Page 80 of Accidental Roommates

“I’m fine,” she says, but she doesn’t sound fine. She almost sounds sad.

“Are we okay?” I ask, but I’m afraid of the answer and kind of wish I hadn’t asked. Things have been great between us. I don’t want that to change.

“Of course,” she says, but she sounds uncertain. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Okay, bye.”

I sit down on the chair behind the desk, trying to figure out what’s going on. She was fine when I saw her this morning. She was excited about our dinner tonight, saying she couldn’t wait to try the new pans. But I think her excitement was more about us making dinner. It’s become a regular thing now. We make it into an event with drinks and music and pre-dinner snacks. We both love it, even though we pretend it’s a chore. It feels more like a date, but we tell ourselves we’re just making dinner because we have to eat.

“You going to be there this weekend?” Brent says, startling me. He’s standing by the check-in desk, covered in sweat from working out.

“What are you talking about?”

“The party this weekend.” He wipes the sweat from his forehead, causing it to drip on the floor.

Grabbing a towel from the stack we keep behind the desk, I toss it at him. “Here. You’re making a mess.”

He wipes the towel over his face. “You better show up this time. The whole team will be there.”

“Which is why I don’t want to go.”

He rests his sweaty arm on the counter. “You’re going to let Carter keep you from having a social life? He wins if you do that. He gets the girl and your friends. Is that really what you want?”

“I still have friends. I have even more now that everyone knows what he did. I’m the hero in this. He’s the enemy.”

“Yeah, but everyone knows you’re not showing up at parties because of him.”

“That’s not the only reason.”

“What’s the other one? That girl? Your roommate?”

“Her name’s Kenzie,” I say, annoyed, because he’s met her enough times now to know her name. He sees her every time he comes to the house.

“People are starting to talk about you and her.”

“What about us?”

“Like that. The way you always say ‘us’ like you two are a couple. You keep saying you’re not, but then you spend all your time with her. Troy said you ditched him last week because you were doing something with that girl.”

“Kenzie. Use her damn name. And I ditched Troy because it was a setup.”

“Yeah? So? He was helping you out.”

“I don’t need help getting a date. Troy was out of line. He knows how much I hate being lied to, and then he makes up this story about how he needs to talk and wants to meet for a beer. Then I find out later some girl’s gonna be there.”

“You could’ve at least met her.” He slings the towel over his shoulder. “But instead you spent another Friday night doing stuff with your roommate, who you claim is only a friend.”

“Why is everyone so concerned about this? Who the hell cares what I do in my free time? It’s nobody’s business.”

“It’s our business because we never see you anymore, and we can’t figure out why. Even when you were with Nikki, you still made time for your friends.”

“Fine. I’ll go to the damn party this weekend. But if that fucker says anything to me, or even comes near me, I’m gonna smash his face in.”

Brent chuckles. “Wouldn’t be much of a fight. One punch and he’d be on the ground.” He motions to my arms. “You taking something to get that big?”

“You know I don’t use that shit.” I flex my arm. “This is all natural. I’ve been lifting more and drinking less. You should try it.”

“I work out enough as it is. And I’m not giving up drinking.”

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