Page 42 of Play Maker

“So you had to run in here to tell me?”

“Did you clean it?”

“Not today…” I didn’t want to admit I couldn’t remember the last time I’d cleaned it, but we’d definitely made a mess this morning when Shaw insisted he knew how to make homemade waffles.

He did not, in fact, know.

“Exactly,” she shot back. “I think we have our very own Cinderella.”

“Blue?”

“Yes. Keep up. When was the last time you did the dishes?”

“Why?”

“I think Blue cleaned up around here.”

The water was distinctly lukewarm and edging toward chilly, but I tried my best to follow the conversation. “I thought you guys did it.”

“Not us. I’m assuming from you sidestepping my question it wasn’t you either. What about your laundry?”

Laundry was one of my least favorite household tasks because I tended to get distracted and forget to switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer. I’d shared my little secret about chores and expectations with Blue the day she moved in, but laundry was the exception. Washing clothes sucked.

Now that RJ brought it up, my hamper hadn’t gotten full in a while. “Suspiciously clean.”

RJ sent me a triumphant grin and pulled the bathroom door open. “I knew it.”

“Let me talk to her,” I shouted to her retreating back.

She waved in my direction as she disappeared into my bedroom. “That was always the plan.”

I shut off the cold water and grabbed my towel. The one I hadn’t washed in at least a week. With some concern, I held the material up to my face and took a test sniff. Dryer sheets. The good ones Shaw bought because RJ liked the smell.

Guess I wouldn’t need to steal one of Shaw’s clean towels after all.

Now that RJ had pointed out the cleaning discrepancy, I noticed the evidence everywhere. I’d done a half-assed shave last night, and I definitely hadn’t been neat about it. Yet my countertop was sparkling. Literally. I hadn’t even been aware there were sparkly bits in the stone.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn’t just cleaning. Last week, I forgot to hit the grocery store, but when I got home from watching film, the fridge was full of vegetables and my frozen pizzas were restocked.

I got dressed and went in search of my sexy, sneaky roommate.

Blue wasn’t hard to find. She was sitting in the living room with a textbook spread out in front of her while a cartoon played on the TV. Her eyes flicked up for a second when I came in, then went back to her studying.

Well, that wouldn’t do.

I sat next to her, jostling the book, and tugged on a magenta strand of hair. “I know your secret.”

Her slumped posture straightened, and she closed her book, gathering up the rest of her stuff. “Which one? I have a lot of secrets.”

“Not from me, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do.”

I gripped my chest with as much drama as I could muster. For real, Shakespeare would be proud. “You mean you don’t tell me everything. That’s it. I demand my bestie bracelet back.”

Blue’s lips twitched, but I didn’t get the laugh I was hoping for. “You’ve never given me a bestie bracelet. No one has.”

I made a note to immediately go out and buy her a damn bracelet.

---