Rachel

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THERE’S A SOUNDTRACK to this town that I’ve always known by heart. It’s a compilation of sounds with special, real-world lyrics that I’d recognize anywhere. The morning tracks are always a mix of waves hitting the shore or tourists scattering across the beach to stake their claims on chairs. In the afternoon, the tracks slowly give way to the loud laughter and horns from the trolley lines, with the hard beats of residents ordering ice cream cones and cold coffee. And at night, the final tracks steal the day when the sand softly sifts back into place, and the couples share secret kisses on the beach.

Today, I was learning the sound of a brand-new morning track. The silence of being stood up for the fifth day in a row.

“Are you sure he didn’t call and say that he wasn’t coming?” I asked the barista at The Creamery. “Like, he had to have said something.”

“I’m sure he didn’t call,” she said, flipping her long red hair over her shoulders. “Just like I’m sure that the guys from the past few days didn’t call and say anything either. They would’ve called you, not the coffee shop.”

“Right...” I blew out a breath, and she moved from behind the counter—handing me a coffee.

“It’s on the house,” she said. “What’s your name?”

“Rachel.”

“I’m Penelope, Rachel.” She extended her hand. “And something tells me that you’ve been out of the dating game for a minute.”

“Kind of. I met all those guys at a bar, got their numbers, and after we texted for a few days, we set a date. Then, because I thought it was nice, I looked up their campus addresses and sent them a handwritten note saying how excited I was about our date later.”

Her eyes widened. “You did what?”

“I sent them all a note.” I shrugged. “I did that all the time when I was at Semester at Sea.”

“Ah.” She nodded, laughing. “Okay, so you’re one of those sea-leg girls.” She picked up my cell phone and tapped the screen. “You know what? I’m going to give you my phone number and help you out from time to time.”

“Why?”

“Because I work all the time between my classes and I need to make some new friends,” she said. “We’ve talked every day while you’ve been stood up this week, and since you don’t strike me as a psycho, I think we’ll get along. Just don’t look up my address and send me a letter.”

I laughed. “I won’t.”

“I’m here every morning, and this is our pre-rush time if you ever want to drop by,” she said. “I’m off on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but other than that, I’m usually in class or stuck here. Feel free to text me whatever land-dating questions you may have, whenever you want. In the meantime, download Tinder and set up Facebook, since I know most of you sea-leg girls wait until the last minute to do that.”

“I will.” I smiled. “Looking forward to it.”

“Well, good morning, Rachel.” Greg walked into the café, smiling at me before gawking at Penelope. “Who is your friend here?”

“I wasn’t interested in you yesterday,” Penelope said, crossing her arms. “And I’m still not interested in you today, whatever your name is.”

“We didn’t even speak yesterday.” He winked at her, giving her one of his playful grins. “If we had, I would’ve asked you something important.”

“What is it?”

“Just that I can’t stop staring at a certain something that’s on your lips.” He smirked. “Would you like me to help you take it off with mine?”

“Seriously?” She rolled her eyes. “Get the hell out of my coffee shop, Greg. Now.”

“I thought you didn’t know my name.” He looked her over one last time and winked before leaving the store.

I held back a laugh and stood up as customers began trickling inside. “I’ll text you sometime this week.”

“Looking forward to it. Oh, and Rachel?”

“Yeah?” I headed to the door.

“For the record, if another guy suggests that you meet him at a coffee shop at seven thirty in the morning, for a first date, he probably will blow you off. That’s the standard brush-off hour.” She smiled and returned to the counter, and I stepped outside.

Fresh out of “make a new best friend” options and officially done with Plans A through Y when it came to finding someone consistent to talk to, I decided it was time for Plan Z.

I made my way to Crème and Cocoa, a hot chocolate shop Ethan mentioned the other day. When I stepped inside, I spotted him sitting near the back, writing.

“You’re awake early,” he said, looking up. “Do you have an eight o’clock class today or something?”

“No. I can’t help but wake up super early every morning. It’s a habit.”

“How uninteresting.” He shut his notebook as I took a seat. “What do you want?”

“I came here for the hot chocolate, Ethan,” I said. “I didn’t come here for you.”

“You don’t like hot chocolate, Rachel.” He rolled his eyes. “Even though I’m willing to guess that to this day you’ve never tried it.”

“I have tried it.” I lied.

He stared at me blankly. “What do you really want?”

“Okay, fine,” I said. “I came here to talk to you about something, but you have to promise not to laugh.”

He crossed his arms. “I’m listening.”

“I would like to propose an arrangement.”

“What type of arrangement?”

“A temporary arrangement that will highly benefit me.”

“What about me?”

“You have every girl on campus fawning all over you for some strange reason,” I said. “You don’t need any benefits.”

“So, you’re finally admitting that every woman on this campus is attracted to me?”

“No. I’m admitting that this proposal is my last resort, and every woman on this campus is brainwashed.”

“Jealousy isn’t sexy, Rachel.”

“Neither are you.”

He laughed. “What’s the proposal?”

“I want us to pretend to be friends for a few weeks until I find some real ones of my own,” I said. “I don’t want to have a lonely senior-year, you know? No one I’ve texted has gotten back to me, and even Meredith—who I thought was great when she was on the ship, seems to have had a brain transplant since then. I’ve had coffee with her twice, and all she wants to talk about are her selfie-taking skills and her social media accounts.”

His lips curved into a slow, sexy smile, and he sipped his coffee.

Has his smile always looked like that?

“I would also like to have someone who I can talk to about personal stuff from time to time,” I said, pausing. “But this would only be temporary, and the moment I’m convinced that I’ve made a new, and genuine friend, the two of us can go back to not standing each other. What do you say?”

“Define ‘pretend to be friends.’ What does that entail?”

“I just told you what it entails, Ethan.”

“I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Okay, fine.” I stood to my feet. “Forget you. Literally.”

“I’m kidding, Rachel.” He motioned for me to sit down. “If we’re going to pretend to be friends, you’re going to have to work on not being a hot-head all the time. You’ll have to see me as your friend and not your enemy.”

“Fine,” I said, sitting down again. “I can do that.”

“Also, since you have little to no experience in this department, you should know that friends talk without arguing, and they tell each other the truth about things. No matter what.”

“This is only temporary, Ethan.”

“I’m aware.” He smiled, leaning forward and lowering his voice. “And as your temporary friend, I’d like to let you know that from the moment you walked in here, I could see your nipples through your bra, and I could also see your red lace panties through your shorts.”

“What?” I felt my cheeks reddening.

“You heard me.” He glanced at my chest. “In exchange for my temporary services, I’ll need your thoughts on the Ripped Bodice’s inventory whenever I ask for it since it ties into my Silk Stem project. Deal?”

“Deal.” I extended my hand, and he shook it.

Then the two of us sat in silence and stared at each other.

“So, what are we supposed to do now?” I said. “If I was your friend Rob or Michael, what would we be doing?”

“They wouldn’t be awake right now.” He laughed and pulled out his phone. “But since we’re ‘friends’ now, I guess I can tell you about two things that you might be interested in doing so you can meet some new people.”

He showed me his screen. “First, you need to sign up for this fall’s senior trip to Peak Ridge Lodge.”

I opened my purse and pulled out my notebook, but he took it away from me.

“No need to write this down, just start a Facebook account.”

“Okay.” I took out my phone. “What’s the second thing?”

“Depends. Do you still have a dream of running your own art school someday?”

“Always.”

He clicked on his screen, and a group called Ultimate Art Lovers appeared. “You should probably look into this and try to make some friends there.”

“I will.”

“Good,” he said. “Now, give me your phone, so that I can set up your Facebook and Tinder accounts. I highly doubt you’ll know how to pick the right pictures...”

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A few days later...

I SWIPED LEFT ON MY fiftieth Tinder guy of the night, approved another ten friend requests on Facebook and set down my phone. Social media and handling e-friends were already starting to feel like a full-time job.

Since I was only taking elective courses this semester, I was starting to wonder if I should pursue a part-time job or something that would prevent me from spending half of my days scrolling through the newsfeed.

I sent Penelope a quick, “Spent time on Tinder like you said! Met a cute guy named Ryan who happens to be in my art class!” message, and then I turned on the music system in the living room.

I waited for Ethan or Greg to join me as usual, but neither came.

Relieved to finally have the house to myself for a change, I opened the windows that overlooked the beach—letting the salty air waft inside. I made myself a cup of hot coffee and sat on the couch, picking up one of my favorite romances.

I made it halfway through the first chapter when I heard a loud crashing noise coming from my bedroom.

Remembering what Ethan said about locking my windows at night, it suddenly hit me that I hadn’t done that earlier. Nervous, I jumped off the couch and grabbed a baseball bat from the coat closet. I tiptoed down the hallway and held the bat high, prepared to bash the intruder’s head in.

Just as I was about to enter my room, Ethan stepped out of it bare ass naked.

“What the hell are you doing?” He snapped, looking up at the bat.

“I should be asking you the same thing! Why the hell are you naked?”

“Last time I checked, I live here.” He didn’t make a move to cover himself, and my gaze wandered down past his perfectly chiseled abs, to his perfectly defined “V,” down to—

Oh. My. GOD!

His cock was huge. HUGE.

I felt my jaw dropping as I stared at it, and after several seconds, I had to force myself to look away.

“Can you grab a towel or put on some clothes?” I felt my cheeks warming. “Please?”

“Why would I do that?” He stepped closer. “You seem to like what’s in front of you.”

“What?”

He laughed and slipped into the bathroom. Then he returned with a towel around his waist.

“Why were you in my room?” I asked.

“Two reasons. One, your smoke alarm was going off every five minutes because you didn’t change the batteries like I told you to last week. Two, you forgot to lock the shutters. Again.”

“I know...Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be.” He looked me up and down, setting my nerves on fire as he smiled. “Do you have plans for tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Like what?”

“Like enjoying the entire apartment to myself for a change.”

“Those are my plans as well.”

“Ugh...Can I please, for once, have the place to myself?” I asked, unsure of why there were butterflies fluttering around in my stomach.

“I guess that would be fair.”

“Glad you finally learned how to be that way.”

He smiled, looking me up and down one last time before slipping into his bedroom. He was dressed within five minutes, and he gave me one of his sexy smiles—sending the butterflies fluttering all over again, before walking out of the front door.

I let out a breath and shook my head.

There was no way I was feeling an intense attraction toward him right now. I was just having a long day. Had to be.

He’s still the boy next door I hated...Nothing more. Nothing less...