“Thanks a lot,” I murmured when I walked into my apartment that night.

Chet spared me a quick glance from where he sat on the floor since he and Rusty were playing a stupid video game. Again. “You’re welcome?”

“You almost got Iz and me arrested!”

That got his attention. He paused the game, ignoring Rusty’s objections and asked, “What happened?”

I hung my coat on the hook rack on the wall then turned and glared as I walked past him toward the kitchen. “First of all, you left us there without any way to get free.” I began making coffee to help me warm up.

“I thought you wanted to do it!” he hollered.

I grabbed the creamer out of the fridge. “We did. But, number one, we were drunk. Number two, we couldn’t reach our phones. And number three, you fucking left us!”

“It was cold!”

Arrrggghhhh.

Three years ago when I’d moved to Seattle, Mom had suggested I find Chet—whose grandmother was my very wealthy great, great (or something like that) Aunt Ruby, so of course Mom approved because he came from money—and stupid me had listened to her. But since I hadn’t known anyone and he was all I had, I’d called Aunt Ruby to get his number, he and I met for coffee and he’d offered me a place to stay. I’d planned on moving out as soon as I found my own place, but Seattle was an expensive city, my job didn’t pay the greatest, and there was no way I was going to ask my parents for help which would, in their minds, give them the right to tell me how to live my life, so I’d stayed.

It really wasn’t that bad an arrangement. I had the master suite with a bathroom and the guys weren’t around a whole lot, either sleeping or gone as soon as it got dark, which wasn’t too weird since Chet didn’t work seeing that he lived off his trust fund, so their being gone all the time made it convenient for me to study. As far as I knew, Rusty didn’t work either, but he somehow always had money, so I thought maybe he was a trust-fund baby too. Izzy thought they were gigolos because Chet was very good looking with dark hair and crystal-blue eyes like mine, plus he had a bit of a boy-next-door demeanor. Rusty, well, he actually reminded me of Zane, tall, built, caramel-colored hair, but his eyes were different. Whereas Zane’s were vibrant and changed with his mood—hey, I might love forearms, but eyes were the windows to the soul, and I’d definitely noticed Zane’s eyes in the short time I was with him—Rusty’s eyes pretty much stayed the same—guarded, suspicious and watchful. But Izzy’s gigolo hypothesis was better than the alternate theory she’d come up with which was that they were drug dealers and which had made my eyes bug out because I didn’t want to be anywhere around that crap. In any case, although the apartment wasn’t located in the greatest part of town, at least it was fairly quiet.

“You’re a jerk,” I stated, pouring myself a cup and downing half in one go. Upon burning my tongue, of course, I yelled, “Shit!” getting no response of concern from either roommate.

Walking back into the living room, I saw they were engrossed in their game again, as I was sure all thirty-year-old men would be at ten o’clock on a Friday night. Weirdos.

I shook my head and went to my room finishing my coffee before jumping into a hot shower. After getting my pjs on, I headed back to the kitchen to get something to eat, only to see Chet and Rusty heading out the door. Good.

Just as I sat on the couch to watch some TV and eat leftover microwaved chili from the night before, Izzy called.

“I’m all for a clean Earth and supporting you, Jilly Bean,” she started without any preamble when I answered, “but if I’m gonna be a lawyer, I can’t afford to get arrested! I’m done.”

I sighed. “I know. I’m really sorry, Iz. I blame the tequila.”

“It was some good tequila,” she replied with a chuckle.

“It was,” I agreed.

“We should go back to O’Leary’s tomorrow night since our celebration got cut short for the rally!”

I laughed. “I have a lab tomorrow until six, but I wouldn’t be averse to taking a cab this time in case Robocop and Menacing Man are around.”

She snorted. “Zane was pretty menacing, come to think of it. And I think he was a little pissed when he realized who you were. I mean, you never gave him your number.”

“It was a fling, remember?” I shrugged.

“Maybe for him it wasn’t,” she surmised which made me frown.

“Why wouldn’t it have been? We hooked up at a party. Who expects anything other than a romp in the sack in that situation?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you were a really good romp and he wanted more.”

“Anyway, I left for my internship two days later. What good would it have done to give him my number?”

“Maybe he liked you. Oh! And Kaleb and I broke up that night too, remember? What if he asked Kaleb for your number, and since I never answered Kaleb’s calls after that so he could get it, Zane’s been pining for you ever since?”

“Whatever.”

“He’s been searching for you and didn’t recognize you tonight at first because your beanie hid your hair.”

“Could be, I mean the not recognizing me part, not the pining,” I said, thinking my cap still hadn’t hidden the ten inches or so of silver to bright royal blue ombre that stuck out from under it.

“It was pretty dark.”

“Not when he shined that long-ass flashlight in my face. What was that all about? He used it like his phallic symbol of power or something.”

“I remember you telling me his dick was about that big, too, huh?” She giggled.

“And why’s he here? And a cop? I thought he was gonna play pro baseball?”

“You’ll have to ask him.”

“Uh huh.” Like that was going to happen. “So, seven at O’Leary’s tomorrow?” I changed the subject since thinking of my sexy time with Zane was starting to have an effect on the butterflies in my stomach that’d been dormant for way too long.

“Yep! And no cops this time, JB!”

I chuckled. “My next protest isn’t until Tuesday at Easton Park where they’re trying to build a Walmart, so you’re safe.”

“Wait. Why do you have a lab when school’s out?” she asked.

“Uh, the environment doesn’t stop for Christmas break, Iz,” I said with a laugh.

“Oh, yeah.” She giggled.

“But it’s the last lab until next semester, so I’ll be free for a while!”

“Hey, what’d Chet say when you got home?”

“He and Rusty were too busy shooting up bad guys, and when I griped him out for leaving us, his reason was that he was cold. Dickhead.”

“Wow. Well, we’ll just make sure to go to the next one sober and not get handcuffed,” she assured.

This made me smile because she’d just declared she was done, yet there she was planning to join me again. She may have had her moments, but she was a good friend. Also, since her boyfriend Corey played for the Seahawks and was busy with practice and games a lot right now, I knew she was bored staying at their apartment alone.

“’Kay, I’m gonna Netflix some Dexter then get to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow night!” I said.

“I’ll be there with bells on!”

We hung up, I did as I said I would, then went to bed at almost midnight.

And dreamed about Zane Powers and his colossal cock.

~*~*~*~*~

“Ms. Jordan! Bring me your analysis results,” Dr. Wells called.

I took my iPad to her and watched as she read over it. During our lab, on top of assorted shells in the area, we’d also collected several water samples from Puget Sound and had been testing them for various detritus such as bacteria, metals and chemicals among other things.

“I need this printed out, dated and also logged onto the website. Good work.”

I loved what I was doing and couldn’t wait to do it as a career. It was exciting, I thought, and there was so much to it all. On one day, my assignment might be measuring the ocean’s current patterns, and the next, I could be charged with charting the travel paths of different marine animals. And maybe someday, I hoped I could help the aquatic environment thrive better than it ever had.

“Thank you, Dr. Wells,” I answered, hitting the correct keys to print out my data and also turn it in.

“Doing anything tonight?” I heard from behind me and I closed my eyes, annoyed.

Darren Jenkins was an adjunct professor of Marine Geology, and he’d (creepily) flirted with me from day one of the semester, asking me out every other day, all of which I turned down. I mean, I thought I was a little sassy and could handle normal flirting, but he’d taken it one step further, opting to ogle me every chance he got, it seemed, which had grown old immediately. It wasn’t just my imagination, either. Sarah Newland, my classmate, had noticed it too, and she was such a sweetheart that she always tried coming to talk to me about “something very important” when it happened. Sadly, she’d gone home to Maine for winter break and I was now on my own.

Not bothering to turn around, I stated vaguely, “Going out with a friend.”

“Would you like some company?”

“I’ll have company with my friend.”

“Would this company be of the male persuasion?” he asked.

Who talked like that? Ugh.

“Maybe,” I replied, finishing up loading my report to the website then turning to face him—once again barely able to hold back a snicker at his stark resemblance to Kirk from Gilmore Girls—I continued, “Have a great break, Darren,” and I left.