“Why aren’t you dating anyone, Mike?”
This question clearly caught him off guard, because he stammered before he defensively replied, “I’ve had hookups.”
Ugh, classic Mike response. “So are you only interested in hookups?” I needed to feel him out without throwing Sarah under the bus.
“No,” he replied slowly and then swung his hair out of his eyes. “I asked a girl out a few times in my first year, but it didn’t go anywhere. Hookups are easier, you know. Less pressure.”
I did know. My few college experiences had been drunken make-out sessions with guys equally drunk, but I didn’t think anyone truly enjoyed those experiences.
“What about Sarah?” I offered up in what I hoped was nonchalance.
“Who do you think I asked out in my first year?” He laughed but it wasn’t a funny sound.
“Really?” I was completely surprised by this. Sarah looked at him so longingly but maybe it was with regret, not unrequited love?
“Wait.” Mike caught my arm. “This isn’t a bad idea.”
“What isn’t?” I hadn’t proposed anything yet so I wasn’t sure what idea he was talking about.
“We can pretend to be interested in each other, and can make Noah and Sarah jealous at the same time,” Mike sounded enthused by this.
“That never actually works out in real life,” I pointed out.
“It was just an idea,” Mike muttered. We walked a little farther and then he asked, “So what’s the story with you and Noah?”
“I haven’t had nearly enough to drink to divulge that. How about you and Sarah?”
“She seems to only like me when other girls are into me. If I’m not dating or hooking up with someone, she has zero interest,” he said, bummed.
“Sounds like a mess.” Was I really thinking I could play Cupid or something? That wasn’t in my skill set. This night was officially a disaster. I’d fallen asleep on Noah’s shoulder, possibly drooled, and now made Mike go from enthused to sad in five seconds. I was the opposite of Cupid. Instead of shooting love arrows, I shot depression arrows.
“I thought she might have put you up to this,” Mike confessed, sounding almost hopeful.
“I wished she had,” I replied sullenly, “but instead she gave me the evil eye, so you might want to go to the library tomorrow and strike while the jealousy-iron is hot.”
“See, we should carry this on for a while. It’d be good for both of us.”
Mike was trying to be encouraging, but I had seen the light. “I have enough dysfunction in my life,” I told him.
We were closing in on the CoffeeHouse, but I wasn’t in the mood to go there anymore. I wasn’t going to orchestrate any big love connection between Mike and Sarah. I wanted to go home. “Do you mind if bail on you?”
“Nah, I might as well go home anyway.” We changed course and Mike walked me to my front door, just two blocks away from the CoffeeHouse. He gave me a big hug. “Thanks for the effort tonight, Sullivan.”
After saying goodnight, I slipped inside. It was early yet and the apartment seemed huge and empty. Lana was at her sorority house and might not be back anytime soon. I pulled out my laptop and crawled into bed. Only nineteen and I was already staying home, alone, on a Saturday night. I might as well start my cat collection.
Noah
I’m not sure how being around Grace managed to fuck up my decision-making process so much. I felt like I was pushing the shoot button on my Xbox controller every time I wanted to jump, resulting in stupid, self-inflicted casualties.
Bo had to physically restrain me from following Grace out of the theater. I fought back the urge to tackle her, throw her over my shoulder, and escape through the back exit. I’d take her to my truck and we’d drive to San Diego. Or maybe South Carolina. There had to be someplace within the 8,000 acres of Marine property on Parris Island where I could stash her.
“I think you’re supposed to take your girlfriend to an erotic film, not your best male friend,” Bo commented. “Unless you’re trying to tell me something, in which case I have to tell you that I’m flattered, but I play for the other team.”
My only response was to bare my teeth at him. I thrummed my fingers on my jeans while staring after the empty space left by Grace and her“ friend” Mike.
“You don’t really think she’s interested in him, do you?” I turned to Bo.
“Nah. Chick doesn’t hold your hand during the entire movie while being into the other guy,” Bo assured me.
“But she left with him.” Self-doubt was creeping in. Success had no room for self-doubt. I checked myself. Was I starting to sound like a creepy motivational poster?