Sweet Caroline

#6 Best friend

It's scary how badly I want Nathan to come back. I almost don't want Shaughna to get over here and let me back into my apartment. Of course, I know that she has to. I can't keep walking around the apartment Nathan has to clear out, wearing his clothes. My sundress is dry now, but completely ruined.

That is how I end up opening the door for Shaughna in the black shirt and boxers. She gapes at me when she sees me, and fires questions at me immediately, walking into the apartment to have a look around.

"Was he any good?" she asks, shaking her head at me.

I feel my cheeks heat up. "Yes. He was."

"Holy shit, Caroline, why didn't you tell me this on the phone? And how old this guy? Eighty? The whole place looks like it was decorated in the goddamn middle ages!"

I smile. She and I think alike. Great minds always do. "He's forty-one."

"Holy shit," she breathes, her blue eyes wide. "What's his name?"

"Nathan."

She repeats his name a few times, shaking her head at me. A grin is already spreading across her face. "I'm so fucking proud of you, Car. Maybe you were right that this move would be good for you. Look at you, strutting around some rando's apartment in your after-sex glow."

"We didn't actually..." I wiggle my eyebrows.

"Why not?" Shaughna gasps. "Oh my God. Tiny little micro dick?"

"No, no, not at all."

"Couldn't get it up? He's ancient after all."

"Stop guessing," I tell her, swatting her arm. "He didn't have condoms."

"He didn't-" She looks around at the living room and notices the boxes I packed. "Is he moving? And why wouldn't he have condoms in his apartment? Every guy does."

I explain the situation to her and she just grows more confused with every word I say.

"What's his last name?" she asks, taking out her phone. "I'm gonna cyber stalk the shit out of this guy. Find out if he's been telling the truth."

"I don't know."

"What the fuck, Car, you don't even know his last name? What do you know?"

Not much, to be honest. Come to think of it, I hardly know anything about him, but that's part of what makes me so excited about seeing him again tonight. I don't think he will tell me more about himself tonight, and I don't care. There is a strange thrill in sleeping with someone who is basically a stranger. It's like we're getting another chance at having a one-night stand. I like that, even if it means that I don't get to cross one-night stand off my list after all, since technically it'll be more than just one night.

Shaughna keeps pestering me and wants to turn the apartment inside out, trying to figure out his last name and all of his secrets, but I don't want to invade his privacy. Leaving me here and allowing me to pack up the kitchen shows trust on his side and I don't want to break it. Finally, I convince her to just let me into my apartment so we can talk there and I can finally change. I have no idea when Nathan will be back and I desperately need a shower. And to shave every single part of my body. Find an outfit to wear. I need to be ready this time, not like last night.

"Jesus, it's like you don't even live here," Shaughna comments when she walks into my apartment for the first time. She hasn't been here yet, since my parents helped me move and Shaughna couldn't get off work on such short notice. She was pissed when I took a job in a town three hours away from her, but I knew she'd come around eventually. She still seems to think I made a rash decision, but she's here now, driving for hours just so my parents wouldn't get suspicious about me being in my neighbors apartment, wearing his clothes.