Chapter 11
Emery
“Okay, so you have the remote for the TV, your water is here,” Will starts listing off as he places my water bottle on the floor by the couch, “and you have a few snacks. Do you need anything else? Want us to stay until your roommate is back?”
I stare at this guy, this perfect-looking specimen, with his perfectly floppy blond hair and sky-blue eyes filled with kindness and concern, as he glances around, looking for a place he can sit that isn’t taken up by me or the blanket he stole from my room.
This is the kind of guy I should develop feelings for. Age-appropriate, vanilla-as-fuck, well-dressed guy who has hopes and dreams, isn’t jaded, and doesn’t want to share me with his friends.
Sure, he probably wants a wife and kids and all that shit, but your college romance doesn’t have to make it past college. Or even the end of the current month.
“Actually, Oakley should be back any minute now,” I reply, and as if she was waiting for her cue from the other side of the door, the handle turns and in she walks.
“Ems,” she calls out. Her volume lowers when she spots Vinnie sitting at our table, scrolling on his phone. “Oh, hi.”
Vinnie glances up with a basic smile, starts to look back at his phone, but then does a double take before locking and pocketing his phone as he stands.
“Hey, I’m Vinnie,” he offers, holding out his hand for hers with a smile filled with the entire world’s amount of boyish charm.
Oakley blinks at the hand between them before scanning the full length of his, admittedly well-dressed and athletic, body, then finally making eye contact with Vinnie. “No.”
The smile on his face drops faster than the leaves in fall. “No?”
I bite my lip to try to stop my smile from spreading. During the entire ride home from the hospital, Vinnie kept up a running dialogue that was part flirt, part comedian, and I have a feeling that combo has never let him down before.
“No,” she confirms, putting her messenger bag down on the table.
“How can you say no, when you don’t even know me? At least give me five minutes to change your mind,” he cajoles, the smile trying to make a comeback.
Oakley raises an eyebrow at him. “Okay, sure. I’ll give you that five minutes, on one condition.”
Vinnie straightens up and nods. “Hit me.”
“I’ll give you five minutes—if you can tell me that your mom didn’t purchase your outfit for you.” She shifts onto one leg and crosses her arms over her chest. “I’ll wait.”
Vinnie glances down at himself and spreads his arms out, shoulders slowly starting to sink before he looks back up at her. “I don’t—”
Stepping into his personal space, she pats his shoulder as she walks past him into the kitchen. “I only date men who are old enough to do their own shopping.”
Vinnie spins on his heel, tracking Oaks into the kitchen, mouth open and closing before turning to stare at me and Will, who is also struggling not to laugh. “What just happened?”
Grinning, I shake my head at him. “You got shot down.”
Bewilderment scrunches up his features. “I don’t think that’s ever happened before.”
I can’t hold in my laughter this time. My cheek and eye ache, but I don’t give a shit. I needed this. The reminder that the rest of the goddamn world outside of the little bubble I’ve been living in for the past month is fucking normal.
Teenagers flirting with teenagers.
Schoolwork.
Study groups.
Normal.
“Alright, Romeo, let’s get out of here,” Will orders as he reaches down and adjusts my blanket for me again. “And, you, if you need anything, message me. I’ll get it to you as soon as I can.”
I smile up at him. “Thank you. For everything.”
He straightens with his own smile. “You still owe me the details on what that was all about at the hospital.”
Rolling my eyes, I wave a hand. “It’s history not staying where it belongs.”
Will starts to reply, but a yawn catches me by surprise and he drops it. “Hopefully I’ll see you in class on Wednesday.”
“Fingers crossed,” I reply, not sure what else to say, and snuggle farther into the pillow behind my back as he gathers Vinnie, who is locked in a staring competition with Oakley as she takes sips from a glass of water.
Once the door is shut behind them, I glance at Oakley. “That was fun to watch.”
She shrugs, then comes over to the couch, picks up my legs, plonks her butt down, and places my feet in her lap.
“Having a boyfriend and being a sugar baby don’t mix.
So, the easiest way to shut them down is to show them they aren’t a man yet.
If they take it well, it’s a point in the pro column for them, but if they take it badly, then they aren’t someone I would have wanted to date, anyway. ”
“That makes sense,” I respond, and it really does.
Oakley glances at the TV. “So, what are we watching?”
I finally look at it and grin. “Hockey.”
Her face scrunches up. “Ew, no. I’m changing it.”
Two hours later, we are deep into a new reality show where people are living on an island and their exes keep showing up, and somehow, they all have an intertwined history. It’s fucking riveting.
“Wait, wait, wait. So, Carlos is Alyssa’s ex, and Brooklyn’s, and Callie’s, and”—Oakley consults the diagram she started three episodes ago—“Michael’s?”
Nodding, I take a sip of my water. “Yeah, I think so.”
“But Alyssa has shacked up with Chad, whose exes are Jules, Heidi, and Jackie, and Jackie is also Michael’s ex?”
I close my eyes and try to visualize it all, but my headache has started to creep back in. “I’m sure we could just Google it.”
“It’s more fun this way.”
The beep of the security lock and the handle turning makes my eyes fly open. Oakley is staring at me, both of us already knowing who is about to walk through that door.
“Do you want him here?”
The door opens and Xavier waltzes in.
I huff. “Not really, but I don’t think it would be possible to get him to leave unless he actually wants to.”
He looks at us as he closes the door behind him. Dark gray shirt, one sleeve pushed up to his elbow, black jeans, slightly damp curls, and several bags. Two, I recognize as mine, and then there is an all-black duffel.
After placing the bags by the door, he puts his hand in his pocket as he approaches us, stopping between me and the coffee table. Without a word, he bends down on one knee and withdraws his hand from his pocket.
Stupidly, my heart stutters in my chest as something shiny and gold glimmers in his hand. The ache spreads as he takes my good hand and wraps my DHDX bracelet around my wrist, latching it in place.
Hazel eyes clash with mine once he is done.
The ache from my chest spreads up into my throat, making it feel thick and stuck. Xavier brushes his thumb back and forth over the back of my hand for a few moments before he stands, goes and grabs the bags, and carries all three of them into my room.
Turning back to Oakley, I stare at her with wide eyes that match her own before she breaks the silence with a hushed whisper.
“Did he just move in?”