The Ex Games (The Ex Games #1)(4)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“How was your day today?” His voice was warm and I smiled into the phone.

“Good, what about yours?”

“Long.” He groaned. “I don’t want to talk about it. I’d rather talk about our dinner tomorrow night. Are you excited?”

“Yes!” I exclaimed in excitement.

“I love that you don’t hide your true emotions. I’ve dated way too many women in New York who act like they can’t stand me.”

“That’s silly.” I said honestly. Thinking back, he should have realized the truth from our phone calls. Brandon had taken my number before putting me in a cab home the afternoon after he had taken me home. He had wanted me to spend the weekend with him, but I knew that I had to get back to the dorms or my friends would be mad. He had called me every night since then, and I delighted in his phone calls. He made me laugh and he made me feel special. He seemed to really want to know how I was spending my days, and he told me little things about himself as well. He was the only son of a billionaire banker and worked at his father’s hedge fund. He hated his job, but knew that it was his duty. He owned his apartment in Chelsea, he had a house in the Hamptons and an apartment in San Francisco, He preferred the West Coast but had to stay on the East Coast due to work. He loved dogs, but traveled so much that he thought it was unfair to have one. He loved Mexican food and jazz and collecting first edition books. He was also 35. When he first told me that, I felt my heart stop beating. 35 sounded so much older than me. 35 was old enough to be my dad, if he had had sex at a young age. 35 made me feel guilty for having him think I was 22, about to turn 23. 35 made me keep my real age a secret. I didn’t want to stop talking to him. I didn’t want his calls to end, and I very much wanted to go on that dinner date with him. 35 made me realize that I couldn’t let him know that I was 18, even though I very much wanted to be honest about my age.

“I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.” He whispered into the phone. “I’m going to take you to dinner and then we can go dancing if you want.”

“That would be nice. Do you know what club you’re thinking of?” I grabbed my laptop so I could check yelp to see if they let in people under 21.

“Oh, not a club.” He smiled. “I was thinking we could go to some salsa classes.”

“Salsa?”

“Yes, you know, the Spanish dance.”

“Oh, yeah. I just never heard of a date where people went to classes.”

“What are you used to, Katie? Burgers and movies?”

“Something like that.” I laughed.

“Then that just means you’ve been dating boys, and not men like me.”

“Yeah, that could be right.” If he only knew just how true his words were.

“Men in their twenties are still chasing the almighty dollar and trying to get laid. Men in their thirties know that money and sex are not important.”

“It’s not?” I’d had neither and still hoped for both.

“I mean, we need it to live, of course. But it’s not worth losing your life for either.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“So tomorrow, shall I pick you up from your apartment?”

“My apartment?” My body burned as I stared at my roommate’s empty bed. “Uh, no. I’ve got a late day at work tomorrow. I can meet you at the restaurant.” I couldn’t believe how easily the lies slid from my mouth.

“Okay, that makes sense.” He yawned. “Tomorrow will be our first date.”

“I know.”

“I can’t wait to see you again.” He chuckled. “And if anyone I knew heard me say that, they’d think someone had stolen my body.”

“Why?”

“This isn’t me, Katie. I’m not a romantic guy. I don’t do relationships.”

“Oh, I didn’t know.” I felt disappointed and confused. “Why are you talking to me, then?”

“I don’t know. I guess there was something about you that touched me as I walked by.”

“You mean my puke?” I joked and he laughed.

“Thank God, no.” He cleared his throat. “I’m not really sure why I stopped and took you home though. I’ve asked myself several times what I was thinking. You could have been a psycho.”

“I could have been a psycho? You could have been a psycho.”

“I’m glad neither of us are psychos.”

“Me too. Sweet dreams, Brandon.”

“Sweet dreams, Katie.”

“Have a good day at work.”

“You too.”

“Thanks.” I’ll be doing the assignment I didn’t do tonight because I was waiting for your call.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you then.” And then we hung up and I lay in my bed and hugged my pillow tightly. I was so excited. This was going to be my first proper date and it was with a man that knew the world, and he was interested in me. I couldn’t believe it. I was worried about what we would talk about. What if I sounded like an idiot?

“You up?” The door creaked and Meg walked in with a handful of books.

“Yeah,” I sat up and looked at her with a guilty pang. I hadn’t studied all week. It was only the first week, but I knew I had to keep up or I was going to fail out. Everyone in my class at Columbia was smart, and they all seemed to know more than I did. There was no way I was going to be able to sail through my classes without studying like I did in high school.

“How was Mr. Wonderful?” She giggled as she sat her books down on the desk and then pulled out her pajamas.

“He wants to take me salsa dancing.”

“But you don’t know how to salsa.” She frowned as she pulled off her t-shirt and pulled on her nightgown.

“I know, but he’s taking us to classes.”

“Wow.” She looked impressed and the fell on top of her bed. “I’m so tired.”

“Aww.” I gave her a sympathetic look. “You don’t have to go hardcore right away.”

“I do, I need to get a 4.0 GPA if I want to get into Harvard or Yale law.”

“We just started undergrad, Meg.” I giggled.

“I know that, you know that, but does Mr. Hastings know that as yet?”

“No,” I groaned and lay at the ceiling. “I can’t tell him, Meg. Not yet. He won’t want to see me if he knows I’m 18.”