Page 77 of Accidental Roommates

“Kenzie, right?” he asks.

“Yeah. Do we have class together?”

“No, but my friend does. He’s in your psychology class.”

“Oh.” I look at the guy, confused. “So um, he told you about me?”

“I asked him. I was waiting for him after class last week and saw you walk out. I wanted to know who you were. I hadn’t seen you before.”

“I’m new here. I did my first two years at community college.”

As we talk, I try to figure out if I feel anything for him. I don’t feel a connection, but I do think he’s attractive. He has nice eyes. They’re brown with flecks of gold, and when he smiles, a tiny dimple appears in his cheek. His hair is dark, almost black, and cut really short, but it looks good on him.

“This may sound strange given that we just met,” he says, “but I was wondering if you’d like to go out sometime.” When I don’t answer right away, he says, “No pressure. We could just go for coffee. Take a walk. Whatever you want.”

Remembering my promise to Tori, I say, “Sure. We can have coffee.”

He smiles. “Great! How about now? Do you have class?”

“Yeah, and then I need to go home and study for a test. How about tomorrow? Maybe around ten?”

“Sure. Is the campus depot okay? I have class at eleven so I can’t go too far.”

“That works.” I get up. “I need to get to class so…”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

I walk off, then turn back. “I forgot to ask your name.”

“Neal.” He laughs. “Sorry. I should’ve introduced myself. I thought I did, but I obviously didn’t. Too nervous, I guess.”

“I make you nervous?”

“Are you kidding?” He smiles. “You’re gorgeous. I didn’t think there was a chance in hell you’d say yes.”

He thinks I’m gorgeous? I don’t think I’m gorgeous. Cute, maybe, but not gorgeous. Liam never described me as gorgeous. When we first started dating, he said I was beautiful, but after that he never complimented my appearance, even when I tried really hard to look nice for him.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say.

“Yeah. See ya!”

As I walk to class, I text Tori and tell her I have a date. She doesn’t respond because she’s flying to wherever it is she’s going, but when she lands, she’ll be happy when she sees my text.

When I get home later, I find a note from Jace saying he got called into work and won’t be able to make dinner. We were going to make it together. Those magic pans he ordered from that infomercial were backordered and didn’t ship out until last week. They finally arrived yesterday so we were going to try them out tonight.

I don’t like cooking, but I like it when I’m cooking with Jace. We make dinner together a couple times a week. He’s a better cook than me so he does most of it. I just help with whatever he needs. We turn on music and have some beers. It’s fun and I always look forward to it so I’m disappointed he won’t be home tonight.

After grabbing a snack, I go in my room and start reading through my notes to prepare for tomorrow’s test. Ten minutes later, I hear the front door open. Is Jace home already? Maybe it was slow at the gym and his boss sent him home.

I go out to the living room, expecting to see Jace, but instead I see a skinny blonde girl with a key in her hand. Did Jace give this girl a key to the house? Why would he do that without telling me? Is he dating her?

“Can I help you?” I ask, which sounds dumb, but I didn’t know what else to say.

“Who are you?” she asks, looking me up and down.

“Kenzie. I live here.”

“You live here? Since when?”

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