Page 111 of Tapped By My Roommate
“Ooh. Ethan’s Green Iguana? I’ll take one of those.” Linh flashed us a dirty look. “Even though he won’t help me win this thing.”
Keri chuckled. “I take it you two are friends.”
“I thought we were,” Linh said dramatically.
Ethan patted her shoulder, then looked across at Keri. “Linh is a handful. Have fun.”
Keri looked at Linh speculatively, her lips curving in a small smile. “You know, I think I will.”
* * *
ETHAN
The trivia night was a huge success, but then I’d really had no doubts it would be. Rhett had worked just as hard to market Wild Night as Oasis had—part of a larger plan to showcase Tracks as an event venue—which had benefited both of us. He truly had a knack for event planning, and I was excited to see him come into his own after so many months spent working so hard toward something he didn’t even enjoy.
To our surprise, Rhett’s mom and Keith had also come out for the event. He’d spent a few minutes talking to them in hushed whispers. I wasn’t sure what that all was about, but they were all smiles when he left them to the game. His relationship with Keith had improved a lot in the past year, though they’d never have a lot in common. Working on a car together had given them a link they needed to connect as friends rather than rivals for his mother’s affection.
I couldn’t say the same about my family. Rhett had met them, and it’d been about as awkward as I’d imagined—with a fight breaking out at dinner, and Rhett and I hiding out in my room half the weekend—but he’d told me later that it had helped him appreciate who I’d become even more.
By the time we left the bar, Rhett was practically vibrating with excitement, and I remembered his veiled comments about some plan for tonight. I puzzled over it on the way home, but I couldn’t come up with the faintest clue what he might have meant by it.
“Did you really have some sort of surprise for me?” I asked as we took the stairs up to the apartment.
“Yeah.” He looked a little bashful, which wasn’t like him at all. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Tonight’s kind of a special night, and…”
“Yeah?”
He drew me inside. “Probably best that I show you.”
Rhett led me to the futon. On the television, the original 1954Godzillafilm was cued up. On the little coffee table, a bucket of ice contained two cans of Mountain Dew. A bucket of popcorn and a selection of my favorite snacks were fanned around it: Ranch-flavored corn nuts, a guilty pleasure; peanut butter cups; and Twizzlers.
“What is this? How…”
Rhett had been at the event with me all evening. He couldn’t possibly have set this up without my knowledge.
“Linh has made herself at home here enough times. I asked her to get everything in place before we got back.”
“That’s why she was late to trivia?”
Rhett nodded.
Something hot threatened to break free in my chest, feeling big and powerful, even though I didn’t completely understand what was happening. “Wh-why?” I got out.
“Ethan, we’ve been dating officially for about a year.”
“A year and sixteen days,” I corrected.
Rhett smiled slowly, looking seductive as hell, and sank to one knee. My heart went haywire, and my breathing accelerated. But I couldn’t have said a word if someone paid me.
“A year and sixteen days,” he said mildly, as if the world hadn’t just tilted on its axis. “I know we’re still figuring out where we’ll go once you graduate, but I want you to know that I’ll follow you anywhere.”
He wet his lips, looking suddenly nervous, and reached for a notebook on the coffee table that had been obscured from view by the popcorn box.
I couldn’t speak. I watched, dumbstruck, as he flipped it open to the first page.
Roommate Marriage Policy, it read in his script-style handwriting.
I clapped a hand over my mouth, but a horrifying squeak escaped as my eyes went hot.
