Chlorine

“Are you sure that this isn’t gonna be like one of those deals where we show up to the sorority house and they just straight up murder us?” Colton remarks as he peers over at the GPS on his phone.

Emilia’s sorority house is located in a part of the state that we rarely ever find ourselves in, it’s the type of neighborhood in a far flung city where a person would be expected to pay nearly seven dollars for a cup of coffee plus another ten dollars for a bagel. “What makes you say that?”

“You know how rich people are.”

“Well seeing as we are going to a sorority party instead of a fool blown, eyes-wide shut type of party, I’m sure we’re safe.” I roll down the window once we reach the vicinity of the sorority house. I take note of the obviously different atmosphere of the neighborhood. There is a notable lack of the odors which accompany the location of our apartment, no lingering smell of gasoline or burnt out tires, instead there is the fresh scent of lavender intermixed with peony which seems to be planted on the edges of the sidewalk. In our neighborhood, there would be no lavender or peony, just a couple of stray cigarette butts scattered about dead grass.

Colton makes a sudden break to hastily parallel park between two cars.

“I swear to god Colton if you hit one of these cars, I am not going to pay for damages.”

“You’re the one who wanted to go to this party in the first place, I’m gonna hold you liable for any damages that I may do.”

“Then please do your best to behave.” I get out of the car, being careful not to trample the flowers on the edge of the sidewalk.

Colton on the other hand, simply waltzes up to the unusually large front door and I feel a significant part of my lung capacity fade away when he nearly tramples a spot of peony flowers. Before he pushes the doorbell, he turns to me with a strangely dire face, “Okay, before we go in, I have something to tell you.”

“If it’s, ‘I change my mind, let’s just go back home”, I don’t want to hear it.” I respond to him coolly.

“No, it’s not that. If anything this bit of information is the sole thing that makes me want to go in the first place. But first here, put my phone and wallet in your purse. I’m planning to just jump in the pool the first chance I get.”

“Okay?” I take his things to tuck them safely in my purse. “What’s the bit of information you’re talking about?”

“Emilia and I were talking, and she helped me find someone to introduce you to.” He says with a smug smile. He quickly rings the doorbell before I get the chance to respond to him.

A sorority sister quickly opens the door and does what seems like a visual scan on both me and Colton. Perhaps it’s my preconceived notion of sorority sisters that makes me think that she is noting each and every flaw on our appearances, from Colton’s unfortunate choice of cologne to my inherent lack of readiness for a pool party that someone could easily see from my comparably urban choice of attire. When she finishes eyeing us up and down, she asks the question, “Who invited you?”

Colton gives me a pleading look which encourages me to answer the sorority sister. I meet her eyes, then she narrows her eyes which sends a shiver down my spine and I meekly answer her question, “Emilia Choi.”

Upon the mention of Emilia’s name, the sorority sister’s demeanor instantly brightens up, her cold glare widens into a bright wide eyed excitement, then her scowl lifts into a welcoming grin, “Oh! Of course! You two must be Soleil and Colton.” She exclaims in a high-pitched tone, “Sorry, we have to be vigilant from all the randos who want to come to the event of the season!” She looks at Colton and I notice her biting her bottom lip, “And usually we have a rule against allowing the exes of our sorority sisters into our house, but gosh you’re just so hot I have to make an exception.” She trails off for a brief second as her eyes wander over Colton’s figure. She turns her attention to me, “And you! You’re just cute as a button aren’t you? Emilia told us all about you.” She gathers herself, takes a breath before taking my hands to look me deep in my eyes and then says, “Thank you, for your bravery.”

“Uhm, thank you?” I awkwardly offer a show of gratitude with a nod, feeling uncomfortable with her inappropriately overt show of support.

“Well, come on in!” She begins ushering us inside and immediately stops us just as Colton and I step foot into the lavish entry hallway. “We have catering set out in the kitchen area to the left of the hall, virgin cocktails out back by the pool, and Emilia should be out there as well.” She explains in a single breath, as if she were repeating a script, “Enjoy!” she steps aside and practically shoves Colton further into the house.

Colton regains his footing and looks back at me, pausing for a moment to make sure the sorority sister was out of earshot before he whispers, “That was intense, especially that thing about bravery?”

I snicker, “Yeah, well it’s nice to be appreciated I guess. If you don’t start showing me that same respect I might just have to leave you behind, transfer to their university, and join this sorority.”

“Oh please, as if you could handle living in this freaking mansion.” Colton gestures wildly, flailing his arms and nearly knocking over a vase that I’m sure cost more than two months of our rent.

I place a hand on his upper arm and grip at him until he settles his arm down, “I said behave, I don’t wanna be chained up in their basement doing their laundry because you knocked over a fucking vase.”

He shrugs off my hand and regains his composition, “You’re so uptight when it comes to socializing with the rich.” He then proceeds to the opening at the end of the hallway leading out to the pool area which is pulsating with cheering, people jumping into the large pool, and people conversing poolside.

Once we step out to the pool area, Emilia emerges from a crowd gathered near the shallow end of the pool. She excitedly runs up to us, removes her sunglasses, and places them in her gathered hair bun. “I am so glad you two made it! Okay so there are some things you need to know, my room is on the third floor just look for the door with a red scrunchie like the one holding my hair together, consider that room yours for the remainder of the party.” She stops her spiel and judges my outfit, “Soleil, aren’t you going to swim?”

I shake my head, “I have a swimsuit under this.”

“I can just take my shirt off and jump in the pool.” Colton loudly interjects making Emilia wince but she regains her sunny disposition, and playfully smacks Colton’s arm.

“Well, then let me join you on your first jump,” She grins at Colton then returns her attention to me, “So, did Colton explain our little surprise to you?”

I struggle to contain a derisive sigh, “Yeah, he briefly mentioned it.”

“His name’s Parker, he was an online friend during High School, who became my real life friend because of dramatic circumstances, he’s a year older than us, a Biology Major at the UC in Davis, and I know he’s just your type.” She explains with a wide grin.

“A Biology Major huh? Maybe you can tell him about how you threw up on the fetal pig you were dissecting with Emilia our Senior Year.” Colton suggests.

Emilia playfully smacks Colton again, “Ignore him, I promise you that Parker’s the sweetest guy I’ve met.” She takes a quick look around, “He seems to have disappeared, but I’m sure he’s still around. Why don’t you go put your stuff in my room, go get changed, and then once you return Parker should be back, and I’ll introduce you. And make it quick, some of my sorority sisters are prowling around for dick like bobcats hunting for rabbits.”

A person makes a guttural shout and cannonballs into the pool, nearly soaking my purse. “Yeah, I better do that before our things get damaged, Colton are you good to—?” Colton’s shirt hits me in the face, and once I move it away from my eyes, Emilia and Colton are already in the short line waiting for their turn on the diving board. “Okay, I guess that answers my question.” I mumble to myself and start making my way to the third floor. As I weave past the crowd that has gathered in the hallway, I begin thinking if it’s worth it to just takes Colton’s keys and drive to a sushi place instead of inflicting myself on some random Biology Major. I shove my hand into my purse once I get near the door and let my fingers wander to Colton’s keys, but once my fingers touch my clutch I get reminded of my devastatingly low bank account and decide against it. I turn myself around and begin bitterly climbing the stairs to the third floor. The walls leading up to the third floor are covered with pictures of sorority members throughout the years, as well as some pictures of past events and I can’t help but feel as if the smiling faces on the photographs were actually judging the outsider climbing their pristine staircase. Upon reaching the third floor landing I look to my left and spot a red scrunchie similar to Emilia’s, though I look to the right to make sure there aren’t multiple red scrunchies on the floor and once I see that there aren’t any other extras, I enter Emilia’s room.

The door closes behind me, and I sigh at the lack of a door lock. Emilia’s room is styled similar to the bedroom that Matthew and I often found ourselves in when we hung out with Emilia in our youth, though it is smaller, with significantly less posters and art on the walls, and significantly less space on the bookshelf by her well-kept desk.

I place my purse, my canvas bag, and Colton’s folded shirt onto the space on her wardrobe which has a note above the compartment that says “for guests”. I notice a backpack in the space as well and assume that it belongs to Parker. From the style of the backpack, I can tell that he’s an outdoors type of person, and the various biology themed buttons attached to the front informs me that he’s also dedicated to his studies. I chuckle at the possibility of an automatic mismatch, perhaps Emilia has forgotten that I don’t necessarily do well in nature, and if Parker suggests to take me on a hike it'll be the end of that. I prematurely make the decision that I’ll reject him harder than my growing craving for sushi.

My jeans slip off my legs and I place them on top of Colton’s shirt, making sure that they are placed in a way that they serve as a buffer between my top and Colton’s cologne. I feel some sense of discomfort when I see the bottom half of my bikini in Emilia’s standing mirror. The last time I allowed myself to be seen in a bikini was the time my Matthew, Colton, Emilia and I went to an isolated lake a couple of weeks before Matthew told me he was going to go across the country. Blood pools in my cheeks when I realize that this is the first time that I’m letting myself be seen in a bikini by total strangers. I look back at the mirror, shift my legs around and offer a silent gratitude to the person who invented the tucking technique. I am barely able to take my shirt off before someone enters the room, and I instinctively throw it at the taller guy who had entered.

My shirt falls from the guy’s face revealing someone in the beginnings of a laughing fit and for a very brief moment I think I see Matthew in the doorway, but am snapped back to reality when I hear him speak. “That’s an interesting new way to introduce yourself.” 

Words struggle come out of my mouth once I realize that the guy standing in front of me could very well be Parker, and all I am able to muster is an inappropriately loud shout, “Soleil!” I swallow in a futile attempt to take the loudness from the air and I quickly compose myself, “Uh, I’m sorry—I mean—uh, my name’s Soleil.” I awkwardly extend a hand.

“Soleil huh? My name’s Parker, nice to finally meet you.” He takes my hand and firmly shakes it. “Are you the girl that Em was telling me about?”

“If Emilia described the girl you’re looking for as the one who needs to get over her ex, then yes absolutely that’s me.” I make a terrible half-assed attempt at a joke.

Parker picks my shirt up from the floor and begins to fold it, “Not quite, she described a brilliant, one-of-a-kind girl. Though, I do have to admit that the way you introduce yourself is truly one-of-a-kind.” He finishes folding my shirt and gently hands it to me. “I’m curious, how did Em describe me?”

I take my folded shirt and place it on top of my jeans. “A year older than us, a biology major, and the sweetest guy she has ever met.” I answer him, choosing to not include the other fact that might make the fact that he bears a striking resemblance to my ex-boyfriend obvious to him. He makes an approving smile and wanders over to the space between me and the wardrobe, then proceeds to take his shirt off. I can’t help but notice his physique, presumably a result from the assumed hiking sessions.

“How flattering of her to describe me like that.” He crumples his shirt and tosses it onto the bed and then peers over at me, “She also described you as beautiful, and she really wasn’t wrong. There’s a classily over-with-it-all vibe I’m getting from you.”

His accurate assessment of my personality takes me aback and impresses me at the same time, “Damn, I didn’t know that they taught personality analysis in biology. You don’t look too bad yourself, Emilia said that you’re totally my type.”

“And?” Parker smiles duskily and steps forward, “Is that accurate?”

I take a moment to consider the opportunity before me. In the single moment that Parker steps forward and I get a whiff of the distractingly terrific cologne emanating from his neck, I realize that Colton was possibly right. Sticky notes with love messages are always bound to fade, and the adhesive will inevitably disintegrate and it would be time to begin writing new messages on entirely new sticky notes. Perhaps the fact that he looks a lot like Matthew is contributing to my change of mind, but I feel a single word matching his tone slip away from my lips. “Very.” I reply and find myself biting my lip in a similar fashion as the sorority sister biting her lip at Colton.

“How about we join the rest of the party and meet back up with Emilia?” Parker asks softly then steps towards the door, opening it for me.

Snapping back to reality, I quickly grab the towels from the canvas bag step through the threshold.

Parker closes the door and we begin descending the staircase. Once we get to the main hallway he takes a look at the two towels in my arms. “Two towels? Is one for your body and the other for your hair?”

“Nah, Emilia invited her ex as well, and he happens to be my slightly dim witted but well meaning best friend slash roommate.” I explain, “He jumped into the pool with Emilia and he completely forgot his towel.” We begin weaving through the same crowd in the hallway and finally return to the pool area.

“Tell me, are you good at pinpointing someone out of a crowd? Because I seriously cannot tell where Emilia is.” Parker narrows his eyes and holds a cupped hand to his forehead to shade his eyes.

The pool is relatively small compared to the backyard, but dense groups of people are spread throughout the area, with a larger concentration of the groups centered in or around the pool itself. “Well, let’s hope they’re in one of the smaller groups, my social battery isn’t prepared for this amount of interactions.” I respond candidly. I visually comb through the area looking for a bright red scrunchie or Colton’s bright neon green shorts, and eventually I spot them sitting poolside conversing with their legs in the water. Judging by the way Colton’s legs are moving in the water I can tell that he’s enjoying the time he’s spending with Emilia. And for once, I can tell that the bright expression on Colton’s face is genuine, not the facsimile smile he’s been putting on so as not to make it seem that he’s not okay. “They’re on the left hand side of the shallows, and thankfully not with another group of people.” I point their location out to Parker and he begins to walk towards them and I follow closely behind.

Parker hesitates for a moment, and he shakes his head in a way that makes me think he talked himself out of jumping into the pool to splash them. Instead, he simply enters the pool in a way that doesn’t make a splash. I set the towels on an adjacent empty bench and procced to take a seat next to Emilia, bracing myself for cold water but instead plunge my legs into temperate water.

“Oh there you two are! I’m guessing you two have already met?” Emilia asks excitedly.

“Yeah, I walked in on her changing out of her clothes.” Parker responds and wades closer to me.

“And I threw my shirt at him, so I guess that makes us even right?” I take the chance to splash some water at his face, to which he splashes me back. I see Colton make a face in the corner of my eye, possibly because this is the first time he’s seen me flirt in quite a bit of time.

Parker wades over near Colton and holds a fist to him, “Hey, I’m Parker.”

“Colton, nice to meet you dude.” Colton bumps his fist.

“So, I’m gonna go get a drink, do any of you want a mocktail?” Emilia removes her feet from the pool and stands up.

“I’m actually gonna go with you,” Parker calls out to her and climbs out of the pool, soaking my shoulders as he does. He then places a hand on my shoulder and leans down to whisper, “I got this killer recipe you have to try.”

I look up at him and snicker, “Mm, I don’t know about that, I consider myself a drink aficionado.”

“Alright, be right back.” Parker responds to me with an obvious emblazoned look on his face as if he just accepted a challenge.

Once they disappear into the mire of people Colton scoots towards me, “Are you actually Soleil or did a ghost of a sorority girl possess Soleil’s body?”

“Wouldn’t it be crazy if that actually happened?” I chuckle at his joke.

“I’m just surprised that you’re flirting.” He continues paddling his feet happily in the water, and I take a moment to admire this side of Colton's personality that I haven't seen in a while.

Another random person runs past me and jumps into the pool, “This seems to be a really lit party, aren’t you glad that we came?”

“Yeah, it’s cool to catch up with Emilia.” Colton responds, and turns his head. “There’s something really different about her, but she’s still like the same old Emilia that we knew from before. "

“That is one hundred percent just what it’s like growing up, like we all have to change at some point in our lives, we aren’t exactly teenagers anymore.”

“Is that why you’re flirting, or is it because he looks like Matthew?”

There are several possible answers that goes through my mind, all of which aren’t enough to save me from a derisive or smug answer from him, so I decide to answer honestly, “A little bit of both, when Parker introduced himself, I kind of combined everything you’ve been pestering me about Matthew and what my Uncle always says and realized that it’s perhaps time that I test out the waters a little bit. Matthew isn’t necessarily in my life anymore, and Emilia was right about Parker being the sweetest guy she knows.”

“How so?” Colton looks at me questioningly, perhaps his ego may have been damaged with my last remark.

“When I threw the shirt, he didn’t just give it back to me, he probably saw that I folded my jeans so he folded the shirt before giving it to me.” I explain, leaving my mouth open in a shocked manner to further punctuate the gravity of the situation.

“So? He probably just folds his clothes like it’s a secondary instinct.”

“See that’s the thing! When he took off his shirt, he just crumpled it and then threw it onto Emilia’s bed. Then he did this thing where he got all sultry and stepped closer to me, and oh my god it was just so hot.”

Colton narrows his eyes and then peers over me again in an attempt to look for Emilia and Parker, “I wonder where Emilia found him?”

“Anyways, time for me to jump into your personal life. You seem really happy to be talking to Emilia again. In the same way that Parker reminds me of Matthew, seeing you two talking as Parker and I walked up, it was like seeing how you both were like back then.” I state softly, “It’s nice seeing my best friend happy again.”

“It’s not like she and I are going to get back together again. I hate to admit it but we were horrible to each other when we fought.”

“But, it’s just like you said. We’re really different from who we were before, but still somehow retaining who we essentially are.”

“I guess you’re right, but what if the parts of us that were horrible to each other is—Oh hey! Those drinks look epic!” He stops his sentence when he sees Parker and Emilia approaching with drinks in each of their hands.

Emilia takes a seat next to Colton and Parker takes a seat next to me, then hands me a tall amber drink with a ruby red bottom layer finished with sugar on the rim. “That’s a recipe that I learned from my old roommate, the only thing that’s missing is the orange vodka.”

The drink is just the right amount of sweet which is complemented by the sharp zip of an energy drink. “Oh I know exactly what this is, it’s a Virgin Land Mine.”

Parker makes an approving sound, “Dang, you do know your stuff.”

“Maybe you can take me out for the real thing sometime.” I reply coyly. Though my attention is purely on Parker, I can tell from Colton shifting around that he’s having a silent conversation with Emilia about my rediscovered confidence.

After taking a swig from his own mocktail, Parker licks his lips and nods, “Sounds like a plan,” he leans forward and considers Emilia and Colton’s conversation, “it looks like the pool grotto is empty, do you want to go over there and leave Em and Colton alone for a bit?”

“Why not?” I look to the other side of the pool. The grotto was packed with people just a moment ago, but is now vacant. Given the situation, I assume that it maybe because the people either wandered away to get more food, or to hook up.

“Cool, hand me your drink, I’ll walk it over there, just swim and I’ll meet you there.” He holds his hand to me and I give him my drink. He stands up, and I push myself into the pool. I begin swimming as fast and as casual as possible so that no other people go in and occupy it before Parker and I get the chance to occupy it. The water streams past me as I glide through the surface of the water, something so similar to what had happened in the lake that summer and a soft pang rings my heart when I realize that Matthew won’t be waiting for me with open arms once I finish my last stroke.

The interior of the grotto contains a part for the pool, with the other half of it dedicated to a hot tub which makes it reek of chlorine, though the light refracting off of the surface of the water is just titillating enough to offset the stench of chlorine. The two entrances to the grotto include a water entrance and a footpath that Parker enters through. “Your choice, do you want to stay in the pool or do you want to go into this hot tub?”

I let my body float over to the stairs leading up to the foot path and settle myself on the second step, “It’s a bit too hot right now for a full on hot tub, mind if we hang out here?”

“Good choice, that tub smells like it’s made up of mostly chlorine.” He joins me on the step and sets our drinks on the edge of the footpath, “So, what do you think, do you think it was a good choice for us to leave them alone?”

“I mean, I haven’t seen Colton that happy in quite a while, and Emilia seems to be having a good time with him, so I don’t really see the harm.” I tense up for a moment when I realize that Parker has moved closer to me, and I take a deep breath to release the tension swelling in my stomach. “And as far as an answer pertaining to us goes, I definitely want to get to know you more.”

“Oh? What makes you say that?”

“You aren’t the only one who can suss out things about people based on immediate observations.” I reply playfully.

Parker snickers, “Alright then, try me.”

“If I’m right about my guess that the backpack in the room belonging to you, I’m guessing that you’re really in love with your course of study, you’re an outdoorsy type — probably the type of person that likes wandering on hiking trails.”

He makes a similar to face as the one he made when I guessed the mocktail he offered me. “Damn alright, are you a criminology student or something?”

“Anthropology, but focusing on Cultural and Social Anthropology, so I don’t do the whole biology part, sorry.”

“Makes sense, you gotta have some skills in deduction for that path.”

“What about you? Where’d you get your guessing skills? I don’t think I got a full answer back in Emilia’s room.”

“I guess it’s just something that comes to me pretty easily.”

“Then try me, what can you guess about me, aside from everything that Emilia has probably told you.”

“Mind if I’m a little forward?”

“I don’t mind at all.”

“You think I’m attractive.” He smirks.

“Okay that’s correct, my turn. You’ve been dying to put your arm around me ever since you got in this pool.”

He pauses and finishes off the rest of his mocktail, “Not quite.”

“Then what? And yes you can be forward.” I finish my own mocktail.

“I’ve been wanting to kiss you.”

The grotto echoes with the soft lapping of the water against the pool’s concrete edges which slowly gets louder as I shift around to straddle myself on Parker’s lap in a way that I end up facing him. His cologne blends with the smell of chlorine and the sweetness of our mocktails, “Analyze this, what does this tell you?” I loop my arms around his neck, and his lips curl into a mischievous smile.

“That it’s okay for me to do this.” He brings himself closer to me and begins kissing me. His lips and movements are significantly rougher than what I’m used to, which I gladly match with the same energy. His hands wander to the knot behind me and I feel him loosen the string.

I pull away from his lips, “Wait, before we do anything else, uh, I have to tell you that—”

“Emilia already told me,” he interrupts me, “and you have nothing to worry about.”

“Wait, one more thing, my last name is Castillo. The Catholic part of me tells me that I had to share that with you before we continue.”

“Kincaid,” He moves a wet strand of hair away from my left eye and tucks it behind my ear, “If this makes you uncomfortable we can stop.”

There is a distinct smolder in his eyes, a sort of glint that proves the sincerity in his words. I move in to continue kissing with the same amount of energy as before, and he increases his own as a response. I feel him finish loosening the string of my bikini top and soon it slips from my body and he replaces the fabric with his hands.

As I sit in this pool, listening to the sounds of the lapping water synchronizing to the sound of our tongues clashing, tasting the lingering sweetness of the mocktails staining his lips, and breathing in the intoxicating combination of chlorine and cologne, I cannot help but let my mind wander to pondering the reasons behind the fact that Parker’s lips makes the thought of Matthew a distant memory. Perhaps it’s just biology, or an act of the universe, or both. All I know is that this moment feels right, as if this is the place and time that I have always meant to be in.

Parker begins making his way down to my neck, and begins leaving a mark on my neck which elicits a soft noise to escape my throat. Once he is finished, he swipes my bikini top before it floats out of the grotto, “Hope you don’t mind that we did a little bit more than kissing, here.” He hands me the bikini top, “I got a little carried away there.”

“No, you’re totally fine, I liked it.” I assure him as I begin securing the top back onto my body. Once I finish, I remove myself from his lap, and let myself float backwards a bit, “isn’t it funny how our generation seems like they just said ‘fuck it’ when it comes to following courtship rituals?”

“Where are you floating to?”

“Well, I was planning on swimming to the other end of the pool, then walking up those flight of stairs, and then go into Emilia’s room to finish saying ‘fuck it’ to prior social convention,” I tease, “that is, if you want to join me.”

A wave of water rocks me in it’s wake as he lunges forward and wades close to me, “Of course I do.”

We find our way out of the pool, and we pass a couple of sorority girls who look at me with a certain jealousy burning behind their eyes. The sight of some random girl making her way past their own sorority house with a good looking guy holding her hand must be maddening to some of them. Each step seems to fade away as we seemingly glide up the stairs.

The sound of Emilia screaming, “Fuck!” comes out of Emilia’s room, just as Parker places his hand on the doorknob. I quickly place my hand on his and hold a finger up to my nose and whisper, “Oh god please don’t tell me they’re fighting again.” I think back to what Colton had said earlier, they were great together but explosive when they fought — perhaps that’s the one thing that was left unchanged throughout the years.

He carefully places his ear against the door and snickers, “It seems like they beat us to saying ‘fuck it’ to social convention.”

My mouth drops, “Are they really—?” I place my own ear against the door and can’t help but feel slightly scandalized when the muffled sound of Colton’s grunting and Emilia’s cursing reaches my ears. “Oh my god, they totally are.” I lean against the wall and cross my arms, “Uh, so I don’t know about you, but I think my sex drive just went away.”

“That’s just as well, to be honest I was kind of worried because it seems like things peter out when people rush into doing it without really getting to know each other.” He slides down the adjacent wall and sits where he lands, “And, you have the right kind of vibe I’m looking for.”

“I agree, I think I went too hard.” I take a seat as well.

“The truth is that Em started telling me about you because I was looking for a rebound, and I realized that what we were doing in the grotto was messed up.” His face turns apologetic, “Sorry for approaching you like a rebound.”

I purse my lips and begin fiddling with my fingers as I come up with a way to string the right words together so as not to respond to him in a totally unemphatic manner. “The only reason that Colton agreed to come here in the first place is because I agreed to him setting me up with someone. I just didn’t know that he was going to outsource the job to Emilia.”

Parker chuckles, “So I was basically a rebound too?”

“Basically!” I stifle my own laugh, “Emilia probably saw the common thing and decided that it would be a good enough match. Though, I think I’ll have to give it to her this time, you’re pretty cool.”

“Same goes for you, you know your drinks, you do the analysis thing, and you kiss like you actually know what you’re doing.”

“You said that last thing like you’ve had some bad experiences with kissing before.”

“For sure, I’ve had some make out sessions that were just like—,” he begins twisting his mouth in overexaggerated poses and squelching his cheeks between each switch.

“A shiver went down my spine just watching that, I can only imagine how that must feel on my actual lips.”

Parker drops his jaw, “Are you telling me that you’ve never had a bad make out session?”

I shake my head, “Keeping the pattern of us being totally honest with each other, I’ve only really had one other relationship, and he definitely didn’t kiss like how you demonstrated.”

“Wow, so this is your first time going along with a set up like this? He asks, astonished.

“Yup,” I nod in response, “and for what it’s worth, I just want to say that I think it has been pretty successful.”

“And I was serious about taking you out for a drink by the way,” Parker clarifies his intentions, “the way you introduced yourself was definitely memorable.”

“Sounds good, I’ll give you my number when we’re able to get to our stuff.” I tilt my head towards Emilia’s door.

“I really hope they’re not fucking on my shirt.” Parker mumbles.

“From all of the years that I’ve known Emilia, I’ve known her to be extremely tidy and likes things to be just right, though on the other hand, Colton’s in there too and he’s the type of guy to sit down on the sofa even though there’s a clean pile of laundry on the place he dumped his ass on, so I would say that there’s a fifty percent chance of your shirt being completely ruined.”

Though the physical similarity is there, his personality doesn’t match Matthew’s. There is a certain quality of confidence and self-assuredness that surrounds Parker; the way he laughs, the way he smirks, the way he holds himself is that of a guy who knows what he is capable of. Matthew’s personality seemed like it always shifted, a puzzle of sorts that has a different solution depending on the circumstance. He and I scramble to our feet when the loose doorknob shakes and the door swings open.

Emilia emerges from the door and her preoccupation on tying the knot behind her back makes her jump back in shock when she sees me grinning at her.

“Well hi there Emilia!” I peer inside the room. Parker’s shirt is carefully draped over her desk chair, and Colton is laying on the bed catching his breath.

“How long have you two been there?” She asks in a bashful tone.

“Long enough to hear you cussing and have a conversation about you matching the two rebound-seekers together, total homerun on your end,” Parker pauses and looks inside the room as well, “in both senses of the phrase.”

I rush inside the room and shove Colton back to reality causing him to sit up in shock while still struggling to gather his breath. “You. Naughty. Boy.” I say slowly and mischievously, then proceed to tussle his hair, “Please tell me this is pool water and not your freaking sweat.”

“Maybe a little bit of both.” Colton swings his legs over to the side of the bed.

“Gross.” I wipe my hand on his cheek and lean in to whisper, “Please tell me you wore protection.”

Colton carefully pushes me away and nods discretely so as not to give away too much information. He scrambles to his feet, and shoves his hand underneath the folded clothes to retrieve his shirt, “I need to eat something,”

“Hey, hand me my clothes, and didn’t you technically just eat—” I begin to interject but am quickly interrupted.

“Shut it.” He sharply hisses and tosses my shirt into my waiting hands.

Parker peeks into the room and knocks on the doorframe, “Do you two want to go back to the rest of the party?”

“Wait, before we do let’s share numbers.” I fix a crease on the lower half of my top before I reach over to my purse.

“Alright then,” Parker enters the room and rummages through his backpack before pulling out his phone.

“Here’s my number, just drop call me.” I hold my phone out to him, and he quickly dials my number and then hangs up.

He swipes his shirt from the desk chair and slips his shirt back on, “So that’s what you look like with pants on.”

I wink playfully, “You know you like it.”