Page 64 of White Hole

“Dude, that sucks.”

Aaron shrugged. “It’s not that bad. I’m used to it now.”

“How’s your roommate?” I asked him.

“He’s cool. Showed me the ropes when I first got there. Introduced me to some guys.”

“What aboutgirls?” Dan asked.

Aaron blushed and looked down at the console. “Ah, there’s a school nearby.” He swallowed. “I heard.”

“You guys haven’t hit that?”

“There’s a few events throughout the year they have planned for us.”

Dan huffed. “Planned events.Great.”

I nodded at Aaron. “Sounds like you’re doing real good for yourself there. Obeying the rules and all.”

Aaron sat back in his seat and stared out his window.

“Well, I’m calling a few sluts over tonight, for sure,” Dan said.

“Dan.” I warned him, slapping the back of my hand against his arm.

“What?”

I shook my head. If Aaron didn’t want that, we shouldn’t push him. And I didn’t want him to screw up on his holiday.

When we arrived at our house, Father was in the kitchen with his latest girlfriend. I didn’t bother to learn her name. She had catered a big dinner in her attempts to play mom. Once we all ate, almost in complete silence, minus the silverware scraping on our plates, I followed Aaron upstairs to his old room, more for his protection from Father than anything.

“Hey,” I said once we were alone. “I really am proud of you.”

Aaron started taking out dirty clothes from his duffel to stuff in his hamper, picking up his room without looking at me.

“You okay?” He was being too quiet.

“George,” Aaron moved behind me to close and lock his door. “Gianna visited me.”

After a sharp inhale, I held my breath. Before I lost my cool, I steadied my voice. “When? Why didn’t you tell me right away? What happened?”

Aaron sat on his bed. “She, um. She started flirting with me.” He looked up at me through his long lashes.

I crossed my arms and waited.

“It was weird. I didn’t know what to do.”

“You were supposed to callme. I could take care of it.”

“Well, she blew me and my roommate,” he said flatly.

“What? When?” I could feel turkey and gravy rising into my throat. Swallowing hard, I willed my pulse to slow down.

“Two weeks ago.”

Pacing, I ran my fingers through my hair repeatedly, trying to come up with something to say and to stuff my dinner back into my stomach.

“I’m not into her, man. If you are.” Aaron stood up, narrowing his eyes at me, misinterpreting my anger.

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