Page 7 of The Roommate Situation

I shake my head. “No, but I stopped reading his messages.”

“Honey, you need to get rid of him,” Jackson states. “In every sense of the word. That boy is no good.”

“It’s not just the text messages, though,” I say. “It’s things he said while we were together that are making me so anxious and upset I can’t even give a fucking blow job.”

“God, he really did a number on you, didn’t he?” Lucy says. “I’m sorry we didn’t notice how awful he was sooner. I mean, I never liked him for you but I didn’t realize it was this bad.”

I shake my head. “It’s not your fault. I didn’t say anything. And he was a different person in public. There’s no way you could have known. It’s taken all of this for me to realize just how much he hurt me.”

“It might take some time, but you’ve got us,” Jackson says. “You’ll find yourself again, and realize how amazing you are. Maybe pushing you to hook up was a bad idea.”

I wipe my tears. “No, I wanted it.” I sigh. “It was a nice little confidence boost until I blew it, or didn’t, I guess.”

Lucy snorts and Jackson chuckles, and then we’re all laughing. “God, he was so hot, too,” I groan.

“Yeah, he was,” Jackson agrees. “Look on the bright side, though, you’ll probably never see him again.”

My phone pings then with an alert, and when I pick it up I see that my ad for a roommate has a reply. I suck in a breath. It’s been up for a week and I hadn’t heard from anyone and was beginning to lose hope. God, whoever it is I hope they’re not a partier, or a slob, but I’m not sure I have much choice in the matter.

“What’s it say?” Lucy asks, reading over my shoulder.

“He’s a student. His roommate decided to move in with his girlfriend, and he’s looking for someone else to share in the cost of rent. Utilities included. No smoking or drugs. No pets. Only a few blocks from campus.” I glance at them. “Should I reply?”

They nod and I start typing and hit send. I get a reply almost instantly, telling me I can come by and look at the place as soon as I want and ask him any questions. Honestly, I don’t muchcare what it looks like, as long as he’s not a creep and I won’t be fearing for my life.

We set up a time for tomorrow afternoon for me to meet my potential roommate and see the apartment. If everything seems to be on the up and up, I’ll move my things in the same day, since it’s all sitting in my car anyway.

I let out a deep breath. Maybe this new roommate situation will help me get my mind off of Zach, and the hot guy from tonight.

“Okay, let’s do this,” Jackson says. He came along with me to check out the apartment and help me move my things in, assuming everything goes well enough. It’s in a decent area, lots of college students, and I can take the college bus or drive to my classes, or ride my bike. I could even walk when the weather is nice enough, which it should be for a few more weeks, at least until October rolls around and it starts to get chillier.

We make our way inside the building and up the stairs to the third floor. “3D,” I say, looking around, and Jackson points when he sees it. We stop in front of the door and I knock, begging for the guy inside to not be a creeper, or a serial killer, or a republican.

“Just a second,” I hear on the other side of the door and my eyes widen.

“We have to go,” I say in a hushed voice to Jackson, grabbing his arm and tugging.

“What? Why?” But by then it’s too late and the door has swung open to reveal my hot hookup from last night. His eyes widen when he sees me, and then to my surprise a huge grin breaks out across his face. I don’t miss the oven mitts on hishands and the pink apron with white lace around the edge. Not gonna lie, I wasn’t expecting that.

I hear a snort from Jackson and my cheeks heat.

“Hey, freckles,” the guy exclaims. “No way! You’re the one looking for a roomie?”

“Uh…” I stammer, trying to figure out a way out of this.

“Yes, indeed,” Jackson says, shoving me forward and making me almost slam into Hot Guy’s very firm chest. He steps back enough that I manage to brush against him instead, but still stumble, and he has to grab me to keep me from face planting.

“Woah, you okay?” Hot Guy asks, his arms wrapped around me, pressing me to him and his apron, which is covered in flour and what smells like cake batter. Wow, it’s actually really nice, and I have to force myself to pull away when he steadies me.

I glare at Jackson but he just winks at me and saunters inside, making himself right at home as he looks around. I sigh and follow him.

The kitchen is off to the right. There’s a decent sized living area with a futon and a large sofa in a floral print that looks like a garage sale find, but is still in decent shape. Across from the sofa is a large flat screen tv. There’s a room just beyond the living area and the door is shut.

It smells amazing in here. Like cinnamon and vanilla, and my stomach growls.

Hot Guy closes the front door and turns to us. “You two go ahead and look around,” he calls as he moves into the kitchen. “I’m gonna check on the cupcakes. You let me know if you have any questions.”

I catch up to Jackson down the hall as he’s peeking into the bathroom and smack his arm. “I can’t stay here,” I hiss. “I’ll have to stay in my room the entire time because I’m too humiliated to look him in the face.”

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