Autumn Flame (Seasons #2 )

Chapter 6: Sheets to Schemes

I wake up to a short girl in the doorway looking at me like a rare zoo animal.

I startle and pull up a pink blanket to cover my chest.

Her brown eyes fall to where I'm clutching the fluffy blanket, and back up at my face. She blinks like an owl. Steady and expressionless.

"Who—what," I rub my face. "Who are you?" I blurt. And where the hell am I? I look around and last night's events flood back.

Olivia showing up in my life.

She and Melanie being old friends or frenemies. What the actual fuck?

How many more secrets do you have, Mel?

Ugh, it's enough to give a guy a headache.

Crunch.

The sound of the short girl eating chips pulls me back to the present. She kind of looks like a turtle with big round glasses atop a short, pudgy nose.

Okay, I'm a six-foot-two dude who's naked in a fluffy pink bed alone, while Nerdy Turtle girl is watching me like I'm a new release in the theater.

Where are my clothes, damn it? And more importantly, "Where's Sydney?" I ask, frowning.

She seems to snap to, one cheek full of the bite she hasn't swallowed. "She went to work," the girl says. "I'm Lin."

"Nice to meet you, Lin," I say, searching for my underwear.

The space monkey pattern appears in front of my face, held out by none other than Lin.

I snatch it and try to put it on under the blanket, while she goes back to the doorway and resumes her snack.

Uh... okay.

"Who are you?" she asks. Crunch.

"I'm Rhys," I reply. "I'm Sydney's... friend?"

"I know all her friends," says Lin. "I've never met you." Crunch.

I get out of bed and run a frustrated hand through my hair. Where are the rest of my clothes...

I go past Lin into the living room and search for my clothes. The kitchen counter!

I find my sweaty, still damp from the rain running gear on a pile on the floor. For fuck's sake. I hate, hate wearing a day's old ball sweat again. "Fuck me..."

"Was that an offer?"

"What?" I whirl around.

"What?" asks Lin. Crunch. She eyes me as I get dressed.

I zip up my pants and pause. "You're weird."

"I get that a lot." She proffers the bag of chips. "Want some?"

"For breakfast?" I wrinkle my nose. My stomach growls in response. "Ugh, sure. Why not." I snatch a handful and throw it back, crunch-crunching and gulping it down quickly.

Lin jabs a thumb at the coffee table. "I made cookies. Want one?"

I look from Nerdy Turtle to the table where a plate of chocolate chip cookies wafts sweetness in the air. "You have weird eating habits," I comment. "I'll take one."

"I also get that a lot," she sighs. Then adds, without warning, "You're hot."

I freeze as I'm reaching for a cookie. "Uh..." When I look up, I hear the click of a door behind me. I turn to find Lin's disappeared, presumably to her room.

With a head shake, I snatch an extra cookie for the way and get out of there.

I don't check my phone until I'm on the subway. There's a message from Sydney.