Wes grins, and his dimples appear. “Some might call it promiscuous, but I call it dating.”
“And who says romance is dead?” I tease as I take a drink of my Coke.
“Oh, it’s dead. For you. Just remember the rules.”
As Wes’s eyes meet mine, I find myself holding on to them a second too long and nearly choke on the carbonated bubbles. He hands me a napkin as he steals my last dumpling.
Just when I thought this living arrangement was going to be easy, I’m reminded that it’s not just my brother I have to watch out for.
His best friend is gonna be ten times worse.
Chapter Two
The first few weeks of classes haven’t been as hard as I thought they’d be. I’m getting into the groove of my new schedule. Having completed all of my general ed at the community college means my schedule is jam-packed with major courses, making them all very intense but also very interesting. Molecular Environmental Biology is challenging, Fence Ecology is fascinating, and Ethics is my easiest lecture.
Being on campus is everything I dreamed of, yet because I’m so overwhelmed with work, I haven’t had a chance to have a social life. I just keep telling myself that the end goal of having a Berkeley degree is the only important thing.
Luckily, my roommates make it easy for me to get studying done because they’re barely here.
There’s a month until the fall baseball season starts, so Chad and Wes are in the midst of a rigorous schedule themselves. They wake up at the crack of dawn to work out, and then they go to classes all morning and practice in the afternoon. Add in all the time Chad spends with Nicole, and he might as well not even live here.
I enter the apartment after my night class and am relieved to find it empty. After making myself some food, I grab my water bottle and head to my room to get started on a paper that’s due next week and catch up on some reading.
A few hours later, I’m deep in the syllabus for Business Practices in Communication Standards when I hear the front door open. These walls are so damn thin that you can hear a pin drop. So, it shouldn’t surprise me when Wes’s deep voice echoes through the room.
“I’m at the bar, and this woman walks over—tall, blonde, very beautiful …”
I exit what was beginning to feel like my own personal cave to see three guys in the living room. Two are on the couch while Wes is standing, doing some sort of reenactment for his enthralled crowd.
“Oh, um, hello,” I say, pulling my hair into a long ponytail and padding into the kitchen to refill my water bottle.
“Sorry, did we wake you?” Wes asks, looking at his watch. It’s after ten.
“No, I was studying,” I respond while turning to the fridge to grab the filtered water jug. I look down at my outfit—yoga pants and a tight tank top. I pull at the top to make sure it’s not clinging to my skin.
Wes finishes the story, “So, she tells me she’s an assistant for a magic show. That sounds like the most awesome thing ever, so I ask her to show me a trick. She takes out a three-foot-long balloon from her pocket, blows it up … and then eats it.”
The guys are laughing, and then one starts gagging. Then, a series of ridiculous questions follow.
Such boys.
As Wes takes a seat and changes the channel, the two other guys turn and look my way. I feel like an animal in the zoo with the kitchen partition like a window into an exhibit.
With my bottle filled, I walk into the living room.
A guy stands and makes his way to me. He’s obviously an athlete with his well-developed shoulders and upper-body muscle mass. A quick glance at his calves shows he’s just as built on the bottom as the top. When I see he has the signature C hat that represents the Cal baseball team on backward, showing me his number, I guess that he’s on the team with them.
“You must be Squid,” he says.
“No one calls her that but me,” Wes yells out a little aggressively from the living room.
I narrow my eyes and want to argue with him, but the guy gets my attention.
“Well, if you’re enough to ruffle Knight’s feathers, then I have to know your name. I’m Matt.” He extends a hand.
He’s smooth, this one. And charming with his waggling brows and a coy smile.
I take a drink of water and lift my chin. As I put the cap on the bottle, I glance at Wes and see he’s seething at the sight of Matt putting the moves on me.
I turn back to Matt. “I’m Stacey. Clearly, you haven’t heard about the rules I live by.”
Matt’s eyes are glued to my chest, which is currently not covered in a bra, and I’m sure my nipples are showing through my ribbed black tank top. I know the headlights are on, but he could really make a better effort of keeping his focus on my face. It’s times like this that I don’t care about my nonexistent sex life if there are only guys like this around here.
I make a V with my fingers and dart them toward Matt’s face and drag his vision up to mine. “Eyes up here, buddy.” When he snaps his attention back to where it should be, I point to his hat. “My brother had a high school coach who said wearing your hat backward signifies the direction you’re going in life. You might want to take note.”
Wes lets out a loud laugh as I head back to my room, satisfied with my little dig at Matt.
Matt flips his hat around and runs ahead of me, blocking the doorway and leaning against the frame, trying to act sexy. If I didn’t just catch him blatantly checking me out, I might have thought he was cute, but he has douche bag written all over his face.
“What rules do you live under?” He tilts his head with a smirk.
“You know exactly what she’s talking about, Matt. Chad will beat you to a bloody pulp if you touch her.” Wes rises from the couch, heading toward us. The glare in his eyes is shooting daggers into Matt.
Matt holds up his hands with a look of satisfaction. “Sorry, didn’t realize you were so off-limits. That’s too bad.”
Wes yanks Matt by the shoulder and shoves him down to the couch. Matt just laughs it off as Wes lowers himself onto the couch, content Matt has backed off.
I’m standing by my door, watching them stare at SportsCenter while talking. One of the other guys, a blond with a deep tan, rises from the couch and walks to the kitchen. I go back in my room and take a seat at my desk, realizing my schoolwork will be way more interesting than hanging out with them.
I’m opening up my laptop when there’s a knock at the door. The blond is standing in my doorway with two beers in his hands.
“Thought you could use one of these.” He holds up the bottles and makes them dance in the air.
I swivel my chair in his direction. “Thanks. You on the team too?”
“I play left field,” he says as he walks toward me and hands me a beer.
I stand and take it from him, and we air cheers. We both take a sip.
“I’m Adam.”
“Looks like you didn’t get the memo.”
“You mean, the one that said we shouldn’t introduce ourselves to Chad’s sister, who is obviously smart because she worked her tail off to get into Berkeley? No, didn’t get that one.”
“Seriously, fucker?” Wes chimes in from my doorway.