Page 56 of Accidental Roommates

“That’s okay. I can get it. You want one?”

“No, thanks. I don’t drink soda.”

“He’s watching his weight,” Brent says, laughing.

“So I don’t end up with a gut like yours,” Jace says.

“I don’t have a gut.” Brent pokes at his stomach. “That’s all muscle.”

I get up. “I’ll let you guys debate that while I get my soda. Be right back.”

As I walk away, I swear I can feel Jace’s eyes on me. He keeps checking me out, but then notices he’s doing it and looks away. This attraction we have to each other needs to stop, and soon. I’m sure it will once we find people to date.

After getting my soda from the machine, I turn to head back and see Liam coming through the turnstile to the pool area. Given that his girlfriend is here, I should’ve known he’d be here too. Why is he just getting here now? And why didn’t he come with his girlfriend? Maybe their relationship isn’t as great as she made it sound.

“Kenzie!” Liam calls out.

Damn. I was hoping to get away before he saw me. I pretend I didn’t hear him and keep walking. It’s so crowded that I keep getting stuck behind a wall of people and have to stop.

“Kenzie!” Liam yells again.

I look over and he’s right there, coming up beside me. His red hair looks almost blond in the bright sun. Or maybe he lightened it to match his girlfriend’s reddish-blond hair. She has the same pale skin as him but not as many freckles. Liam is covered in them.

I can’t believe I used to think he was attractive. Now he repulses me. I used to love his eyes, but looking at them now, all I see are lies and deceit. He looked at me with those eyes and lied to my face. Over and over again.

“Kenzie, wait.” He holds onto my arm.

I yank it back. “Don’t touch me.”

“Can I at least say something?”

“What?” I snap.

“Over here.” He steps back from the people trying to go past us.

I reluctantly follow him, keeping some distance between us. I fold my arms over my chest. “What do you want?”

“To say that I didn’t mean to hurt you. I really didn’t.”

“You didn’t think cheating on me would hurt me? Are you really that stupid?”

“I knew it would hurt you, but I never meant for it to happen. When Kat and I met, I had no intention of anything happening between us.”

Kat. That’s right. I’d forgotten her name.

“So when you met her, you had no interest in her,” I say. “You just wanted to be her friend.”

“Exactly,” he says, not noticing the sarcasm in my voice. Liam could never read me. He could never tell when I was angry or upset or sad. I barely know Jace and he can already read my emotions and pick up on changes in my tone.

“And Kat’s the one who came up to me.”

That’s not what Kat told me, meaning one of them is lying. And given Liam’s rapid eye movement and the nervous fidgeting he’s doing with the keys in his hand, I’m pretty sure he’s the one lying.

“So what exactly happened?” I ask, wanting to hear his version of the story.

“I was sitting on a bench in the quad after class and this girl sat next to me. She sat really close so I moved down a little, you know, because I had a girlfriend.”

I roll my eyes. “And?”

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