She holds up a phone.Myphone. “What are these messages about?”
I walk over and see the ones I’d sent to Noah the night of the bonfire. Taking my phone back with irritation, I grip it at my side. “What are you doing going through my phone? That’s messed up, even for you.”
My roommate crosses her arms, not caring that there are other people in here. “No. You don’t get to do that. What’s messed up is telling Noah that Lincoln wasn’t going to give me another chance. Why did you let me make a fool of myself trying to get his attention if you already knew he wouldn’t?”
As bad as I feel about keeping that from her, I can’t help but point out the obvious. “I didn’t think you’d listen. Plus, you saw the messages. Noah told me to stay out of it before I got in deeper.”
Her scoff has my shoulders tensing. “It isn’t like you haven’t butted into business that wasn’t yours in the past. I don’t see why he would stop you from doing it now. We were friends, weren’t we?”
Is she kidding with the past tense? “We are! I didn’t want to hurt your feelings by telling you it was pointless to go after Lincoln.”
She shakes her head and storms out, causing me to follow after her. As she storms down the hall to our room, I keep up while holding my towel in place.
“Kennedy, come on. For all I knew, I was wrong about how he felt. I didn’t want to intervene, especially if he was interested.”
She spins abruptly, causing me to jerk to a halt before I bump into her. “But you were positive in those messages that he was never going to date me again. Why is that? Did he say something? Tell you he was interested in somebody else? Because I saw you two that night. You were basically holding hands in front of me!”
I don’t understand why this is coming up now. “Nothing happened between us that night. You were the one who spent the night with him, remember? I’m the one who asked to leave. You know I wouldn’t do that to you. Even if he was interested, it wouldn’t be mutual. I told him that already. I’ve got Noah. That’s the only person Iwant.”
She doesn’t look like she believes me. Propping her hands on her hips, she asks, “Doyou have him though? Because you had sex with him one time and then got into a fight with him about hisgirlfriend.”
A couple girls who live on the same floor are passing by, staring wide-eyed at me and whispering at the new information as they rush away from us.
Great. That’s bound to spread like wildfire soon enough. It’s probably good that move out is happening in a matter of days, or I’d get judgmental looks from everyone for being a total home-wrecker.
“You’re mad,” I say. “But you’re not being fair. I never did anything to you. I’m sorry that I didn’t say anything about Lincoln, but it wasn’t my place. I’d never do anything malicious to hurt you. I hope you can forgive me.”
She looks away and then shakes her head. Her jaw grinds before she lowers her arms and turns toward our room.
I’m about to follow her in when she closes and locks the door.
I don’t have my key.
Or my clothes.
Or anything.
“Ken,” I call out, banging on the door. “I need to get changed. Let me in.”
Embarrassment tints my cheeks when I look over my shoulder at a few people who are still lingering in the halls.
Kennedy doesn’t make a sound or put in an effort to help me.
That’s when I know I’m screwed.
Me:SOS. My roommate locked me out of my room naked
It doesn’t seem to take long when I get a message back.
Noah:Be right there
Within twenty minutes, he’s walking toward me. I don’t know how he got access into the building, but it wouldn’t surprise me if a girl took one look at the man on a mission and held the door open for him.
He waits outside the girls’ room while I change into the sweats and oversized shirt he brought for me that smell like him. As soon as he sees the frown on my face when I walk out, he reaches for my hand and interweaves our fingers.
“It’ll be okay,” he promises.
I lean against his shoulder, glancing briefly at my dorm door that’s still closed. “Take me away from here?”