Page 107 of My Roommate from Hell
Seriously, why didn’t I let him kiss me?
I wish, just once, I’d let myself do something completely reckless. Yes, kissing him might’ve ended in disaster, but at least then I would’ve been able to kiss the incredibly attractive prince of Hell in a pool. For the rest of my life, no matter what happens, I’d always have that. I could be an old man in a nursing home, and I could look back and think:I truly lived.
In the mirror, the ghoul appears.
I know,I think, as it turns its head to stare at me, its toothless mouth stretching open to reveal a glistening red throat.I’m a mess.
I undress and step into the shower. I turn the taps until the water is scalding hot and steam billows around the tiles. I step into the water, letting the burn wash away any unwelcome thoughts.Just. Stop. Thinking.These thoughts are no good, they don’t help. Zarmenus only wanted to kiss me as part of our lie. Do I want to kiss him knowing that he doesn’t truly want to? Hell freaking no.
I pump some of my face wash and start scrubbing my face. At the same time, I’m worried kissing him could change things forever for me. If I’m being totally honest with myself, I’m getting scarily close to having actual feelings for him, if I’m not already there. A kiss might be amazing, but I can’t forget that he’s leaving at the end of the semester. Do I want to be heartbroken? Plus, what if we kiss and I can’t handle it, and mess up our fake relationship? If I put myself out there and get burned, will I really be able to keep pretending we’re boyfriends? I’ve come so far, and I’m so close. I’m not going to lose my internship now. One kiss isn’t worth the risk.
Or is it?
Something tells me kissing Zarmenus is worth every risk.
The image floods my mind again, and I’m back there, in the water, inches from him. His eyes have lit up in that mischievous kind of way of his.
“Can I kiss you?” he asks.
“Yes.”
The replay is somehow hotter this time. The entire party fades into the background as he leans closer to kiss me. He’s now an inch away from his lips meeting mine. I manage to stop the thought, pausing us before anything happens.
Stop. Just stop.
I try to think about something else, something I should be thinking about. Like my classes or my assessments. Something safe and normal. It somewhat works, with my thoughts about my upcoming paper on Java, a programming language. I like it, but there’s nothing sexy about Java.
I stay in the shower for way longer than I normally do. The steam has fogged up the entire mirror, but through the steam I can make out four distinct ghouls. They are identical in shape and size as the first.
That’s new.
I dry myself and get dressed in one of my old T-shirts, one I only sleep in now, and some boxers.
I cross the room and climb into my bed. Zarmenus is beneath me, reading one of my horror mangas. Bell is curved at the foot of his bed, asleep. I can still smell the chlorine from the pool in the air, thick and heavy. Our room is always warm, but it’s even warmer than normal tonight. It’s a dry heat, like a perfect summer’s day.
“Good shower?” he asks.
“Yeah, great,” I say. “Although there are a few more ghouls now, I thought you should know.”
“Give a ghoul an inch, they’ll take a mile. Should I call an exorcist?”
“It’s fine, I’m used to it.”
Our bunk bed creaks, and he stands up so he’s facing me. “We need to talk. May I?”
Before I can answer, he’s climbing up the ladder to my bed. He sits on the end of my bed cross-legged.
Even though we share the space, it still feels like he’s crossing an enormous line. This is basically the one space in this entire room that should be completely off-limits to him. He should not be here.
Yet he is, and I don’t mind. Not even slightly.
I should, though, right? I’ve never had a guy in my bed before, and I’ve always felt protective of my space.
“Talk to me,” he says.
“About what?”
“Why didn’t you want me to kiss you?”
