Page 1 of The Hookup Mix-up

CHAPTER ONE

Theo

College is hard as shit.

I toss a football in the air and catch it, while lying on my bed.

Not for the first time, I wonder why in the hell I ever thought higher education is a good idea. This summer has been nice, and now I’m only two days away from the first day of classes at Franklin U, and I’m reminded that college is a lot of work. Typically, I don’t mind hard work. I’m not lazy. But school assignments that are easy for most people are more difficult for me.

The idea of jumping back into that rat race feels exhausting. I’m not one of those naturally smart people, which is really fucking inconvenient because I don’t hate college and I want to be here—well, okay, let me rephrase that. I love the social part of college. I love the parties and hanging out with my boys. I like my girl and all the fun we got up to together last year, though lately things have been…off between us. Before she left for the summer, she’d get annoyed with everything I did, and honestly, the feeling was mutual. Her ragging on me has been a lot, but I’ve been with her for almost two years. I can’t break up with her. I don’t want to hurt her, so even though she’s been calling me less and less the past couple of months, and when we do talk, we always fight, I’m going to find a way to fix things. I must be doing something wrong. That’s usually the case.

And, like, she’s a ten, and while I’m happy with how I look, I’m probably a solid six at best. There’s no way I can land another Whitney.

Whit gets back to San Luco today, and I have the whole night planned. I’m going to pick her up, take her out to dinner, bring her favorite flowers and all that sweet shit I’m actually pretty fucking good at. I might only be a six, but I’m also a damn catch when it comes to how I treat a woman.

And then…then I’ll worry about school. I have to do better about staying on track from the start. It’s my third year, and there’s a lot of pressure on me to get this business degree. Well, any degree. I chose business because I didn’t know what else to pick. It’s not particularly exciting, but I don’t dislike it either. And I’ll be the first Bassett to ever graduate from college. My parents want that so much for me and have busted their asses to help make it happen.

Footsteps pound down the hallway before something slams into my door and it tumbles open. Avery and Casey stumble inside. Neither is local to SoCal like me, so they’re just getting back for the new year.

“Come in, why don’t you?” I tell my roommates.

There are four of us who live in this house. Our last roommate is Jack. His dad and stepdad own our house and let the four of us live in it for cheap. If it wasn’t for the deal they gave us, no way I could afford my part of rent on a house like this, even with three other people.

“What’s up, man?” Avery says as I toss him the ball. Casey jumps in front of him and catches it first. The two of them are competitive about everything. I’m sure they were racing to see who could get to my room first.

“Hey,” I reply, sitting up.

Casey falls onto the bed and lies beside me. “It’s so fucking good to be back.” He’s one of the smartest idiots I know—as in, Case is book smart and doesn’t even have to try to get straight As in every class, but he also doesn’t have the best common sense and is friends with us, so that knocks him down a few points. Avery plays football. Everyone wants to bone him—girls and guys—but as far as I know, he’s straight.

But what I’ve noticed is all of them seem to be good at something, except me. Jack is queer and heads all sorts of queer activities on campus. He’s going to be a civil rights lawyer and probably change the world. Sometimes I wonder why he’s friends with us, but Jack is cool like that. And as I mentioned, Casey is hella smart and Avery has football.

And then there’s me: mediocre at everything I do. Not terrible at most things, but not great either. I’m just…eh, all right.

Jack comes in then too, and leans against the doorjamb.

“I missed your dumb ass,” I tease him. The two of us have been here all summer, while Casey and Avery had gone back home. I’m from Victorville, in the high desert, so it’s only a couple of hours away.

“I want to get laid,” Avery says. “We should throw a party tonight.”

“What? No. Fuck that. I have plans with Whit.” Is it even a party if I’m not there? I don’t think it is.

“Bring her,” Jack says.

“Do you know her?” Casey replies, making a face that says he’s hoping she doesn’t go.

“Be nice, fucker,” I tell him. My friends aren’t the biggest fans of my girl, and she wishes each and every one of them would die a fiery death. It’s a whole-ass thing. I try to stay neutral, but it doesn’t always work that way. “We need a little more time to plan and get people here. Let’s do the party tomorrow night.” I say a silent prayer that this strategy will work. I have no doubt if we announce a party at our place tonight, people will show, but maybe I can talk them into believing we need more time to plan. “I mean, almost everyone did just get back today.”

“True,” Avery replies.

Fuck yes. Score for me.

“Plus, some people might not get back to campus until tomorrow morning,” I add, trying to push my agenda even more. The thing is, I’d rather be at a party tonight than with Whit, which probably makes me the worst boyfriend of all time and not a very good person either, but I just want to have fun and not feel like I’m fucking up, which is what she always makes me feel. I try to do everything right but still end up screwing stuff up. I’m a bit of a disaster.

“Okay, party tomorrow night,” Jack says.

We end up in the living room, playing video games and making plans for the next day. I leave them early to go shower and get ready for my plans with Whitney. Even though I want to hang with my boys, I would have ditched the party if they’d had it tonight.

I wear a polo with my jeans, trying to look nice, then head over to San Luco Flowers to get roses for her. They’re her favorite. While I can’t really afford them, I like to do nice things for people. It makes me feel good.

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