Chapter 07
“This was a good idea.” I idly slosh my feet back and forth, enjoying the cool water of the kiddie pool Nicko and I set up in our backyard. The sun hasn’t rounded the house yet, and with a large glass of ice tea, the heat is bearable. It’s the best way to spend my day off from the pound.
The thought instantly makes me feel guilty, and I silently vow to smuggle in a bag of ice cubes to give to the puppies tomorrow.
“It was your idea,” Nicko snorts from his lawn chair. He’s lying all the way down, with his legs up to his knees in the water.
“Yeah, so?” I shoot back, smiling when he kicks some water at me, creating small waves that don’t even touch the edge of the pool.
I can’t help but count down another day he’ll be here at the Nook.
He’s barely around these days with that summer camp keeping him busy.
But I’ll miss him when he moves out. The thought of profiting from his absence should feel more exciting than it does.
I’m losing my best friend to a fast-moving career, and I’m stuck here for at least another two years.
“Hey, how are my girls? Any takers yet?”
I chuckle at Nicko’s question, even as I shake my head.
“No, Violet and Lila are still going strong. They miss you, though,” I add that last part, hoping it’ll guilt him into coming to take them for a walk again before he leaves.
That way he can visit me too if things go sideways with Micah and I have to hide out at the dog pound until the next semester starts.
Not that I want things to go sideways, but… I made some hefty promises.
Nicko must notice my thoughts drifting because he pushes his sunglasses up into his hair and looks at me properly.
“Hey, what’s up? Is that Colin business still bothering you?”
Of course I told Nicko everything: the disaster of a date with Colin, the deal I agreed to, and the deadline hanging over my head.
Naturally, Nicko thought it was bullshit and ranted about him until I was laughing at his creative insults.
Over the summer holidays, I—not entirely unintentionally—neglected to update him on the state of things.
Pretty hypocritical after I gave him a hard time last year, when he secretly switched places with his twin, but I already know he doesn’t like Colin, and I don’t think he’d approve of my plan with Micah. I just don’t want to hear it.
“Lind.” Nicko scoots up to sit properly on his chair, looking at me seriously. “I know it sucks, but seriously! Forget about him. Plenty of fish in the sea!”
“Yeah, I know.” I sigh, hoping to placate him quickly. I don’t even want to think about all the failed chats I had on the dating sites. Or the dick pics I got.
“Xan and I should find this guy and beat some sense into him. What kind of asshole gives an ultimatum like that?” Nicko grumbles, his eyebrows drawing together.
“No violence!” I protest, pulling his fists back down. He huffs but settles down, instead draping one arm across my shoulders in a crooked hug that nearly topples us out of our lawn chairs.
We cackle from the brief burst of adrenaline.
I stretch my leg out to nudge Nicko’s. While I appreciate his protectiveness, I don’t feel like it’s necessary.
Maybe Colin’s deadline is the challenge I needed.
Freshman me wouldn’t have dreamed of making a pass on someone like Micah.
But present me is thrilled by how direct I was.
So many of my peers jump right into each other's beds without worrying too much about it, so why can’t I sleep with people just because I find them attractive?
Nicko sighs, rubbing a hand down his face.
He’s obviously working up to something, his jaw moving like he’s chewing on the words.
“I know you feel behind, Lind, but it’s not a race.
I—” He breaks off, glancing over his shoulder before continuing in a hushed voice, “I never bottomed before I got together with Xan.”
“Really?” I lean forward now, my interest piqued.
A soft blush creeps into Nicko’s cheeks, and he looks up at the sky rather than meeting my questioning gaze, but he nods. “Xan figured it out, even though I didn’t wanna tell him. He didn’t care. Didn’t rush me either,” he continues quietly.
It feels almost too intimate to learn this about my best friend, but I’m spellbound.
“That’s so sweet,” I whisper.
Nicko turns his head and smiles. “You’ll find someone who’ll do the same for you. I’m sure.”
I pick my next words carefully. “I hope so. Anyway, do you want to pop in and take—” My head whips around at the sudden bang of our back door closing.
“There you are! What are you talking about?” Olli waltzes in, subtle like a hurricane. “Eh, not important, listen to my problems!” He plops down in the last free lawn chair and kicks his shoes off so he can push his feet into the pool as well.
“You’ll never guess what I did today. In fact, no one could ever guess what I did today, so I’ll tell you.
” Olli grabs Nicko’s glass from his outstretched hand and promptly talks over his complaint.
“Do either of you know The Hot Professor? St. Bernard’s Hot Professor, I mean?
” He pauses to take a big gulp of peach tea.
“No.” I was enjoying the peace and quiet, and having my best friend all to myself, but cue Olli, the star of his personal telenovela, ready to bless us with a story about—
“Wait, that literature professor? Something Florence? Floretti? Nate took one of his classes! I was there when we switched pla—” Nicko’s excited voice breaks off. He throws me a short glance, but Olli’s already continuing with his tale.
“Fiore! Dark hair? Arms like a fucking bodybuilder and an attitude like Yes, Daddy!”
“Yes!”
“I don’t know him,” I mutter, my brows creasing.
“He’s hot hot,” Olli says, like that explains everything.
I shrug, but again, he keeps talking.
“I’ve been working for his office during the summer, doing all kinds of administrative BS, answering emails, proofreading some papers, yadda yadda.
” Olli’s hands wave through the air, splashing some peach tea into the pool.
“And today he told me that he feels burnt out, that he’s lost his muse, can't write, that kinda stuff. So I, in my boundless enthusiasm to help and be A Good Aid, recommended some books to him.” He pauses to empty his glass, then lets it drop into the wilting grass next to his chair.
“‘The best books I’ve ever read!’ I said. ‘They’re so well written and have deep themes about friendship, family, and life!’ I told him.”
I frown. The only non-study-related books I’ve ever seen Olli read are—
“Oh my God!” I gasp.
Olli nods. “‘My absolute favorite books, Professor Fiore, you’ll love them.’ I looked the man right in the eyes as I said this!”
“I don’t get it.” Nicko huffs, reaching for my glass now. I’m too busy staring at Oliver, who’s buried his head in his hands, to defend it.
“You didn’t! Olli, those—”
“I recommended the smuttiest, filthiest books ever to a literature professor. Whom I work for!” Olli groans, letting himself fall backward into the lawn chair. “Fucking kill me.”
Nicko snorts before he slurps up the rest of the peach tea and then crunches one of the ice cubes. “Serves you right.”
Pretending he didn’t hear Nicko’s jab, Olli mumbles from behind his hands, “Literally the first book I yapped about has one guy hooking up with his future boss in a BDSM club! They talk about rope bondage and choking in the prologue! I’m gonna have to leave the country and change my name, change my face! My beautiful face!”
Nicko and I laugh hysterically at his overly dramatic meltdown.
I love those books too. That’s why I stole Keeping Noah off his shelf after all.
“It’s not even funny, guys!” Olli laments, but finally his arms slump down in defeat. “I might as well have recommended the Kamasutra or Gay Sex for Dummies.” His pitiful appearance makes us laugh even harder.
“Pretty sure Fiore doesn’t need any help with that, but who knows.” Nicko snickers, fishing another ice cube from the glass.
“A married professor with children probably doesn’t need it, but do you wanna borrow them?”
“Why would I need it?” Nicko huffs, holding out his glass to Oliver, who’s pushed himself to his feet.
“You know our rooms are on the same floor, right?”
“Duh? What’s your point?”
“Just saying, I know exactly when it’s really quiet over there.”
“Uh, we have to sleep sometimes, asshole!” Olli and Nicko squabble all the way to the kitchen, where he refills our glasses and gets a third one for himself.
“This should have alcohol in it.” He sighs when he sits down again, but I’m already blending him out, my mind busy with the implications. I might not need Gay Sex for Dummies, but even when I was with Colin, I automatically opened Keeping Noah for guidance.
I nod to myself, flinching when Olli grins at me.
“You agree, huh? Maybe those football players left some of their booze.” He eagerly jumps up again.
“You want alcohol in your drink?” Nicko gapes at me.
I take a sip of my still alcohol-free peach tea. “Maybe it’s time to be a little wild.” I grin, snorting when he laughs like I’ve made a joke, when, secretly, I absolutely meant it.