Page 77 of Bully Roommate

Smart?He was right, I didn’t think my mother had a brain cell left, or ever had one for that matter. “I know you grew up without a father figure, and that makes me scared. You didn’t have someone to show you how to treat a girl. Josie deserves the best. She’s talented, kind, and she likes you or she wouldn’t be sleeping with you—,”

I opened my mouth to defend us but he shook his head. “I don’t care if it’s happened yet or when it will, but I’m asking you to take care of her. Be safe. Treat her like a woman. Don’t break her heart,for me.”

“I can do that, Sir,” I said.

He nodded. “Good. Now, get dressed, and tell me your phone number. I’m going to text you before we show up to make sure you’re both decent.”

I rattled off my number while finding my shorts and a T-shirt. We walked into the living room together. Frankie eyed me from a crack in my bedroom door. He’d let them in, I could see it in his eyes, but he didn’t know and no one blamed him.

Josie and her mom looked like they were ready to bite each other’s heads off.

“What’s wrong?” Mr. Lee asked.

Her mother shot daggers at me. “Is this the reason you’re running toward something that will get you nowhere? I saw your picture in the college newspaper. You won an internship with some art person. Tell me, Josie, how is that going to pay your bills?”

Josie scoffed. “I don’t care about what you want for me! I love to create, I love to paint, and this is an amazing opportunity, everyone wanted to win, and I did it. I won. Why can’t you be happy for me?”

Her mother tossed the bags down. “Because it’s a waste of time and your scholarship—,”

“Josie is talented,” I said which caused her mother to hiss something at me in Chinese. “You are the culprit of this. You lied about your sexuality and now you’re going to knock her up. Why are you making such bad choices?”

Josie’s fist clenched at her sides. “We haven’t even had sex, mother! God, come off your pedestal for one second. You’re not perfect—,”

“I know!” she shouted. “I want my daughter to have what I didn’t. I want her to travel, to have a career that will take care of herself, and all she’s going to do is graduate with a useless degree if she doesn’t get pregnant first!”

She left us all with our mouths open.

Mr. Lee hugged Josie and whispered something into her ear. When he left, I entrapped her in my arms and she sobbed. I’d never seen Josie so sad. I picked her up and placed her in my lap, letting her cry until she couldn't anymore.

***

Josie spent most of her time after she calmed down in her room while I got ready for an emergency football meeting. I prayed it wasn’t about the fight at the fraternity house, but I figured it had to be. My shift at Artie's started in a few hours, so I hoped Coach didn’t try to make us run.

When I walked into the fieldhouse, it was worse than I imagined. Two police officers stood by Coach’s desk with a K-9 in front of them. The German Shepard stood at attention, waiting for a command.

I found a place against the wall, judging by the coach's stares and whispers this had nothing to do with the fight, and everything to do with drugs. If I had to guess, whatever Josie saw King buying.

Thirty minutes rolled around before Coach cleared his throat. “There has been talk about illegal drugs being taken by some of my boys, and as you know, I won’t stand for it. We’ll have a clean sweep of the lockers, and then everyone is to take a pee test. The nurse will be here shortly.

The tension in the room tightened as the police officer gestured the dog forward, and he went straight toward one locker in particular. I didn’t know whose locker, but they pulled out a zip-lock bag with pills in it. It didn’t look like anything I knew, but Coach seemed pissed.

“Where is Keith King?” he boomed.

His roommate raised his hand. “He wasn’t in his bed this morning; I haven’t seen him all weekend, since the party last night.” His eyes moved toward mine, and I knew he’d rat me out, but minutes ticked by and no one in the room said anything.

“Thank you. Line up,” he said, slapping his clipboard against the concrete wall. “Time to piss, boys.”

***

Artie leaned against the counter when I walked in for my shift. He glanced up from the newspaper, his brows furrowed low over his dark eyes. “How’s it going?” he asked.

I clocked in. “Good. Just got back from a drug test, looks like some boys on the team have been having too much fun.”

He shook his head. “What a waste. What are they taking?”

I shrugged, bending down to unload some boxes against the far wall. “I don’t know. Looked like pills they pulled out of someone’s locker. I don't know what kind. ”

Artie put down his paper. “You know, I think that guy across the street may be into drugs.”

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