𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄 |𝐓𝐎𝐌 𝐊𝐀𝐔𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐙| 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐄𝐃

𝑨𝑹𝑮𝑼𝑴𝑬𝑵𝑻

𝗝𝗢𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗔'𝗦 𝗣𝗢𝗩

"I think a celebratory shot is in order for us nailing that dual thesis," Cain stated, nodding toward the waitress at the bar and grill we were having dinner at. He was right. We did knock it out of the park with our paper. I couldn't say I was surprised though, Cain was smart, like super smart. I'd always been a good student, but as much as I hated to admit it, he was brighter than I was.

Huh, who would have thought? Definitely not me.

"You're welcome for picking you as my partner." "Wow. That only took twenty minutes of us being here for you to take all the credit."

"Really? That long?"

I choked on my frozen margarita as the waitress came back to our table. She smiled. "What can I help you with?"
"What are you offering, darlin'?"

I rolled my eyes while hers darted over to mine. "Oh!" I answered the question in her gaze. "We're not together."
"What she means to say is, we have an open relationship. So, you're more than welcome to join the party."

The waitress blushed, and I exclaimed, "Cain!"

"I know, honey. Our last threesome wasn't what you expected it to be, but I told you I'm perfectly okay with you going down on her too." I smacked his arm from across the table.

"Ow!" He looked at the waitress. "She likes it rough. My safe word is wolfie."

"Oh my God. He's joking."

At least I think he was joking... wolfie?

She giggled in that flirty way, eyes ogling him.

"We'll take four shots of 1942 and your phone number. Thanks."

The waitress beamed, now eye fucking the shit out of him. "I'll be right back with your order."

Once she was gone, I stated the obvious, "Is it always this easy for you?" "It's usually easier. I had to talk that time, usually I just smile."

"And look pretty."

"It's my boyband looks, I know."

"You just think you're so slick, don't you?"

"I don't think, An, I know I am. When she comes back she's going to slip me her phone number on a napkin."

"You're almost worse than Tom."

"An, I am much worse than your butt buddy. Now—" he held his hands out in front of him "—don't get me wrong. Tom pulls in some fine ass tail, but we both know his head is usually up your ass so..." I shook my head. "That's not true."

"Which part?"

"Tom's head is not up my ass."

He glanced under the table. "Yup. His head is still there."

"We're just best fri—"

"Yes, yes, I know. 'We're just best friends,'" he mocked in a high pitched tone.

"Was that supposed to sound like me?"

"Yeah, do I need to sound whinier?" "Whinier? Is that even a word, Mr. 3.9 GPA?"

"Actually, it's Mr. 4.0 now, but I'll let that slide. Where is your boy anyway?"

"Not sure."

"Not sure because you haven't talked to him today or..." "Because I haven't talked to him since my birthday."

"That was almost a week ago."

"Yeah..."

"Care to elaborate for the people just tuning in to the soap opera that is your relationship?"

"We kind of had an argument." He gasped, placing his hand on his chest in a dramatic gesture. "Mom and Dad are fighting?"
"Shut up." "So what happened?" Cain spoke up.

"I'm not really sure where to start." "The beginning usually works."

"Well, it started with him—"

"Hold that thought."

The waitress came back with our shots, but first, she put a napkin with her phone number down on the table. "I'm off at midnight." "I can get you off by one." He winked.

Ugh. Gross.

She pushed her tits into his arm and whispered something I couldn't hear in his ear. Although, if the abrupt expression on Cain's face was any indication, whatever she said pleased him. I grabbed my phone while they continued on, checking if Tom had texted me, but nope.

He was as stubborn as a bull.

"Carry on, An, you were saying?" I gazed up at him, setting my phone back onto the table. The waitress was gone.

"What was that about?"

"Her name is Veronica and she wants me to spank her puss—" I put my hand up in the air. "Never mind."
"You asked."

"I can now see the error of my ways."

"Stop stalling. What happened between you and Tom?"

Taking a deep breath, I grabbed one of the shots and took it down in one swig. At the last second, I decided to drink the other one as well. "Damn. That bad? You didn't even do the salt and lime."

"I'm a professional. I don't need the salt and lime."

"But I thought you could lick salt off my hand and suck the lime out of my mouth." I laughed, throwing my head back. "You're horrible." "I've been called worse. How much longer are you going to keep me in suspense? I'm losing wood here."

"Fine. He took me hiking on my birthday and we ended up getting into a fight on the bridge."

"About what?"

"The future."

"What about it?"

"I told him that I was applying to out of state grad schools." His eyes widened, and he leaned back into his chair. "That must have gone over as about as smooth as sandpaper." "Yeah, something like that."

"And you haven't spoken since?"

"And we haven't spoken since."

"I can only imagine how upset Tom must have been about the unexpected news."

"He wasn't happy."

"Can't blame the guy. He loves it here. He loves it so much he should be the honorary mascot for Berlin."