Just One of the Boys

“Feeling better?” Zack hissed as we passed in the halls, both headed to our dorms.

“Bite me,” I growled, unlocking the door and slamming it behind me.

Alex was lying down on his bed, pillow over his head, while Rian and Jack were slouched around the room, obviously bored as hell.

“What killed you?” I grunted, dropping my bag into the closet.

“Not again!” Jack groaned, leaning backwards in my swivel chair.

“Here we go again,” Rian sighed as Alex sat up, her hair sticking up wildly and dark circles under his eyes, but he was grinning like he won the lottery.

“So I had my date with Holly last night, right? And we got it on and everything!” Alex fibbed. “I mean, she was all over me! And I wake up this morning and she’s sleeping like a baby, so I get up, get dressed as leave with my number written on her hand, and now I just need to plan the perfect date for the next time we go out!”

Without a word, I turned, walked out of the room, walked to Zack and Jack’s, and pounded on the door until he let me in.

“I’m guessing you heard his version?” he sighed, letting me inside.

“I passed out on his chest, and he passed out after me. We didn’t do anything but kiss,” I growled. “I left him in the morning, but apparently he left me with nothing but a number. And now we have a date that I haven’t consented to.”

“That’s Alex for ya. He doesn’t want people knowing the heartbreaker and one night stand king was given a dose of his own medicine. It doesn’t work that way, he has a reputation,” Zack explained, sitting down on his bed while I sat on Jack’s.

“And I thought Hollywood was tough,” I muttered, scratching my head through the wig.

“So…” Zack twiddled his thumbs before looking back up. “Tell me about the date.” I spilled everything to Zack, from the moment I met him to the moment I collapsed in his car. “Wow…”

“Wow what?” I snapped, leaning back on Jack’s bed.

“Wow, Alex has never made a date like that,” Zack shrugged. “I’m jealous.”

“You’re jealous? Of what?” I laughed, shooting up and glaring at him. “Cause Zack, you only have to ask for a date.”

“That date! Not that he got to date you! Not that you’re not pretty or good girlfriend material, or anything,” Zack blushed, stumbling over his words. “I’d love to take someone out like that. I mean, I think it’d be nice, ya know?”

“You’d be one hundred times nicer that Alex was,” I muttered, lying back down. “I bet you wouldn’t get drunk on Claudia, pass out, and then make up some bull about your date just so she’d seem desperate, huh?”

“I’d like to think I’d never do that to a girl,” Zack agreed. We had a mild awkward silence before Zack spoke up again. “My honest opinion, I think you should drop it with Alex. I mean, you’re obviously unhappy, and all that matters is that you’re happy, right? I think you should find that one guy who’d be nice, who’d treat you well, and who’d make sure you were happy, you know?”

“Where can I find a guy like that?” I giggled, propping myself up on one elbow, looking at him stare at the ceiling. “I’d take him in a heartbeat.”

“I dunno,” he shrugged. “There’s that wimpy kid that works at Starbucks that’s constantly staring at you, and then there’s…” He cleared his throat and trailed off, a deep shade of red. “…never mind.”

“I mean, sure, I’d love to date someone who’s not a manwhore, but there’s just something about Alex that just makes me…I dunno, want him, I guess,” I tried to explain. “I just don’t want to be with him for obvious reasons, but I want to be with him for reasons that I can’t explain. He’s my…bad boy romance.”

“Bad boy romance?” Zack snorted. “What the heck is that?”

“Girls go through boy stages, and right now I’m guessing that I’m falling for bad boys. I’ve dated the nice boys, the jocks, the air heads, the nerd, and the other stereotypes you can pin on a boy. Now it’s the bad boy phase, and I think Alex is my experimental boy. I mean, ever since—OH SHIT, CLAUDIA!” I snapped, jumping to a standing position.

“What about her?” Zack asked, sitting up and looking at me like I was crazy.

“I’m still ‘dating’ her!” I cried, tossing my hands up in the air. “I’m still dating her, but you’re dating her! What the heck are we going to do?”

“Oh shit,” he blanched, turning sheet white. “Um, pray to god no one notices?”

“Zack, are you kidding me?” I screeched, smacking his arm. “Of course someone’ll notice! We have to do something, and quick.” I jumped up, my foot connecting with something. “What the…?” Picking up the object, my face broke into a large grin.

“Um, Holly? That face is kinda scaring me…”

“Zack, I know how we’re going to pull this off.”