At least I have Paige to keep me company during my impromptu stay in Hampton. She’s been my best friend since middle school, and she still lives at home with her parents. When I told her my housing plans fell through for summer and that I’d have to hang out in Hampton until my new apartment was ready, she was thrilled.

I don’t share the sentiment.

Hampton, Ohio has nothing on Berkeley, California.

I giggle when Jake’s eyes practically bug out of his head before he turns and stalks off toward the guy who called him over. I take another swig from the stupid flask and make a mental note to see if Amazon has something less garish I can order for future BYOB needs.

I watch, amused, as Jake fumes about me to his employees. I know the second he starts issuing orders because that damn finger starts working again, pointing in my direction as he looks between two of the guys wearing those deliciously tight black V-neck shirts. Both men glance over at me, then look back at their boss, nodding like bobble heads at him.

Poof. There goes my fun for the night.

I glance at my phone again to find three missed calls and a text from Paige. I read her message and roll my eyes. They’re heading to the hookah bar in Holt, which is as lame as it sounds. There’s no way I’m making the drive out there to sit around and pretend to enjoy passing a pipe with Paige, Kyle, Travis, and whoever else they invited to come out with us. I’ll either die of boredom or catch mono. I don’t know which fate would be worse.

I survey the crowd, not because I want to find a familiar face, but because I’d like nothing more than to find an anonymous hookup for the night.

I’m staying at my parents’ house for the summer, but they both travel for my dad’s job, so they’re rarely home. They have some sort of river cruise planned for this summer, too, so I don’t expect to see them except on Zoom and FaceTime. My brother and his wife live in Virginia now, and most everyone else I know from high school didn’t come back to Hampton this summer because of internships or whatever.

I was lucky enough to score a one-bedroom apartment just minutes from campus, but my unit won’t be ready until August first. I thought I had a temporary place to stay this summer, but the girl from my logic class decided shacking up with her boyfriend sounded more fun than subletting the second room in her apartment, so here I am. I’ve got a solid eleven weeks to bum around this sleepy Ohio town before I can head back to Cali and move all my stuff out of storage and into my new place.