Page 5 of Accidental Roommates

CHAPTER TWO

Kenzie

“Mom, I’m here. I gotta go.” I pull my car into the last open spot on the street in front of Liam’s house.

“I’ll try to call when I have cell service again. It could be a week or so. Will you be okay?”

“Mom, I’m fine. I’ll be with Liam.”

“I know, but I still worry. This is your first time living away from home.”

“Don’t worry. You’re supposed to be having fun. You’ve wanted to do this forever.”

My mom is a teacher at the community college I just graduated from. The college offered her the chance to teach abroad for a semester at a school in South Africa. She’s always wanted to travel and see the world so she took the job and left last week. It’s perfect timing now that I’m leaving home to go to Parkshire College. Mom and I are starting a new adventure. A new stage in our lives. And we couldn’t be happier.

I’ve been waiting for this day for two years. My high school boyfriend, Liam, went to Parkshire without me after we graduated. My mom couldn’t afford four years of tuition at Parkshire so I went to community college for two years. It was the longest two years of my life. I missed Liam so much. He was four hours away, and between work and my job, it was hard to get away to see him. Sometimes we only saw each other once a month.

Now we’re finally going to be together. He rented a house near campus and I’m going to move in with him. I’m so excited! I was supposed to move in tomorrow, but I couldn’t wait to see him so I came a day early and am going to surprise him.

Getting out of the car, I smile when I see Liam’s house. It’s a small green house with white shutters and a white porch. It’s old and a little run-down but I don’t care. All I care about is seeing Liam again. I’ve missed him so much it hurts. He lived here all summer doing research for one of his professors, which was a great opportunity but a strain on our relationship. It was hard enough going the whole school year without him, but when he didn’t come home for the summer, it was even harder. The only thing that kept me going was knowing I’d be moving in with him at the end of August.

“It might be a couple weeks before I can call you again,” my mom says. “I doubt I’ll have phone service on the safari.”

My mom’s going on a two-week safari with some of her students. It’s something she’s wanted to do forever. I feel like we’re both in a great place in our lives. Like things are really coming together for us. We’re moving forward and making our dreams come true.

“Mom, it’s fine,” I say. “We’ll talk when you get back.”

“You know you can always call your dad if there’s an emergency.”

“I know.”

But I’d never call him, even for an emergency. My dad took off when I was five and moved in with a woman he met at work. He was having an affair with her for a year before Mom found out. When she did, Dad moved out of our house and moved in with Maria, his mistress. A month later, they quit their jobs and moved to Houston. They now have three kids together. I rarely see him or talk to him, which is fine with me. He has a new family. A new life.

“Honey, I’ll let you go, but I’ll be thinking of you. Be safe. I love you.”

“Love you too. Bye, Mom.”

We hang up and I hurry over to the sidewalk and race toward the little green house. The house I will soon share with the guy I love. My best friend. The guy who will one day be my husband.

I’m grinning from ear to ear. I’ve been waiting for this day for so long, and now it’s finally here!

Sprinting up the porch steps, I stop abruptly at the front door and run my hand through my hair, smoothing it into place. I yank my denim mini skirt down and adjust my tank top, wanting to look perfect when Liam sees me. This is his favorite outfit. He loves my legs, and this short skirt shows them off and always leads to sex. I bet I’ll barely get in the door before we’re going at it. When we’ve been apart for a while, we always go crazy when we see each other, spending at least a few hours in bed.

I knock on the door and wait for Liam to answer, my heart racing because I’m so excited to see him. But he doesn’t come to the door. Maybe he went somewhere. I didn’t even consider he might not be home, but it’s the middle of the day so it’s entirely possible he’s out running errands or hanging out with friends.

I get out my phone to text him and hear a noise coming from inside the house. So he’s home, but not answering the door. Maybe he didn’t hear me.

“Liam?” I knock again, and am about to ring the doorbell, but then see it has tape over it and a note saying it doesn’t work.

I knock again, harder this time. I’m tempted to tell him who it is, but that would ruin the surprise. I want to see his face when he sees me. He’s going to be so happy. We’ve both been waiting for this for so long.

When he still doesn’t answer, I try the door handle, knowing he always forgets to lock the door. As expected, the door isn’t locked and I open it and go inside. Liam moved into the house last week so this is the first time I’m seeing it. It’s really small. The living room is barely big enough for the couch he brought from his mom’s house. The black metal trunk he had in his room growing up serves as a coffee table.

“Liam?” I call out.

He doesn’t answer. I walk through the living room to the hall that leads to the bedrooms. Noise is coming from one of them. It sounds like something banging against the wall, probably a tennis ball. When he’s bored, Liam tosses a tennis ball against the wall. His mom used to yell at him for it, but he still did it.

“Liam.” I step into the room, then freeze when I see Liam’s naked ass directly across from me and two long skinny legs wrapped around his waist. A sea of reddish blond hair drapes over his shoulders as two delicate hands with aqua blue fingernails dig into his back.

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