Page 41 of Accidental Roommates

Jace moves a little, then takes a breath.

“You’re still not comfortable, are you?” I ask.

“I’m comfortable. In fact, this feels really good.”

“I thought so too. Think you’ll be able to sleep?”

He yawns. “I think I’m already halfway there.”

I close my eyes. “Goodnight, Jace.”

“Goodnight, Kenzie.”

I lie there, thinking about all that’s happened today. When I woke up this morning, I never would’ve imagined this is how my day would end. I thought I’d be in the arms of Liam, the guy I thought I’d be with forever. But all that changed in just a few hours. And now, I’m in the arms of a guy who’s not my boyfriend but who I like more than the guy I loved.

CHAPTER NINE

Jace

“Hey, what are you up to?” Troy asks when I answer his call.

“Just got up. Why?”

“We’re all going to the pool at ten. The place is supposed to be packed so we’re going early.”

One of the public pools in town always has a college day before classes start. It’s for students only so you need your ID to get in. The place fills up fast with people looking to find dates or hook up. Girls wear their skimpiest bikinis and show them off while lying on the lounge chairs or strolling around the pool.

Every year I go there with the guys from the team, but I’m not sure I want to today if it means breaking my plans with Kenzie. We don’t really have plans yet but I told her we’d spend the day together.

“I don’t think I can make it,” I say, “but let me know how it goes. Is Jay already drinking?”

“Yeah, he started at seven.”

Jay always gets drunk before he goes. He needs liquid courage to go up to all the hot girls in bikinis and ask them out. He’s confident on the basketball court, but put him in front of a hot girl and he clams up and starts sweating.

“You gotta come with us,” Troy says. “It’s tradition. I know that bitch messed you up but forget her. You can’t miss pool day because of her.”

Nikki. I almost forgot about her. I woke up and didn’t even think of her. How’s that even possible? She’s been on my mind since the moment we met. Am I so traumatized by the break-up that I put her out of my head? Or is it because of Kenzie? She’s the girl I woke up thinking about, which makes sense since I woke up with her in my arms.

That probably wasn’t the right thing to do, given that she’s my roommate, but it sure felt right, maybe because I was lonely and missing Nikki. But if that’s true, then I shouldn’t have done it. I shouldn’t have used Kenzie to make myself feel better. But is that really what I did? It didn’t feel like it at the time, but who knows? Maybe I was, in which case I’m an ass and can’t let myself do that again.

Kenzie’s a nice girl and I don’t want to mislead her in any way. We’re both on the rebound from long relationships and getting involved with anyone, especially each other, is the absolute last thing we should do. That’s why we made that agreement to keep each other from getting into a relationship again. It’s too soon. We need to let our hearts heal and get our minds straight.

“Jace, you still there?”

“Yeah, sorry. I just woke up. I’m a little out of it.”

“So you’ll be there, right?”

“I don’t think so. And it’s not about Nikki. I just don’t feel like going this year.”

“Why the hell not? The timing’s perfect. The place will be crawling with girls. You can have your pick. You know how many girls have been waiting for you to finally be single?”

“When I was on the team, yeah, but it’s different now.”

“Uh, no. Just last night, three girls were asking about you. If you’d been at the party, I bet you could’ve had all three. Maybe all at once.” He laughs. “Lucky bastard.”

“Who was asking about me?” I say, assuming he’s only telling me that to boost my ego after the break-up.

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