Freckles narrowed her eyes at him. “You actually hooked up with my roommate.” She was all but hissing.
Nick assumed he had offended the roommate in some way—maybe left too soon after sex? Nick always made it clear that he wasn’t looking for a relationship, but it didn’t matter—some girls still created expectations out of thin air. Usually he didn’t care when a girl called him out on his behavior, but right then it did. He didn’t want Gina to think he was some kind of jerk.
“Why’d you cut you hair?” Nick asked Gina.
“She donated it to an NGO that works with women who have cancer,” Red Hair said. “She let it grow really long just for that. She’s, like, the best person ever.”
Gina blushed and gave Nick a look that seemed to say, What are you doing here? Then she turned back to her friends. “I have to get to Mud. I’m working a double shift today.” She grinned. “You guys are the best. Thank you for the hot chocolate.”
Nick followed her out of the coffee shop.
“Did you need something?” she asked when she noticed his presence outside.
“You said you were headed to Mud. Could I walk you there?”
“No, thank you.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Did I do something to offend you?”
“I don’t have time for this. My shift starts in twenty minutes.” She began heading towards Second Avenue.
“Hold on.” Nick quickened his pace to match hers. “Why don’t you like me?” The words left his mouth before he had a chance to think them over. They sounded decidedly uncool. But it didn’t matter. He had to know.
“Who says I don’t like you?”
“You avoid me like a toxin.”
“I’m not avoiding you.” Gina rolled her eyes. “I just don’t follow you around like you’re one of the Backstreet Boys.”
“A Backstreet Boy, really?” He grinned. “How old are you?”
She bit down a smile. “Don’t tell me you’re more of an NSYNC type of guy?”
Nick looked up. “Me? I don’t do boy bands. Pearl Jam, Bon Jovi, Oasis, now that’s good music.”
Something passed across her face. “Pearl Jam is the best. I agree with you on that.”
“Let me guess: ‘Alive’ is your favorite?”
She shook her head. “‘Immortality.’ My brother got me into them when I was a kid. At first, I only liked them because my middle name is Pearl.”
“Your brother knows his music.” Nick grinned. “And you never answered my question. Why don’t you like me?”
“I don’t know you.”
“Would you like to get to know me?”
She stopped short and stared at him. “I’m not sleeping with you.”
“Whoa,” Nick said, holding up his hands. “Who said anything about sleeping with anyone?” His tone was innocent though, in reality, he absolutely had been thinking about sleeping with her. How could he not? She was sexy and mysterious and she didn’t like him.
“Isn’t that why you want girls to like you? So you can sleep with them and not call them back? Like you did with Tina’s roommate.”
Who the hell is Tina? “You’re writing me off because of what Tina said?”
“Tina isn’t the only one, and no, I’m not,” she paused to make air quotes, “‘writing you off’ because of anything. I’m just not interested.”
“You’ve got enough friends?”
“Why would you want to be my friend?” Gina eyed him with a smirk. “You don’t know me.”
“I know you work two jobs, run track, and still manage to study hard and participate in class. I know you’re someone who grows her hair only to cut it off and donate it to cancer patients. I know you carry yourself in a way that seems to indicate you’re striving for invisibility, when in reality you have a magnet that draws people to you. I know you listen more than you talk, which is very rare. And I know you read, like, a lot. More than anyone else I know.” He grinned, impressed by his unrehearsed response.
Nick wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw the beginnings of a smile form on her lips. “Are you stalking me?” she asked.
“Not at all,” he said.
“Then how do you know I work two jobs?”
“I saw you behind the counter at St. Alp’s Teahouse the other day. And before you brought up your shift at Mud.” He grinned. “I pay attention.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Look, you make a good point. I already have a lot of, uh, female companions. What I don’t have is a girlfriend.” He paused when he saw the surprised look on her face. “Meaning a girl who’s my friend and nothing more.” They were approaching Mud and he desperately wanted her to slow down so their conversation could last just a little longer. “What do you say—can we be friends?” he asked. He wanted to kick himself because of how childish he’d sounded.
The moment lengthened. Nick held his breath, convinced she was thinking of a way to politely say no. But instead she shrugged and said, “Sure.”
Except they didn’t just become friends. They became best friends.
In a matter of weeks, Nick felt comfortable telling her things that he hadn’t shared with anyone, except maybe Bobby. He told her about the pressures that came with his last name and the expectations that his dad had of him. He told her about the various women that his mother all but lined up in front of him, hoping that he’d pick one to marry so that the next Dewar generation would be secured. (Gina seemed to think that his uncontrollable urge to sleep with various women but form attachments to none was an act of defiance against his mother.) He confessed to having felt both fiercely loyal and viciously jealous of Bobby when they were growing up, especially when it became clear that Bobby was the smarter twin—the one who could retain huge amounts of knowledge in his brain and get good grades without breaking a sweat.
Nick didn’t stop sleeping around, but he did sleep around less. He began spending most of his free time with Gina. At first, his friends had
