Page 12 of Accidental Roommates

“With people we thought we had a future with? I assume you talked about the future with Shithead?”

“Shithead.” She laughs. “That’s a good name for him. And yeah, we’d talked about the future. We were going to get married after we graduate. We talked about what kind of house we wanted, how many kids we’d have. We even had names for the kids.” Sadness fills her eyes. “Why would he talk about us having a future if he didn’t want that? Why couldn’t he just tell me the truth?”

“Maybe because he didn’t want to disappoint you? Because he knew you wanted those things?”

“But lying about it only made it worse. He got my hopes up for something that’ll never happen.”

“I don’t know what to tell you other than that guys are stupid.”

“Except for you,” she says, her smile back.

“No, I’m pretty stupid. My girlfriend was cheating with my roommate and I had no clue. How could I not figure that out?”

“Because you didn’t want to believe it. Even if you suspected something was going on, you told yourself it’s not because you didn’t want it to be true.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I walk to the door. “Let’s get the rest of your stuff.”

After five trips to the car, we’ve got everything unloaded and put in Kenzie’s room.

“Need anything else?” I ask, standing at her door.

“Um, yeah, where’s the bathroom?”

“Sorry, I forgot about that.” I walk through her room to the closed door. “It’s through here.” I open the door. “It’s a pass-through bathroom, meaning my room connects to it on the other side.”

“So we have to share?” she asks, biting her lip.

“Yeah. Is that a problem?”

“Um, no, I guess not. I’ve just never shared a bathroom with a guy before, or a guy who wasn’t Liam.”

“I think we can make it work. Just make sure to lock the door on my side so I don’t accidentally walk in when you’re in there. And I’ll do the same when I’m using it.”

“So this is the only bathroom?”

“The only one with a shower. There’s a bathroom off the kitchen, but it only has a toilet and sink. The toilet always runs forever after you flush it so I don’t ever use that bathroom. But if you want to, you can.”

“That’s okay. I’ll just use this one.”

We go back in her room and she sits on the bed. “Any other house rules I should know about?”

“I don’t think so.”

“What about food?”

“What about it?”

“Any rules about the fridge? Like do we have our own shelves?”

“No rules. You can put food wherever you want in there.”

“Should I write my name on what I buy so we don’t mix stuff up?”

“You don’t need to. I don’t keep much food around. I usually eat out or get takeout. If you look in the fridge, you’ll find energy drinks, hot sauce, and eggs. That’s about all I buy.”

“So you eat out for every meal?”

“Not breakfast. I have a protein bar when I get up. Sometimes I’ll have one for lunch too. Depends on my class schedule and if I have time to grab lunch or not. If I’m home for dinner, I’ll make eggs or a chicken breast or just mix up a protein shake.”

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