Looking to Score(29)

My flight home was uneventful aside from the man I had to sit next to. He spent most of the flight staring at my boobs and coughing. I could practically feel myself breathing in his nasty-ass germs.

Shelby was home when I walked through the front door of our condo. She was also buck ass naked. She was also doing yoga. I also saw her lady garden. Thank fuck she was all natural, because I only saw a seventies-worthy bush, but it still made me drop my luggage and scream at her spread eagle pose.

“Fucking hell, Shelbs. I told you I was coming home today.”

She didn’t even stumble.

“What’s wrong?” she asked on a breezy exhale.

“Couldn’t you do that somewhere else? This is like a bad porno.”

She rolled her eyes and stood up on her yoga mat and stretched her arms above her head. “I don’t like to be restricted by my clothes, Amanda. Also, I tried one of your meditation videos. The one about harnessing your sexual power was truly enlightening.”

I shook my head and sprinted to my bedroom, slamming the door with an angry thud and then plopping on my bed. I had two papers to write and needed to check my email for a follow-up review of Oakley’s weekend. I still felt weird about my job. I knew that my future as a PR rep would have a lot of shady gray areas, but Oakley’s reveal had me questioning what lines I should draw.

I was just about to type up an email to Dr. Haynes, asking for guidance, when my phone started ringing. Mom.

“Hey, Mom! I was just thinking about you. What’s up?” I answered.

“Eleanor got a sports car! And it’s RED! Can you believe that?” she blurted out. It sounded like she had been dying to talk about Eleanor’s new sports car for days. Eleanor was my parents’ neighbor and had been for the twenty-five years my parents had owned their house, although she had been there much longer. Eleanor was like an aunt to me; she used to color chalk on the sidewalk with me, sneak me M&M’s, and when I was a teenager, she was a safe space for me to rage about how unfair my mom was being. I loved Eleanor. Her husband, Bob, had passed away unexpectedly right before I left for college. I had only seen her a handful of times since Bob passed, and I made a mental note to send her a letter.

“That’s great?” I replied, not really sure how my mom wanted me to react to the news of Eleanor’s choice of new car. “What kind is it?”

“What do you mean, what kind is it? It’s red! And a convertible! At her age…” Ok, I guess we were feeling judgy about the car.

“Oh yeah. Well, when you put it like that!” I indulged my mom and rolled my eyes just a little. “What are you up to?” I tried to change the subject.

“I’m so happy you asked! We’re coming to visit. Surprise!!” she said excitedly.

I internally cringed. Surprise, indeed. “Oh nice!” I lied. “Where are you staying?”

“Well, with you, of course.”

I stared at my bedroom door, where on the other side, my naked roommate was ohmmmmming herself to sexual prowess. “Mom, my place isn’t big enough,” I sputtered. “Don’t you think you’d be more comfortable at a hotel?”

“Nonsense!” she replied. “We can get an air mattress and relive the college glory days. I woke up on quite a few frat couches back in my prime. Can we get boxed wine? Gosh, it’s been ages since I’ve slummed it with the cardboard Jesus juice.”

I shook my head. “Sure, Mom. That sounds like fun.”

“And I already checked the football schedule. There’s a home game that weekend! It’ll be so much fun.”

She started rambling about plans and what she was going to wear to the game as I politely listened. After listening to her babble for a minute or two, I faked a meeting to be able to get off the phone.

“A meeting? Amanda, it’s Sunday. Are you just trying to get me off the phone?” she asked, sounding hurt. Oh shit.

“No, Mom. It’s a study group,” I told her. “Text me your travel plans!” I said with as much fake excitement as I could produce. When we hung up the phone, I thought about talking to Shelby to see if she could be anywhere else while they were here, but then I remembered her au natural downward facing dog and winced. I’d just talk to her at dinner.

I sat on my bed and pulled up my calendar to look at what I had going during the time my parents were going to be here. Since they were just going to be here over the weekend, I wouldn’t have any classes. The only thing on my calendar was the game. At least, with my parents there, I might actually know what was going on this time.

I started a list of other things I could take them to do, preferably that didn’t include other people. I could take them on a tour of the campus, show them my favorite spots to study, and maybe I could even introduce them to Dr. Haynes? My mom would love his full head of gray hair. She had a thing for silver foxes. I didn’t think there was that much damage that could be done meeting him. I felt strongly that my parents would behave around a man of Dr. Haynes’s caliber. Oakley, on the other hand, could not happen.

I felt like I had a pretty solid plan to survive next weekend.





14





The library was my favorite place to hang out. It was a quiet space with open tables, with the smell of old books and pot permeating the air. It had been three days since my weekend with Oakley, and I was still reeling from what he had told me. As an only child, I’d always been mystified by the idea of having a sibling. I couldn’t imagine the pain of losing one.