Page 17 of A Roommate for Christmas
Paige couldn’t help but blush.She was going on a proper date, which was more than Chance had been doing for her near the end.
He was the king of “let’s just order takeout” and put on a movie at home.Which Paige didn’t mind now and then, but she had hoped her boyfriend would put at least some effort into wooing her.
“All right,” Nadia said.“Now that we’ve settled things with your love life, we can get back to the train wreck that is this season ofLove is Blind.”
The girls ate sushi on the couch, downed the rest of the wine, and watched as the drama unfolded on TV.
Just shy of ten o’clock, the door opened and Carter walked in.
Nadia hit pause and leapt off of the couch to intercept him.
“Hi!You must be Carter, I’m Nadia, I used to live here,” she said in one giant breath.
“Hi,” Carter said, keeping it short as always and taking a side step to get around Nadia.
“So, Paige tells me you’re a busy guy!What is it that you do?”
Carter turned around just as he reached the door to his room.“I’ve had a long day.If it’s all right with you, I’m going to skip the chitchat and turn in for the evening.”
And without waiting for her response, he entered his room and shut the door behind him.
Wow, Nadia mouthed as she turned back to where Paige sat on the couch, making her way back to her usual spot.
“Now you see what I’ve been dealing with,” said Paige.
“I mean, yeah, he’s not the friendliest, but like, WOW is that man gorgeous.”
“After an interaction like that, the only thing you take away is how attractive he is?”
“How can you not?Paige, you need to go to the doctor and get your eyes checked.Maybe you aren’t seeing what I’m seeing,” Nadia said with a wink.
Oh no, I’m definitely seeing it.But unfortunately for me, his looks are overshadowed by his personality, she thought, not wanting to give Nadia the satisfaction of knowing she agreed.
“Like I said,” Paige countered, “he keeps to himself and I’m basically living on my own while getting a nice monthly check.As long as I don’t need to engage with him, I’m perfectly fine with how things are.”
“Suit yourself,” said Nadia as she hit play and settled back into the couch.
Chapter 6
“Tell.Me.Everything!”Nadiademanded the second Paige answered her FaceTime call.
Paige was still in bed but had her phone propped up on a pillow.She was groggy enough that she would probably drop her phone on her face if she tried to hold it.
She had gone on her date with John the night before, and apparently Nadia had taken her “I’ll fill you in in the morning”text a bit too literally.
“I mean, it was definitely a one-time thing,” Paige said.“He was nice and all, but justsoboring.I felt like I was the only one asking any questions.It was like pulling teeth to keep the conversation going.”
Paige had been both nervous and excited about the date.She spent most of the workday on Friday mentally choosing her outfit, eventually landing on an emerald cowl neck top with tight, faux black leather pants.She and John both arrived on time, and he was a perfect gentleman the entire night, which put her more at ease.But she was bummed about how much she had to carry their conversation.It wasn’t easy like it had been right from the start with Chance.And as nice as he was, she had gotten a bit irritated by the end of the date at how much more effort she was putting in to getting to know him with nothing in return.
“Ugh, I hate that.”Nadia sighed.
“But the confusing thing is that he texted me after we parted ways saying he had a great time and would love to see me again.Like, what?You’re telling me our dull as hell conversation was a great time for you?Did we go on the same date?”
“Yeah, that’s ridiculous,” Nadia said.“What a bummer, though.He was very cute.But I’m proud of you for going.Hopefully boring baldie doesn’t scare you off from going on more dates.”
“You have too much energy for a Saturday morning.”Paige laughed.She wished she could be doing her date debrief in person with Nadia as her roommate, but this FaceTime was a nice reminder that not much was really changing about their friendship.
“Linus made me a fancy latte.Blame him.”
