Chapter Eighteen

The next night, me and Gillian sit cross-legged on her bed with a large pepperoni pizza between us.

“Know who you look like?” she asks.

“Katy Perry.” I supply the obvious answer.

“No. Zooey Deschanel.”

“Who?”

“Dark hair, blue eyes, bangs, black glasses. Does that New Girl show, or did it. I don’t even know if it’s still on. Done tons of TV, too, and movies and also sings.”

“Oh, yeah.” I like the Zooey comparison much better than Katy. Never really been a Katy fan anyway.

Gillian plucks a pepperoni off her slice. “Pizza chick was pretty hot. I was tempted to flirt. Guess my hunger got in the way.”

“You’re gay?” I ask around a mouth full of food.

“Bi.”

With a nod, I swallow my food.

Gillian wipes her mouth. “Pizza chick was too old, anyway. Although I once went out with a woman twenty years older than me. She was ga-or-geous. Great sex, too.”

I choke. “Twenty years?”

Gillian licks sauce from her finger. “Like I said, hot.”

“Did you know she was twenty years older?” I can’t imagine.

“I knew.”

“And did she know your age?”

“Not at first. It happened last year on our six-month anniversary. I decided to tell her my age and she fa-reaked.”

“I can imagine.”

“Of course that made her even hotter.”

“So what happened?” I ask.

Gillian shrugs a skinny shoulder. “She called it off and last time I heard she’s dating someone a more acceptable age.”

I take a gulp of Coke. “It’s for the best.”

“Definitely.”

“Six months, huh? That’s a pretty long time.”

“Not really. The guy I dated before her lasted a year.”

“Anybody since then?”

“Nope.”

“You holding out for your soul mate?” I tease.

“Ah, who knows? The only thing I do know is that I never want to get married. Have you seen the stats on divorce?”

“I’ve lived those stats,” I say before I realize it.

“Uh-oh.”

I shake my head. “Nothing.”

“Well.” Gillian immediately skips over the obvious awkwardness that was about to happen. “My parents have been together forever so soul mates do exist, and they’re not married.”

“Happily together?”

She nods. “Sickingly happy together. Embarrassingly happy together.”

“I think that’s cool.” I can’t imagine growing up in that kind of love.

Gillian tosses her crust in the pizza box. “Uh-oh, you’re one of those.”

“One of what?”

“Love, marriage, two kids, white picket fence, blah, blah, fairy tale, live happily ever after.”

I shake my head. “Nah. I’ve seen too much reality to expect that.”

Gillian nods. “There you go.” She leans back on her pillow. “Know what you need?”

“A new roommate?” I joke, and Gillian makes a face.

“A friend with benefits. You need sex.”

I snort. “No thanks. I’ve had it and don’t want it again.”

“Don’t want it again?” She gasps dramatically. “Then clearly you’re not doing it right. Or rather he’s not doing it right.”

I think of Manny and of all the times I lay there wishing he’d just get it over with.

“Yeah.” Gillian nods. “You need someone to rock your world.”

Riel smooths his way into my thoughts. Kissing, getting a little naked, hands exploring.

She points at me. “Ooh, who you thinking of?”

My cheeks warm. “No one.” Grabbing the pizza box, I swing the door open to walk it to the garbage and see a blue envelope lying on the floor of the hallway. I pick it up.

“For me?” Gillian asks.

I shrug. “No name on it.”

“Mm, maybe it’s a secret admirer.”

Putting the pizza box down, I wedge my finger under the seal and pull out a white card.

SLUT is written in bold red print.

I gasp.

Gillian jumps off her bed. “What is it?”

I show it to her, and she yanks it from my hands. “What the hell?”

“Who would do such a horrible thing?” I immediately think of that dark SUV and the prank phone call. Had this card been meant for her or for me?

Neither one of us says anything for a few tense seconds, then Gillian laughs nervously. “Maybe it’s a joke.”

“That’s a horrible joke.”

“We need to turn this in to security.”

I nod. “Let’s go.”