Page 1 of Necessary Roughness

Sloane

“I’m majoring in Education!” I said above the pounding music that was thumping through the house party. “I want to be a teacher!”

The college girl I had been talking to leaned in close to reply. “That’s great! You like kids?”

“Love ‘em! I want a whole big family. At least three kids running around.” I gulped down beer from a red solo cup, then scowled. “Troy, my ex, hated kids. I should have known our relationship was doomed.”

“Oh,” she replied, looking surprised.

Jayden, my friend who was watching the conversation while nursing his vodka soda, gave me a pointed look. The kind he gave me when I was drunk and making an ass of myself. But I was just having a nice conversation with a new friend, so I ignored him.

“I wasted two of my best college years with him,” I complained. “My entire Sophomore year. Then all of Junior year. Can you believe that?”

The girl, whose name I hadn’t learned—or couldn’t remember—gave me a warm hug that lingered a few seconds longer than I expected. “That really sucks.”

“Yes! It sucks!” I agreed. “You’re so nice. Where do you live?”

Before she could answer, Jayden tapped me on the shoulder. “Sloane, sweetie? Can I borrow you for a minute?”

He smiled at the nice girl I was talking to, then took me aside in a private corner of the house party. “What are you doing?”

“Making a new friend!” I replied.

Jayden glanced over his shoulder at the girl, then narrowed his eyes at me. “She’s a lesbian. She wants to get in your pants.”

“You think so?” I glanced at the girl, who smiled at me. “Aww, that’s so sweet!”

“You know what’s not sweet?” Jayden asked. “Leading her on.”

“I’m just being friendly!”

“By hugging her three times? Yes, I’ve been watching you.”

“What’s wrong with hugs? Hugs are innocent!”

“Hugs are how it begins,” he warned. “Casual physical contact. Oldest trick in the book, Sloane. I know it’s been a while since you’ve been single, but come on.”

I didn’t believe him, so I returned to my friend. “Hey, are you trying to get in my pants? This is my friend Jayden, but we call him Gayden. You’re probably wondering why.”

“Because he’s gay?” she offered.

“Yes, exactly! You’re so smart. Gayden is gay, so he thinks he has amazing gaydar. But I think you were just being friendly to me because you’re a nice person.”

“I was just being friendly,” she replied.

I turned to Jayden. “Hah! Told you!”

“But…” the girl ran a hand through her pixie cut and grimaced. “I was also maybe trying to hook up.”

“Aww. You’re so sweet.” I touched her arm, then yanked my fingers away. “Sorry if I was leading you on. I’m not a lesbian. Or bisexual. Or pansexual, I guess? That’s a thing now, right?”

Jayden cleared his throat. “Focus, Sloane.”

“Right. Sorry. You’re sweet, but I’m very straight. I love dick. It’s, like, the best. Sorry.”

“Thanks for letting me know now,” she said, giving another quick hug. “If you ever want to put your sexuality to the test, I live in Johnston Hall.”

She gave me another suggestive look, then wandered off into another part of the party.

“That was so sweet of her!” I told Jayden. “Ugh, it would be so much easier if I were gay.”

Jayden gave me a look. He normally presented as straight, but there was no way to hide a little sass as he said, “Girl, don’t even.”

“I just want to get laid ,” I whined. “I went all summer without sex, then got dumped a week before classes started.”

“I can’t believe he waited until the end of summer to break up with you. He should have let you know back in May so you could have enjoyed your summer break.”

“I KNOW!” I said a little too loudly. “Do you know how much sex I could have been having?”

“How much?” Jayden asked skeptically.

“Um. Well. I didn’t expect you to ask for receipts, but there was that guy at the ice cream shop who flirted with me. Then there’s Kyle across the street. He was only back from college for a week, but I might have made a move.”

“So the amount of sex you could’ve had is two,” Jayden said dryly. “Two sex.”

“When you say it like that…” I groaned. “The point is, I just want to get laid. Especially before the semester starts.”

“You and me both,” Jayden muttered, eyes scanning the party. “I don’t know why I came here. Aside from the dike you turned down, this party is a heterofest.”

“Then go stand somewhere else. You’re scaring away all the eligible men who might come up and flirt with me.”

Jayden gave me a long, examining look. “You’re a little sloshed, honey.”

“Exactly! I’m exactly where I was hoping to be. Sloshed, but not drunk.”

“I don’t want you to do anything you might regret later,” he said carefully.

“What did I text you two hours ago?” I demanded.

“You said something about…”

I held up my phone to show him the text conversation. “I told you I wanted to go out and get laid. I was one hundred percent sober and of sound mind when I sent that, and nothing has changed in the two hours since. Call me a train conductor, because tonight I want to get railed .”

Jayden couldn’t help but laugh. “I love drunk Sloane.”

“Not drunk. Sloshed. Big difference.” I gave him a hug. “Thanks for watching my back. I do appreciate it. But go have fun on your own.”

“Promise me you’ll text me updates every half hour?”

“I promise.”

“If I don’t hear from you, Bryson and I are going to tear this house apart to make sure you’re okay.”

“I promise! Now go on. That guy over there has been looking at you for the last five minutes. See? My gaydar is pretty good, too.”

Jayden grinned, then smoothly walked over to the guy and started chatting.

I weaved through the house until I reached the backyard, where the line for the keg was. Once I had a fresh beer, I wandered through the party.

It was a strange feeling being single for the first time in two years. I could do whatever I wanted, with whomever I wanted. It was freeing.

I should have dumped Troy before the summer.

There were signs in the spring that our relationship was doomed.

We fought about the tiniest things. We were never on the same page on a subject.

At the time, it was easy to blame it all on the stress of final exams, but now I recognized the issues with perfect twenty-twenty vision.

A man who looked exactly like Jayden—literally identical—came up to me in the living room. “How’s your night going?”

“Fine. Did Gayden send you to check on me?”

Bryson, Jayden’s twin brother, rolled his eyes. “No, after watching you pound your last two beers, I wanted to make sure you’re making good decisions.”

“So far, every decision has led to me getting nice and sloshed,” I said. “And like I told your twin, I’m just sloshed. Not drunk.”

“Not sure what the distinction is,” he muttered.

“The distinction is that I’m still perfectly capable of making rational decisions. And right now, that decision centers on who I’m going to hit on tonight.”

From my spot in the living room, I had a view of the front door as two new guys strode into the party. They were taller than everyone around them, and gazed around the party with a casual confidence that immediately drew me to them.

“Target acquired,” I said. “I think I recognize that guy who just walked in. He was in my chemistry class last semester.”

Bryson squinted. “I don’t see him. Is he behind those football players?”

I barely heard what he said because I was focused on the guy by the door. “Don’t worry. I’ll be smart tonight. I’ll include you on the check-in texts your brother is requiring me to send.”

Bryson chuckled. “You’re confident tonight. I like it.”

“This is the new, single Sloane,” I said, tossing back my hair. “Wish me luck. I’m going in.”