“You really need to get better about locking the door,” I whispered to my brother.
He ignored me and took a couple ill-advised steps toward Aamee. “Babe, it’s not how it sounds.”
Unfortunately for him, it was exactly how it sounded.
D R E W
If I’d ever expected someone’s head to rotate three-hundred-sixty degrees, it was then.
Aamee looked ready to levitate off the floor and call upon the four corners to strike Brody down. I just hoped the rest of us wouldn’t be collateral damage.
I moved a step closer to Sophia in case I needed to protect her from the explosion.
“Start. Talking,” Aamee gritted out, unknowingly repeating Mr. Mason’s words from when he’d met Veronica.
“My dad was here, and Veronica came back because she forgot her bag and she said we were married and my dad got mad so now we’re married.” Brody said the entire story as one long sentence. “Or no, wait, we’re not married, but we’re going to be. I mean, not actually married. We’re just gonna pretend to be. But only for the summer,” he added quickly, clearly hoping the terminal date would lessen Aamee’s fury a little.
Every word that came out of Brody’s mouth made Aamee’s glare intensify, which seemed to make Brody dig himself in deeper.
“She needs a place to live, so I told her she can live here for free. And I can have a wife to get investment money from my dad. So Drew and I can be together. Work! Work together.”
It was an endless cycle of idiocy that was painful to watch.
Brody deflated. “Can someone else talk now?”
I cleared my throat. “It’s not as bad as he made it sound.”
Aamee didn’t look convinced.
“Maybe you should sit down,” I told her, which she thankfully did. I then went on to relay the whole messy story.
Aamee sat silently and absorbed every word. She’d calmed considerably, but it seemed like the deceptive kind of calm—more the kind that’s quietly gathering strength to perform untold horrors than one that was rational.
“Dude,” Carter said when I was finished. “Your lives are fucking nuts. Have you ever thought about making a reality show? You could do a play off your business and call it Life Bites.”
“Ooh, that’s a great name,” Toby said.
“Thanks.” Carter preened at the compliment.
I turned to Brody. “This is who you called. Just…really let that sink in.”
Brody shrugged.
“So let me get this straight,” Aamee said. Her legs were crossed and her hands clasped on top of her knee. “You’re moving a strange girl into your apartment so she can pretend to be your wife and you can financially support her. And you want my help with this plan?”
“Maybe not help so much as support.” Brody’s voice lost confidence at the end, and his words came out like a question.
“Oh yeah, absolutely,” Aamee said as she nodded. “I’ll totally support my boyfriend shacking up for the summer with a smoke show. No problem.”
“Great,” Brody said, breathing a sigh of relief.
Aniyah leaned forward in her chair. “I think she’s being sarcastic.”
“Oh.”
The disappointment on Brody’s face made me want to hug him.
“Where are you going to stay?” Aamee asked me.
“I’m not totally sure. My parents’ probably.”
“Hmm” was Aamee’s only reply, but she looked thoughtful.
“You can stay with me,” Carter offered. “One of my roommates is going home for the summer.”
“I dunno, man. Even though your place is off campus, it’s still technically campus housing. I don’t want to make any more waves with the school.”
“Yeah, but summers are pretty low-key. We could probably get away with it.”
The “probably” wasn’t reassuring. I was twenty-five years old. It was time for me to stop couch-hopping and start getting my shit together. And as much as moving home didn’t feel like it would help me do that, at least I wouldn’t have to hide the fact that I was staying there.
“Can you not afford to rent a place?” Aamee asked.
“I can,” I replied, and it was true.
Nite Bites had been bringing in pretty steady income for the last couple of months, and living with Brody and Sophia had allowed me to squirrel away a bit of money. Not a lot, but enough for first- and last-month’s rent. And now that I was healed enough to work again, even if we decided to shut Nite Bites down, I could easily go back to Rafferty’s.
“But I’d need a roommate,” I said, “and I’ve fallen out of touch with a lot of my friends since pretending to be Brody and the accident.”
It was weird to think about the people I’d hung out with before all this. That seemed like another person’s life—another person’s friends. I wasn’t sure what I’d even have in common with my old crowd anymore.
I’d always been a bit of a loner, not wanting to get sucked into a lot of the drama and bullshit people I used to run around with did. Getting back in touch with any of them didn’t really feel like it would help me move forward.
Aamee stood up and brushed invisible lint off her clothes. “Okay, it’s settled, then.”
“Uh, what’s settled?” Sophia asked.
“Drew and I will find an apartment and move in together for the summer.”
“What now?” Sophia asked.
Aamee looked at us like she didn’t have a concern in the world. “I don’t start my job at my mom’s company until the fall. I wanted to enjoy my last summer before becoming a corporate drone. But with Long Island Lolita moving in with Brody, I’d rather stay in town.”
“I think she’s from Brooklyn,” Brody unhelpfully offered.
“I know,” said Aamee primly. “I scoped out her social media as soon as I left here. The mistake was intentional.”
“That was what you were researching?” Brody asked.
Aamee ignored him. “So it makes perfect sense. I won’t need to move in until after graduation, but we should start looking right away. And if we find a place with immediate availability, Drew could move in anytime, and you guys can all stop squatting in this apartment.”
“We’re not squatting,” Sophia said irritably. “And I can move back into the sorority house to give you guys some space.”
“You’re serious?” I asked Aamee. “I mean, we don’t know each other that well.”
“I’ve practically lived with strangers my entire college career. This is nothing new to me.”
“Wait,” Sophia said, turning her attention to me. “You’re really considering this?”
I shoved my hands into my pockets. “It’s the best option.”
Sophia clearly wanted to argue, but she didn’t say a word. I figured I’d be hearing all about what was on her mind later.
When Sophia didn’t say anything else, Aamee smiled widely. “Then it’s settled.”
“Hold on a second,” Brody interjected. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
Aamee lifted one carefully plucked eyebrow. “And what makes you think I’m asking your opinion? Did you ask my opinion before offering to let a woman move in here? No. So you don’t get any input now.”