Not Pretending Anymore Ward, Penelope (good books for high schoolers .txt) 📖

me Dr. Cohen told her he’s staying with him. Apparently he and the wannabe actress are finito.”

“Wow.”

Emma smiled. “Yup. And fair warning, my friend… I’m allowing a ten-day grace period for him to grieve the end of a year-long relationship. But after that, I’m going to be up your butt making sure you let the man know you’re interested. He’s not going to be on the market for long, and you missed your opportunity last time he was single. You can’t keep pining for the guy.”

Of course she was right. And while I felt elated that Will was back on the market, the thought of coming clean to him about my feelings made me want to throw up. Will Daniels—or as Emma called him, Dr. Dandy, because of his last name and uncanny resemblance to a male model named David Gandy—and I had been good friends for four years now. We’d started on the very same day at the hospital and had gone through orientation together. I’d had a boyfriend back then, and he’d been seeing a girl from med school at the time, so even though I’d always thought he was insanely handsome, things didn’t bloom until two years ago. And most of the time since then, he’d been seeing one woman or another. Emma was right that the man never seemed to stay single for long.

“He’s going to be at happy hour this Friday night,” I said. “A few of the crew from CCU are meeting up over at McBride’s. I’m curious to hear what he says about the breakup.”

“Does he know you’re looking for a roommate?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, he needs a place to sleep, and you need a roomie.” Emma shrugged. “Timing is everything. Maybe it’s fate and he’ll move in and take care of two of your needs.”

“I think your imagination might be getting ahead of itself. Why don’t we start by seeing if things are really over with him and whatshername? They’ve split up a few times, but he always winds up going back.”

“Okay. But I have a good feeling about you two.”

“Could you possibly have a good feeling about me finding a roommate instead? I just had to pay for another damn ad.”

Emma shook her head. “I can’t believe you didn’t find one decent candidate.”

Remembering my last interview, I said, “Actually there was one who would’ve been perfect—great credit score, neat, cooks, leaves early in the morning, and works long days.”

“So why didn’t you take her?”

“Because she was a he.”

CHAPTER 2

Molly

Interview number fifteen took the cake.

The girl was a professional yodeler and announced that she often had to practice for competitions. She wanted to know whether the room was echoey.

Why couldn’t I find anyone quiet? There was no way I wanted to have to listen to that. So as nice as she was, I let her out of the apartment knowing I’d never see her again.

After we said goodbye, I noticed something on the ground outside my door. It was a covered Tupperware container with an envelope taped to the top.

I took it inside and ripped open the envelope.

The note read:

I noticed the room is still listed for rent. Sorry you’re not having better luck. In the meantime, enjoy these cupcakes I made. Maybe they’ll help relieve some of your stress. If there’s anything else I can do—you know, like take the room off your hands—you have my number.

Declan

(Full disclosure, though: I still have a penis.)

Covering my laugh, I opened the green lid to reveal eight large cupcakes with white frosting. A different word was written on each one. I soon figured out they were meant to create a sentence:

Do. It! Eat. One. And. Thank. Me. Later.

Frustrated, I grabbed the “one” cupcake and took a huge bite off the top. I always ate the tops off cupcakes and left the bottoms. Without the frosting, the cake was dead to me.

I had to admit, it was delicious. The frosting was buttery, and not too sweet. It was creamy, not hardened with sugar.

Did this guy really think he could win my heart—or entry into my apartment—with cupcakes, though?

I laughed to myself and grabbed another one, licking the frosting first before devouring the entire top. They were really delicious. I would’ve assumed he’d bought them from a bakery were it not for the Tupperware container, and also the fact that the shapes were somewhat imperfect.

I’d seriously lost my mind if was I considering giving this guy a chance because his cupcakes tasted so damn good.

Within ten minutes, I’d eaten the tops off all of the cupcakes except two.

I looked down at the words on top of the ones that were left.

Do. It!

Do it!

Was it a sign that I should give him a chance?

And was I desperate enough to look for wisdom from baked goods?

The answer was yes. Yes, I was.

I let out a long breath, conceding what I knew in my gut: the search was over. Declan Tate was going to win by default. I needed the money. He was the least crazy person to walk in my door. And the truth was, I had peni-lized him—punished him for having a penis. I’d thought about that a lot over the past couple of days, and oddly, I’d thought about him. His charisma, how he’d made me laugh—there were worse traits in a roommate.

But before I considered this for real, he and I needed to have a discussion, set some ground rules.

I picked up the phone and dialed the number I had for him.

He apparently knew it was me.

“Hey, Mollz! How’s it go—”

“Okay. You can have it,” I blurted.

“Seriously?”

“Those cupcakes were so damn good. You won me over, which was obviously your intent.”

“Cupcakes plural? Did you have more than one?”

“No comment.”

He laughed and spoke to himself, “Take note, Declan. The way to the new roomie’s heart is through her stomach.”

Roomie.

I sighed.

What am I doing?

He must have sensed my frustration. “Don’t be so down about it, Mollz. It’ll be fun, and like I