“Then it’s settled. Oh, one other thing”—he gave a cocky sideways smirk—“you asked me to have sex with you last night. Do you remember?”
Instant blush. “Of course I remember. I wasn’t that drunk.”
“So . . . what does that make us?”
“What do you think?” I came back quickly.
“Do you want to date? Or were you just looking for someone to lose your virginity to?”
I tucked the towel under my arms, leaned back, and glared. “Well, isn’t there a word for friends that mess around?”
“Yeah, it’s a called girlfriend and boyfriend.” There was a strange expression on his face, like he was waiting for me to react.
“But we should keep it casual, right?”
“Well, we both have to study a lot, plus I’m going away this summer and you’re gearing up for grad school.”
Everything froze. “You’re going away?”How the hell did I not know that?
“Yeah.” He stood and walked to the counter to retrieve a piece of paper and handed it to me. It was a letter fromNational Geographicinforming Matt that he had been chosen for an internship.
I reread it twice and looked up to see him wearing a huge, proud smile. Even though my eyes were selfishly tearing up, I stood and hugged him. “I’m so happy for you! Congratulations, Matt, I can’t believe it. I mean, I can becauseyou’re amazing, but this is such an opportunity. Gosh... to be the only undergrad student they picked.”
“I know, I was shocked. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about it sooner; I was just nervous about jinxing it.”
I kept looking down at the letter. “It’s so great! I’m really proud of you.”
“I’ll be gone this summer, and when I come back you’ll be in grad school. Hopefully I’ll have a job, if everything goes as planned.”
I couldn’t believe Matt was leaving. I had such mixed feelings, but I knew it was the best option for him. “So for now... we just keep it casual?”
“I don’t want to date anyone else and I don’t want to find you getting accosted in the hallway either, but we can call it casual if you want,” he said.
“Okay.”
“Okay what, Grace?”
“I don’t want anyone else either.”Ever.
An odd smell wafted into the room just then. I sniffed the air and my eyes widened. Burnt wool. “My sweater!”
“Shit!” Matt jumped up and ran over to the dryer. He hit a button and then pulled out what was left of my favorite article of clothing. “Oh, man, guess you’ll have to stay here naked.” He tried to hold back the laughter.
“That’s not funny, Matt. That was my favorite sweater.”
He threw it onto the desk and pulled me up into his arms. “You don’t need this.” Tossing the towel aside, he began kissing my shoulder and neck. I tilted my head, giving him full access, just as the bells on the front door jingled.
“Crap!” I jumped out of his arms and grabbed the toweloff the floor while he made his way to the storefront. I heard a familiar voice. It was Dan.
I stood by the wall and listened to the conversation.
“Hi, Matthew.”
“It’s Matt.”
“Hi, Matt. Tatiana told me I could find Grace here.”
“Yeah, um... she’s kind of busy at the moment.”
