“What was it?” Bless her little naïve heart.
“He kissed me.”
She smacks both palms down onto the table, just as our coffee is served by our very unsuspecting waitress. Poor thing just about flings scalding coffee all over herself. After muttering an apology, Makenna turns back to me. “Wesley Baxter kissed you. On the mouth. And it wasn’t part of some stupid joke. Why am I just now hearing about this?”
I hold my hands up. “I know, I know. But really, it’s not a big deal. We made out for a bit, and that’s all I remember. He told me this morning that he carried me up to bed after I passed out on him.”
“Holy shit.” She seems stunned as she sips her coffee.
Might as well get it all over with right now. If he tells Shane, she’ll probably hear about it from him and get all pissy. “That’s not all, though. We also saw each other naked this morning.”
She sets her mug on the table so hard that it sloshes over the side. “Nuh-uh. You didn’t.” Wide eyed, she lowers her voice and leans across the table a bit. “You had sex?”
“Oh, nothing like that. I was feeling pretty rough when I woke up, so I showered without realizing the door into his room was open. He admitted that he was awake the entire time. Saw it all. I guess, to make me feel better, he got up out of bed totally naked and walked into his closet to get dressed. I also saw it all. Tit for tat. Literally. So I guess, by the time we came downstairs this morning, we were quite comfortable with each other, making it fairly easy to put on a good show for you and Shane. End of story.”
Because I can’t get anything past her, I also have to tell her the “we’re just friends” part, and she corroborated his story. Shane had mentioned before that he’s quite anti-relationship. I’m floored when I find out that he got married when he was eighteen. He got his girlfriend pregnant, so the obvious responsible next step was to run into the next town to elope. She lost the baby just before she was three months along, and the marriage ended before their first anniversary. She was cheating on him with her old boyfriend.
Now, apparently, he’s very upfront about it. If he does venture into a relationship, and it takes a serious turn, he’s out. Done. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone, and more importantly, he doesn’t want to get hurt. I can’t fault him for that. Hell, I want the same thing. No feelings. No strings or attachments. No one to answer to. Simple and uncomplicated is good.
I glance down at my watch. “Let’s get out of here. I should be done shocking you, and we have a mountain of laundry calling our names. Besides that, I can’t wait to get in bed and sleep off this wicked hangover.”
“DO YOU KNOW where Wes works?” Makenna calls out from the bathroom as soon as I walk into our dorm. I set my bag down and lean against the door jamb, watching her mouth twist unnaturally while she brushes mascara onto her pale lashes. This is the first time I’ve heard his name since the night we left their parents’ house, and that was three weeks ago, so her question catches me off-guard a little bit.
“Umm, no, I don’t think he ever mentioned it. Why?”
She leans out the door and points to a manila envelope on her bed. “Shane is at his parents’ house for a couple days, so he asked if I could drop that envelope by to Wes this week, since he works here in Tuscaloosa. They won’t see each other until the weekend, and there’s some tax papers in there that Wes needs by tomorrow. I didn’t think to ask where he works. No worries, though. I’ll call Shane and find out.”
“I didn’t realize he works around here.”
“Yeah,” she drawls out while smearing lipstick on her top lip. “Lives about half an hour from here, too, so he’s about halfway between here and their parents’ house. Shane has taken me over there a few times.”
I nod and turn into my room to pull my books out of my bag. I’ll be so glad when this semester is over. My professors must think that we don’t have any other classes because they’re all assigning massive amounts of homework this week. Thank God there’s only about a month left before summer.
“So you want to come with?” Makenna waggles her eyebrows at me.
“Where?”
She slaps my shoulder. “Duh. To wherever Wes works.”
“I have a shitload of homework, Mak,” I complain, waving my hands over the books and binders sprawled out on my bed. “And it’s all due by Friday, so I only have tonight and tomorrow. Just tell him I said hello.”
“Come on. We’ll just drop it by there real quick and then grab some dinner. You have to eat, you know. Then, you can come back and hit the books. Please? You know I don’t like going to strange places alone.”