Page 28 of The Jerk in Apartment 1B

“Well, yeah, that’s clear.” I sip my coffee.

“She seems really uptight,” Cole says, grabbing another cinnamon roll. “Who gets that upset about music?”

“In her defense, itwasreally loud. Hudson kept cranking up the volume. And we did keep it going later than usual.”

Cole smiles. “Look at you, taking her side. Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Like what?”

“Like maybe you like her?”

“I like her, but not like you’re thinking. I’ve been with girls like her, back when I used tobelike her. I came here to get away from that life.”

“Yeah, because New York is so laid back,” he jokes.

“You know what I mean. You used to be the same way. You were so damn serious when you were on the team, I couldn’t even joke around with you.”

“Yeah, but I still partied. Your neighbor acts like an old lady, yelling at us to keep the music down so she can sleep.”

“How old do you think she is?”

“Early twenties?” Cole says, before swigging down his sports drink.

“I was going to say 25.”

“That sounds about right.” He rips a paper towel from the roll and wipes off his hands.

“Did you see her apartment?” I say. “There’s nothing in it.”

“Yeah, that was weird. Where’s all her stuff? Did she just toss everything from her old place?”

“I don’t know. Jenna didn’t tell me much about her.”

“Maybe you should call and ask her.”

“Why would I do that?”

He shrugs. “You seem to have a lot of questions about this girl.”

“I just wondered why her apartment is empty,” I say, taking his empty plate and putting it in the dishwasher. “She doesn’t even have a bed.”

“So you gave her a pool float.” Cole laughs. “Real nice, Scott.”

“Hey, it’s better than her sleeping on the floor.”

“Why do you care? I thought she was just your neighbor.”

I step up to the counter, across from Cole. “What kind of stupid question is that? You know I’ll help someone if I can. That’s the whole reason I started this.” I motion to the building. “To help people. Like your sorry ass.”

“That’s different. We’ve been friends since college. What you’re doing here is business. It’s not personal.”

“Of course it’s personal,” I say, getting angry. “You think I don’t care about these people?”

He shakes his head. “That’s not what I meant. Just forget it.”

“I gave her the pool float so she’d stop being pissed at me. That’s it. It’ll be easier to live next to her if she doesn’t hate me.”

“I think she still hates you, even with the pool float. And it’s not like we’ll stop having the parties. She’s just gonna have to get used to it.”

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