Page 7 of Surrender

“Awesome. And is it okay if I spread some of his things throughout the apartment? I want this place to start to feel familiar to him.”

“Do whatever you want.” After another awkward pause, I told him, “There’s actually somewhere I need to be, so I’ll leave you to it. Your keys are on the kitchen counter, and I’ll see you later.”

“Oh. Okay. See you later, then.”

With that, I plucked my denim jacket from the closet and fled. I obviously couldn’t avoid Everett forever, but right now, I needed some time to process this totally unexpected turn of events.

Once I was out of the apartment, I sent a text to my friend Vee:Hey, is it too late to take you up on your offer of joining you for Sunday dinner?

Vee always chose talking over texting, so it was no surprise when the phone rang in my hand. As soon as I answered it, he exclaimed, “Of course it’s not too late! Come on over. My housemates and I are about to begin happy hour.”

“Great, thanks.”

“You’d mentioned your new roommate was moving in today. You should bring him along.”

“Another time,” I said. “He’s getting settled.”

“What do you think of him?”

“He seems fine, but by some bizarre coincidence, we’d met before.”

“Really? When?”

“We had the hookup from hell back in February.”

“Awkward!”

“Definitely.”

“You know I’m going to need all the juicy details, right?”

“I figured.”

It felt like I’d known Vihaan Khatri forever, but it had actually been about six years. Vee and I had met while working at a resort on Catalina Island, and despite having nothing in common, we’d grown close. That was all down to him, because he was extremely outgoing and made friends everywhere he went.

When he told me he was moving to San Francisco a few weeks ago, I’d put him in touch with some acquaintances who had a room to rent in a funky pink Victorian near Dolores Park.He fit in perfectly and already considered his six housemates family.

As soon as I arrived at his house, Vee crushed me in a hug and exclaimed, “Good to see you, man!”

“Good to see you, too.”

Once we let go of each other, he said, “Something’s different.”

“I’m overdue for a haircut.”

He grinned and wiggled his thick, dark brows suggestively. “You should let it grow. I like you a little scruffy.” He was a massive flirt, and I knew not to take anything he said seriously.

I glanced at him while I took off my jacket and hung it on the coat rack beside the door. Vee was literally and figuratively a very colorful person. His shaggy, black hair currently sported emerald green streaks, and he was wearing a red mesh T-shirt with pink camo cargo shorts. This look was completed with a pair of green flip flops and a lot of eclectic jewelry.

When I followed Vee into the living room, which was as colorful and eclectic as he was, his housemate Embry greeted me enthusiastically. So did Vee’s little blue parakeet, Clementine. As soon as he spotted me, the bird shrieked, “What the fuck!” It was the only thing he ever said. Then he flew directly at my face.

I ducked instinctively, and he ended up landing on my shoulder. That made me twitchy, since I never knew when Clementine might decide to peck at something. But I let him stay there as I took a seat on one of the mismatched club chairs.

Embry was a cute little twink with a mop of bleached blond curls and a well-deserved reputation for being a walking disaster. He poured a drink from a pitcher on the coffee table and sloshed a little onto the area rug as he handed it to me. Then he offered me the charcuterie board and beamed with pride as he said, “I made it myself.”

I probably would have been able to guess that, because it was an off-beat combination of string cheese, baby carrots, Skittles,and gum. After I declined, Vee got right to it by saying, “We’re dying to hear about your new roommate and your hookup from hell.”

He and Embry sat up straight on the couch with their full attention on me, like two kids waiting for story time. This was all pretty embarrassing, so I muttered, “Can I just say it was a disaster and leave it at that?”

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