Bet in the Dark (35 page)

             
“Sounds like him,” I had to agree. “How could you not remember?”

             
“I was really drunk, and it was late. I remember hanging out with him earlier in the night and there are these vague memories I get of him and me with, uh, very little clothes on, but I’m not sure what’s real.” She sounded thoughtful but muffled, probably from how the recliner was balanced on her forehead.

             
“We should have made Fin and Jameson get this,” I huffed.

             
“Weren’t we trying to prove something about women’s rights?” Britte panted back.

             
“Stupid, so stupid. Men can have the heavy lifting jobs. I’ll sweep and mop and vacuum.”

             
“And the trash jobs, anything involving trash,” she agreed. “I’ll do other womanly stuff, like scrub toilets and fold clothes.”

             
“We’re so forward thinking,” I noted.

             
“We’re like post-feminist. The new-age-feminist.”

             
“I would laugh, but I can’t breathe.” In fact, I had stopped breathing and started grunting. This could not be attractive. But we were on the final flight, almost there. “So how did you find out it was Beckett?”

             
“He kept texting me. The first time I asked who it was and he told me Beckett. I said, like Ellie’s Beckett? And he got really short with me and sent this text about how I shouldn’t think of him like that anymore. Needless to say I was a little confused. Then he ate lunch with me one day and he was really flirty, but I was mostly freaked out. I mean, he was
Beckett
. I’ve had a crush on him since I met you, but he’s always been, you know, off limits. He texted me later and asked if I was Ok with everything and if something was wrong like he had a right to know what was going on in my life. So I asked him what his problem was and he said he had fun the other night and he wanted to do it again. Then I told him I had no idea what happened the other night or what he was talking about.”

             
“Oh, no.” I sighed.

             
“Yeah, he did not take that well. And he’s been yelling at me ever since.” B sounded exhausted by the whole thing and I wondered if he had hurt her yet or just really confused her.

             
“Are you Ok?” I asked just as we reached the door to our apartment.

             
“I will be when he moves on,” she admitted. “Els, he’s hot, but he’s a little bit exasperating.”

             
“Tell me about it.” I rolled my eyes even though there was no way she could see me through the recliner and then nudged the door open with my hip. We readjusted the recliner again and then again and then one more time before we squeezed it into the doorway at an odd angle.

             
Fin and Jameson were stealing water bottles out of the refrigerator and all conversation died as soon as we walked in the door.

             
“Hey!” I yelled at them. “She said she would buy you beer and pizza, stop stealing my water!”

             
“Els, I don’t think Fin’s here for beer and pizza,” Britte stage whispered from across the chair.

             
We were still having trouble getting it through the door. We were stuck and I was smashed against the L shaped wall and the chair.

             
“What makes you say that?” I asked, my back was to Fin and I felt his heated stare on my ass.

             
“It’s probably the drool that’s been dripping down his chin since he saw you in those short shorts this morning,” she waggled her eyebrows at me.

             
I growled at her and then asked, “Hey Fin, what are you doing?” I shot Britte a smug look although I didn’t really know what I was expecting.

             
“Ogling you,” he said simply.

             
Britte snickered and I heard Jameson cough into his hand.

             
“Could you stop?” I gritted out.

             
“Probably not.”

             
A cleared my throat, willing my cheeks to stop blushing and asked, “Then could you at least ogle me over here? We need some help!”

             
I heard him move off the kitchen counter but he still said, “Only if you promise to ogle me back.” He stopped just behind me so that his body heated warmed my back.

             
“And here I thought we were getting good at being friends,” I said flippantly.

             
He reached down next to me, lifting the chair out of my hands. I let it go easily but he still stalled my retreat by whispering in my ear, “Not friends, Ellie. Never friends.”

             
I shivered, letting his words sink into my skin. I wasn’t going to let things get beyond flirting, not again, but it didn’t mean I didn’t love every moment of his attention.

             
“What do you think, Britte?” Fin asked as he shouldered most of the weight of the chair and guided it into the apartment. “Is Ellie ogling me? Is she holding up her part of the deal?”

             
“I think she’s been holding up her part of the deal since you showed up this morning,” Britte answered dryly.

             
I was probably going to kill her.

             
If Beckett didn’t get around to it first.

             
“I regret letting you move in with me already.” I threw her a nasty look and then joined Jameson in the kitchen. “J and I are deciding on pizza and you two aren’t allowed to vote. Don’t worry though, roomie, I have Fin’s credit card memorized.”

             
“I thought I was getting paid for this good deed?” Fin called back in while Britte directed him around the room with the chair.

             
“You were. But you’re not anymore,” I explained.

             
“I don’t have to pay for any of this, do I?” Jameson asked. He sounded annoyed but he’d been wearing a permanent grin all day.

             
“No, don’t worry. Plus, I still owe you for all your Econ notes.” I called and ordered enough pizzas for everybody, basically an entire large for each person. Britte wouldn’t be able to stomach that much food, but then I could save hers as left overs. Fin could be so generous when I was in charge of his credit card.

             
“How do you feel about the midterm?” Jameson asked after I hung up the cellphone.

             
“Not bad actually. Thanks to your notes and tutoring.”

             
“We make a pretty good team. You’re not as lost as you think you are. But if you still want help, we can keep studying together.” His cheekbones were highlighted with pink again and he kept brushing his auburn hair out of his eyes.

             
“That would be great. I could always use help, thank you. After spring break? We could start like a weekly study session. Just go over the class or whatever?” I asked hopefully.

             
“That works. You’ll get it in no time,” he promised with a sweet smile.

We finished
unloading everything by the time the pizza came. Fin and Jameson even had time to run out and get a couple six packs of Spotted Cow. Then we stood around the kitchen counter eating straight from the boxes. 

             
“My feet hurt,” Britte whined. “I want to sit down.”

I gave her a helpless shrug. “I used to have furniture. I will never take that for granted again.”

“Tara the biotch. I hate that little witch,” Britte grumbled and then grabbed a paper towel, another piece of pizza and plopped down in the recliner.

“One day, I want to hear the entire story,” Jameson looked at me, sincere and serious.

“One day I will tell you the entire story,” I promised and then winked at him.

I felt Fin’s eyes on me so I turned around and engaged
Britte in small talk. She wasn’t really paying attention to me, she was watching Jameson and Fin interact behind me. I could feel them communicating without words but I didn’t even want to guess what it was about.

Until suddenly Jameson announced, “Alright, thanks for the pizza
Britte, I mean, Fin. I’ve got to go.”

“Already?”
I asked, mostly because I had a feeling it would piss Fin off.

“Oh yeah, I still have to finish, uh, I have a date, later. I forgot about it until right now. Better go.” And then he was gone, before any of us could even say goodbye.

I whirled on Fin, “Did you scare off your own friend.”

“What?” he asked incredulously. “You heard him, Ellie, he had a
date
.”

I just rolled my eyes at him.

“Actually, I have to go too,” Britte stood up from the recliner and wiped her hands off on her paper towel. “I have study group in a half hour. And that is not an excuse, I really do.”

“Aw, I thought we’d hang out tonight. You know
do roommate stuff, like eat ice cream, watch scary movies! I even splurged and bought Kitkats and Rocky Road!”

“Some other night,
Els, sorry babe,” she disappeared into her room presumably to get dressed.

And then it was just Fin and me.
I turned around and gave him an awkward smile.

He was leaning against the counter watching me. His eyes had gone dark and intense and his jaw was doing that ticking thing, that rapid muscle movement I was starting to realize appeared whenever he was trying to hold himself back. He wanted to kiss me right
now; I felt it down to my very bones.

And for a moment I was so desperate to let him I forgot how to breathe.

“Can I help you?” I asked while putting the left over pizza into plastic wrap and stacking the boxes for the trash later. Why couldn’t they make pizza boxes the size of normal trash cans? As a college student I admittedly ate a lot of pizza, but honestly was it so much to ask for a narrow box?

“What kind of guys are you into?” he asked
firmly. He was leaning back against the opposite counter, still and calm. He was so tall, each of his muscles long and lithe, but now with his question each piece of him was brimming with tension, like he was coiled to strike. I felt like this was a trap, like he was setting me up for an attack.

“Am I into?” I stalled.
My emotions were everywhere, want warring with resolve.

“Like, what’s your type?” he asked again, standing up straighter as if he were on display,
as if he were letting me judge him against whatever I pictured in my head.

But m
y answer was easy.
Smart. Funny. Protective. Loyal. Compassionate. Good. You.
They were all there, right at the tip of my tongue but I couldn’t say or admit any of them. So instead I said absently, “Pirates.”

Fin choked on his surprised laughter. “
What?”

So calmly, fighting hard for a straight face,
“I’m looking for a pirate.” I wetted a paper towel and started wiping down the counters while Fin let that settle in.

“Is that so?”

“Definitely. I’m
all
about pirates.”

“Argh!
Then come here you lusty wench,” Fin caught me around the waist and somehow twisted me so that when I turned around I was pressed up against his chest. He smiled down at me, the bright, disarming one and then attacked my neck with a messy, wet, loud kiss. Against my skin he gave his best pirate impersonation, “Tonight you walk the plank.”

             
I started laughing before I could push him away. Besides, I could feel how strongly he did not want me to push him away. But he was being playful and fun, so I fell into the moment, refusing to let my fears take away from this…. from him. He started tickling my sides and I was hysterically laughing and struggling to get away from him when the apartment door opened and then shut. Apparently Britte was gone.

             
“Stop!” I gasped for breath between my insane giggling. “You win! You win!”

             
“I like winning,” he grinned. He stopped tickling me but didn’t let go, and instead wrapped his arms around my waist so I was held tightly to his chest.

             
“Lusty wench?” I gaped. “Not true!”

             
“Really? Then why can I feel how badly you want to kiss me right now? How badly you’ve wanted me to kiss you all day?”

             
“It’s not my fault! It’s all these nice muscles,” I offered helpfully. I squeezed his bicep in my grip and then gave him a “See? Not my fault,” look. “It’s not my fault you’re like man-candy.”

             
He ignored me. “Let’s watch a movie.”