Page 21 of The Roommate Situation

Ava is wearing an Elsa dress and Addison is dressed up like Moana. They both have huge smiles on their faces as they look at the camera, their arms around each other.

Can’t wait for Thanksgiving, I type back.

Parker puts dinner in the oven and tells me he’s going to go take a shower. He still seems a bit flustered, and I hope things won’t be too weird between us now. Fortunately, he seems a bit more himself when he returns to the kitchen, now in sweats and a tank. Fuck, that’s so not fair. I feel my dick twitching again as I stare at those biceps, trying not to drool.

We eat dinner together on the sofa and Parker hands me the remote. “Wanna pick a documentary?” he says, and I grin. We watchSr, which is a documentary on Robert Downey Sr. and Parker stands about twenty minutes in to take his plate to the kitchen. He comes back with a bag of potato chips and settles back into the sofa. I don’t miss that he’s quite a bit closer now than he was before, and that he’s slouching.

I shuffle closer to him until my arm is pressed against his, my legs up on the sofa in the spot I was just sitting in.

I rest my head on his shoulder and breathe in his scent, my fingers aching to slide between his. I flinch when I hear him crunching on the potato chips a second later. I try to stay where I am but it’s so loud with my ear right next to his jaw and I end up lifting my head.

As he chews, I feel my nerves fraying. I move a little bit further away to try and help and he looks over at me. I give a small smile and he smiles back. “Want some?” he asks, holding the bag up. I shake my head and he shrugs, then shoves another fistfull of chips in his mouth.

I last another minute before I can’t take it anymore. I know he’s not actually chewing super loud but it sounds loud to me.He has his mouth closed and everything but it’s still making me tense and irritable and I can’t hear the show over the noise.

“Will you stop?” I almost shout all of a sudden, and he turns to look at me with wide eyes.

“Sorry,” he says, except his mouth is full of chips and it comes out like “Thorry,” as little bits of chip fly out all over his lap and the sofa.

I can’t help laughing at how silly he looks, his mouth closed around the remainder of the chips as he tries not to chew anymore. “You can chew and swallow,” I tell him. I can tell that he chews as little and as slowly as possible before I see his Adam's apple bob as he swallows. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not fair. You should be able to eat without me getting so worked up. I’ll leave so I don’t bother you.” I move to stand up but he rests his hand on my leg.

“Don’t go,” he says. “I’m done anyway.”

I eye him. “You’re not just saying that?”

He shrugs. “I mean, I could eat more, but I’d rather you be here with me.”

I flush. “You shouldn’t feel like you can’t have a snack when I’m in the same room, though.”

“We’ll figure out something. I can have my snacks before or after we watch so I don’t bother you. Or I can eat something softer.”

I bite my lip and then climb off the couch to grab the handheld vacuum cleaner, as Parker starts dusting his pants off and then picking up the larger pieces from the floor and couch.

I bring it back to the living room and use it to clean up the remaining mess. I notice Parker sneaking off to his room with the bag of chips and when he comes back a few seconds later they’re closed. He wasn’t in there long enough to sneak any. God, I think he left so I wouldn’t have to hear the crinkling of the bag when he closed it.

He moves towards the kitchen and returns the bag to the pantry as I place the vacuum back in the hall closet. Then we’re heading to the sofa again and I don’t hesitate to curl up next to him. He grins and slouches a little bit again, and I take the opportunity to rub my cheek against his shoulder. The next thing I know his warm, giant fingers are lacing with mine and I suck in a breath as my entire body tingles and my heart stutters in my ribcage.

“This okay?” he whispers, and I nod. He presses a kiss to my curls and he doesn’t let go of my hand even for a second while we watch the rest of the show.

NINE

RORY

Two weeks have gone by since our almost kiss, and nothing more has happened. We cuddle almost every night on the sofa while we watch something, and Parker presses kisses to my hair and holds my hand each and every time. It’s wonderful, but frustrating too, because we haven’t talked once about what we’re doing or what any of it means, and I’m starting to go crazy. But I can’t bring myself to ask him either, because if he tells me it’s nothing, I’ll be devastated.

We’re heading out soon for a Halloween party at one of the frat houses near campus, and I need to get my costume on.

I’m slipping into the black silk panties I decided to wear with my costume when I hear a knock on the door. I slide my robe on quickly before saying, “Come in.”

The door opens and Parker is standing there with a basket full of laundry that I realize is mine. He walks in and sets it on the bed. “I hope it’s okay I got your stuff out. I needed to start my stuff in the dryer before we left.”

“Yeah, of course,” I say, and then my face heats when his gaze catches on the drying rack at the foot of my bed with my costume draped over it, along with several pairs of lace and silk panties.

Without seeming to realize what he’s doing, he steps closer and picks up the lacy orange pair. Fuck, I’m simultaneously aroused and terrified at the sight of Parker holding my panties.

I started wearing panties shortly after Zach and I got together. I wanted to find a way to spice things up in the bedroom, and discovered that they made me feel sexy and pretty, but when he made fun of me for them, I tucked them away and hadn’t touched them since, until about a week ago when I decided I wanted to start wearing them again, for me. Because I liked them, the way they looked on me, the confidence I felt when I slipped them on, my cock and balls nestled against the silky, lacy material, and I didn’t give a fuck what Zach thought, or at least I was trying not to. But if Parker responds to them the same way Zach did…I swallow.

He clears his throat. “Are, are these yours?” he asks, his voice deeper than normal as he turns to face me, and I almost gasp at the unmistakable heat in his gaze when his eyes meet mine. I nod. “Damn, freckles, that's hot.” He stares at me for a moment and I have a feeling he’s trying to picture the panties on me, which makes me flush and squirm.

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