Josh. Just his name bugged me.
“Then we graduated,” she continued, “and didn’t want to break up even though we were going to be apart, attending different colleges, so we gave the long distance thing a shot. It worked okay for the last two years, but we both didn’t want to do it anymore so we decided me moving here would be our best option to stay together.”
She’d transferred colleges and moved here just for him? Gosh, I hoped she wouldn’t regret that one day. Instead of saying that, I said, “You guys sound pretty serious.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, we are.”
Silence filled the small living area.
“Actually, the best friends I was telling you about, Amy and Tyler, are getting married next month. Josh is the best man, and I’m the maid of honor, so we’ll be headed home soon for the big wedding.”
She seemed excited about it, but it sounded disastrous. “Getting married so young? Wow.”
“They’ve been together for almost five years. They’re one of those blissfully happy couples, like your friends.” She had a smile on her face, like nothing was better than true love.
I didn’t care how blissfully happy they were. Getting married this young sounded insane to me. But to be fair, marriage in general sounded crazy to me.
“Are you and Josh one of those blissfully happy couples too?” I heard myself say, not knowing why I’d asked such a personal question to a girl I’d just met. It was none of my business what their relationship was like.
A part of me was curious, though. Was she happy with Josh? I couldn’t reconcile how this girl could be dating such a douche. I didn’t know him well, but I knew him well enough to know he wasn’t asleep on one of his textbooks right now.
She was quiet for a moment, seeming to think about my question. “Sometimes,” she answered. “To be honest, it’s been a little up and down lately. We aren’t used to living near each other anymore, and trying to mesh our lives together has been harder than I thought it would be. I’m sure it will just take some time, and then everything will be back to our normal bliss.”
I didn’t have the heart—or concrete proof—to tell her Josh wasn’t the amazing boyfriend she thought he was. I didn’t personally know he was cheating on her, but I’d seen him with girls hanging on him at the Wolf’s Den and noticed him leaving with them under his arm in a way that you could tell what they were leaving to do.
Josh would eventually out himself one day, and I just hoped this poor girl didn’t fall apart when he did.
4
Isla
Mortified. I was completely and utterly mortified.
I was finally back in my apartment lying in my bed after the longest day ever, reliving my time with Slate.
It wasn’t until two in the morning that we heard my roommate come home. She’d changed the lock pad code because she’d broken up with her boyfriend, and since he knew the old code, she didn’t want him trying to come over and win her back. She apologized for forgetting to tell me, but it didn’t come across as sincere.
The day had started off fine, when I’d met Josh at the local coffee shop, Espresso Yourself, and then walked with him to my first class since his started a half-hour later than mine. We’d texted a little during the day, but he had been busy with classes and soccer practice. I’d texted him about meeting up for dinner, but that had been the first of the next four texts that he’d never responded to.
For a little while, I had been worried about him, and so I had headed over to his apartment to see if he was there or had possibly misplaced his phone.
One of his roommates said he’d gone off to the library to study, but when I went to the library, I couldn’t find him anywhere. It was then I decided to stop trying to look for him and wait until he called or texted me back.
I had no idea that I’d still have not heard anything from him by the time Slate found me sitting in the hallway.
Slate.
That guy had me acting all kinds of weird. I never imagined I would end up hanging out with him in his apartment. And I never imagined seeing him in only a towel.
I put my face into my pillow to muffle my groan. I couldn’t believe I’d embarrassed myself so badly in front of him.
When my eyes had taken in his body, which was a perfectly sculpted work of art, I’d lost all control over my ability to act normal.
Rolling over onto my back, I stared up at the ceiling, barely visible in the dark. Reliving that moment of seeing his bare chest, my eyes getting hung up on the way the water rolled over his pecs and down his abs to the patch of hair disappearing beneath the towel. His broad shoulders and defined muscles emphasized his size, a giant of a man, and I wanted to run my hands all over his body.
No. Wait.
I closed my eyes and shook my head, working to push the image of him out of my mind.
