“Lisa?” Alison asked. Lisa, she knew, would never forgive her this, but Lisa had already not forgiven Alison for actually landing a part from an audition that she helped her get. Lisa hadn’t forgiven Alison her uncool mother, whom she had met and deemed “cute.” There were a million things Lisa was already finding unforgivable about Alison, and she didn’t even know that Alison had utterly betrayed her by falling into bed with the guy she wanted.
“Look, there’s nothing going on with me and Lisa,” Seth explained, still miles behind Alison in his conception of this situation. “She wanted you and me to get together, she told me to come to that party, whenever that was back in September, just to meet you.”
“The demimonde,” Alison murmured, watching him wearily through half-closed eyes. She really wanted this conversation to be over. The guy was racing to get out of there minutes ago; why didn’t he just leave?
“Yeah, right?” Seth agreed. For a moment he grinned and she felt the stirrings of interest; his amusement at the memory of that moronic argument was the most personality she had ever seen him express, the few times their paths had crossed. The moment was fleeting, though. He went back to his default position of privileged white male egocentrism with alarming speed. “That’s my point. Us getting together was Lisa’s idea in the first place. She was disappointed when things didn’t click the first time.”
“She’s not going to be disappointed now,” Alison informed him with a sardonic edge.
“She doesn’t have any claim on me,” Seth said, bristling, as if this were really the problem. “Seriously, I’ve known her a long time and I like her. We went to high school together! And then one night a couple weeks ago things went a little further than usual, that may be what she told you about. But if she told you it’s more than that, she’s misguided.”
“She does think it’s more than that,” Alison sighed. “So you maybe will want to clear that up with her.”
“I will, I totally will,” Seth said, not even bothering to pretend that wasn’t a lie. He picked up his shirt and studied the front of it, which seemed to irritate him for a moment. “Shit,” he observed. “We actually tore a button off.” He glanced around the room idly, as if that might yield the missing button, before turning his ADD attention span back to the girl who was lying naked in the bed. “So I can call you?”
Alison felt the sudden urge to start yelling at this guy; his logic was so utterly fucking self-involved. But she was just too tired. “No, you can’t call me,” she said. “I did think the sex was great. I wasn’t kidding when I said that was the best sex of my life. But even though I like having sex with you, I think you’re kind of a huge asshole, and I don’t want to have to talk to you again. And even though that probably would work for you? That we never speak but we still get together and just fuck every now and then? I’m from the Midwest and we don’t do things like that there. So I don’t think you should call me.” That should do it, she thought.
Seth nodded and then gave a little shrug, while he buttoned up his shirt. He even grinned a little, to himself. This chick was a mess. And the sex was great. The combination had its appeal. He dropped onto the bed, coming down to her level. “You’re from the Midwest, but you’re learning fast,” he informed her.
Which, to his delight, made her smile. The smile was crooked, ironic, intelligent. The green eyes, amazing. “True enough,” she admitted.
He kissed her. He was fully dressed now but she was naked beneath him, and the one fast kiss was just hot enough to give him the beginnings of yet another boner. He was starting to like this girl enough to pay attention to the signals, though, and decided not to push it.
“I got to get out of here before this goes any further,” he informed her.
“Yeah, you do,” she agreed.
He stood, and picked up his shoes. “I can’t believe you called me an asshole,” he told her.
“You are an asshole,” she said, but with enough good nature, it sounded almost affectionate.
six