Page 58 of Rewrite the Rules

“Why Addie is Baby Spice?” the brunette named Quinn with the natural-looking tan interjects. The other girls are smiling, but Quinn is looking at me like she wants to drive a pen through my eye.

“Does he know why?” Quinn asks Adler with a perplexed expression. I hate it when women do this. All the damn secrets. Now I really want to know something that is probably none of my business.

Adler hangs her head as she shakes it left to right. “No. No he does not.” They all exchange looks before Quinn patches the awkward silence.

“It’s just because she’s the youngest out of all of us.”

“Yep. Addie is the only freshie I ever roomed with.” Reese taps Adler on the nose as she passes us and heads into the apartment. “Nice to meet you,Mr. Lewis.”

The other girls fall in line behind her, leaving Adler and me alone in the hallway. She’s still staring at her bare feet, head hung in shame. Is she embarrassed in front of her friends? Embarrassed of what we’re doing…or what we were trying to do, anyhow.

“Freshie?”

“We all lived together in a three-bedroom apartment through college. Reese and I shared a room.”

“I see. Would you say you guys broke out into pillow fights in your underwear seldom, sometimes, or often? Just for survey purposes of course.”

Adler laughs and pushes my shoulder. “Bye, Joel.”

“Can I see you tomorrow? My place? My apartment is a little bigger.”

“Sure, that’s fine. Thank you for being cool about this.”

I kiss her cheek. “Of course, Baby Spice.”

“You’re a good friend.”

“Don’t speak too quickly. You haven’t seen that list yet.” I wink. “You should start hydrating now.” I pull Adler’s finger to my lips. I pop the tip of her pointer in my mouth and bite it ever so gently. I follow up with a kiss where I nipped. She’s dazed for just a second.

“All right. Take a hike, buddy. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I sense her eyes on me as I walk down the hallway. I look over my shoulder to confirm my suspicions. Low and behold, Adler’s devouring my ass with her eyes with no shame.

“Hey, perv! Eyes up here,” I say, grinning ear to ear.

“Yeah, yeah, just keep walking.”

twenty

Adler

I’m on the stand. I’m not just a witness.Oh no, baby. I got caught committing the crime. The prosecution, aka my best friends, cook up their cross examination as I compile a defense.

“So?” I ask but they are still reading. Their eyes shift left to right across Tessa’s rules while Carrie and Samantha banter back and forth in the streets of New York City on the television screen behind me. I flex my toes as if they could sink deeper into the hardwood floors of my apartment. I don’t know why I’m nervous. It’s not like I need their permission to do this with Joel.I want it though.I don’t like being at odds with my family.

Reese finally breaks the silence. “These rules seem pretty on point to me. You might want to add in there no threesomes. That can get messy and confusing. I mean, unless you’re into that…”

I press my lips in a flat line. “Maybe I should try sex with one person…before two.”

“Smart.”

“Addie, you sure this is a good idea? You work for him. He doesn’t want a relationship. You’re inexperienced. There are so many red flags here.” Noa taps the paper in front of her. “Rules aren’t going to protect you from your feelings.”

Mani chimes in from the speakerphone on Noa’s phone. “She’ll be fine. There are other assistant jobs in the city if worse comes to worst. I say happy humping my friend. Can someone text me a better picture of those rules?” Bumping music is audible in the background. She must’ve stepped out of the club to join this oh-so-important conversation.

“Can you move your ass back to Denver, where it belongs?” Quinn snaps at the phone. “Then you could see them clear as day yourself.”

“Hey, Quinny, maybe you should move your cranky ass out to my neck of the woods. The Cali sun could relax you.”

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