“Then let me prove to you that I’m nothing like him. One weekly roomie night, and we’ll call it even,” he repeats.
I turn over his offer in my head. It would be much more affordable than paying him, but it still doesn’t feel like enough. Plus, now I feel like a total asshole, so I’m going to have to do so much more than one measly roomie night a week.
“What will we do on these roomie nights?”
“Whatever we want. No rules. Just two friends hanging out.”
I study him for a few more seconds.
“I have no ulterior motives. You said you want to pay me back, so give me your time. You can trust me,” he says. “I promise.”
“Alright,” I agree. “You have a deal.” I put out my hand, and his large hand envelopes mine completely. My eyes lock on where we connect. My skin buzzes under his touch, and I quickly tug away.
“Deal,” he says as a goofy grin spreads across his face. “Now that that’s settled, I bought us a game to play.”
“A game?”
“Yeah, we don’t have to play if you don’t want to, but I thought it was important that we get to know each other better since you’ll be living here.” He gestures to a box of cards in the middle of the table. I pick it up and read the back.
“So they’re just like icebreakers?” I ask, setting it back in between us.
“I think so,” he says. “If you think it’s dumb we can skip it.”
“It’s not dumb.” I pop the lid off the box, grabbing the top card. “What’s your favorite conspiracy theory?” I read.
“Aliens are real, and the government is hiding them from us,” he says with no hesitation.
“Aliens?”
“Yeah. You don’t believe in them?”
“I’ve never really given them much thought,” I say, taking a bite of waffles. “But maybe.”
“What conspiracy theory do you think is real?”
“That’s tough. I don’t think I believe any of them. Maybe that Princess Diana was really murdered.”
“Oh that’s a good one.”
I shrug. “I guess we’ll never know. Your turn to pick a card.”
He digs down in the box, grabbing one halfway down the stack. “What’s your favorite color?”
“Easy. Orange.”
“No, it’s not,” he says.
“What? You don’t think orange is a good color?”
“No, I think it’s the best color.”
“You don’t.”
“I do.”
I study him, not sure I’m buying the whole we have thesame favorite color move, but I let it slide. I grab a card off the top. “What’s your favorite animal?”
“Dogs.”
