XANDER’S POV
A loud knock on my front door ruins everything.
“Shit,” I mutter, pulling back from Ari. Her eyes are wide with panic.
“Who is that?” she whispers.
Another knock, louder this time, followed by familiar voices.
“Yo, Xander! Open up, man!”
“We know you’re in there!”
It’s my friends. Of course it is. They have the worst timing in the world.
“Stay here,” I tell Ari, helping her sit up on the bed. “Don’t come out, okay?”
She nods, pulling my shirt around herself. “What if they—”
“They won’t. I’ll get rid of them.”
I quickly throw on my jeans and a t-shirt, then close the bedroom door behind me. My heart is pounding as I walk to the front door. This cannot be happening right now.
I open the door to find Caleb, Jake, Marcus, and Tyler standing there with stupid grins on their faces.
“What the hell are you guys doing here?” I ask, not moving to let them in.
“Dude, relax,” Caleb says, pushing past me into the apartment. “We were in the neighborhood.”
“At ten o’clock at night?”
“Time is just a construct, man,” Jake laughs, following Caleb inside.
Marcus and Tyler pile in behind them, making themselves comfortable on my couch like they own the place.
“Seriously, what do you want?” I ask, staying by the door.
“We wanted to check on our boy,” Tyler says. “See how the bet is going.”
My blood goes cold. “Keep your voice down.”
“Why?” Marcus grins. “You got company?”
“No.”
“Really? Because you look like you were in the middle of something,” Caleb observes, eyeing my rumpled shirt.
“I was sleeping.”
“At ten? On a Friday night?” Jake shakes his head. “That’s not the Xander Reed we know.”
I close the front door and walk further into the living room, putting myself between them and the hallway that leads to my bedroom.
“Well, now you’ve checked on me. You can leave.”
“Hold up,” Tyler says, standing up from the couch. “I need to use your bathroom.”
“The one in the hall is broken. Use the gas station down the street.”
“Come on, man, I’ll just use the one in your bedroom.”
He starts walking toward the hallway, and I quickly step in front of him.
“I said it’s broken.”
“Both bathrooms are broken?” Marcus raises an eyebrow. “That’s convenient.”
“What’s going on, Xander?” Caleb asks, his eyes narrowing. “You’re acting weird.”
“I’m not acting weird. I just want you guys to leave.”
“Not until Tyler takes a piss,” Jake says. “The poor guy’s been holding it for twenty minutes.”
Tyler tries to move around me again, and I block him.
“Dude, what the hell?” he says. “It’s just a bathroom.”
“Use the kitchen sink if you have to. You’re not going back there.”
All four of them exchange glances, then start grinning like they’ve figured out some big secret.
“Oh my god,” Marcus says slowly. “There is someone here.”
“There’s nobody here.”
“Bullshit,” Caleb laughs. “You’ve got a girl in your bedroom.”
My silence is apparently answer enough because they all start whooping and high-fiving each other.
“Our boy is getting some action!” Jake shouts.
“Who is she?” Tyler asks. “Anyone we know?”
“There’s nobody here,” I repeat, but they’re not buying it.
“Come on, don’t be shy,” Marcus says. “We’re your friends. We want to meet her.”
“Yeah, bring her out,” Caleb adds. “We promise to be good.”
“You guys need to leave. Now.”
“Not until we meet mystery girl,” Tyler says.
“Actually,” Jake says, his grin getting wider, “I bet I know who it is.”
My stomach drops. “You don’t know anything.”
“I bet it’s Aria,” he continues. “I mean, you did take that bet about her. Makes sense you’d be working on it.”
“Shut up,” I say quickly, my eyes flicking toward the bedroom door. Please tell me Ari didn’t hear that.
“Oh shit, it is her!” Marcus exclaims. “Dude, you actually got the fat girl to come over!”
“I said shut up.”
“This is awesome,” Caleb says. “How’s it going? She buying your whole bad boy act?”
“I’m not acting.”
“Right,” Tyler snorts. “So what base are you on? Second? Third?”
“I won’t be surprised if it’s Aria,” Jake says again, louder this time. “She’s probably desperate enough to fall for—”
“Get out.” My voice is deadly quiet. “All of you. Get out right now.”
“Whoa, calm down,” Marcus says. “We’re just messing around.”
“I’m not joking. Leave.”
“Come on, Xander,” Caleb says. “We’re your friends. We’re just excited that the bet is working out.”
That’s the last straw. I grab Caleb by his shirt and drag him toward the door.
“Hey, what the hell?” he protests.
“I told you to leave.”
I open the door and literally push him out into the hallway. Jake, Marcus, and Tyler scramble after him.
“Dude, what’s your problem?” Tyler asks.
“My problem is that you’re a bunch of assholes who don’t know when to leave.”
“We were just having fun,” Marcus says.
“Well, go have fun somewhere else.”
“Fine, whatever,” Caleb says, straightening his shirt. “But we want details later. All of them.”
“Go to hell.”
I slam the door in their faces and lock it, then lean against it for a moment, trying to calm down. My heart is racing and I feel sick to my stomach. How much did Ari hear? Did she hear them talking about the bet?
I hurry back to the bedroom, already planning how I’m going to explain this.
“Ari?” I call out as I open the door. “I’m sorry about that. My friends are idiots, but they’re gone now.”
The room is empty.
“Ari?”
I check the bathroom. Nothing. I look under the bed, in the closet, anywhere she might be hiding. But she’s not here.
Then I notice that the window is open. The window that leads to the fire escape.
“Fuck.”
I stick my head out the window and look down. The alley below is empty, but I can see wet footprints on the fire escape steps leading down. It’s been drizzling all evening.
A wave of relief rushed through me and I collapsed on the bed.
30