Page 102 of My Roommate from Hell
Instead, he laughs. He turns his head, catching me gauging his reaction.
“What?” he says. “It’s funny.”
“It doesn’t offend you?”
“Not at all,” he says. He leans in close to whisper in my ear. “The prophecy, remember? This means I’m doing my job right.”
Once the routine is done, the game starts. There are screens around the stadium, and I recognize one of the players on the Point team.
He’s one of the guys Zarmenus brought to our room back when we were just roommates.
I feel a stab of jealousy.
But it’s not worth thinking about, because we’re not a real couple. I have no right to feel jealous.
Zarmenus nudges me, pulling me out of the thought spiral. He’s already nearly finished with his cotton candy. He’s silent, but his free hand is turned to the side, an open offer. I think about turninghim down because I want to hold his hand so badly, and to indulge that is risky.
I take his hand. Like last time, I marvel at how warm it is and how nice this feels.
I’m glad he doesn’t have the magical ability to read minds.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Zarmenus is waiting for me by the exit doors of my lecture hall, holding two coffee cups.
He’s been showing up like this for the past few weeks. He does this so often now that I’ve started expecting him to be there, and am disappointed when he isn’t.
As the students file out, I see him scanning. And then when he sees me, his entire face lights up. I’m sure I’m mirroring him. I stop in front of him, and he hands me the coffee. As I take it, our fingers brush. I’m used to the sparks I feel at his touch, so I’m not that alarmed by them. I’ve decided to give myself grace whenever I feel something like that, or if I catch my thoughts about Zarmenus drifting toward non-platonic territory. I can’t control how I feel, so I won’t feel bad for my feelings.
Besides, I know I’ll never, ever act on them. So they truly don’t matter.
“How was your class?” he asks.
“Good,” I say. “Really good, actually.”
I take a sip as the two of us start walking back to our dorm.
I’ve been enjoying watching the campus transform with the cooler weather. Every morning the lawns are covered in sparkling frost, contrasting with the crisp blue sky. Some of the trees havebeen covered in golden string lights. I thought the campus was pretty before, but I think this might be the ideal time to see it.
It’s a good thing because Ashley has told me she and Jackson are planning a road trip to visit me in a few weeks, near the end of the semester. She’ll be fairly late into her pregnancy, but apparently her doctor gave her the go-ahead to travel that week. She’s cutting it close, but she’s assured me she’ll be fine.
I can’t decide if I want to tell her just how much I love Point. Or if I should downplay it so she doesn’t feel bad. That could be a nice thing to do, but it’s also potentially condescending and she’ll probably see right through me.
And yeah, I am a little worried she’ll figure out exactly how much I’m enjoying fake-dating Zarmenus.
“What’s going on in there?” asks Zarmenus. “You’re pulling your thinking face.”
“Sorry,” I say, before taking a sip of my matcha. “Just thinking about Ashley. I’m weirdly nervous.”
“About what?”
“Nothing, really,” I say. “I don’t want her to feel bad.”
“Why would she feel bad?”
“She wanted to go here,” I say. “That was the plan.”
“Itwasthe plan. Plans change.”
