Page 37 of The Temporary Roomie: Extended Edition

I pull out my phone and shoot Lucy and Cooper a group text.

ME: I hate you both. I’m in Jessie’s freaking closet.

LUCY:Bahahahahahaha

COOPER:*kissy face emoji*

ME:No. I’ve been standing in here too long, afraid to jump out. I’m going to look like a major perv now and she’s really going to hate me.

LUCY:How long have you been in there while she’s in her room?

ME:Like three minutes

COOPER:Dude . . .

ME:I KNOW! What do I do?

LUCY:She’s pregnant—she’s bound to go to the bathroom soon. When she does, sneak out.

ME:Okay yeah, that’s good.

COOPER: Just jump out and get your kissing on.

LUCY:DON’T listen to Cooper. Believe me, you will not end up making out.

I peek through the crack in the closet door, trying to see if Jessie is still out there, just in time to see her grab the bottom hem of her shirt like she’s going to take it off. NO! Oh god, please, no. This is awful now. I’ve waited in this damn closet way too long, and if she finds me after changing her clothes, she’s really going to think I’m some sort of pervert.

I immediately turn around so my back is to the closet door. No way will I have “peeping Tom” weighing on my conscience as well as “closet stalker.”Please, please, please go into the bathroom.

She doesn’t. Her feet are drawing near the closet.What do I do?!There’s nowhere to go in here, nowhere to hide. My heart is pounding so hard I feel like I’m going to pass out, then suddenly the doors to the closet open, and it fills with light.

The next sequence of events all happen within a one-second span and go something like this:

Jessie screams.

I turn around.

Her eyes go wide.

I notice she’s wearing nothing but a towel.

Her fist collides with my face.

Everything goes black.

“Drew, I am so, so sorry!” Jessie says, hovering beside me in the bathroom as I press a wad of tissue to my bleeding nose. She’s still only wearing a towel with her hair up in an adorable messy bun, and I find it all highly distracting.

Focus on the gushing blood and pain radiating through my right cheekbone.

“It’s all right, really,” I mumble through the toilet paper, still slightly out of it.

“I didn’t realize it was you! I was just freaked out when I opened my closet and found a man in there, and when you turned around, I reacted before I could think.”She smells like coconut.“I would have never punched you if I knew it was you.”

“Are you sure about that?” I say with a grin I instantly regret as pain shoots through my cheek.

She gives me a pitiful, remorseful look. “I’m serious! You annoy me, but I’ve never meant to cause you bodily harm!” I’ve never seen her like this—genuinely worried and upset.

I can’t help it. I reach out an arm and pull her up to me, giving her a consoling hug. But when my hand wraps around her bare, warm shoulder, I remember she’s wearing absolutely nothing but a towel, and I quickly release her. “It’s my fault anyway.”

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