Page 13 of One Bad Idea

As I continued shoving aside clothes, the guy said, "Hey Velma, you wanna check the bookcases, too?"

Velma?It took me a moment to realize that he was referring to that Scooby Doo cartoon character – the bookish one with the big eyeglasses.

Whatever.

Still rummaging through the closet, I told him, "You don'thaveany bookcases, dumb-ass. I checked for those first."

"That's not true," he replied. "We've got a whole library downstairs."

They did?I hadn't seen it. But then again, the house was big –verybig, with too many rooms to count.

Was it any wonder that I might've missed a few?

From the open doorway, he said, "So who's the dumb-ass now?"

Deciding that was a rhetorical question, I kept my attention on the clothes even as I threatened to shove a Scooby Snack up his ass.

Whether he heard me or not, I had no idea. By now, the closet was a total mess, with clothes falling off the hangers into rumpled heaps at my feet.

And yet, I kept on going and refused to be distracted, even when he said, "Found her."

Sure he did.

I called over my shoulder. "Oh shut up. I'm not falling for that again."

"Suit yourself," he said. "If you want me, I'll be in the library."

Without bothering to look, I yelled, "As if you can read!" Under my breath, I added, "Idiot."

But then, a moment later, I heard a voice – a new voice, standing eerily close. It was Cassidy, who said in a soothing tone, "Allie?"

Chapter 5

With a little gasp, I whirled around, and there she was – Cassidy, my best friend and former roommate.

No,I reminded myself – not myformerroommate. She was mycurrentroommate. After all, that's why I was here, wasn't it? To take her back home?

Beyond relieved, I soaked up the sight of her. She looked perfectly fine, thank goodness. Wanting to be sure, I eyed her up and down, taking in her black yoga pants, the pale pink T-shirt, and her long dark hair, without a single strand out of place.

Finally, something in my heart eased.She was definitely okay.

Tears pricked at my eyes, and I wanted to lunge forward and wrap her in my arms.AndI wanted to throttle her for making me worry. Before I could stop myself, I'd already blurted out, "Where were you?"

She bit her lip. "Um, out?"

From somewhere down the hall, my shirtless tormenter yelled, "Told ya!"

God, what a jackass.So he'dknownshe was fine? And he hadn't bothered to tell me anything useful? I wanted to strangle him. Instead, I turned and hollered back, "Oh, fuck off!"

As the words rang through the house, I stifled a gasp. Okay, Ididtend to curse when I got angry, but normally, I cursed in private, where I wouldn't make a total spectacle of myself.

Too late for that now.

Turning back to Cassidy, I murmured, "You weren't here."

She glanced away. "I know. I was getting…" She cleared her throat. "…uh, pancakes, actually."

I stared at her. "Pancakes? Are you freaking kidding me?"