Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
JOE
“ T hat’s not how you tape a box.”
Will rips the tape gun out of my hands.
“You’re the expert mover,” I reply, amused, and take a step back. “Show me how it’s done, oh wise one.”
He folds and flips the cardboard box over, dropping it to the ground, then places the gun on one edge, pressing down a bit of packing tape. “See, like this. You push this down as you pull.”
I fight the urge to laugh, pressing my lips together.
The gun makes a loud, ccckcck sound that echoes through what will soon be my former living room. He cuts the end off with the gun’s jagged teeth and runs his hand across the taped bottom of the box, grinning, pleased with his work.
“See? Perfection.”
“Honestly, it’s unbelievable you’re still single,” I reply. The gun flies toward me, hitting me squarely in the chest, but I laugh it off.
Will sits on the couch, crossing one leg over the other. “What did you think of Jane?”
He’s staring at his phone, acting casual, as if he’s not drilling me for information.
“Do you know she printed a list of her rules?”
Will laughs, but doesn’t realize how I nearly changed my mind when I read through that double-paged manifesto.
“You don’t have much of a choice, though,” he points out, reminding me of the rock and hard place I currently find myself wedged between.
“I know I don’t. It’s all good. She’s intense, a bit of a clean freak, too, but that’s fine.” I stack a box on top of others by the door. “She seems nice enough,” I add, remembering she’s his sister’s best friend, and that both Jane and Gaby are doing me a huge favor.
“Compared to you, anyone is a clean freak.” He chuckles, putting his phone away and continues packing, throwing some stacked books into a box.
Will isn’t wrong—I like to keep my place clean, but only when I have guests. I’m usually too busy to care about housekeeping.
“So, she’s cute, right?” he asks after a long pause. Watching me with a smirk, his blue eyes gleam with implication.
I shrug. “She’s all right.”
“All right?” He blows out loudly, shaking his head. “You’re blind. She’s gorgeous.”
I frown. I suppose she had attractive features, and her curves were nice to look at, but she’s not my type.
“Do you like her or something?” I ask, wondering why Will thinks so highly of her.
“Me? No.” He recoils, his lips curling as he shrugs. “She’s been besties with Gaby for years. She’s like family.” He flips through one of my college business books and adds, “But didn’t you think there was, I don’t know, ‘something’ about her?”
“If by something you mean she’s harsh, awkward and has serious OCD, then yeah, she’s the whole package.”
I return to packing my trinkets. Suzanna hasn’t been home all week, waiting for me to “Get the fuck out”. And as much as I appreciate the space to come and go as I please, I would have liked to see her one last time before officially moving out.
Come to think of it, I wouldn’t.
Things are better this way. Clear cut. We should have ended it a while ago, but kept up with the charade because we’d built a routine and, honestly, the sex was pretty good. Was being the operative word.
Our spark fizzled out months ago when I suspected she was cheating on me. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn’t even care if she was being unfaithful. That’s when I knew our time together was over.
“Anyway, she’s now my roommate,” I say to Will, starting a new box. “There are rules between roomies and I think your sister would murder me if I did anything more than look.”
Will waves a hand dismissively. “What Gaby doesn’t know won’t hurt her. And she’s across the ocean in Greece, anyway. She won’t have any idea what’s happening on this side of the world.”
I laugh when he winks, but while he busies himself with packing books, I wonder what I missed. Was there more to Jane than I saw? And if Will is right, do I have trouble coming my way?