Page 47 of Tapped By My Roommate
I felt bad for killing the easy teasing that’d been flowing between us. I’d been the one to start it with the joke about the futon, after all. I just didn’t know how to talk so openly about sex. It made me uncomfortable. My face got hot, and I showed every flicker of emotion. It made me feel exposed.
“Don’t apologize,” I said. “Just…tell me about your day?”
Rhett sat across from me, cutting a bite-sized piece of chicken. “Not much to tell. Went to class. Now I go to work. Yay.” He shoved the bite into his mouth and chewed. “Tell me about your day. That’ll be more fun for both of us.”
I frowned. It wasn’t often that Rhett sounded so jaded. I knew he worked really hard. He barely had any time to himself. And now he’d filled that time with me.
“You sound unhappy,” I said. “What do you do for yourself?”
He shrugged. “I get by. I’ve got soccer, and I’ve got…”
“What?”
He hesitated. “My family. My brother and sister and I all text and hang out when we can.”
“You sound close. That’s nice.”
I tried not to think about the relationship with my family, one that I kept at arm’s length for my own peace of mind.
“You’re not close with yours?” Rhett asked.
I shrugged. “It’s not…easy, sometimes, to be close. But we stay in touch. My parents support me, pay for school. I can’t complain.”
Rhett didn’t look entirely satisfied with that answer. “Oh, I’m sure youcould…”
I chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah, but I won’t.”
It wasn’t that my family was abusive or unsupportive. My parents were proud of me. My sister and I kept in touch, even though we didn’t have a lot in common. But spending time with them wasn’t great. My mother’s hot temper and my father’s enjoyment of a good debate didn’t mesh well. There wasn’t a family dinner or holiday gathering that didn’t end with yelling and slamming doors.
We’d all discovered that we were a better, happier family with a few miles between us.
“But it’s good you’re close with yours,” I added, hoping to shift the focus back to him.
Rhett took pity on me and didn’t push. “Yeah, my family isn’t perfect either. What family is, right? I don’t get along with my mom’s live-in boyfriend. I guess I’m tight with Audrey and Cary, though. As close as we can be when my schedule is this packed. I don’t see them as often as I’d like. But I’ve promised Audrey some driving lessons.” He looked apologetic. “That might cut into our time together. And I’d really like to go to some of my brother’s baseball games.”
I nodded, doing my best to hide any disappointment at the idea of even less time with Rhett. We were casual hookups, not boyfriends. At least half the reason he wanted to do this with me was because I was convenient and easy. If I ceased to be those things, he might want to stop—and no way was I ready to give this up yet.
Besides, I sympathized with him. His schedule was tough enough without more demands placed on him.
“I don’t know how you manage a full-time job and a full schedule of classes,” I said. “That sounds overwhelming.”
Rhett pulled a face. “You have your internship, so you work too.”
“Not as many hours.”
“I guess not.” He forced a smile. “Enough about me. Let’s talk about something else. Tell me about that lizard at the animal rescue. I bet she did something cute recently.”
“Bea,” I said, feeling a grin tug at my lips. “You wouldn’t believe it unless you saw it, but yesterday I went in, and she was cuddling with Carla, my boss. Snuggled up right against her neck.”
“Lizardscuddle?”
“Beardies do sometimes,” I said. “They’re one of the most affectionate lizards. That’s why they make better pets than some species. They enjoy listening to people talk to them. Some of them even enjoy music.”
“Cool. Tell me more,” he said.
That was an easy request to fulfill. Between bites of savory chicken and mushroom rice—Rhett said it was a low-budget recipe he learned from his mother, but I thought it was great—I talked his ear off about the rescue center, the animals I’d come to know there, and the fundraising proposals Violet and I were working on.
It was easier than dwelling on Zilla and my conclusion that I was going to have to consult a lawyer if I ever wanted to get her back.
