Currently playing: Habits (Stay High) by Tove Lo
Aphone rings next to my head, but it isn’t my ringtone. I groan and turn on my side, a warm body behind me stopping my movement. Opening my eyes, I look around without moving too much. I don’t want to make eye contact with the stranger in bed with me.
“Pass the phone, babe,” he asks in a hushed tone.
I’m not hisbabe.Strike one.
I hand him the phone without saying a word before covering my naked upper body with the sheets.
“You don’t have to cover up; it’s way too late for that.” He smirks and answers the phone. “Hi, mom.”Strike two.
While my latest one-night stand talks with his mother, I grab my clothes and bag from the floor and tiptoe to the ensuite bathroom. I should have known that I’m not in my room—the smell is all wrong. It smells like a men’s cheap body spraymixed with alcohol, sex, and weed. It’s such a typical frat house smell.
If my memory serves me right, Haisley and I decided to flirt with the younger men who invited us to a house party last night. Not any house party, afrat party. So, it’s easy to assume that the guy currently talking to his mother in his bed is a college student. Yikes.Strike three, and you’re out!
Not sure how to feel about waking up next to another random guy since my breakup three months ago, I wonder how I can leave without making it evident that I don’t need a repeat performance of last night. Sometimes one night is the only thing I want and need. Especially when I just slept with a guy who is almost ten years my junior. Well, seven, but who’s counting? Usually, I enjoy spending time with guys my age or older. My ex was ten years older than me.And look how that turned out.
My ex is another man on my long list of failed relationships. Starting from my first boyfriend at age fifteen to my last, all six have been either cheaters, liars, or manchilds. It seems like I have a type—men who are unable or unwilling to commit. Add tattoos, and I’m a goner. Case in point, here I am, in the bathroom of a college student with a few tattoos, who definitely didn’t give me husband material vibes last night.
I pull up Haisley’s name in my favorites while looking for toothpaste. After seeing my hungover self on the mirror, I’m unsure if that will help, but it can’t hurt.
“How are you this lovely morning, chica?”
My best friend’s cheery voice makes me groan. “I’m still at the frat house from last night and don’t know what to do.”
Haisley titters. “Let me guess; you need an escape plan?”
“Yes, girl, like yesterday! He’s currently talking on the phone with hismother, and I’m in the bathroom thinking about how I can leave without making him feel bad. He had three strikes in a matter of a minute.”
My friend hums. “I mean, it was only a one-night stand, right? You should be able to leave without him being too mad about it. There’s no need to avoid him any longer. Just grow some balls and own it, Soph.”
“But I want to be a nice person. I can’t just ditch him.”
“Why not? You could always tell him that you’ve your cousin’s bar mitzvah today and need to leave to get ready.”
I laugh for the first time during our phone call. “Like he would believe that my cousin is Jewish.”
“And why wouldn’t he?”
“Um, Haisley, I’m half Barbadian and half Irish. There’s nothing Jewish about me.”
“But he doesn’t know that. And cousins don’t always share their religion. Like my parents and I are atheists, but my aunt and her family are Catholic,” she nearly shouts and tells me to get it done. I end our phone call with mumbled thanks, then splash my face with chilly water and look into the mirror again. I look like I had fun based on my bed hair, but I don’t know if that’s what last night was.
There have been various men in my life lately. I’ve had my share of dating app matches, blind dates, ghosting, and one-night stands. It can be a hit or a miss, making it old fast. But I haven’t found the person I want to settle down with. I thought my ex was it for six months. It turns out he wasn’t. Vincent enjoyed getting his dick sucked behind my back while telling me we were exclusive.
And that’s the reason why I’m here with a guy who started college last year, if he wasn’t lying. If this isn’t a neon sign from the universe, I don’t know what is. It’s time for me to make a change.Operation Sophia Kennedy Becomes a Nunstarts from this moment forward.I’mkidding. I’m not going to give up dickjustyet.
My phone vibrates in my hand, and when I check it, there’s a message from Haisley.
Haisley:Breakfast at Fred’s Diner at 11 if you get out of there in time. Good luck, comrade
I step out of the bathroom and grab my jeans from the floor where I dropped them earlier. My one night mistake has his back turned to me, loudly making holiday plans with his family, so he doesn’t notice me sneaking out.
I quietly open the door to the hallway and look both ways before moving to the stairs that I spot on my right. It’s like I’m on a secret mission as I sneak down the stairs. When I hear voices coming from behind me, I decide to make a run for the front door.
I almost knock over a guy standing on the porch as I hastily escape the house.
“Hey, watch it, lady!”
