Chapter 14 The Girl in the Hoodie
Fourteen
The Girl in the Hoodie
By the time I’d finished showering, wrapped my head in my towel, and cinched my terry cloth robe tight, I’d done my share of thinking about Dallas. Even though he’d outright refused me after I’d thrown myself at him, I was not having second thoughts. I still wanted him.
In the hallway I passed Priya, shower caddy in hand. “Luke’s gone,” she said, her voice sounding flat.
Hmm. I wondered if everything was okay.
When I got back to our room, I had it all to myself and decided to power up my laptop while I waited for Priya to return.
My mom had responded. She agreed to pick me up for an early sushi meal. Good.
I closed my email and opened my internet browser. It would seem after the previous night’s debacle that just demanding to have sex with Dallas wasn’t going to work. I needed a better plan. A strategy for Operation: Get Laid.
Somehow I landed on a wikiHow page titled “How to Start a Friends with Benefits Relationship.” I didn’t want just a one-night stand with Dallas.
That wasn’t going to be enough for me. He didn’t need to be my boyfriend either.
I wasn’t looking for one. What I wanted was something in between, and this might be the perfect solution.
The first step, the website said, was picking someone. Check.
When I scanned the details of the first step, I noticed some interesting points. I should pick someone I had chemistry with. I smiled, thinking of our conversation about aphrodisiacs. Dallas and I, we had chemistry.
The website also said to pick a person outside my social network. Another slam dunk there. Dallas would never be part of my circle of friends. Not when they distrusted him so much.
Lastly, the person should be experienced. I nodded and smiled again, remembering our first kiss at the party, outside the bathroom at the bar, and last night on his futon. Just as I’d concluded after I met him, he was such a good kisser. I couldn’t have picked a better person.
The second step: hook up. Aha. This was the information I needed.
Start by flirting. Um. Dallas and I were beyond that.
Next, start kissing or doing more, which we had, but it also said to tell the person how attracted you were to them, but not to compliment their personality or say anything that would make it sound like you wanted to date.
I stared out the window and rested my chin on my hand. I loved Dallas’s smile, his coyness, his touch, his belief that I was special.
Even if I’d said any of those things to him last night, I doubted that it would have made a difference. For some reason, he’d been adamant about not having sex. I looked back down at the screen. I needed the next point.
Set the ground rules.
And then it hit me. Why hadn’t I thought of that before? We hadn’t been on the same page, and if we’d come to a mutual understanding of the rules, of the expectations, maybe things would have gone differently.
As I scrolled, Priya came through the door.
I folded my computer shut just after I saw the next point: have hot sex.
My face heated. I was so close.
I put my computer in its case. “So, you slept in my bed last night and Luke left before having breakfast. Is everything okay with you guys?”
“I think so.” She shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Is it the stuff we talked about before?”
She sighed. “I’m hungry, and don’t feel like talking about him. Let’s just go eat instead.”
“Okay,” I said, because I got it. Sometimes you just didn’t feel like rattling on about a guy. “Let me get dressed first.”
Downstairs in the dining hall, Emma was there. She scooted her chair over to make room for me. It was quite incredible what she was doing, pretending like nothing had happened the night before.
Sandra, the infamous gossip, was sitting across from Emma.
“Hey, Adriana, I saw you make out with Dallas last weekend in front of a crowd of people.” She lifted her eyebrows. “That must have been pretty embarrassing.”
The muscles in my body tensed. “Not really,” I said.
“But everyone saw you.”
I ignored the feeling shooting across my chest. “A little love, Sandra. You should try it sometime.”
Her mouth fell open. “I knew it. You’re sleeping with him, aren’t you?”
I wish.
“She is not.” Priya spoke up in a terse tone. “I’m her roommate. I would know.”
I started to giggle maniacally because everything about this conversation was ridiculous. “I was kidding, Sandra,” I said. “Lighten up.”
Her shoulders drooped, and she frowned. “So you’re not the girl in the hoodie, then.”
My pulse sped up. “The hoodie?”
“A girl in a hoodie was spotted coming out of his room this morning.”
Emma glanced at me with pained eyes.
At the same time, Priya flashed Sandra a look of death.
Neither Priya nor Emma knew that the elusive hoodie girl was me, and being the friends they were, they were trying to protect me. Even Emma, which was strange, given her present stance on Dallas. Maybe she regretted spilling my private information.
“I’m not sure why you think that’s interesting,” Emma said to Sandra. “When you first told me about him, it was amusing. Now it’s just getting old.”
“But that’s the thing—before, his conquests didn’t live here.” Sandra sat up in her chair. “This girl must. She had no coat, no mittens, no hat. I just hope she doesn’t get an STD. You know, Dallas must be like a petri dish.”
I pushed away from the table. Enough. I went to go grab a tray and a bowl from the stack. Seriously. Dorm people were insane.
Next to me, Emma grabbed a plate. “I’m sorry about last night,” she said softly.
I glanced at her.
“I didn’t mean to tell Jay or Luke. It just came out before I could take it back.”
My heart warmed. “It’s okay.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, sure.” I mean, I was going to get laid any day now, so really, my lack in sexual experience was moot at this point.
After pouring cereal in my bowl, adding milk, and filling a glass with apple juice, I looked back at the table. Sandra was still there. But now so was Jay.
An image popped into my brain. Dallas coming through the doorway into the dining hall and stopping to talk to me while the entire room gawked and whispered.
No way could that happen. I needed to set those ground rules, and right away.
I set my tray down on the counter and pulled out my phone.
If you see me in public, ignore me.
A few seconds later.
DALLAS
Have you done your homework for physics yet?
What?
No… Please confirm, will you ignore me?
I tapped my foot on the floor, waiting for his answer.
DALLAS
You want to meet in Lund Hall tonight and work on it?
Omigod.
DALLAS
Pretty please :)
I stared hard at that last text. He wasn’t acknowledging my request. As I stood there in turmoil, I felt the heat of eyes on me, and I looked up.
Dallas stood there in workout clothes, watching me, a cup of coffee in one hand and his cell phone in the other.
He smiled with an amused glint in his eyes.
The noise in the dining hall grew in volume, assaulting my ears. He’d gotten the message. That was for sure.
I went back to the table and slid into my chair.
“He’s here,” Sandra whispered loudly to me. “Did you see him?”
I wanted to cover my ears. They were ringing.
I think the entire table stared him down as he walked past. Probably with different levels of loathing.
I was sure that Sandra hoped for a dramatic confrontation. Something she could talk about for the rest of the day.
I stayed focused on my breakfast as well as I could. But nonstop dinging was sounding in my pocket.
“Ade, is that your phone?” Priya asked.
I shrugged. My mom only emailed me; I wasn’t speaking to my dad, and only on rare occasions with my brother. The only people I texted on a regular basis were sitting right here. So I knew that it was Dallas, but I wasn’t going to take out my phone and see what he’d written.
That was what he wanted, and I wouldn’t do it. I needed an addendum to my first ground rule: ignoring me when he saw me included texting.
Of course, he didn’t seem like the kind of guy who did what he was told.