Page 113 of Friends with Benefits

After registering the cost of a bag of chips, they pivot to the dining hall at Theo’s dorm, where the snacks are still overpriced, but at least he can use dining dollars. In College Math, that basically means they’re free. Content with their haul, they head toward the elevator that will take them up to his room, to his bed. As they’re debating the merits of various Lays flavors, the edible hits.

“Classic?” Caro’s laugh echoes off the elevator door. “Fuck off.”

He leans in, his arm against the cool aluminum. “It’sclassicfor a reason, is it not?”

“Okay.”

Caro tastes like Sour Patch Kids, like his childhood, likehome. Caroline Shapiro-Huang is not—has never been—Theo’s girlfriend. She set the terms of their situationship in high school. Whispered,You’re not my boyfriend, you know, in his ear after prom, both naked in the back seat of her Bronco.Yeah.He nodded, so relieved.Cool. Theo didn’t want a girlfriend. Not then. Not now.

It’s easier.

Better.

So. Theo and Caro understand what they are to each other. Friends that are tethered together by Pasadena, by the experience of typingelectric razors bestinto Google, by undeniably good sex. It’s enough. An antidote to the homesickness, theloneliness. Her mouth is on his neck as he fumbles with his keys and pushes the door open. His fingers tease the hem of her shirt before gliding under the silk fabric, and every sensation is amplified by the high. When Theo’s palms press against her lower back, Caro’s lips return to his as she backs him into his room and it’s enough.It is enough—

“Fuck.”

His best friend’s voice sends him backward. Theo blinks once, twice at the voice, at herface. Evelyn ishere, dressed in his mom’s Billy Joel concert tee and leggings, her hair in a messy bun. Theo must have bought a bad batch of edibles, laced with something else because weed doesn’t make anyone hallucinate a goddamn fantasy mid-hookup with someone else.

With Caro.

This is a bad trip.

Please, let this be a bad trip.“Evelyn?”

She’s on her feet, grimacing when her bad ankle buckles. “Oh my God. I’msosorry.”

How is she here?

In New York.

In his bedroom.

Caro tugs at her shirt, her voice breezy, casual. “Hey! Theo didn’t mention you were visiting.”

Theo is entirely at a loss. “You’re…?”

Evelyn picks up her backpack off the floor and tosses it over her shoulder. “Leaving!”

Then she’s gone.

Caro’s eyebrows rise as she nods toward the door. “You should probably…”

Theo is in motion. “Ev.Wait. Don’t… You just got here?”

“I’m crashing with Mir and Mateo,” she says, bending down to tie her sneakers as she exhales an awkward chuckle. “I wanted to surprise you. Obviously, I should’ve called.”

“Can I see you tomorrow?”

Evelyn zips her coat. “Sure.”

“Cool.”

It’s been six months since he’s been in the same room as Evelyn Bloom. Since he could touch her. He misses touching her. Theo rakes a hand through curls that are tangled, long overdue for a trim. There’s so much to say. He’s too stunned to speak. So fucking high. He wants to reach out to her, wrap his arms around her, ask her how she feels, tell her how much hemisses her, but she’s gone before he even remembers to wish her a happy birthday.

Caro’s mid–giggle fit when he returns to his room. “Well. That definitely killedmyboner.”

“I’m sorry.”

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