Bachelor Number Five (The Bachelor Series, Volume 1) by Kenneth Rosenberg

Lauren, before changing her mind.  “Vanilla chai.”
    “Mind if I have one of those, too?  That sounds good.”
    “Have whatever you want.  Half of those boxes are from previous roommates anyway.”
    Amanda took down the box of vanilla chai and placed it on the table.  She grabbed two mugs from another cabinet.  “Milk and sugar?”
    Lauren nodded.  Amanda placed a bowl of sugar, two spoons and a carton of half-and-half on the table before taking a seat.  Lauren took two tea bags from the cardboard box and dropped each into its own mug.  “You think I was naïve about the whole thing with Peter,” Lauren said.  “I wasn’t.  I knew what I was getting into.”
    “What was that?”
    “A relationship with a serial womanizer.”
    “Was it really a relationship?”
    “It was to me.”
    “So he was your boyfriend?”  Amanda was hesitant to ask.
    “Things were definitely moving in that direction.”
    “So what happened?  He cheated on you?”
    Lauren didn’t answer.  Her brow tightened, the veins in her forehead beginning to protrude as she thought back to those difficult times.
    “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to,” Amanda said.  
    “He led me on.  That’s the thing.  He made me think I was special but it was all a big lie.  I was nothing to him.  Of all the girls he could hook up with… does hook up with… he should have left me alone.  It’s hard to admit how much it hurt.  I should have known better, especially after what happened with Samantha.”
    “Who is Samantha?”
    “You haven’t met Samantha yet?”
    “No, I don’t think so.”
    “The girl in apartment five?  The lawyer?”
    “Apartment five?”  Lauren looked out the front window.  Apartment five was just beyond Darren and Aaron’s place, on the wing opposite from Peter’s.  Amanda had seen a woman going in and out of there a few times.  She was always well-dressed and had a serious demeanor.  So far she and Amanda had yet to actually cross paths.  “I’ve seen her, yeah.  We haven’t met, though.  Are you telling me that she slept with Peter, too?  He really does get around, doesn’t he?”
    “I don’t know if he slept with her,” Lauren pouted.  “I mean, he must have.  That’s his whole thing, right?”
    “If you say so.”
    “I know there was something between them…”
    “Does any of that really matter now?  You’ve got Darren, right?  You guys are happy, aren’t you?”
    Lauren bit her lower lip.  “Yeah.  We’re happy.”
    “So why even worry about Peter anymore?  Forget about him!”
    “I’m trying.  It doesn’t help when you’re hanging out with him all the time and letting him stroll around our apartment.  I smelled his cologne in here the other day.  I was not happy about that.”
    Amanda licked her lips.  The things she’d wanted to say about this she’d said already.  It was best to let it lie at this point.  “I’m sorry,” she replied instead, though that didn’t mean she would refrain from talking to Peter.  She had nothing against him.  It did mean she’d try to be less obvious about it.  She still wondered if she was actually interested in Peter herself.  He was handsome.  He was sophisticated.  He was nice, even.  At the same time, she knew better.  He wasn’t offering what she wanted in life.  Just like Lauren, Amanda was after long-term stability, commitment and ever-lasting love.  Lauren’s experience alone was evidence of what could happen to a girl who expected those things from Peter.  It didn’t mean she couldn’t chat with him occasionally on the landing, or loan him five bucks for the laundry machine.  Or admire his handsome features and dreamy blue eyes…  She realized, though, that she’d have to be careful about it.  Amanda didn’t like the idea of sneaking around behind her roommate’s back, but Lauren was obviously too fragile to have it any other way.
    The kettle made a shrill whistle and