Page 169 of Study Buddies

He laughed. “No, I just figured if I practice pool for a couple more years, I might be able to give Kyle a run for his money.” He lined up another shot, and I couldn’t help noticing how cute his butt looked as he bent over. The solid green ball disappeared in the corner pocket. “Or a couple of decades.”

I perched on the edge of the table, staying out of his way. “Have you heard from Mia?”

His focus remained on the cue ball, but I saw his mouth tighten. “No.”

Today was the day when she was moving into that house for former foster children. We’d offered to help her, but she’d turned us down. Both Jayden and I thought she was avoiding us, perhaps still embarrassed about what had happened at the party.

“I’ll text her and ask how it’s going.”

Jayden nodded and then cussed as he missed his shot. “Do you want to play?”

“Sure.” I sent the text and then slid off the table.

“Strip pool or regular?” he asked with a smirk.

“Regular.”

I’d played a few times since they guys had gotten the table, but I wasn’t very good at it yet. As Jayden tried to show me the proper technique, we kept getting distracted by the way he pressed his body against mine while he helped me line up the shot. And then my blood heated when I remembered all the things I’d done on this table with the three of them.

But still, I finally managed to hit a striped ball into the pocket when my phone rang.

“It’s Mia,” I said, looking at the screen. Then I put it on speaker phone and set it on the edge of the pool table. “Hey Mia!”

Jayden chimed in. “How’s it going?”

There was a slight hesitation. “Um, okay.”

“Did you meet your new roommates?” I asked.

“Yeah. There’s one other woman.”

“Just one?” She’d told me before that the house could hold up eight people.

“Well, it was supposed to be three of us with Sara.” She sounded so sad that I regretted asking. “And then there are four guys. I’ve met two of them. They seem nice.”

“Are they hot?” I asked, trying to keep things light, and Jayden elbowed me.

“I guess?” Mia sounded dazed.

“So there are just six of you staying there?” Jayden asked.

There was a long pause, and he and I exchanged a worried glance. Finally, we heard her voice again. “No, there’s one other guy. He’s a bit older, a graduate student. He’s the residential advisor.”

“That’s good,” I said, but her voice still sounded weird. “I guess he can show you the ropes.”

“Yeah…” She trailed off.

“Are you okay?” Jayden asked.

“Yeah,” she said again. “It’s just that… the RA… he’s the guy from the party. The one I made out with.”

“Oh shit,” Jayden said.

My mouth dropped open. “Wow. Um, are you sure?”

“Yeah, I am.”

Uh-oh. My heart went out to her.Thatsounded like it was going to be a problem.

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