Page 22 of The Roommate Experiment

I startle at the voice and glance over the monitor to find Clara leaning against my office doorway. She’s part of the small group of women at the firm and one of the few colleagues I consider a friend—easy to talk to, always ready with a quip or a sympathetic ear, and never afraid to tell it like it is.

I force a smile. “Yeah, I didn’t sleep much this weekend.”

Clara crosses her arms, studying me. “Is it because of North Shore? You’ve got some serious balls taking on such a huge project. Everyone in the office is talking about it.”

I shake my head, even if she’s given me an out. It’d be easy to blame my current state on work. What I’d give for my problems to be something a budget revision could fix. “No, it’s not the project. That’s… manageable. It’s more of a personal matter.”

Clara’s eyes light up with interest, and she steps into my office, perching on the edge of my desk. “Want to talk about it over lunch? Sometimes, it helps to unload, especially on someone who doesn’t know your entire life story.”

I hesitate, biting my lower lip. Part of me wants to keep everything bottled up, to push it down and pretend everything’s fine. But there’s another part—the part that’s tired of carrying this weight around, of feeling my lungs are deprived of air, constantly drowning—the me desperate to let go, who wants to lay it all bare instead of holding back.

And talking to a person outside my usual circle of friends who doesn’t know Dylan or is related to him could help me gain some perspective.

“Yeah, lunch sounds great.” I blink, a surprising calmness settling in as if my thoughts cleared of static at the prospect of unloading the emotional baggage.

Clara grins, hopping off my desk. “Cool. Meet you in the lobby at one?”

I nod, mustering a smile more genuine this time. “I’ll be there.”

As Clara walks out, throwing a wave over her shoulder, I turn back to my computer screen, adding the lunch to the schedule.

* * *

Clara and I snag a table at a cozy café with mismatched furniture and the best paninis in town. I order my usual—a turkey and avocado sandwich—but when it arrives, I barely have the appetite to take a bite, the restlessness of the weekend still tangling my stomach.

Clara jumps right in. “Alright, lay it on me. Why do you look like you’ve got a week’s worth of Monday blues crammed into a single day?”

I let out a humorless laugh, fiddling with a paper napkin. “Would you think me pathetic if I told you I’m actually relieved it’s Monday? That I’d rather be at work than dealing with what’s at home?”

Clara leans forward. “Ooh, color me intrigued. Tell me everything.”

I wonder where to even begin. “I live with this guy, Dylan.” Just his name sits heavy on my tongue. “We’ve known each other for years—he’s my best friend’s brother—but we’ve only been living together for a week. And, uh… it’s been complicated.”

Clara nods, sipping her water. “Complicated how? Roommates stuff, or something more?”

My throat seizes up as if refusing to release the confession I’ve never voiced to anyone. But it’s time. I can’t go on like this. “I have feelings for him… serious feelings. But he’s seeing someone else. He started dating a new woman, Olivia, a short time before moving in. And she’s… perfect: beautiful, sweet, polite, a superb cook.Blonde.”

“Gah, very Ally McBeal. She’s your Georgia.”

“Except Dylan and I never dated.” I force myself to take a bite and swallow. “Anyway, Saturday night, she surprised him at the apartment, and I was trapped into having dinner with them. I’ve been losing sleep over it.”

Clara exhales, leaning back in her chair. “That’s rough.”

“Tell me about it.” My eye twitches simply discussing it. “I didn’t sleep this weekend because I kept imagining them together. And this morning, I got stuck in a stupid, old shirt, and he had to help me. Then he tripped over my laundry basket, and…” I trail off. “It was so embarrassing.” Clara’s eyes widen. I wave my hand, brushing it off. “One of my thongs was on his face… It was a disaster.”

Clara snorts, trying not to laugh but clearly amused. “Okay, wow. We have a lot to unpack. Is your problem that he has a girlfriend, or that she’s coming over to your place? You don’t want to live with him anymore? What is it?”

“That’s the issue.” Frustration seeps into my voice. “I don’t know. I can’t sit around and watch them together, but I also can’t tell him how I feel now that he is with someone else.”

Clara stabs a tomato from her salad and leans in. “You need to get out of the house more. Give yourself a break from all that tension. Get your mind off him. Have you thought about dating someone else?”

I blink at her, caught off guard. “Like who? If I had someone to date, I wouldn’t be obsessing over my roommate.”

“Yes, but are you actively looking for a date or just hoping Prince Charming falls in your lap?”

More waiting for Prince Charming to dump Cinderella and decide he prefers Esmeralda.

“Please don’t tell me there’s plenty of fish in the sea.”

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