Page 64 of Playing the Backbeat

“I’m trying to, trust me,” I say, exasperated. “But I need a new teammate.”

“It sounds like you had one. I mean, two,” Carissa says. I hold up my hand and she rewards me with a high five.

“I’m proud of you. That was good,” I say.

“You’re rubbing off on me,” she replies.

“No, she’s apparently rubbing one off with Dylan,” Abby chimes in.

“You make it sound weird.”

“Uh, yeah, because it’s weird,” Bec adds.

“It was a competition,” I explain.

“A competition. What exactly did you get if you won?” Carissa asks.

I turn to look at her, a devilish grin on my face. “Oh, everyone was a winner.”

“So, what? You and Dylan got off in front of each other?” Ellie asks.

“There was a door between us. It was platonic.”

“That’snotplatonic. Like…at all,” Abby insists.

“And today, you acted normal? Nothing was strained?” The disbelief is loaded on pretty thick. Ellie is sitting up now, studying me.

“We were both perfectly relaxed. Probably because of the orgasms.”

“Wait. Are you having sex with him?” Bec asks, sitting up as well.

“Pssh. No. This was just friendly competition. Consider it roommate bonding time.” I shrug.

“Weren’t you two on dates last night? With the people you set each other up with?” Carissa asks.

“Yeah, that sure as fuck didn’t work out. Major bummer. I apparently hooked him up with a hottie who wasextremelyemotionally unavailable and hung up on her ex. Like I said, weshould have gone with the lawyer.Mydate was awesome, until Dylan fucked it up.”

“How exactly did Dylan fuck it up?” It’s clear Abby doesn’t trust my judgment, but it was definitelynot mewho ruined things with Stephanie.

“He basically told my date I was exploding out of my ass in the bathroom.”

They all have a good laugh at my expense. Fair enough. If the tables were turned, I’d do the same.

“Uh-oh,” Bec singsongs.

“Uh-oh, what? Why do you sound so happy?” I ask, no small amount of frustration leaking into my tone.

“Because we were right,” Abby gloats.

“He was jealous,” Carissa adds.

“He likes you. Couldn’t stand to see you hit it off with someone else,” Ellie says, mystified by this turn of events.

“And you liked his jealousy, which is why you turned the moment into some sort of sexcapades,Survivor-style challenge.”

“We’re just competitive people,” I defend weakly.Fuck. That sounds like something I’d do…

“Competitive naked people,” Abby says.