Page 79 of Love to Hate You

Her eyes widen. “You hooked up with someone at the party?”

“Why yes,” I flutter my eyelashes and grin. “Yes, I did.”

Her body migrates toward mine from across the table. “Who? Was it that blond frat guy?”

“Nope.” I roll my eyes. “Definitely not him.”

I’m tempted to do a little drumroll on the table with my hands, but I wouldn’t put it past these people to shush me again. I lean toward her so that the crowns of our heads are almost touching. “Are you ready for this?”

She nods.

Without further fanfare, I drop his name like a bomb. “Carter.”

“Carter who?” She blinks and scrunches her face. “Is there another Carter on this campus?” Olivia doesn’t give me time to respond. “What am I saying? There must be.”

I slap my palms on the table in exasperation. “There’s only one Carter at BU and that’s Carter Prescott.”

I get another round of shushing, but this time I don’t pay it any attention. The way Olivia’s eyes pop wide and her mouth tumbles open is well worth their condemnation. By the looks of it, it’s entirely possible that her brain has imploded from information overload.

Olivia shakes her head as if to clear it. “I’m sorry. Did you just say you hooked up with Carter Prescott? Mr. BU first string tight end? The guy who is getting drafted to the NFL? Your roommate and cousin’s best friend? The one you’ve hated for years? The one you tried feeding laxatives to?” She pauses for a beat. “Are we talking about that Carter Prescott?”

“Yup.” I cross my arms in front of me and slide them out the same way an umpire calling a strike would. “On all accounts.”

She inhales a sharp breath and nods. “Exactly how drunk were you two?”

“I was a bit buzzed,” I admit. “But I don’t think he was drunk at all.”

“I can’t believe this.” Her voice drops. “Was this like a praying mantis-type of scenario? Did you have sex and then bite his head off and kill him? Because that’s what they do.”

“What?” My brows slam together as I frown. “No, of course not! The fact you even know something like that is disturbing on so many levels.”

Taking offense, she straightens her shoulders. “It’s not disturbing, it’s nature. In high school, I used to have sleepovers and we would stay up all night and watch Nat Geo. You can’t imagine all the cool stuff we learned.”

I reach across the table and pat her hand. “Oh, sweetie, that is so sad. I’m starting to understand why you’re still a virgin.”

“You are obsessed with my virginity.” She rolls her eyes. “You need to get yourself a hobby.”

“I do,” I inform her. “You losing your virginity is my hobby.”

She grumbles under her breath and clears her throat. “Can we please get back to you sleeping with the super sexy Carter Prescott?”

I sniff and tap my fingers against the table. “I’m not the one who sidetracked us with the creepy praying mantis info, now am I?”

“Fair point,” she concedes. “Please, continue.”

My lips bow into a smile. “Carter is pretty sexy, isn’t he?” An image of his muscular body pops into my head.

“Ummm, yeah.” A rosy blush heats her cheeks. “He’s definitely sexy.” She goes a little dreamy eyed. “And those gorgeous gray eyes…” her voice trails off on a sigh.

“Just an FYI, we fooled around but didn’t sleep together.” If fooling around means doing everything but the actual P to the V, then that’s exactly what we did.

She nods. “You came to your senses and put the kibosh on coitus?”

“Coitus,” I snicker like a fifth grader who’s just heard her teacher use the word balls. “Nope, he did.”

“Huh.” Her eyes flare wide and her brow creases. “Well, that’s an unexpected turn of events. How come?”

She’s right. It was totally unexpected.

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