Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 136296 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 681(@200wpm)___ 545(@250wpm)___ 454(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136296 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 681(@200wpm)___ 545(@250wpm)___ 454(@300wpm)
Kody is sitting in the middle of the living room floor, surrounded by very organized pieces of paper with what look like math equations written all over them while a hockey game plays on the TV.
“Where’s Lavender?” I ask.
He startles, and a few of the pieces of paper he’s shuffling slide out of the pile and onto the floor beside him. “She’s upstairs.”
Kody would probably surgically attach himself to my sister if he could. The only time they aren’t together is when we’re at hockey practice or she has class. “Why are you down here?”
His cheeks flush. “Uh, because she has an assignment due in the morning and said she needs to concentrate, and I’m too much of a distraction and I’m not to come back up until she messages me.” He thumbs over at BJ. “We were playing Xbox until he passed out half an hour ago, and I decided to organize my math notes. I figured you’d be at the pub tonight with some of the guys.”
“Nah, not tonight. I got a warning from Treble that Carly was there, and I didn’t want to risk running into her.”
“You guys haven’t been a thing for a while. What’s the deal there?” He starts putting the math sheets back into his binder, one stack at a time, adding those divider things.
“I don’t know how much of a thing we ever really were, but she’s having trouble letting go.”
“She was here a lot at the beginning of the semester. Didn’t you take her on a date to a movie? Or am I remembering that wrong?” He scratches his forearm, then pulls his shirtsleeve down to cover his wrist.
I sigh. “The whole movie situation was supposed to be a group thing, but it ended up being the two of us. She keeps showing up wherever the team is, so my go-to tactic is avoidance.” And has been since Clover took over the creative writing class. Being involved with someone feels wrong for whatever reason. “I’m not dating right now. Gotta stay focused.” Kody knows about my end-of-summer hookup, mostly because I was late for practice the next day. But he doesn’t know she’s currently my professor.
“I thought you were low-key seeing someone after the Carly thing ended,” he muses.
I did make an offhand comment about seeing someone who wasn’t into the party scene back when him and Lavender first started dating. It was a bit tongue-in-cheek since I was stuck on the Clover situation and the fact that I was seeing her on a weekly basis. “That ran its course,” I sort of lie.
“Oh, that makes sense.” He nods. “You wanna hang out for a bit? I’m watching replays of our last game against Illinois State.”
I should go upstairs and work on that creative writing assignment, but I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to hang out with Kody since he started dating my sister, and I could use the distraction. Being alone with my thoughts isn’t very alluring. “Yeah, sure. Want me to grab you a beer?”
“Yeah. Great. That’d be awesome.”
I leave my gym bag and backpack at the bottom of the stairs and stop by the kitchen to grab a snack and two bottles of beer. But the second I return, Lavender comes barreling into the living room.
“Vaginaland is open for business!” She makes a V in front of her crotch and then stops mid-thrust when she realizes I’m standing there. “Oh hey, Mav. If you can pretend you didn’t see or hear that, that would be great.” Her face turns red in patches that also cover her neck.
“You’re not worried about BJ?” I thumb over at him.
“He’s asleep.”
“That’s what you think.” BJ cracks a lid. His eyeball shifts from Lavender to Kody—who’s frozen like a statue, eyes comically wide with horror—over to me. He reaches for the lever on the side of the chair and pulls the footrest down. “Way to make things awkward, Lav.”
“I thought Kody was alone—or mostly alone! And what’s awkward is when Maverick’s past flavors of the month stop by looking for him, and I have to be the one to give them the bad news that he’s having a herpes flare up!” She pinwheels her arms like a drunk octopus.
“Wait! What? You don’t seriously tell people I have herpes, do you?” While I can deal with rumors, that sure isn’t one I want to contend with.
Lavender rolls her eyes. “Of course not. I’m not that much of an asshole. But I did tell a girl at one of your parties that you broke your dick when you tripped over some dirty underwear on the way to the bathroom. I also told her you probably wouldn’t be back in the saddle until next semester. I was doing you a favor, because she seemed a little obsessed with you. Like, she knew all your stats and could list every single girl you dated last year. She did stop by with a card and some chocolates, which I told her I would give to you, but I threw them out because it seemed a little too, ‘Tag, You’re It,’ circa Melanie Martinez’s Cry Baby album. You’re welcome for saving you from that potential stalker nightmare.”