Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 103721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
“It’s not, when you can’t go anywhere on campus without getting harassed or bothered, and you can’t get a lease because you’re leaving, apparently. Come on, Cameron. This is crazy.” She gestures her hands around me. “Do you just buy clothes to replace the ones you haven’t washed?”
I sure the hell do, but I’m not telling her that. I shrug. “I’m fine, Callie. I promise.”
She doesn’t believe me, and I guess I could clean more, but I’m just so busy. When I clean, I think, and when I think, Benson floods my mind. “Gather your clothes. We’ll go to my place and do laundry.”
“Callie,” I groan, and she sets me with a look.
“Either that, or we stay here and I clean.”
I start to gather my clothes and ignore her as she walks around, throwing away trash and other crap I have lying around. I really am a raccoon. In my defense, it’s easier to stay holed up in my room than to leave with the risk of running into people. Here, I can be in my sweatpants, my hair uncombed, and living my best life. Out in the real world, I have to look put together.
And most days, I’m just not.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Cameron
When we get to Callie and Evan’s place, we find that Evan isn’t there.
“Well, fuck me,” Callie groans as she throws her car into park. “I wonder where he is.”
“Not here to help me bring all this crap in,” I announce as I throw the door open. “It’s cool. We’ve got it.”
She’s on her phone, though, texting him as I get out to start gathering my bags of laundry. Finally, she gets out and starts helping me. “He said only to grab what we want to start now, and he’ll get the rest. He’s at the store.”
“God, I love that guy,” I decide as I drag two baskets toward the front door. She comes beside me, two bags in her hands before she gets the keys out to unlock the door. Together, we go in, and I head toward the laundry room that’s in an alcove in their bedroom. Callie is a clean freak, so unlike in my room, nothing is out of place here. If I had a washer and dryer in my room, all my clothes would be around it, on the floor, or still in the washer. Not Callie, though. Her space is pristine.
I stuff everything into the washer and grab the scooper from the glass jar of detergent. “I’ll replace everything I use.”
Callie is sitting on the bed, on her phone, before she waves me off. “I’m not worried about it.” She’s too good to me. As I start the washer, she calls, “Hey, you like shrimp, right?”
I give her a look. “Yes? Why?”
“Evan is cooking tonight and wanted to make sure you liked it.”
“Damn, I get help with my laundry and fed? I may not leave.”
She grins up at me. “We have a spare room.”
I shake my head. “I have lived with you while dating Evan, Callie. You two are disgustingly in love.”
She snorts. “True, but we could tone it down.”
“Yeah, right.” I look back over my shoulder at her. “In what universe?”
Her cheeks flush. “I do love him so.” She says it as if no one knows that. Anyone who meets them knows it’s true. “And living with your mom is still a no-go?”
I almost laugh. “I’d rather have you call me a raccoon daily than live with her.” I give her a pointed look. “She’s insufferable right now. She saw Benson with my name on his chest, and she is still pissed.”
Callie drops her hands to her lap. “Seriously? It was cute. All the guys did it.”
“I know, but she doesn’t want me near him.”
“That’s dumb. He went above and beyond after what happened.”
“She doesn’t see it that way. She sees him as the guy who knocked me up and let me get the abortion.”
She rolls her eyes. “Let you. That’s ridiculous and so unfair. Benson is more than that.”
I couldn’t agree more, but thinking about it has my heart swelling in my chest. If I were one to acknowledge what I’m feeling, her words would also make me miss him. I swallow past the lump in my throat and close the washer. “So yeah, living with her will never happen.”
“I still vote Adlers’ pool house. They’d let you.”
I shake my head. “No way, and don’t you ask them. Or Evan, for that matter. All of you are always trying to scheme against me.”
She laughs at that as the front door opens, and Evan’s voice bellows through the house. “Why in the hell is there so much laundry?”
We share a grin. “My best friend is a raccoon.”
Evan comes into the room, dragging bags, before he stops to give Callie a smacking kiss on the lips. “At least she’s a cute raccoon,” he throws at me, and I flash him a wide smile.