Page 24 of The Risk Taker

I start swaying my body and grab a hairbrush to use as a microphone. Oakley joins me, jumping up too. She dances closer and starts shifting to the back and to the front along with the song. I smack her cute little butt in time to the beat before dropping it low. Her long, dark hair swings along with her body.

It’s Thursday, and we’ve spent most of the afternoon studying, like the good students we pretend to be. So, we’re taking a much-needed dance break. It’s nearing the end of the semester, so the workload has increased. It’s crazy to think our freshman year is almost over. It feels like it just started.

I move in a circle while swaying my hips in my booty shorts, lost in the rhythm.

“I could’ve totally been a dancer in one of those music videos,” I boast.

“Which one?” Oakley asks, breathless from her movement.

She collapses on the couch as the song ends, and I turn down the volume.

“Any of them.” I’m kidding.

She smiles. “I have no doubt you could conquer anything you set your mind to, Mads.”

“Fact,” I say, pointing at her with the hairbrush. I toss it down on the coffee table and glance around the room while joining her on the love seat. “Can you believe our first year is almost over?”

“No,” she says, frowning. “I can’t believe we’re moving out in a few weeks.”

“Not a few,” I correct. “Three. Three weeks and counting …”

She sighs and slumps down until her head is resting on the back of the couch and her sock-covered feet are propped on the coffee table. “I’m not ready for it to be over.”

My attention lands on my laptop a few feet away. “Speak for yourself.”

“I’m ready for the school part to be done, but not this.” She scoots closer and rests her head against the side of mine. I lean into her. “I like living with you. Even a summer away sounds like too much distance.”

“I know,” I agree. “I don’t know if I’ll survive an entire break at home with Celeste.”

She giggles, and it makes me smile. Oakley always finds it funny when I refer to my mom by her first name. I’ve been doing it more and more lately.

“But you aren’t rid of me yet,” I remind her. We signed a lease for an apartment just off campus for next year. “Too bad we can’t move in at the end of this month rather than at the end of the summer. I wouldn’t mind staying in town.”

“That does sound tempting,” she moans, sitting upright. “But I’m babysitting over the break. I need the money.”

Oakley made plans to nanny for a couple of physicians in our hometown, which is two hours away. The woman, Cindy, is a pediatric endocrinologist, and her husband is an anesthesiologist. They have two kids—a seven-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl. Oakley has babysat for them before and is making bank, watching them all summer.

“You need to hook me up with a good-paying gig like that,” I tell her.

“I’ll keep my eyes and ears open for you,” she promises. She rises from her seat and walks to the kitchenette across the room to grab a glass of water. “I can shoot Cindy a text and ask if she knows of anything. But if that doesn’t work … what’s your backup plan?”

I shrug my shoulders. I should’ve already set up a job for the summer. God knows I need the money. But I figured I could grab a waitressing gig at the last minute if nothing else.

“I’ll figure it out when I get home,” I say noncommittally.

Oakley smirks at me. My lack of planning drives her crazy at times. But I think she secretly admires my go-with-the-flow attitude. And we both know I’ll find something.

I rise to my feet and join her in the kitchen. The light from the refrigerator glows around me when I open the door. “I’m starving. What are we going to do for dinner?”

Oakley is staring at her phone with her lower lip trapped between her teeth. “Chase is bringing pizza.”

I shut the appliance door and put my hands on my hips. “Is he bringing enough for me?”

She nods.

“Tell him to hurry then, before my stomach eats itself.”

“He’s on his way,” she says before typing on her cell.

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