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“She also could have totally put her bra back on before she came home,” Julia added. “I think it was an excuse to flaunt her tits around you, to be honest.”

It was hard not to show my amusement.

I decided to push the envelope. “Well, she does have a nice figure. I’ll give her that.” I shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe she is into me. You could be right.”

Then the craziest thing happened.

“What are you doing tonight?” Julia asked.

“No plans. Why?”

“When we’re done here, we should grab some dinner.”

Okay, then.

“Yeah. Sounds good.”

Julia almost never initiated hanging out with me outside of work. It was always me suggesting it. Holy shit. Maybe I was onto something. I’d been giving Molly advice on how to get Dr. Dickalicious to like her—by seeming disinterested. But maybe it was even more powerful to seem interested in someone else.

***

That night, I opened the refrigerator to find that my roommate had polished off the majority of the leftovers. Molly was lying on the couch reading when I decided to taunt her.

“You bad girl, Mollz. I see you couldn’t resist my risotto.”

She closed her book and sat up. “Actually, I could. But I chose not to. I was also curious as to what the punishment might be. How do I know if resisting your cuisine is worth it if I don’t know what the consequences are?”

I chuckled. I didn’t know what the consequences were myself.

“I’ll come up with something. The penalty will be posted on your door tonight.”

“Ah, something to look forward to. You said your grandmother taught you to cook? Is your mom a good cook, too?”

I wasn’t about to explain the complicated story of my family dynamic, or how my mother wasn’t always enough in her right mind to care for her kids. Instead, I shrugged. “Everyone took turns cooking in my house. But I mostly learned from my grandmother.” Opening a bottle of Gatorade, I changed the subject. “So, how is everything going? Did you hear anything from Hot Doc?”

“No. And unfortunately, I found out from my friend that Will got pretty cozy with Daisy again after I left the bar.”

“Yeah, but that’s only because you weren’t there.”

“I guess I’ll have a better gauge as to where things stand at work this week. He said he wanted to grab coffee. Let’s see if he pursues it.”

“Daffodil won’t stand a chance once you get in the game again.”

“Let’s hope.”

“So…something interesting happened on my end,” I began, eager to share my experience today.

“What?”

“Julia and I were working at the office, and she started randomly talking about you. I sensed a little jealousy.”

“Really? It’s funny you say that, because I thought I sensed the same last night. What did she say?”

“She said she thinks you like me.” I flashed a cocky grin. “I mean, we both know you do. But it was interesting that she picked up on it.” I winked. “I’m kidding. Well, not about her thinking you like me. The hint of jealousy I sensed from her got the wheels turning in my head.”

“About what?”

“It made me realize the only thing better than showing disinterest as a strategy might be the threat of someone else.”

“Interesting. Well, glad I could be of help.”

“Your nipples helped more than anything, I think. Thank them for me.”

Molly blushed. “Wait—she thinks I did that for you? But I told her about Will.”

“Yeah, but she said you could have put a bra on before you came home. She felt like you were flaunting them.”

“She thinks I’m a slut. Great. I didn’t think to put my bra on because I was coming straight home and thought you’d be out.”

“Well, you know that, and I know that, but she doesn’t. So, let her think it. Let her think I like looking at you, too. That may be what finally works.” And I do like looking at you, but that’s not the point here.

Later, after Molly had gone to sleep, I left a sticky note on her door.

That risotto got you in a quandary, because now you must do my laundry. I’ll have a basket ready by tomorrow evening. ;-)

***

Molly and I didn’t cross paths again until she called me from her shift the next day. I’d been in the middle of a late-night workout in my room and stopped to talk to her.

“What’s up, Mollz?”

“Seriously? Your laundry?”

I wiped my forehead with a towel. “I’m in the middle of pumping iron as we speak. Lots of sweatiness for you to wash.”

“Oh joy.”

“I’m excited because I bet you’ll color coordinate my underwear.” When she fell silent, I said, “Hey, I might as well milk it. Is that why you called? To complain about my punishment?”

“No, actually, I wanted to tell you something interesting.”

I took a swig of water. “I’m always up for that.”

“Remember when you were telling me Julia seemed jealous when she was talking about me?”