Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

Author:Christina Lauren [Lauren, Christina]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780349421858
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2018-09-02T16:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

HAZEL

I must have fallen asleep beneath Josh on the new hardwood floors of my hallway, because I don’t remember getting into bed. The only reminder that last night happened is the fact that I’m naked, sore, and a little sticky. Josh is gone.

But Josh being Josh, there’s a little note on my pillow that says, simply,

I’ll call you later this morning

—J.

My stomach takes an anxious leap. On the one hand, last night was pretty great—I think?—so I don’t imagine he’ll be mad that we both got laid. On the other hand, sex always changes things, and the last thing I want is for anything to change between us. I might have enjoyed the sex more than I’ll admit to him, but I’m Crazy Hazie and he’s Awesome Josh (hangover prevents me from finding something that rhymes with Josh) and nothing—I mean nothing—scares me more than the idea of us dating and him deciding that I’m too wild, too weird, too chaotic. Too much.

Rolling over, I attempt to avoid all of this by falling back asleep, but my cotton mouth rears its head and I’m aware I’ll need to hit the ibuprofen sooner rather than later. As soon as I stand, I feel the sickening lurch of my bad drinking decisions waking up. And my phone rings.

It’s 7:17, and Josh is calling.

I drop back down to the bed. “Hazel’s Den of Sin,” I answer in a dry rasp.

“Hey, Haze.”

My throat tightens at the deep vibration of his voice, at the memory of his words last night:

You feel as soft as you look.

Ah, fuck. You’re wet. It’s good. It’s so good …

Oh, God, I’m coming so hard.

“Hey … you.”

Josh clears his throat, and I’m realizing we’ve seen each other naked. Maybe he’s thinking the same thing, because all he can manage is “So.”

I laugh, and it sounds like a screech. “So.”

“I hope … you’re okay?”

“Yeah.” I look down at my bare legs. There’s a bruise on my knee, and my tailbone is a little sore from the unrelenting reality of being fucked against the wood floor, but other than that, I’m intact. “I’m good.”

“And we’re okay?”

Nodding, I rush to reassure him. “I’m your best friend, Hazel. Of course. We agreed just once. We’re perfect.”

I understand the relief in his slow exhale. “Good. Good.” He pauses and I hear him inhale like he’s going to speak, but then the quiet stretches into five, ten, fifteen throbbing seconds. I like to think I’m more confident than the average person, but his silence makes tiny bubbles of insecurity rise to the surface. I know it wasn’t the best idea, but I don’t want him to like, regret it, either.

Regret me.

“The thing is,” he begins, “we didn’t use a condom.”

Well, that explains why I’m so sticky. My stomach tilts. “Oh. No, it’s okay. I’m covered.”

“You’re on the pill?”

This feels so weird. This isn’t exactly how I imagined this conversation going. Then again, when did I actually imagine having this conversation with Josh? “Yeah. The pill.”

“So, I guess I also need to ask whether you’ve been tested recently?”

Oh.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.