Experimental Marine Biology: A Romantic Comedy (Chemistry Lessons Book 5) Read online

  “Can’t wait.”

  After she said goodbye, Brooke pulled up the old prom photo of her and Dylan again. She hadn’t thought about that night in a long time, mostly because she’d tried hard to forget about it.

  It was supposed to be a friend date. Purely platonic.

  They’d made the pact their freshman year. If both of them were single when senior prom rolled around, they’d be each other’s safety date. Purely as friends, of course. That had been the intention, anyway.

  The night hadn’t exactly gone as planned though.

  Brooke had been coming off a bad breakup, and she’d always assumed Dylan only asked her to prom because he’d sensed she was having a rough time. He could have had his pick of prom dates but instead he’d invoked their prom pact. It was him looking out for her, like he always had.

  “Wouldn’t it be more fun if we went with each other?” she remembered him saying. “We always have a great time together, and this way our prom memories will be of each other, instead of some rando date we’ll probably never see again after graduation.”

  Even if it was just a pity date, Brooke jumped at the chance. She’d had a uniformly awful senior year, and the prospect of going to prom with one of her best and oldest friends was so much better than any alternative she’d been able to imagine. She probably wouldn’t have gone at all if it hadn’t been for Dylan.

  Not when Kyle would be there with his new girlfriend. After what he’d done to her, Brooke couldn’t bear the thought of facing him alone.

  But Dylan had pulled out all the stops to make sure she had a good time: corsage, limo, dinner at a fancy restaurant. With their diverging romantic pursuits, they hadn’t hung out just the two of them in a while, and it was nice to have Dylan all to herself again. She’d had so much fun dancing the night away with Dylan, she barely even noticed Kyle and his new girlfriend and all the shitty looks he and his friends shot her way.

  For that one magical night, it had felt like no one existed in the world but her and Dylan.

  After the last dance, when their feet hurt so much they could barely walk, they piled back into the limo waiting to take them home. Brooke was riding an endorphin high, but also feeling a buzz from the flask of Jack Daniels that Dylan had smuggled into the dance. They were both a little drunk, to be honest.

  That was the only explanation she could think of for the kiss.

  Brooke remembered being tired and resting her head on Dylan’s shoulder. At some point, he’d turned his head so he was looking down at her, his face only inches from hers. Then his hand had curled around the back of her neck, and the next thing she knew he was kissing her.

  Until that moment, she’d never thought about Dylan like that.

  Well, maybe she’d thought about it a little.

  More than a little.

  But she’d never imagined he would ever think about her like that.

  It completely blindsided her. But it also felt amazing…and right, in a way kissing Kyle had never felt. The electric zing Brooke felt when Dylan’s lips touched hers was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. It opened up a whole world of possibilities.

  But just as she was starting to adjust to the idea, he’d stopped and pulled away.

  She would never forget the look on his face. Embarrassment and regret and horror all mixed into one. Actual horror. Because he’d kissed her.

  Stammering an apology, Dylan backed as far away from her as the limo seat would allow.

  “Let’s forget this ever happened,” he said, wiping his hand across his mouth, and Brooke’s heart broke in two. Because he hadn’t meant it. He hadn’t wanted to kiss her. It had just been an accident, a drunken mistake, and now he wanted to take it back.

  Just when she was starting to like the idea of kissing Dylan. Really like it.

  They’d never spoken of it again after that night. Both of them had worked hard to pretend it was no big deal. But it had been a big deal to Brooke. Even now, seven years later, she felt her stomach clench at the memory.

  That wasn’t going to cut it—not at all. Not when Dylan was coming here to sleep on her couch for a week to get away from whatever was going on with him in New York.

  He was coming to her because he needed a friend, and she intended to be the friend he needed—not some sad, pining girl carrying a torch for him.

  Dylan had always, always looked out for her, and now, finally, she would get to return the favor.

  Which meant not dwelling on the most painful chapter in their history. Let’s forget this ever happened, he’d said, and that was exactly what she’d do. The memories of that night were going back into the lockbox where Brooke had buried them years ago.

  She was not going to think about kissing Dylan while he was here.

  Not at all.

  Not even once.

  Chapter Two

  “Here’s to Cheese and Wine Fest 2020!”

  Brooke clinked her glass of Syrah against the wineglasses of the other bachelorette party revelers gathered around the table.

  “And to Penny!” Olivia said beside her, raising her glass again. “And her last week of being single!” They all lifted their glasses as they cheered and whooped for the bride-to-be.

  Brooke had known Olivia since college and had subsequently become friends with Penny through her. Some of the other women at the table were members of Olivia and Penny’s knitting group who Brooke only knew a little—although she’d sublet her apartment from Esther, who was sitting across from her. The remaining three women, who were from Penny’s yoga class, Brooke had just met for the first time tonight.

  They’d all come together for Penny’s bachelorette, which had started off with mani-pedis and champagne at a nearby salon before moving to the wine bar where they were currently situated. On the table in front of them sat a collection of open wine bottles and the biggest cheese board Brooke had ever laid eyes on, hence “Cheese and Wine Fest 2020.”

  “Woot! Woot!” shouted the yoga friend in glasses, whose name was Melody and whose left hand sported a diamond engagement ring the size of a Fiat. “I’m so sad I’m not going to see you walk down the aisle though.”

  Penny was getting married in a week, back home in Virginia, so they were having her Los Angeles bachelorette this weekend. Olivia, as Penny’s maid of honor, was the only one of them making the trip for the small family wedding. But once they got back from their honeymoon in two weeks, Penny and Caleb were hosting a separate wedding reception here for all their LA friends.

  “I know!” Penny said, pursing her lips in a pout. “But the church is tiny and my family is so big, and the reception’s just going to be at my parents’ house. The party here will be much better. Bonus: you won’t have to watch my great-aunt Naomi eat cake without her teeth in.”

  “Ew!” Esther wrinkled her nose as she reached for another piece of Manchego from the cheese plate. They’d all been stuffing their faces with cheese for twenty minutes and barely seemed to have made a dent—that was how massive the cheese board was.

  “When are you getting married?” Penny asked Melody, brandishing a cheese straw like a lecturer’s pointer. “It feels like you’ve been engaged forever.”

  “It feels like forever to me too.” Melody frowned as she twisted the big-ass ring on her finger. “It’s just complicated with his family and everything.”

  “Families make everything complicated,” Olivia said, shooting Brooke a commiserating look.

  Brooke reached over and squeezed her friend’s arm. She and Olivia were both California transplants who had fled out of state for college because they’d wanted to put some distance between themselves and their complicated familial relationships. As undergraduate roommates at Cal State LA, they’d bonded over the fact that they were both from the Gulf Coast area, as well as the fact that neither of them looked forward to going home over holiday breaks.

  “You should do a destination wedding,” one of the other yoga friends suggested. All Brooke knew about her was her
name was Lacey Lopez, she looked like she could crush a watermelon between her thighs, and she was in a relationship with Tessa, the third yoga friend who was also apparently the yoga instructor. The whole yoga end of the table was intimidatingly fit and beautiful, making Brooke feel self-conscious about her bird legs and flat chest.

  They were also all in relationships. As Brooke looked around at their group, she realized everyone else there was either married, engaged, or in a serious, long-term relationship. She was the only single one out of the nine of them.

  Cool. Cool cool cool.

  Not that she minded being single. On the contrary, she loved it. She wouldn’t trade places with the others for anything. Brooke liked being on her own, and had spent enough time on the dating market that she considered herself lucky she didn’t currently have to deal with a man in her life.

  The only thing she minded about being single was that when she was outnumbered by the happily coupled, the conversation often turned to topics that didn’t interest or include her.

  “None of my family or friends could afford to go to a destination wedding,” Melody said.

  Lacey shrugged. “Get Jeremy’s mom to pay for everyone. It’s not like she can’t afford it.”

  Melody shook her head. “She doesn’t approve of destination weddings, so she’d never agree to that. Something about sand and formalwear. She has very particular ideas about what a proper society wedding should be, most of which have to do with impressing her rich friends and business associates.”

  “This is why Jonathan and I are never getting married,” Esther announced as she claimed another piece of Manchego. “Both of our families are nightmares, and the thought of them all together at a wedding gives me anxiety sweats. It’s too much trouble. And for what? A meaningless ceremony and a giant cake?”

  “Very nice.” Esther’s best friend Jinny, who’d just gotten married a few months ago, jabbed Esther with her elbow. “We’re here to celebrate Penny’s wedding, and you’re bad-mouthing weddings!”

  “Ow!” Esther rubbed her arm where Jinny had assailed it. “I wasn’t talking about your wedding or Penny’s! Just weddings in general.”

  “I’d have a wedding for the cake alone,” Olivia said with a shrug. “You’re doing it right, Penny. Two receptions means getting two cakes.”

  Penny’s face lit up as she turned to Olivia. “Wait! Does that mean you and Adam have started talking about marriage?”

  “Noooo.” Olivia gave a definitive head shake as she topped up her chardonnay. “Definitely not.”

  “Why not?” Penny asked. “You’ve been together long enough.”

  “Leave her alone.” Cynthia, another member of the knitting group, wagged her finger at Penny and pushed her empty wineglass toward Olivia for a fill-up. “Just because you’re getting married doesn’t mean the whole world has to.”

  Olivia and her boyfriend Adam were taking it slow. They still maintained separate apartments, and as far as Brooke knew they didn’t have any plans to move in together. Not because they weren’t happy—in fact, they seemed deliriously happy—but because they liked it that way. Olivia said it was good for them to have their own spaces to retreat to sometimes.

  Brooke valued her alone time, so she could definitely relate. Sometimes she’d try to picture herself in a serious, committed relationship, sharing her whole life and her home with someone else, but the prospect actively repelled her.

  As far as she was concerned, she’d get better value out of a new vibrator than a new boyfriend.

  Lately she’d been thinking what she really wanted was a booty call buddy. Someone she could call when she was in the mood for company and ignore when she wasn’t. You wouldn’t think it would be hard to find. If books and movies and most of the internet were to be believed, the world was full of emotionally distant men who were only interested in the physical aspects of a relationship. And yet she’d never managed to stumble across one.

  Maybe you had to venture into online dating for that. Ugh. Brooke couldn’t bear the thought of it. She didn’t want it bad enough to deal with weeding out all the creeps and jumping through hoops just to find out if someone was attractive or repulsive.

  Brooke was convinced she just wasn’t cut out for coupledom. She’d tried dating—again and again and again—but it always felt like more trouble than it was worth. The physical intimacy could be a lot of fun—although too often it was a disappointment—but emotional intimacy never seemed to follow. As soon as a guy tried to get closer to her, she started itching to get away.

  She couldn’t even put the blame on the men, necessarily. The last few had been perfectly nice, decent guys. It must be her fault.

  The closest she’d ever come to cohabitating was when her last boyfriend had a burst pipe in his apartment building and had to stay with her for three weeks until it was fixed. They’d driven each other up the freaking wall. By the time Garrett’s apartment had been habitable again, they were both on their last nerve and ready to call it quits. Brooke had never been so happy to see the backside of a relationship, and she hadn’t been tempted to date again since.

  She was even a little nervous about Dylan staying with her for a whole week. Sure, they’d been friends forever, but they hadn’t spent any real time together in years. Even when they used to hang out regularly, they’d never shared a living space. She could always go back to her own home at the end of the day.

  What if he drove her bonkers? What if they’d grown apart so much since high school they didn’t have anything to talk about? What if he’d turned into a douche in New York? Or a dirtbag? Or a snob?

  Which reminded her, she still needed to get some things for her apartment before he arrived next weekend.

  The conversation at the table around her had returned to the subject of destination weddings, which Brooke had no opinions about, so she slipped her phone out of her pocket and navigated to the Pottery Barn website as she nibbled on a piece of English cheddar. If she was going to have a houseguest, she should probably upgrade some of her amenities.

  “What are you looking at?” Olivia asked, leaning in to peer over Brooke’s shoulder.

  Brooke looked up guiltily from her phone. “Towels?”

  “Are you shopping?” Jinny asked. “Let me see!” She held out her hand and Brooke passed her the phone. “I like those,” Jinny declared with an approving nod. “Their towels are really nice and thick.”

  “I like that they look like fancy hotel towels,” Brooke said. They were a lot nicer than her current towels—and a lot more expensive too.

  “Didn’t you just buy new towels last year?” Olivia asked. “You did! The cute ones with the whales all over them.”

  Brooke accepted her phone back from Jinny. “Those are Target towels and I got them in the kids’ department. I was thinking of investing in something a little more grown-up before Dylan gets here.” At the time, she’d thought whale towels would be cute—but now they seemed too juvenile for company.

  “Who’s Dylan?” Esther asked.

  “Just a friend from high school,” Brooke answered, putting her phone away. “He’s coming to LA next week and he’s going to stay with me.”

  Cynthia made a face. “Why are you buying new towels for a man? He’s just going to leave them in a heap on the floor with his dirty gym clothes and socks.”

  “You’d understand if you’d seen this guy,” Olivia told her. “He’s next-level gorgeous.”

  “Oh my gosh, is this Hot Butt we’re talking about?” Penny asked, leaning forward. “He’s coming here?”

  Brooke blinked at her. “Hot what?”

  Penny reached for her wineglass. “The underwear model, right?”

  “How do you know about him?” Brooke was almost positive she’d never mentioned Dylan to Penny. She didn’t talk about him that much, did she?

  “I might have told Penny about him,” Olivia admitted with a shrug.

  “And we totally stalked his Insta too. Hoo boy!” Penny fanned her
self with her hand.

  Olivia grinned. “And then Penny started calling him Hot Butt because of that one pic where—”

  “Yes, I know the one,” Brooke said, cutting her off. She’d tried to block out the memory of that one particular photo of Dylan lying facedown on a bed, completely butt-ass naked. She preferred to maintain a dichotomy between her feelings for her childhood friend Dylan and her feelings about the disturbingly hot man in his Instagram feed.

  “Because he’s got such a hot butt,” Penny explained.

  “Yeah, I figured it out,” Brooke said, wishing everyone would stop talking about Dylan’s butt.

  “It’s all round and shiny.” Penny sighed dreamily. “Like two perfect, ripe apples.”

  “That’s all Photoshop,” Brooke felt the need to point out. Dylan didn’t actually look like that in real life.

  Did he?

  He couldn’t possibly. She hadn’t actually seen him in person since he moved to New York, but god, she hoped he didn’t look that good in person.

  “Oh no, that one was an unretouched outtake,” Olivia offered unhelpfully. “It said so in the caption. Au naturel.”

  Esther rested her chin on her hand. “So what are you going to do with your hot underwear model while he’s here?” Her mouth twisted into a smirk. “I can think of a few things…”

  “He’s like a brother,” Brooke insisted. A brother she used to have a huge crush on, granted, but that was a long time ago.

  Esther tilted her head to one side. “Is he really though? Is he like a brother?”

  Olivia nudged Brooke with her elbow. “Yeah, didn’t you go to prom with him?”

  “Well, yes,” Brooke admitted. “But only as friends.” Mostly. Sort of. But not exactly. Wow, all this cheese was making her mouth dry. She reached for her wineglass and took a drink.

  “Didn’t you kiss him on prom night?” Olivia persisted.

  Brooke gulped down more wine and wiped her mouth before answering. “That was just a fluke. A one-time thing. We both regretted it instantly.” One of them did, anyway.