Addiction

17

"You're kind of adorable."

"What?" That's not the reaction I had expected from my horrific story. If anything, I expected a 'See you later, you idiot.' "

"I don't know. You look at the world in this really naive way. And no matter how many times something goes wrong, you always see the best in people. Like I said before, I find you endearing."

"I think I'm a mess."

"And that's why you keep doing messy things."

I laughed. "I guess so."

"So, who's better in bed?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Penny."

"That can't possibly be your advice."

"A sweet guy is nice. A mysterious guy is great. But a good lay? I'm sorry, but it always goes back to that."

"I don't believe that. There's so much more to a relationship than sex."

"Well, I'm assuming you're great in bed. Especially if you have two men fighting over you."

"I don't think that's why they like me. I mean, Tyler's liked me this whole time and we only just had s*x for the first time yesterday."

"Then it was the idea of f*****g you that kept him around. He liked the chase."

I shook my head.

"And you said you f****d the professor twice this morning. And fought the rest of the time. It sounds like s*x is the only thing working in your relationship."

I lowered my eyebrows. Maybe he's right.

"So I'll ask you again. Who's the better lay?"

I sighed. "The professor."

"By the way, there's only one professor at your school that's rich enough to live in my building. James is a lucky guy."

"Oh my God." I put my hand over my eyes. "If you knew this whole time why didn't you say anything?"

"I thought you reaction would be funny." He grabbed my hand and removed it from my face. "I guess he's not that lucky, though. Because you're out here talking to me instead of him." He kept his hand on top of mine.

"You're easy to talk to."

"Because I'm an unassuming acquaintance."

"I don't know why." I looked down at his hand. "Do you have any other advice for me?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

I raised my eyebrow.

"I just got distracted. The bandage on your forehead makes it look like you were in a fight. You're tiny. It just put a comical image in my head."

I laughed. "I asked if you had any other advice for me?"

"I think you need to tell Tyler that James is better in bed."

I rolled my eyes.

"Did you want me to walk you to wherever he is?"

"It's not that easy."

"I thought everything was settled?"

"James is married."

"And he doesn't love her."

"But he's still married. You said yourself that all cheaters say they're getting divorced."

"Maybe he'll be the exception."

"Do you really believe that?"

Brendan shrugged. "I'd be lying if I didn't say I had my own agenda. Because if it doesn't work, I'll probably run into you on the elevator. And then you'll know what a good lay is."

I gulped. He was so forward. "So I shouldn't trust your advice?"

"I think it's pretty good advice."

I stood up and Brendan stood up next to me. "Thank you for letting me talk so much."

"Like I said, I find you endearing. I do wish you the best of luck."

"You're a really nice guy, Brendan."

"I'm actually not. I only listened to half of what you said. I was mostly just staring at your breasts."

For some reason I couldn't tell if he was serious or not. "Do you think that maybe we could be just friends?"

"Isn't that what we already are?" He smiled at me.

"I guess." I stepped forward and hugged him. He seemed taken aback, but he wrapped his arms around me. I let go of him and stepped back. "See you around, Brendan."

"See you around, Penny."

Saturday

I wished Professor Hunter was as easy to talk to as Brendan. I walked up the steps to the front door of Tyler's frat. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. I didn't know if Brendan was right about the s*x. But it was Professor Hunter that had my heart. I had never stopped loving him. I needed Tyler to know. And then I needed to tell Professor Hunter that I wanted to be with him. But not until he divorced his wife.

The door squeaked open. A guy who I had never seen before opened it.

"Sup?"

"Hi, is Tyler here?"

"Yeah, he's upstairs." The boy walked away from the door.

Okay. Such a gentleman. I couldn't help but think he would have been nicer if I didn't have a huge bandage on my forehead. I stepped in and closed the door. The whole house seemed trashed from last night. There were empty red cups on the floor and it smelled like stale alcohol. I stepped over the mess and made my way up the stairs.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel once I saw him. He had an effect on me. I was just about to knock on his bedroom door when I heard something. I put my ear against his door. He was playing guitar. Softly. I closed my eyes and listened. I didn't recognize the song, but it sounded sad. I couldn't help the tears welling in my eyes. Could I do this? Did I even want to?

I listened to the rest of the song. It was beautiful. I had never heard him play before. When it ended I quickly knocked on the door before I had time to chicken out.

The guitar made a weird noise and then everything was quiet. "Umm, just a sec," I heard Tyler say. A moment later he opened his door a crack. "s**t, Penny." He came out and closed his door quietly behind him. He was wearing just his boxers. He still had s*x hair. But the inside corners of both his eyes were bruised and his nose looked swollen. Professor Hunter must have broken his nose.

"Penny." He touched the side of my face. "Penny, I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"God." He put his hand over his mouth. "I called you a million times. Didn't you get any of my messages?"

I hadn't checked my phone. I shook my head.

"Penny." He wrapped his arms around me. "I was so worried."

I still liked how comfortable I felt in his arms. "Tyler can we sit down?"

Tyler glanced at his door. He suddenly looked nervous. "Yeah, let's go downstairs." He grabbed my hand and led me down the stairs. We sat down on the couch in his living room.

"Are you okay?" He eyed my bandage.

"It's nothing."

"Penny." He pushed my bangs out of my face.

"I have a concussion. I needed a few stitches. It's not a big deal. I feel okay now."

"I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. I just got so angry when I saw him yelling at you."

"It's okay."

"It's not okay." He put his hand over his mouth again. "I punched you. I'm so sorry. I can't believe I punched you."

"It was an accident."

"I'm so sorry," he repeated. His fingers traced the hem of my tank top. I could tell he wanted to see where he had hit me. But I didn't want him to see the bruise. I didn't want him to feel bad.

"I'm okay."

He shook his head. He pushed my tank top up.