Page 34 of Ink & Ambition

Sighing, she grabs the empty containers from the table and brings them into the kitchen. “I need to think, I can’t just make a hasty decision about this.”

I chuckle in exasperation from the couch, my arm dropping as I careen my neck around to face her. “Oh, come on, sunshine. Just name the first three guys that come to your head!”

Placing the bowl in the sink, she turns to face me again, holding the edge of the kitchen island with both hands. “Okay fine.” She thinks for another second before responding. “Hugh Jackman, George Clooney, and Gerard Butler.”

For a second, I’m speechless. But only for a second. “Those guys are all, like, thirty years older than you!”

She shrugs, walking back around the island. “What can I say, I like distinguished men.”

I get up from the couch to meet her on the other side. “Distinguished? What’s distinguished about old balls?”

She scrunches her nose up in disgust. “Ugh, you are so gross.”

“So is George Clooney’s saggy, wrinkled dic—”

“Okay!” She shoves my arm to cut me off. “Enough insults about my taste in men. Isn’t it time for you to go now?”

I pull my phone out of my pocket and look at the time. 12:41 am. “Huh, it is pretty late. I probably should,” I reply, pocketing the device again. Margot walks with me and puts that god-awful flickering overhead light back on when we get to the door.

“I hate to admit this, but I actually had fun hanging out with you,” she says, her head resting on the door as she holds it open for me to leave.

“I knew you would, everybody does.”

Margot rolls her eyes and shoves me along so that I’m out in the hall. I chuckle as I turn around to say goodbye.

“See you tomorrow, then. Three o’clock at the recording studio.”

For a second, I’m jolted back to reality. I forgot all about the fact that the only reason we’re in this “friendship” is because we’re helping each other out. And once the prank and the podcast are over, we’ll probably go back to being nothing at all. The thought sends a pang of feeling through my chest but I can’t quite decipher what that feeling is. Or maybe, I just don’t want to admit it.

“Right.” Giving her a small wave, I say my goodbyes. “Goodnight, sunshine.”

Margot matches my wave. “Goodnight, frat boy,” she says, before closing the door. As I walk down the hall, I can’t help but think that tonight was the most fun I’d had in a long, long time.

Chapter Sixteen

Margot

There’snothinglikeTUcampus on an early fall morning. Even though it’s still the weekend, the quad is full of students hanging out, playing catch or just walking around. With my backpack full of our podcast notes, I head toward the media building.

It’s usually easy for me to blend into the scenery on this campus, but for some reason this morning, everyone’s got their eyes on me. Everywhere I turn, people are pointing, laughing and…taking pictures of me with their phones.

What the—,I look down at myself to see what all the fuss is about and that’s when I see it.

I’m naked.

I’m completely naked on the quad.

My face is a tomato as I try to swing my backpack around to hide the goods but then I realize it’s missing, too. When I try to run, my feet are glued to the ground. I whip my head around to try and find some salvation. I can’t believe it can get worse, but then I see him. Alex. Standing there with his eyes glued to my body. He’s taking me in, one slow inch at a time and there’snothing I can do to stop him. His expression stays static until he reaches my face and then he smiles.

With slow, methodical steps, Alex approaches me. He doesn’t speak but his smile remains. As he nears, I realize it’s not a taunting expression; he’s not teasing me. It’s that genuine Alex smile, the one he’s given me when I say something funny or when I tease him. It’s like he doesn’t notice my embarrassment at all.

Alex shakes his head as he pulls a blanket from behind his back and drapes it around me. He holds it close in front of my body and leans in to whisper in my ear.

“Wake up, sunshine.”

My eyes explode open. I drag my hand down my face as my heart rate dies down.Just a dream. I tell myself. The second dream that Alex has appeared in. Groaning, I drag my notebook off the bedside table and quickly write down everything I can remember. Pulling myself from the bed five minutes later, I find both Danika and Sydney in the kitchen cooking up some pancakes.

I slam the book on Danika’s chest as I walk past her toward the coffee pot. She opens it with glee and immediately begins reading.

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