Page 16 of The Ruse

“I will.” He shot me his dazzling smile that I loved and took another step down. “Sweet dreams, Elyse.”

Yeah, you have no idea how sweet my dreams will probably be tonight.

6

ELYSE

The common roomwas empty when I stepped inside. Most everyone was still visiting their families for Thanksgiving and there were only a handful of students who’d stayed on campus.

If my mom hadn’t had to head back to make sure the Black Friday sale on her brand’s website went well, we would’ve had an extended vacation with her. But such was the life of a newly discovered fashion designer. She had to put in the grunt work now to get the machine rolling well before she could move into a more hands-off role.

I looked at the time on the grandfather clock in the corner of the traditionally decorated room. It was close to eleven. Our curfew in the dorms was ten o’clock on weeknights, but because it was a weekend and a holiday, Ava had until midnight before she had to be back. And since she and Carter had less time to spend together these days, thanks to both of them being on the varsity basketball teams, I would bet that they planned to spend every last second together that they could tonight.

I didn’t really feel like going to bed quite yet, so after changing into the new pajamas my mom had bought me—a red set with little white stars on it—I went back downstairs to sit in front of the fire and catch up on the latest season ofYou.

Ava thought I was a weirdo for enjoying a show about a serial killer, but despite being slightly disturbing, I actually loved it. Joe was the most likable and sympathetic serial killer I knew of, and even though he found himself in some really bad situations, you couldn’t help but root for him since he really wastryingso hard to be good and not fall into his old habits.

I chuckled as I put my fuzzy gray blanket over my legs and settled into the big leather couch. Since when did I watch shows like this?

Since I discovered what a hottie Penn Badgley was. That’s when.

If you’d asked me a couple of months ago who my celebrity crush was, I’d immediately say it was Joshua Basset or Kai from Exo. But after binging the first two seasons ofYouover the past week, I was certain that Penn Badgley, the actor who played Joe Goldberg, was my new celebrity crush.

He was a bit too old for me, sure. But there was something about his tousled curls, strong jawline, and smile with the slightest gap between his front teeth that had me hooked on watching him.

I’d even gotten so curious about him that last night, after my mom, Ava, and I had gotten back to my mom’s hotel suite, I ended up watching a bunch of his oldGossip Girlinterviews. And man, can I just say that Penn had pulled off the role of a studious prep-school boyverywell? I was pretty sure that if we had someone like Dan Humphrey at Eden Falls Academy, I just might have someone else starring in my daydreams right alongside Nash.

I mean, wasn’t it every girl’s dream to have not just one but two super hot guys in private-school uniforms fighting for her heart?

I shook the thought away. I could barely get any momentum going with one guy. There was no way I’d know how to handle two.

Deciding to leave the love triangles to Joe, I hit the play arrow on my screen and got lost in the scene where Joe was pretending to browse through books at the library while he secretly spied on his latest obsession.

I was about halfway through the episode when I heard footsteps on the staircase behind me. Startled, I turned to see who was coming down from the boys’ dorms and found Asher.

He’d changed out of the clothes he’d been wearing at The Italian Amigos earlier and now wore plaid pajama pants and a fitted white T-shirt that showed off his muscular physique.

And even though I had a crush on Nash, I could appreciate a guy who looked this good in his pajamas.

My gaze went to his biceps. Wow, Asher had nice arms. And they were tan and big and sculpted…

I made my eyes move away from them, though, since he didn’t need to notice me checking out his biceps that peeked out from his pajama shirt sleeves.

When I first moved into the dorms last September, it had been weird seeing my classmates in their pajamas. But now it was becoming more and more normal and even made us feel somewhat like a big, diverse family.

Asher made it to the bottom of the stairs. Not wanting a suspected murderer to get any ideas from the show I was watching, I quickly locked my iPad’s screen and shoved it in between the couch cushions.

“Hello,” I said, my voice coming out higher pitched than normal with my nerves.

“Hi.” He gave a slight wave before walking behind my couch and heading toward the kitchenette in the corner of the room.

Should I say something else to him? Make small talk?

Or should I just go back to my show since making small talk was the worst?

Asher started opening various drawers in the kitchenette, like he was looking for something specific. After opening the third one, he bent over with one hand on the counter as if he was studying the contents of the drawer.

Was he hungry? He’d been working the dinner shift at the restaurant tonight. Had he not eaten anything while he was there?

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