“What can I say? I leave an impression.” Palmer grins, a predatory smirk that if I didn’t have three sisters, I’d probably laugh along with. I know for a fact Palmer would never take advantage of a girl or pressure them into anything, generally, he’s the one bending over backward in whatever relationship he’s caught himself in. Still, he tends to run his mouth like a fucking ass hat I’d warn away from my sisters.
Grey shakes his head. “Don’t get involved with the cleat chasers,” he warns.
“So you know who Sadie is…” I taunt.
He nods, finishing his bite of salad. “So do you. She’s the one with the burgundy hair who kept stopping at the dorms last year, waiting to be let in,” he says.
“Stalker Sadie?” I ask.
Grey nods.
“Dude,” I shake my head, turning my attention back to Palmer. “Bad idea. She has warning signs written all over her.”
“Exactly Palmer’s type,” Grey chides.
Corey attempts to muffle his laughter but fails.
Palmer smiles ruefully, adding a small mountain of ravioli to his plate. “It’s nothing serious, just a good time.”
“There’s a price,” Grey warns. “There’s always a price.”
“I swear you’re majoring in cynicism,” Palmer says. “She isn’t looking for a proposal or dirt to sell. As I said, she just wants to have a good time, and since that’s all I have time for, it works.”
Grey arches a brow but doesn’t say more before he spears another bite of his salad.
“There’s a reason we nicknamed her stalker Sadie,” I point out. “Just be careful. Even if she isn’t looking for anything now, four phone calls in twenty minutes is knocking on the door of being crazy.”
Grey scoffs as he nods.
Palmer takes a pull from his water and turns his attention to me. “I figured you’d be on the rebound for a meaningless relationship after hearing that Mila’s been dating.”
Corey pauses, his attention on me as I process the information.
I shake my head. “Good for her. She hasn’t dated anyone in months.”
Corey nods, looking relieved. Grey stabs a piece of pasta like it’s a trident, that and his flexed jaw are the only signs that he’s unhappy over the news. He won’t admit his disappointment. Not even to us. He didn’t even tell me that it pissed him off I was flirting with Mila. None of us know exactly what his thoughts or feelings revolving around Mila are, only that last spring after I’d made an innuendo, Grey leveled me hard enough to give me a concussion.
Palmer nods subtly, as his gaze shifts from Grey to me, marking the same notes of tension in our friend. “What about your other new roommate? Is she as hot as the one we met?”
I shake my head. “Katie and I have an agreement; we don’t date each other’s friends.”
Palmer shakes his head. “What a waste of the ultimate opportunity.”
I shake my head, not allowing the idea to whittle into my thoughts.
Palmer nods in exaggerated motions. “You could date someone who would be right down the hall.”
“They’d be two floors up,” I remind him.
He shakes his head. “Perfect if she’s loud.” He stops, leaning forward. “Wait. There are two, right? Or is it three? You could have an entire harem.”
Corey shakes his head as he chuckles. “If women knew how you spoke about them, you’d never get laid again.”
“Women talk, too” Palmer insists. “They talk with their friends just as much as we do.”
Having three sisters, I know there’s some truth in what he’s saying. My sisters have always talked about guys they were dating and crushes more than my friends did, the difference is my sisters obsessed over details like the guy offering his sweatshirt or walking on the outside of the sidewalk, remembering dates and anniversaries, rather than the sight of a girl’s cleavage or how deep she could take him in her mouth as we hear about in the locker room.
A booster stands, taking Coach Peter’s place at the front of the room, silencing us again. He goes into how proud he is to be an alumnus, and how he thinks of us as family while my thoughts shift to this morning, recalling the deal Hadley and I have made.