Free Only With You by Monica Alexander Page A

have known I was back in Gainesville already. It was pretty convenient if you asked me.
    “Nah, that’s okay. I think I’m just going to let it go.”
    “No, you’re not, but I’ll believe it for a night,” Jake said, making me glare at him “Now get dressed. We’re going out for beers.”
    “I don’t feel like it.”
    “I don’t care. I let you wallow for two days. Enough. You’re going to go out and at least pretend like you’re having fun, you hear me?”
    “Why do I have to go out? I’m watching this.”
    I gestured to the TV where Survivorman was on.
    Jake glanced at the TV. “I’ll tell you what happens. He gets hungry, so he eats a bug or a snake, then he sleeps outside and hikes some more. Oh, and maybe if you’re lucky, he’ll boil his own piss and drink it to stay hydrated. It’s riveting stuff, really.”
    “Screw you, asshole,” I said, but I switched off the TV. He was half right.
    Jake took a deep breath. “Look, those girls we met at the concert the other night, they want to get together. Sarah’s friend thought you were cute.”
    “I am cute.”
    “No, you’re fucking ugly, and apparently her friend has no taste.”
    I smiled and threw my pillow at him. He ducked and smacked my leg.
    “Come on. Get in the shower. We’ll go out. It’ll be chill.”
    Nights with Jake were never chill, but whatever. I probably needed to get out of the house after two days of not moving except to go to class and to let the pizza guy in. We were practically friends at this point he’d come by so much, and honestly he was probably starting to think I was a little pathetic. I thought I was pathetic.
    An hour later Jake was driving south on I-75 doing eighty-five miles an hour. I just about thought he was going to take me to Café Risqué until he thankfully drove by the exit and kept going. I wasn’t in the mood for a strip club.
    “Um, dude, where are we going?” I finally asked when we passed Ocala. We were headed toward a long stretch of road that was pretty much just farms and cow pastures for miles.
    “Tampa.”
    “Tampa?! No fucking way. I’m not going to that concert!”
    I about yanked the wheel away from him so he’d turn around.
    “Relax,” he said, looking over at me “We’re not going to the concert. Besides, it already started.”
    I wasn’t sure if I should be concerned that he knew that.
    “Then what are we doing?”
    “I told you, we’re having a chill night.”
    “In Tampa? That’s two hours away.”
    “Did you not hear me say the girls from Wednesday night wanted to hang out?”
    “I heard you, but I t hought they were in Gainesville for the weekend or something. Don’t they live in Orlando?”
    He shook his head. “Sarah does, but her friend – the friend you’re going to bone – goes to USF – in Tampa.”
    “ I know where USF is, and for the record, I’m not boning anyone,” I told him.
    “ Hey, you’re not from around here, so I was just making sure. Besides, I don’t buy that you’re not going to bone this chick. She wants you.”
    “Whatever. I’m not interested.”
    “Dude, you never take my advice, but tonight you will. You’ll tap that hot freshman ass and be done with it.”
    Yeah, that sounded exactly like what I wanted to do that night.
    And that was when my brain actually registered what I’d been thinking. I wondered when exactly my balls had been severed, because I was acting like a total chick. Not that I was a dirtbag who screwed anything that moved. No, that was my illustrious roommate, but I was twenty years old. I wasn’t immune to having fun, and I wasn’t immune to pretty girls who wanted in my pants.
    The girl from the other night had been cute, and if she was into me, what would a little flirt ing harm, or maybe even some making out? And hell, if she wanted to invite me back to her dorm room, maybe I wouldn’t be opposed to that. Maybe Jake was right, and I just needed to get laid.
    Two hours later, we were all at a table