Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
GEORGE HARRISON, “GOTMYMINDSETONYOU”
Gabby
“There you are,” Ben said as I ran up the dormitory stairs after Matt walked me home.
“Jeez, you scared me!” I pressed a hand over my heart, cheeks flushed as if he caught me doing something wrong—like thinking inappropriate thoughts about Matt.
“Where ya been?” He pivoted and followed me to the second floor; Ben’s room was on the fourth floor.
“I told you. Matt gave me a tour of the campus.” I kept my chin tucked to hide my grin.
“Oh, yes,” he said. “How’d that go? Think you’ll be able to find your classes now? Wait, you already knew where they were. So this must have been a date.” He grabbed my left hand. “Hmm … no ring yet.”
I pulled my hand from his and pushed through the door to my hallway. “You need a shower.”
“No duh. I just worked out. How far did he get? First base? Second? I hope he didn’t accidentally call you ‘Sarah’ in the throes of passion.”
Only my dorky best friend said things like “throes of passion.”
“If you must know, we had an awesome time. And we’re going to get pizza Friday night.”
“A date?”
I shoved my room key into the lock. “Kinda. Yeah.” I kinda lied.
“Kinda. Yeah. Doesn’t sound like a date. Sounds like he doesn’t know you’re stalking him yet.”
“Stop.” I laughed, opening the door. Thankfully, Olivia wasn’t there, so I didn’t have to worry about her giving Ben hungry eyes. I tossed my keys onto my desk as he sat on Olivia’s bottom bunk bed.
Ben was too tall to sit there without hitting his head on the top bunk, so he leaned to the side and propped himself up on his elbow.
Olivia’s dad made the bunk beds out of two-by-fours. The Def Leppard posters. The boombox. The milk crates hung on the walls as shelves. The mini fridge. It felt like everything was hers.
“Speaking of kinda , Matt has a girlfriend, but she’s probably transferring to UCLA. Good timing.” I smirked.
Ben slowly shook his head. He was tired of hearing about Matthew Cory, but that was too bad. It went with the territory of being my best friend.
“And he said things are fine between Sarah and him. And I know she said that too, but it’s always the one who does the breaking up that makes it sound like everything is good. So I was glad to hear it from Matt too. It’s not like I want to spend a lot of time talking about their relationship, but totally avoiding it is awkward. After all, they lost their virginities to each other.”
“Aw yes. The infamous condom fiasco.” Ben picked at a thread to Olivia’s comforter.
“Shh…” I giggled, hiking one knee up and hugging it to my chest. “You’ve been sworn to secrecy about that.”
“Gabbs, you swear me to secrecy about everything. You start every sentence with ‘this stays between us.’ I’m afraid to speak my own name, let alone anything about your family.”
“Speaking of things staying between us, Olivia likes you, and she wants me to put in a good word for her.”
Ben’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “Oh? So what’s the word?”
“Ha ha. You know what I mean.”
The word was sixty-nine. But how was he to know the word was a number? Unless I told him. Which I would never do.
“I haven’t really taken a long look at her, but she’s not ooglay. Right?”
“Duh. No. She’s not ugly. She’s fine if you’re into makeup and big hair.”
“Big boobs? Smart?”
“You’re such a doofus. How can you ask about her boobs and if she’s smart in the same breath? You’ve seen her breasts. I haven’t asked for her GPA yet. Besides, I don’t think she’s looking for a boyfriend. Just someone to …” I rolled my lips together. Ben and I were well-practiced at finishing each other’s sentences. Surely, he could read between the lines.
His lips parted, eyes flaring a bit. “She just wants to mess around? She’s looking for a boy toy?”
“I don’t know.” I averted my gaze to the window.
“Oh, you know. I’m not stupid. Having a girl as a best friend has given me exclusive access to Chick World. And I know chicks tell each other everything. So spill. Is this what she wants?” He gestured his hand up and down his body like one of Barker’s Beauties showcasing a new refrigerator.
I snorted. “You’re a dork. Girls are not chicks. And I don’t know why she’d want,” I mimicked his gesture, “all of that, but she seems to think she does. However, I don’t like the idea. She’s my roommate, and as much as she pretends it would just be casual, I fear you could break her heart.”
Ben scratched his chin. “Of course I could break her heart. It’s not my fault that when they fall, they fall hard.”
I stuck my finger down my throat. “Gag me. Could you be more arrogant?”
“I’m the right amount of confident, and you know it.”
“Shut up.” I wadded a piece of paper from my desk and threw it at him.
He caught it and laughed. “You’re so tough.”
I jumped out of my chair and lunged at him because I was tough. He fell flat on the mattress as I landed on him, our faces inches apart, grinning as far as our ears as we laughed.
“Now you’re just asking for it,” he said, tickling my sides.
“Stop! You need a shower.” I giggled, trying to wriggle out of his hold. “S-stop … I’m gonna pee my pants!”
He didn’t stop, so I flailed my arms and legs, trying to break free from his hold.
“Tell me I’m a stud, and you’re the nerd,” he demanded.
“You t-think”—my sides hurt from him digging his fingers into them and laughing so hard—“‘Chopsticks’ is a ballad.”
“Take it back,” he said with his mouth at my ear as we rolled one way and then the other, making a tangled mess of Olivia’s bedding. “Say it.”
My joking about wetting my pants turned into a real possibility, so I had to say “uncle” first. “Fine! You’re a stud.”
“I can’t hear you.”
My body jerked to get away, but he was too strong. “AHH!” I squealed. “YOU’RE A STUD!”
In the next breath, he released me, and I rolled to sit up, only to find Olivia at the door with her mouth agape. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to”—she shook her head, confusion stealing her face—“I can come back later, if you need to finish.”
“What?” I jumped to my feet and straightened my clothes before combing my fingers through my hair. “No. There’s nothing to finish. Nothing going on.”
Olivia’s gaze ticked between Ben and me. “Well, just so you know, everyone on the floor has their heads poking out of their rooms because it sounded like you were getting nailed pretty hard, if you know what I mean. You’re lucky our RA left for dinner. Dude, I could hear you with my Walkman on.” She set her yellow Walkman and headphones on her desk.
I slapped a hand over my mouth, and Ben had the nerve to snicker. It wasn’t funny. I had never been so much as kissed by a boy, and thanks to my obnoxious best friend, all the girls on my floor thought I was a loud hussy having sex in my dorm room with a real stud.
“I want to die,” I whispered, dropping my hand from my mouth.
Ben stood, tightening the drawstring to his sweatpants as if we had done something. I cringed, meeting his unaffected gaze before shifting my attention to Olivia, who tucked her hands into her hoodie pocket. Her expression was hard to decipher, so I didn’t read into it.
“He was tickling me because he’s mean and he’s an idiot. That’s why he doesn’t have a girlfriend, and he’ll most likely die alone as an eighty-year-old conductor.”
“Why do you have me only living to be eighty?” Ben asked.
I groaned and grabbed his arm, dragging him out of my dorm room. As soon as we stepped into the hallway, a cascade of doors clicked shut. Olivia was right; we’d attracted a crowd.
“If you ever embarrass me like that again, I swear I will find a new best friend.” I rubbed my hands over my face and shook my head. When I peeked at Ben between my spread fingers, he beamed with a goofy smile.
“Gabbs, you were the one who was screaming. And I have to admit, I never imagined you’d be a screamer, but it oddly fits you.”
“Shut up!” I shoved him.
Ben cackled while hugging me so I wouldn’t shove him again. “Should I warn Matt?”
I wriggled my way out of his hold. “Go shower. You will never be in the same room as Matt.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “You can’t be trusted, Benjamin Ashford. You know too many embarrassing things about me.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, mirroring and towering over me. “I’m the keeper of all your secrets. That’s like saying Fort Knox cannot be trusted.”
“Trusting you with my secrets is not the same as trusting you to preserve my dignity.”
“Dignity is overrated, homegirl. See ya for breakfast.” Ben sauntered past me, riding his usual wave of confidence.
I wanted a fraction of such self-assurance. He never cared what anyone thought of him. Boys in school called him Cro-Magnon because of his size and the full beard he grew our senior year. But the comments never phased him. He brushed them off like a horse, swatting its tail at a fly.
Matt would surely fall for me if I could muster Benjamin Ashford’s level of confidence.
Olivia pinned me with a hard gaze the second I stepped back into the dorm room. “So that’s how this is going to go, huh? I’m interested in Ben and you suddenly decide to show interest in him too?”
“Stop.” I waved her off. “He’s obnoxious. The brother I never had. And I’m feeling grateful that God didn’t give me a brother because being pestered all the time is exhausting.”
Olivia changed into shorts and a tee, her go-to pajamas, and pulled her hair into a ponytail. “So you put in a good word for me then, right? Is he down with the idea of us going out?”
“Of course I put in a good word. But I don’t know if he’ll ask you out,” I mumbled, finding my favorite baby-blue nightshirt with pink hearts and a pair of white sweats to wear from our room to the shared bathrooms down the hallway.
“What did you say?”
“I said you were interested in him, but not in anything serious.”
While I changed into my pajamas, Olivia inspected me. I could feel the distrust without even making eye contact.
“What did he say?”
“I don’t remember for sure. It gave him a big head. I didn’t want to feed his mega ego, so he tickled me until I said what you and everyone else heard.”
“That he’s a stud?”
I laughed. “Believe it if you want, but I’ve known him too long. I knew him before he had his growth spurt and grew facial hair. I knew him when his voice was squeaky like a little girl’s.”
Olivia tucked her toiletry bag under her arm and opened the door. “And he knew you before you had boobs or knew what sixty-nine was. Oh wait …” She twisted her lips. “That was today.”
“Shut up.” I laughed, following her to the bathroom. “I had boobs before today.”
Both she and Ben knew too many embarrassing things about me. I couldn’t let either of them around Matt.