing me contemplatively.

“Maybe,” she hedged. “But I doubt he sends flowers to all his notches. I mean, look at these roses. Gorgeous, just gorgeous.”

But I wasn’t convinced. Spending a thousand dollars on roses was just a drop in a bucket for a billionaire, so I couldn’t measure his real interest in me just based on how much money he spent. Theo Wainwright could afford sending roses to all his paramours if that was his MO. At this point, there was frankly no telling.

“Well, you’ll have to tell me everything,” my friend said. “I’m your confidante, and so much has already happened. Everything!” she emphasized.

I laughed, throwing some potato chips her way until the two of us were in a mild food fight, but it turned out that I didn’t have to tell her anything because the gifts just kept arriving.

A few days after the roses, I came home to another surprise. Jill was on the couch munching on something crunchy. Her eyes opened wide when she saw me. “He sent candy, Mia!”

“Candy?” I asked, surprised.

She nodded her head as she crunched. “Peanut brittle, yum. It’s real good.”

I rolled my eyes. God, my buddy was too into my stuff, it was getting unreal. We had to set some boundaries pronto, but reading my mind again, Jill spoke.

“You honestly didn’t expect me to stay away, did you?”

Sighing, I closed the door and looked at the coffee table. There were twenty different kinds of peanut brittle strewn about.