Undeclared (The Woodlands) - By Jen Frederick Page 0,65
or off by the prospect of you and another ripped guy feeling each other up,” I said, pondering images of Noah rolling around on the ground with another guy, all sweaty and delicious.
“Let me know when you come to a decision,” Noah nudged me in the shoulder as he directed me to the exit.
“Oh, I will.”
***
Noah dropped me off at my apartment. “I’d kiss you, but then I don’t think either of us would make it to class this morning,” he said ruefully, opening the door and helping me out. He gave me a quick, chaste kiss on the forehead, and I ran to make my first class.
Later, I met Lana for lunch. When she walked into the QC Café, she looked terrible, which for Lana is usually only one step down from show-stopping gorgeousness. Today, she appeared more like a bedraggled kitten left out in the rain too long. Her long blonde hair hung haphazardly around her face, and I could see slight smudges beneath her eyes. I half rose to hug her, but she waved me off.
“What’s wrong?” I asked before she was fully seated.
She threw her messenger bag into an unoccupied seat and sighed, “Peter came over last night.”
“What did he want?”
“Apparently he wanted to explain how his fling was a meaningless mistake. He is so very sorry and didn’t tell me because he didn’t want to hurt my feelings over something he had decided was so trivial.”
“Did you hit him, or can I do it later today?” I couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy.
“I know, right? I told him that I didn’t believe him and maybe called him a few names. He said I was a shrew who was more interested in fucking herself than any guy and then it just went downhill.” Lana looked disappointed in herself. She didn’t like losing control like that. The fact that she did suggested she was more hurt about Peter’s infidelity than she had originally let on.
“I’m sorry.” It was such an inadequate sentiment. I wanted to do something. “Maybe Noah and Bo could kidnap him, and we could take turns kicking him in the balls.”
Lana looked like she was contemplating this, but then said, “No. But I’m making an appointment at the health clinic to see if Peter passed anything on to me. I feel like such a stooge for sleeping with him when I got back to school.”
“You couldn’t have known,” I said and added, “I’ll come with you.”
“Maybe you should think about getting checked out too,” Lana replied.
“But I didn’t sleep with Noah,” I protested, my voice coming out high and squeaky.
“No?” Lana looked me up and down skeptically, as if she could see I was devirginized just by staring.
“No, I mean, we slept together but we didn’t sleep together.”
“You can say it Grace. S E X,” she said, drawing the word out for emphasis.
“Okay, fine. We didn’t have sex.” I looked around to see if anyone was listening to us, but it appeared that everyone was engaged in their own conversations. Our drama wasn’t very interesting.
“Did you do anything else?”
“Not really. I mean, we fooled around, and then we slept. I woke up at four in the morning to find out that Noah wants to run a mini empire of self-serve yogurt stores.”
Lana’s eyebrows rose. “That’s, um, interesting.”
“Gunner,” I said glumly.
“So all is forgiven then? His friend-zoning you after years of correspondence is a thing of the past?”
I really didn’t want to reveal all of Noah’s private confessions, but I also wanted Lana to like him. I wanted the two of them to like each other. “He came to visit me in Chicago, but was intimidated by Uncle Louis’s house and left.”
By the look on Lana’s face, I don’t think she’d ever contemplated that this was the excuse that Noah would provide.
“As explanations go, that’s not a bad one. Do you believe him?” Lana asked.
“Yeah, I guess I do. Why would he lie about it? It can’t just be to get me to have sex with him. I don’t think someone like him has a hard time picking up girls.”
“No, you’re right. He’s prime,” Lana said. That his primeness was so obvious concerned me, but I kept that worry to myself.
“Could we all go out some time or do you need some post-Peter downtime?” I suggested. It was important that two people I cared deeply about enjoyed one another’s company.
“Yes, let’s go out. Maybe we can target Jack,” Lana suggested. The idea seemed to