Down to Business (Business Series) (3 page)

“You say that like it’s a terrible thing, Josh,” Mom said. “You’re getting experience. Maybe you can be a chef someday.”

“Oh yay,” Josh mocked. “I’d rather be getting experience in other areas. I hate cooking.”

“Well, I hate cleaning,” Mom said, after she zipped my suitcase back up. “But I still clean up after you don’t I?”

Grandma came back into the room and looked at all of us. “Are we leaving, Lori? It’s almost dinner time and I need to take my pills.”

“Yes Mother, we will leave in a minute,” Mom said turning to Lindy and I. “Did you girls want to come to dinner with us one last time?”

“You act like you’ll never see me again, Mom.”

“It feels like it’s an eternity until Thanksgiving.” Mom frowned.

“I’m not hungry, I’d rather get settled in.”

“Are you sure, Auti?” she said, petting my arm. “You barely ate this morning, you were so anxious to get on the road.”

“Yeah, I’m great. You guys go ahead.”

“Well, okay. Make sure you call me tonight like you promised, you know… to let me know you are okay.”

“I will Mom,” I pulled her against me and gave her one last big hug then I did the same to my grandmother.

“You behave yourself, Autumn. Don’t come home with any tattoos or a SND.”

I laughed. “I don’t plan on coming in contact with either of those things, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Take good care of her Lindy. Make sure she makes good choices,” Mom said, wringing her hands. She acted as if she was dropping me off in the middle of the Congo.

Lindy smiled and took my hand. “I will, Mrs. M., stop worrying!”

We followed the three of them to the door.

Mom’s lower lip quivered as she looked at me one last time. “Be good.”

“I will!” I groaned.

“Josh, hug your sister,” Mom demanded when he tried to sneak past me without a goodbye.

Josh turned and reluctantly waited for me to hug him.

“See you asshole,” I said yanking him against me.

He pat my back extra hard. “Whatever dumbass.”

Mom sighed. “When will you two stop with the name calling?”

“Never.” Josh shouldered past Mom and out the door.

“Lori? Are you coming? I need help with these stairs!” Grandma yelled from outside.

The emotional turmoil on Mom’s face faded. “I’m coming, Mother.”

Lindy and I hung back and watched the three of them as they descended the steps. Once they reached the bottom, Mom looked back up at us and gave one last wave just as two hot guys were walking down the sidewalk.

“Call me! I love you, Babygirl!” she yelled just in time for them to hear.

I waved back and then covered my face.

Lindy giggled. “She’s so crazy. Come on…” She pulled me back into the apartment and shut the door. “You’re finally free! No more annoying family, no more Malones! What do you want to do first?”

“I want to eat a steak.”

“What?” She laughed.

“Mom’s boyfriend Gary is a vegetarian so she is on a health kick. I haven’t had red meat in a month. I
need
meat, Lindy!” I said, shaking her.

“Okay!” she laughed. “Let me grab the keys to—”

“Are they gone?” an unknown male voice asked unexpectedly.

I let out a yelp and clung to Lindy. We both looked over to see a tall guy watching us, dressed in jeans and a navy blue Adelphi wrestling t-shirt.

“Dammit Tyler! You scared the crap out of me!” Lindy said.

Tyler? Her boyfriend? Was he in the apartment the whole time?

He laughed and his bright blue eyes shifted to me. “You must be Autumn.”

“Autumn, meet my boyfriend Tyler,” Lindy said as she pulled me toward him.

He flashed me a friendly smile and combed his fingers through his short brown hair. “Nice to meet you finally. Lindy has told me all about you. It’ll be nice to have you living with us.”

I reached out to shake his hand and then pulled back fast when I heard his comment. “Wait… what? You live here, too?”

“Yeah, didn’t Lindy tell you?” he asked, giving Lindy a look.

“No, she didn’t.” I answered and narrowed my eyes at Lindy.

Lindy’s brow knitted with worry and she bit down on her glossy lower lip. “Yeah...that’s what I meant when I told you I had a surprise for you when you got here.” A nervous smile crept across her face. “He moved in last week. You’re not mad are you?”

Mad? Why would I be mad? I had my whole life planned around living with my best friend and going to college. Now I suddenly had to share my space with her boyfriend I didn’t know. I wasn’t mad, I was livid.

“
It’s
only temporary…until he gets into a frat,” Lindy assured me.

“Yeah, it should be like two months tops,” he added.

I looked over at Tyler then back at Lindy, my blood that was boiling turned to a simmer.
Two months I could deal with, as long as it wasn’t permanent.

“It would have been nice if you would have let me know first. This isn’t the kind of surprise you just spring on someone.”

“I know, I’m really sorry Auti,” Lindy whined in her forgive me voice. “I didn’t want to freak you out. I know you were stressed out enough with moving and everything.”

I looked between the two of them, still not comfortable with the idea.

“I’m not a slob, don’t worry,” he said to me then flashed Lindy a smile, throwing his arm around her. “Tell her.”

She smiled up at him and caught his hand in hers. “He’s amazing.”

I bet.

I grimaced as they rubbed their noses together and shared a soft kiss that made me gag.

What the hell was I getting myself into?
Seeing her looking at him like that made me nauseated. My best friend suddenly turned into a lovesick loser.

“I guess I’ll go and unpack,” I said, walking to my suitcase on the kitchen table.

“Let me get that for you!” Tyler stepped in front of me before I could grab it.

“No, it’s okay. I don’t need help,” I argued, probably sounding a little more acidic than polite.

“I need to do my part around here…let me get it.” He snatched up the suitcase and my duffle bag near the door and carried both off toward my room.

Lindy bit her lower lip as I marched past her with my clothes basket, following Tyler.

As he left my bags in the middle of my bedroom, his cell phone rang and thankfully, he abandoned me to take the call.

Lindy came in and sat on my bed while I unpacked.

“Isn’t he cute?” she asked. And when I didn’t reply, “He’s cute, right? You’re not mad, right?”

“Like I said, it would have been nice if you actually asked me if it was okay first.”

“It wasn’t like I planned on it. He got kicked out of his parents’ house, and I was the only one who could take him in. What was I supposed to do?”

Tyler stepped back into the room before I could answer and sat down on the bed next to Lindy. I turned my back and ignored them while I unpacked, hoping the awkward silence would scare them off, but unfortunately it didn’t. Tyler rambled about the wrestling team and Lindy sat there and nodded like a dumb blond. Maybe bleach did kill brain cells, because the Lindy I knew never kept things from me.

I shut the top dresser drawer extra hard to interrupt them. “You guys don’t have to sit here and keep me company.”

“We want to,” Lindy said, her fingers laced with his.

“Hey Autumn, I heard you wanted a steak for dinner,” Tyler said. “I know a great place right around here. It would be my treat.”

I glanced over at Tyler, my hunger pangs suddenly flaring up. A steak was the least he could do after the roommate bomb was dropped on me.

“Sure. I’m starving.”
Maybe I could learn to like him.

Tyler climbed off the bed and clapped his hands together like he was breaking up a football huddle. “You can unpack later. Let’s go!”

I refrained from rolling my eyes.

Never mind about learning to like him.

I didn’t take directions from idiots, especially ones who had jock itch. Lindy on the other hand was bouncing after him like a dumb puppy. I tossed down my handful of socks and sighed. This was going to be the longest two months of my life.

We rode to the restaurant in Tyler’s black BMW sedan. I learned that Tyler’s parents both lived in the Hamptons and his father was a heart surgeon.  He bragged that his father bought him his Beemer for his twenty-first birthday and he prided himself in never having worked a day in his life. Those two things gave me more reason to not like him. I couldn’t believe Lindy would date some spoiled rich kid like Tyler. It also made me wonder why Tyler couldn’t find a place to live if he was so well taken care of. Something told me this was a set up.

The Black Steer Steakhouse was decorated in western décor, from rough wood floors to cow suede seat covers. Once the server took our orders and left, Tyler reached over and took up Lindy’s hand for the tenth time since we arrived.

“So, are you from Hamilton too, Autumn?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I dropped my straw into my iced tea and took a sip. “So, how did you two meet anyway?”

“Through a friend at a spring break party,” Tyler said and rubbed his thumb over the back of Lindy’s hand. “She was in the pool wearing this sexy little pink bikini and I just couldn’t look away. So, I asked my friend Vivian what her name was, and I thought Lindy was the cutest name I ever heard. So Vivian walked me over and introduced us, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.”

“I can’t believe it’s already been five months,” Lindy gushed at him with a stupid smile.

“I know, I still think you’re the hottest girl at Adelphi,” he said and kissed her.

I rolled my eyes and sipped my iced tea, looking out over the restaurant. I wondered if I could really get used to this arrangement. Neither of us ever had a serious boyfriend, and I wasn’t used to seeing her like this. I turned back to them and just in time to see them rub their noses together.

“So, how long until you get accepted into the fraternity?” I interrupted.

Tyler pulled away and turned to me. “Well, it’s actually not that easy to get accepted. The rush is the first thing.”

“Rush?”

“Yeah, it’s when all the frats throw parties and you have to attend them and meet the members. Then if they like you, you’ll hopefully get a bid.”

“They bid on you? Like horse racing?”

Lindy laughed. “No silly, bidding just means they will bid on Tyler for a place in their fraternity and then comes the fun part…”

“Pledge time.” Tyler said.

I bit down on the end of my straw. “What happens at pledge time?”

“I’m at their mercy. They can make insane dares and I have to do them or I won’t get in.”

“Like what kind of dares?”

“Like eat twenty raw hot dogs or let a poisonous snake crawl through my clothes.”

I blinked. “What if you chicken out?”

“I lose my frat brothers trust and I don’t get in.”

“Is it worth it?”

“Hell yes it’s worth it,” he said, as if I was crazy. “This is my second year of college. I have to make it in this year.  Last year I was a freshman and freshmen’s never get in. But I’ve met a lot of the frat brothers and I think my chances of getting in are good this year. You two are going to come to rush parties with me, right?”

“Of course we will baby,” Lindy said all snuggled up under his arm.

Now she was electing me to go to parties, too?

I stared at Lindy and narrowed my eyes. “When did you start partying, Lindy?”

She shrugged. “Since I arrived at Adelphi and got a life. Don’t worry. College parties are different from high school parties, Autumn. Everyone just lets loose and has a good time.”

I didn’t see any difference about the two, besides maybe the age and curfew. I drew a breath and remembered the last time I went to a party and how horrible it went. I guessed she could sense my apprehension because she tilted her head and gave me a knowing look. “Remember what you said about not living in the past and how you wanted to try new things?”

“I didn’t mean partying.” I bobbed my straw in and out of my iced tea.

“There are lots of hot guys at the parties…” she bribed with a sly smile.

I looked at Tyler who was giving me a dumbass smile.