I heard the door shut in the common room and took a deep breath. When I went out, Alistair was standing by the door, a duffel bag draped over his shoulder. It was strangely casual luggage for someone as elegant as him.
“Hey,” I said awkwardly, leaning in the doorframe.
“Hey,” he answered, his voice as soft and low as usual. It was the kind of faintly accented voice that could make just about anything sound like poetry. Hell, he probably could have read the ingredients on the back of a cereal box and it would sound sexy.
For a few seconds, neither of us said anything. The room was wrought with the tension of us both trying to figure out something to talk about. Of course, we ended up speaking at the same time.
“I’m sorry.”
“So this is…” I trailed off, blinking at him. “Wait, sorry for what?”
He hesitated, as if he hadn’t quite thought about it. “For everything, I guess.”
I sighed. I really, really wanted to be pissed about him, but it was kind of hard when he looked at me like that. Looked like Dean wasn’t the only one who had mastered the puppy eyes.
Well...puppyeye.
“It’s fine,” I said against my better judgment. “It’s not like you really have a choice, right?”
“No,” he quickly agreed. “But still. I’ll try to give you as much space as I can.”
“Thanks,” I said, surprised he seemed like he meant it. I glanced around the common area, taking in the small kitchen I hadn’t even noticed at first glance. “This place is pretty big, at least.”
“Yeah. They usually reserve these for the upperclassmen,” he said, confirming my original theory. “I guess they figured it would be better for Dean and me to be as far away from the others as possible.”
I snorted. “Is this about you being a werewolf and a vampire, or about you imprinting on the same girl?”
“Both,” he admitted.
“Points for honesty.”
We both looked up as the door opened, and the moment Dean came in, his broad shoulders laden with his bags, the tension in the room immediately returned.
His green eyes softened when his gaze met mine, but they were piercing when he turned to Alistair. “How long haveyoubeen here?” he asked stiffly.
“Not long,” Alistair answered calmly. His tone was civil, but his energy was taunting. Did they ever turn it off?
“Alright, let’s get one thing straight right now,” I said, folding my arms as I looked at the both of them. “As long as we’re all stuck here, whatever rivalry you two have going on needs to stop. I don’t want to be caught in the middle of a vampire-werewolf bitch fight for the next few years.”
“He started it,” Dean grumbled.
Alistair rolled his eyes.
I just shook my head. This was going to be fun. “We need to figure out what to do about the rooms. In case you haven’t noticed, there are only two.”
“You should have one to yourself, of course,” said Alistair.
Dean glowered at him, like he resented him saying it first. “Obviously,” he added bitterly. “Guess we’ll duke it out for the other one.”
“No!” I interjected, giving him a scolding look. “No duking. There are two beds. You can share.”
Why did I feel like I was training a dog rather than dealing with a roommate?
Dean froze, staring back at me. “You’re kidding. Right?”
“Nope.”
“Be reasonable, Dean,” Alistair said, expressionless but with a mocking glimmer in his eye. “We can be adults about this.”
