She’s right, and she’s wrong. This is a bad idea. No one would fault me if I renegotiated the terms.
But I…kind of don’t want to renegotiate? Wait, why don’t I want to? That’s the bigger question.
“He’s a weed dealer, not a serial killer. And anyway, he goes to Pine Mountain. He’s pre-med. He can’t be all bad.”
Meghan rolls her eyes. “That just means he can chop you up with better precision.”
I wag my finger at her. “They don’t teach him that until med school.”
Meghan crosses her arms over her chest. “Text me every five minutes, or I’m calling the cops.”
FOUR
Crosby
“Take off your clothes.”
I crank off the hot water and test the bath, hoping it’s the right temperature.
Leela’s voice from the other side of my bathroom door is resolute. “Again, you seem to be under the impression that this is a dating scenario.”
Creaking open the door, I say, “The scenario is whatever you want it to be.”
“And yet you just took me to your house and ordered me to take off my clothes,” she says.
When we’d arrived at my apartment building, she’d surveyed the building with disbelief. I knew what she was thinking. She wanted to understand why a guy who could do a bank transfer of ten grand would be living in a tired, nondescript apartment building in the not-so-great part of town.
While I’d been preparing the bath, Leela had sat on a kitchen barstool and waited. I guess she was waiting for instructions for me.
“I guess you don’t have to take off your clothes. I just thought you might like to disrobe before the bath.”
She snorts. “If you think I’m going to give you a bath, you are sorely mistaken.”
“I didn’t say that. The bath is for you.”
She looks around my apartment. It’s not much to look at, but it’s roomy enough for two.
Eyeing me suspiciously, she asks, “You ran a bath for me?”
“Why do you find that so hard to believe?”
She cocks her head. “Because I’m supposed to be working for you. Doing you favors.”
He smirks.
“Not those kinds of favors, pervert.”
“Nah. I don’t need those kinds of favors.”
Leela looks me up and down. “I’ll bet you don’t.”
I laugh. “Oh. You think I’m a whore?”
“Who said that?”
I glower at her. ”You didn’t have to.”
“No, I didn’t mean that, but you know, you exude that energy.”