This will be my summer

Chapter 4 - the bet

After two more hours of loud singing and laughing we finally pulled into the driveway to Ashley’s apartment complex. “Wow”, I said. “If I had known your new place is so fancy, I would have come sooner.”

Ashley moved into a new place at the beginning of her junior year. Her first year she had to live in a dorm like everybody else, but she didn’t like that at all. No privacy in those things. If I hadn’t had a scholarship for that, I probably would have moved out of mine too. The year after that she moved in with a sorority and hated that even more as they didn’t allow boys in their house. For her third year, her parents had bought her a small apartment with two bedrooms. During the school year she had rented out the second bedroom, but after a bad experience with someone subleasing during winter break her parents had agreed to leave it empty over the summer. Her previous roommate had finished college and moved out already, so I could have the second bedroom for free. Which was really nice, because there was no way I could have afforded to live here. My parents payed for the portion of my dorm that wasn’t covered by the scholarship and I had to work for food money and everything else, so I hadn’t really had the time to pile up savings. After my dorm lease ended, I would have been pretty much homeless. Originally, I had planned on moving back home and working over the summer, but that wasn’t really an option anymore. I hadn’t talked to my parents in weeks after the last phone call ended in screaming. I had made Ashley promise not to tell anyone I was here, so they probably didn’t even know where I was. And didn’t seem to care either. For a moment I was sad.

Then I looked out the window again at the big white building in front of me. It had five floors and big white columns out front behind a large driveway. The yard in front of it was nicely mended and well taken care of; it looked expensive. Ashley parked right in front of the entrance and we started carrying our stuff inside. She lived on the third floor, but luckily there was an elevator, so we didn’t have to drag her ten thousand bags up the stairs.

When she unlocked her door for me, my mouth dropped wide open. I pictured my tiny dorm room in front of my inner eye. It had nothing in common with what was in front of me. The door opened to a long floor with a big kitchen on the left side, a dining room table and a couch in the back. The whole thing had black tile flooring. The kitchen was huge with stainless steel appliances, a double-door fridge and marble counter tops. The wall behind the huge red leather couch had black stripes and a big picture of some unfamiliar skyline. On the wall in front of it was a huge tv. There where three perfectly white doors with no scratch marks along the right wall.

“Honey, I knew you were rich, but dang”, I said after a moment of just staring. Ashley just chuckled and made an innocent face. Then she got serious. “If you don’t move your tiny ass out of this door and let me through, I might just lock it again”, she said with a grin.

I laughed speechless, still unable to comprehend that I will actually live here for the summer. Slowly I took a step inside, scared the dream bubble might burst.

“Okay, I’ll show you around quickly and then we’ll get the rest of our stuff”, Ashley said in a busy manner, dragging her bag inside and dropping it in the middle of the room. I carefully placed my suitcase next to it.

“So, this is the living room and the kitchen, obviously”, she said. I just stared. “You don’t even cook”, I mumbled, still speechless. She looked at me and pouted. “That was one time. I burned the eggs one time. And the smell left after a few days.”

I raised an eyebrow and we both had to laugh. “Well, that is what you are here for now”, she said with a shrug. “If that’s the only thing I have to do to live here, I’m fine. But I’m slowly starting to worry you want to either have me as a s*x slave or steal my kidneys”, I replied.

“Oh, don’t worry, the camera in your bathroom will make up for you being here”, she said with a totally serious face.

Then she showed me her room which was the one closest to the wall opposite of the entry door, which had huge windows with blinds. Her bedroom was huge and had a private bathroom attached. On one wall she had put up a lot of pictures and I was in at least every second one. All in all, the room looked way less sterile then the common rooms and more like someone was actually living here. She had some colorful blankets on her bed, her desk was a mess and some clothes were spread out. She definitely felt at home here.

Then she showed me my bathroom, which was the middle door of the living room. It was a bit smaller than hers, but still way better than any of the community bathrooms I had used for the past four years. Before she opened the last door, she paused. “Your room is smaller and has only one window because it faces the building. I hope you don’t mind”, she said apologetically. I breathed out loudly. Whatever she would show me, I already knew I wouldn’t mind. When she opened the door, I almost froze again before taking some careful steps inside. On the left was a closet big enough to contain all my things three times. On the right wall was a huge white bed, similar to hers. And at the opposite side from the entrance there was a big window with a desk in front of it.

“It is perfect”, I whispered. I couldn’t believe my luck. Ashley laughed behind me. “Okay, enough staring. The room was rented out furnished, so I just left everything the way it was and got you some basics, cushions and linens for your bed and stuff. So now let’s get the rest of our stuff before it spontaneously lights itself on fire in this burning heat outside.”

Still speechless I followed her back outside. It took us three more trips until we had gotten everything from the car inside and had parked it in the garage below the building. After that we both unpacked and then Ashley ordered pizza. Completely done from everything that happened today we ended up on the couch, snacking on sweets and cold pizza and watching some trash tv show.

“I was thinking”, Ashley started. I looked at her with a face that pretty much said “Don’t complete that sentence, I won’t think a single useful thought today anymore”. But as usual that didn’t hold her back.

“You should really tell your parents about Benjamin. I bet they’ll understand.”

I rolled my eyes at that. Before I could give her an answer telling her where she could shove that opinion of hers, there was a knock at the door. We both stared it each other and paused. It was already dark outside and past nine. Who the hell would be knocking now?

“Saved by a mysterious knock”, I sighed as Ashley made her way to the door. When she opened it, I could barely see who it was.

“Hey Ashley”, I heard someone say. Definitely a male someone. Interested in what was going on, I moved to get a better look. There was a young guy out front, probably our age. He had light brown hair with slight curls, some nerdy shirt on and wore glasses. He was kind of cute on a little brother level.

“Hey Logan”, Ashley replied. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear she was nervous. But Ashley never got nervous around guys. There was a moment of awkward silence, then the guy named Logan said: “Your mail was in my mailbox again. I just found it and thought I should check if you are already back.”

“Oh thanks!”, Ashley replied. Then she grabbed her mail from him and basically shut the door in his face with a bang. After setting her mail down on the table she came back to me, her cheeks burning red. I stared at her with my mouth wide open. I had never seen her get nervous about a boy, especially not one like that. He was not her type at all.

She acted like nothing happened and dropped back on the couch next to me to pick up another slice of pizza. After seeing my stare, she said: “So, where was I? I was thinking-“

“No!”, I interrupted her, pointing my finger at her. “You do not just act like nothing happened! Who was that? What is going on?!”

Suddenly her pizza seemed to really fascinate her. “Oh, that was just my neighbor. Logan”, she mumbled.

“And?”, I kept pushing.

She shrugged. “Nothing and. My mail keeps ending up in his mailbox for some reason, that’s all.”

“Sure. That is why you are flaming red and just shoved the door into his face without a goodbye.” I raised one of my eyebrows.

She sighed defeated. “It is weird, okay? He is not my type at all. And he is a year younger than us.”

“And?”

“And I have a damn crush on him, okay?! I don’t know why, I get all nervous every time I see him and do something stupid.”

I had to laugh at how desperate and cute she looked at the same time while saying that.

“Don’t laugh! He has to think I’m a complete i***t, last time I saw him I dropped everything I was holding. And he is not my type at all!”

I laughed even more. Usually Ashley was that really cool girl that was into tall and muscular guys that played some kind of sports and had no more than one brain cell. I had never seen her actually get nervous about a guy.

“You should ask him out, I bet he couldn’t say no to you”, I suggested, but she heavily shook her head.

“No. Nope. He is not my type. I will not ask him out. I am the one that gets asked out by men, not the other way around. This is stupid”, she sighed. I patted her arm in an attempt to comfort her, barely containing my laughter.

Then she looked up at me. “Anyway, now that you are in a good mood, I can tell you that you should really tell your parents about what happened with Benjamin.”

I sighed and sank back into the couch again. “Let’s not mention that name anymore, okay? It is supposed to be a fun summer.”

She looked at me, all serious now. “They don’t talk to you anymore because they think you broke the poor guys heart and became a slut. If you told them what really happened, they would believe you.”

“I doubt that. You know that he is very convincing. And manipulative. Right now, he is the victim and I don’t think I can change that; you are the only one that believes me.”

“You’ll never know if they’ll believe you if you don’t try.”

I sighed. Ashley had a point. “I know. But I am just not ready to do that yet. I really just need this summer without worrying, and maybe by the end of it I’ll be strong enough to do it. But certainly not now.”

Ashley nodded in agreement. “We can both use a ‘no strings attached’ summer.”

Then her face lit up. “This summer is supposed to be about not thinking about anything serious and hooking up with as many guys as possible before reality sets in again, right?”

Slowly I nodded, kind of scared what would come next.

“Then let’s make a bet!”

“A bet?”, I asked.

“Yes! We make a bet which of us can hook up with more guys!”

My mouth dropped open once again. “I know my actions in the past two days didn’t exactly paint that picture, but I am not a slut?”

She shook her head. “I know that. You spent almost all of high school and college with the same guy. You are literally the opposite of a slut. Which is exactly why you need to get out there and get some experience. I know you. As soon as the summer ends you will be buried in books again not even looking at guys. This is the one time of your life where you can actually live a little and have fun!”

Well, when she puts it like that it didn’t sound so bad. And it was true, I have never been one to sleep around. Always trying to be a good girl. But this was a new start. A new town. No one here besides Ashley knew me and it didn’t really matter what anyone here was thinking about me. If there ever was a time to let lose, it was now.

I slowly nodded, frowning. “Okay. I’m in.” Ashley almost jumped in excitement. “Yes!”, she yelled loudly with so much satisfaction in her voice that I started to wonder for how long she had planned this.

“So what’s the stake?”, I asked. She looked at me with an evil grin that gave me a bad feeling. “If I win, you have to tell your parents.”

“Absolutely not!” I was shocked she would play me like that. I knew she only wanted my best, but still.

“Oh come on! You have to tell them eventually! And besides, if you beat me you don’t have to”, she said with a smile and a shrug. And she was right again. At some point I would have to try and tell people.

I tried to think of something to equally make her uncomfortable. “Well, if I win, you have to ask out Logan”, I said, now with an evil grin myself. She gasped. “No! That is so embarrassing!”

I just shrugged while smiling. She pouted for a bit. Then she nodded. “Okay. I’m in.” She reached out to shake my hand and make the bet official.

Before taking her hand, I said: “But I am already leading by two.” Then I grabbed her hand and shook it. She gasped again and shook her head. “Oh no! That is not fair!”

I just shrugged, pulling my hand away from her. “The way I see it, summer officially started when you showed up at my doorstep. So it counts.”

She stared at me for a moment, speechless. Then she smiled. “Well, you won’t be in the lead for long.”

After that we both started laughing and soon after we went to bed as we both were really tired.

When I finally had a moment for myself, laying in this big bed in a strange room, I started thinking. What had I just agreed too? There was no way I would go back home and tell everybody that I was stupid enough to let Benjamin treat me like that. They wouldn’t believe me anyway.

I sighed and finally closed my eyes. There was only one way out. I would have to win this damn bet.