Laughing, I kick his thigh with my toe. “Fuck off. I’ll text you a warning if I’m bringing Kayla back.”
“A man of the people,” he grumbles, rolling his eyes.
“Well, hey, if you aren’t going to be doing anything this weekend, some of the guys are getting together for a frisbee golf tournament. You should come.”
Atlas stares at me in shocked silence. We aren’t really the kind of friends whodostuff together, but I feel like we could be. I like his rude, flippant attitude and dry humor, even when it’s aimed at me and a little mean. He’s a fine roommate—I don’t see any reason why he can’t be a friend as well.
“Uhm, no, I’m good,” he replies slowly, as though still trying to work through the offer. I shrug.
“Okay. If you change your mind, just let me know. I can text you all the details.”
Speaking of texting, my phone buzzes against my leg and I pull it out of my pocket to see a message from Kayla.
“My ride’s out front,” I tell Atlas, standing and stepping carefully over his piles of homework. “I’ll see you later.”
“Have fun. Use protection. Don’t do anything I would do, and definitely don’t do anythingyouwould usually do.”
“Fuck off,” I repeat on a laugh, before jogging down the stairs and out the front door.
Kayla’s Audi is idling next to the curb, and I see her wave as I walk across the lawn. Popping open the passenger door, I slide in and lean over the console to give her a hello kiss on the cheek. She grins at me.
“Hello, lovely lady,” I greet her.
“Hey, Nate, thanks for coming on such short notice.” Checking the rearview, she pulls out and flips the car around to head back toward campus.
She looks great, as she usually does: brunette hair hanging in shiny waves over her shoulder, hazel eyes, and an endearing gap between her two front teeth. She and I dated for a few weeks during our first year here, but it didn’t work out. Now, we’re friends who occasionally hook up when the mood strikes and we’re both single. We have fun, and there’s no strings attached. Perfect.
“I had no idea you were a baseball fan,” I comment, and she laughs.
“I mean, I’m a fan of tight, white uniform pants.” I snort. She shoots me a sly look out of the corner of her eye. I gasp theatrically and turn to face her as much as I’m able in the cramped space.
“Shut the fuck up, Kay, are you trying to make someone jealous? Am I being used right now?”
“No, of course not.” She flaps a hand in my direction. “I invited you because we’re friends, and I haven’t seen you in a bit, so I thought it would be nice to catch up.”
“Mm-hm,” I hum, not believing a word she’s saying. “And while we are catching up at a baseball game that neither of us are interested in, what else will we be doing?”
“Okay, fine, so Imighthave a thing for the second baseman, and Imightneed your help getting his attention. Maybe make him a tiny bit jealous.”
“I am so not in the mood to be punched in the face,” I muse, which makes her laugh.
“Nobody is going to punch you in that pretty face. I’ll protect you,” she promises, patting my knee. “Brandon invited me to come watch the game today, and then last night he posted on social media from a party he was at and he was with another girl. So, I thought, maybe a little bit of jealousy won’t hurt. I’ll put a selfie of us on socials and write something vague about spending time with those we love.”
“Diabolical. But okay, I’m down. And then when he calls you on it, what? You’re going to act innocent and say we’re just friends?”
“I’m going to tell the truth, whichisthat we’re just friends,” she says smugly.
“Girls are nuts,” I comment fondly, shaking my head.
Reaching campus, we park and trail a small crowd of students to the entrance of the ballpark. Kayla hands over our tickets and dutifully leads me over to the nearest concession stand to get my promised hot dog. When she goes to pull out her wallet, I stop her.
“I’ve got this. What do you want?”
“This ismydate,” she reminds me, wrapping an arm around my waist and squeezing.
“All right, sugar mama. Buy my love.”
Snorting in a distinctly unladylike manner, she orderstwo hot dogs for me, one for herself, and a bag of peanuts to share. We make it all the way to our seats before realizing we are probably going to need water to offset the amount of salt in this meal. I head back to grab some drinks, and am just sitting back down beside her when the warm-ups end and our team spreads into the outfield for the first inning.
