Page 32 of My Roommate from Hell
“Well, yes,” he says. “Listen, you’re not in the wrong here, he clearly is. If I wanted to hook up with someone I would for sure wait until I knew I had the room to myself for a few hours, and even then I’d probably try to find somewhere else. I’m already planning for when Myron comes to visit. I’m going to book us a night at this motel in Kingsport. I would never, ever hook up when my roommate was home, and even using the room itself is kinda bad. That’s basic etiquette.”
“See, that makes sense.”
“Yeah.”
I take a sip of my smoothie. It’s mango-coconut and it’s delicious. “What do you think I should do about it?”
“Up to you. You could talk to him, but that has risks.”
“Such as?”
“People don’t like being told what to do. They can react poorly.”
“Right.”
“If you tell him, like, you can’t go bringing people home late at night and waking me up, then he might get annoyed at you. And then there will be.” He bumps his fists together. “Tension.”
“There’s already tension.” I take another big sip of my drink. “It’s just he doesn’t know about it.”
“You need to decide if you’re willing to put up with it or not. Because in my experience, these things never fix themselves. It’ll just get worse and worse until you snap.”
I move my smoothie around on the table. He’s right. Zarmenus waking me up late at night is annoying, sure, but I don’t think it’s intentional. And the last thing I want is for things between us to become truly tense. If he acts like this while he thinks we’re friends, what will he be like if he decides we’re enemies? I get a sense thathe isn’t the type to let things slide, and I doubt he would want to be seen as the loser of anything.
He’s also the prince of Hell. He has magical abilities and is a demon.
I do not want to be on his bad side.
“There’s more,” I say. “Dean Leeke basically offered me an internship at Google if I make it through the semester living with him. So it’s just really complicated.”
I rest my head on the table.
“How about this,” says Tyrell. “Why don’t you give him one more chance. Who knows, maybe he is done hooking up or someone else will make him come to his senses. But if he does it again, then you talk to him. Three times is enough to warrant a conversation.”
It’s a good plan, and it makes sense.
Zarmenus has one last chance to be a good roommate. If he does it again, I’ll have to tell him to stop, no matter the risks.
It’s terrifying, but I don’t have a choice.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
When I get home, I pause before I unlock our door, preparing myself. Before I can open it all the way, Zarmenus pulls it open an inch. How did he know I was here? It must be some sort of demon ability. Funny, he can use it in times like this but can’t tell that I’m awake when he’s hooking up right below me.
“Don’t get mad,” he says, still not letting me inside and using his body to block my view of our room. “I can explain.”
“Explain what?”
He opens the door the rest of the way, letting me in.
He can’t be serious.
There’s a goat standing in the middle of our room. And it’s not a cute baby goat—not that I’d be happy to see that, either. It’s a fully grown goat, with a pair of curved, dark horns poking out from the top of its head.
The goat is chewing on something. It spits it out, and—wait. It’s the Point shirt Zarmenus won for me. I haven’t even worn it yet. I look to my closet and see that a lot of my clothes have been pulled from their hangers and are now scattered around the floor, or are being chewed on by the goat.
It’s eating my clothes.
I’m so flustered I don’t even know what to say. Zarmenus can’t think this is okay. There’s no way. And I also can’t think of anyexplanation that would make sense, or make it so that I forgive him. Also, is this goat going to be like Bell? Is this yet another of Zarmenus’s pets that he failed to tell me about?
