“You could put your stuff there.” She points at the desk and sits on the bed.
I drop my stuff and sit next to her looking at the picture of her and what I assume is her mom. Nostalgia hitting me like a brick wishing I had a mother who would give a damn.
I tear my gaze away and look at her late model computer and tablet charging in the corner. The doll from the fair sitting in the center on the desk staring right at us.
“Does she creep you out when she’s staring at you?” I ask.
“No, I kind of like it. I think she is gorgeous.”
“Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend? What does he or she say about it?”
I ask because there is no way she doesn’t have one somewhere. Rose is hot. I see the way guys follower around. The professor still hasn’t shown up but not for long.
“Boyfriend. Well, sort of.”
“He is or he isn’t?” I ask leaning back with my elbows on the bed.
She shifts on the bed, so that she’s facing me. “It’s complicated. We were good for a few months in high school and then when he decided to stay and go to school, he’s changed.”
“How?”
“He’s a dick like most of the assholes that go here. Entitled. Not everyone, but most of the guys that grew up here are.”
I remember what Kaden said but I’m not sure if she knows him.
“I wanted to ask; do you know a guy named Kaden.”
She snorts. “Who doesn’t. Why?”
“Ran into him at the motel.” It’s the truth but don’t want to tell her how well I know him and how. Not yet.
She watches me for a few seconds. Then looks away like she wants to say something but is afraid.
“What?” A sinking feeling wraps around my lungs squeezing.
“Uh…why was he there?” That wasn’t what she meant to ask but I let it slide.
“Why do you think he was there?”
She thinks for a second. I quirk a brow. Realization dawns. “You fucked him?”
I make a face. Bile pools in the back of my throat at the thought. It’s like I finding out I accidentally fucked my brother. “God no! Not me.”
“Oh, sorry.” She looks away embarrassed. “I thought…”
“It was one of the other girls.”
I don’t need to elaborate. She probably thinks one of the girls told me he went to college here.
“Oh…” she says, a shocked look marring her features. “Why would he?
“I asked myself the same thing.”
“Not that I find him attractive like that.” She shivers like she’s cold. “He could have anyone. I mean girls go batshit crazy when he’s on campus. Guys give him shit but he gives it back just as good. Some say he works at the carnival.”
It’s a little more than that but it’s none of my business.
She grabs her laptop and powers it up. “Want to watch a movie?” she asks getting comfortable on the bed.