“Who was that hottie?” A deep voice murmurs behind me.
I sigh. “No one important, Roman.”
My coworker Roman sits his tall frame into the seat next to me. I’m not considerably short but anyone who stands near Roman Gregg would dwarf in comparison. We don’t get scheduled together often but when it happens, he’s a fun guy to be around.
“No one important, huh?” He wiggles his eyebrows as he enunciates each word. “Didn’t seem like that by the way he was flirting with you.”
I scoff, switching from one Microsoft tab to the other on the PC. “Flirting? That’s hilarious, Roman.”
“I’m serious,” he insists. “It’s plain as day.”
“Okay, so what if he was flirting?” I ask, choosing to entertain Roman's factually incorrect theory as I take a sip from my water bottle.
“Easy. I’d reciprocate. Hit that faster than a lightning bolt strikes, hun.”
The words cause me to choke on my water. “Roman!”
He shrugs. “I really would. Did you see him, D? He’s like Jeremiah Fisher but more muscular and definitely straighter than an arrow.”
“I saw him, alright,” I mumble as I wipe the spilled water from my chin. Carson basically lives to irk me every waking moment. Though I can’t lie about one thing—he is, to my annoyance, conventionally attractive. Hell, I even saw a couple of girls shooting me dirty looks when he was over there, but I don’t think much of it. I take personality over looks like any girl with common sense.
“Besides, you’re pretty, too. You got this whole Ana-De Armas-meets-Rory-Gilmore vibe going for you.”
Coming from Roman, that’s a compliment.
“Thanks,” I tell him. “But there’s no way in hell I’m getting with the bane of my existence.”
“Bane of existence?” He stares at me with confusion in his eyes. “Wait, is this the same guy who threw a pie in your face?”
I nod curtly.
“So, we’re supposed to hate him? And his cheekbones? D, you are not making this easy on me.”
I nod again, crossing my arms. “It’s bad enough that he lives in the house behind mineandthat we share a class this semester. I don’t need him coming to my place of work just to bother me.”
“Maybe,” Roman says. “And this is only a suggestion, Diana. He’s not here just to annoy you.” Shrugging, he adds, “and lots of students come to Main to study.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
He lets out a heavy sigh before standing back up. “Alright. But don’t come to me when you find out that I’m right. Because I always am.”
I roll my eyes as he goes back to the storage room. His words still ring in my head.
He’s not here just to annoy you.
Really? Is that possible?
I shake my head. Not with Carson Ryder, it isn’t.
4
I Have an Idea
Carson
It’s pretty late when I get back to the house, which is as crowded as it can get with five guys in varying programs living under one roof.
Especially when three of them are squished on one bed, watching something on a laptop. Wow, that looks uncomfortable.
