Tangled Thoughts Read Free

and watched guys and girls get drunk and try to hook up with one another, I wondered if I’d have enjoyed this—college, and everything that came with it—more if I’d gone right away. Which was a stupid thing to wonder.
    Of course
I’d have enjoyed college more back then, when I was seventeen and an idiot. Back when hooking up was still my other hobby. Classes that made me think and, literally, thousands of girls I might find a way to sleep with? College would have been my nirvana.
    This party was not helping me feel better. A hand appeared in front of my face, waving, and I blinked.
    â€œWhat’s up, man whore? I know what you’re thinking.”
    God fucking bless Lex. Her brown eyes lit with amusement as she blocked me into the little space I’d carved for myself against a wall. I pulled her right up against me. Her height, the curve of her hip where it touched mine, the length of her deep brown hair that tickled my neck—its familiarity always made me breathe a little deeper, even if it was a sensory memory of someone else. “Oh yeah?”
    â€œYeah. You’re far more transparent than you think, bad boy. So, see anything you like out there?”
    â€œI do now.”
    She dragged me to a couch and sat on my lap, mercifully saving me from having to mingle on my own. While we lounged, new friends came and went, courting her favor. I couldn’t decide if it was a shame or blessing Georgetown didn’t have sororities. Alexis Morrow would have ruled them, but it wouldn’t have made her better. As it was, the layers of bitchiness high school had polished to a gleam were slowly dulling and wearing away. I liked her better this way.
    She swirled a finger around my fully warm drink. “You should actually, you know,
have
a beer.”
    â€œNo thanks.”
    â€œCarter, seriously.”
    â€œHave you ever tried to run with a hangover?”
    â€œI’ve played entire field hockey games while still
drunk
!”
    â€œThat doesn’t sound fun.”
    She sighed dramatically, the way she always sighed, and shifted so we could see each other. “It wasn’t. But I still scored two goals, and you know what
was
fun? The night before.”
    â€œI’m having fun,” I lied.
    â€œLiar.”
    â€œI’m
trying
to have fun.”
    She turned all the way around and leaned in, face right up to mine. “Babe, do you know how? To have fun?”
    I kissed her. It was its own answer, and also because I didn’t know how to answer. But I knew how to kiss.
    â€œSee?” I teased, as Lex disentangled her arms from around my neck and herself from around me. I brushed a lock of her hair over her cheek. “Having fun.”
    Behind us, someone called, “Nice show, Lex,” and another girl whistled.
    Lex muttered, “Douches,” but she was still smiling and I wasn’t fooled. Exhibition was arguably her favorite pastime. “So you don’t want to leave?” she said to me. “Now that we’re ‘having fun’?”
    I did. I’d a million times rather have hung out at my apartment instead. But the party had barely started and she
didn’t
want to leave. She deserved for me to try. “No, I don’t want to leave.”
    â€œLiar.”
    â€œI mean it. I don’t. Because you don’t.”
    â€œYou don’t have to stay for me, babe.”
    â€œI. Want. To.”
    â€œGood.” She shifted, ready to get back into the fray. “I want you to, too. Now could you maybe
try
to mingle?”
    When I heard myself saying the next words, I was ready to punch myself before I was even done. “Is there anyone here my age?”
    She slid backwards off my lap, shaking her head. “You mean forty? No. I don’t think so.” She stood and stretched her arms out, the hem of her sweater giving a sweet peek at the smooth skin underneath. When she saw me watching, she grinned and