Page 125 of My Roommate from Hell
“I was just thinking that!”
This is the closest we’ve ever come to talking about this. For a while I’ve had to fill in the blanks on her feelings. Even her confirming that she thinks about this as much as I do is comforting, in a way. It means my instincts on what is going on weren’t too far off base.
“You were?” she asks.
“Yeah,” I say. “Honestly, at the start of the semester I was pretty torn up about it.”
“You didn’t say.”
“I didn’t want to make you feel bad.”
“Why would I feel bad?”
“I don’t know,” I say, shrugging. “I know how much you wanted to go here.”
She’s about to answer, but Jackson returns, and he’s smiling so hard I don’t want to keep talking about this. He’s loaded his plate with almost every type of food on offer. It has blended a little to the point where it’s not exactly appetizing, but he doesn’t seem to mind.
“What were you talking about?” he asks.
“The multiverse,” I say.
He laughs. “You nerds.”
“Jackson, baby,” she says. “Could I talk to Owen for a second?”
“On it,” he says. “I want a second plate, anyway.”
“Why would I feel bad?” she asks, as Jackson finds an empty table across the dining hall, well out of earshot.
“You really wanted to go to Point,” I say. “I get why you didn’t go, and I didn’t want you to know how much I wished you were here. It felt, like, unfair.”
“You don’t think I still want to go to Point, do you?”
“No. Not at all. It was complicated. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“It’s okay, I understand,” she says. “I just hate the thought of you not loving this as much as you could’ve because I’m not here. But we’re good, right?”
“Yup, totally.”
She takes a sip of her drink. “I saw your mom, by the way.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, at Trader Joe’s. It seems like she’s doing well. She’s so proud of you, she was telling me all about your grades.”
“She always does that.”
“It was nice to see her,” she says. “I know things have been rough, but I’ve always known the Greenes would pull through. So, are you ready to tell me why you’re stalling on introducing us to Zarmenus?”
“I’m not stalling.”
“Then what are we waiting for?”
“If we make Jackson leave he might cry.”
“You’re right,” she says. “But once we’re done here you’re introducing me, okay?”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
