“That she does,” I said. “And the rest of us in the suite are just the supporting cast. In fact, more of a cameo role, sometimes.”
She laughed. “I like this one, Straw.”
Logan seemed frozen (he really must have totally bypassed intros of the other girls, manners be damned), so Philly jumped in, pointing first at the Viking and then the lounger. “That’s Veeti Lakonen and Gabriel Faxon. They live here too.”
“Veeti? Is that another nickname?”
“No. That’s my name. I’m Finnish,” Veeti said. So Viking wasn’t far off. One country over. But no accent. “But raised here, mostly.”
“Got it. Gabriel,” I said to the guy who had brought the recliner up a bit to make better eye contact.
“Gabe,” he said.
“Gabe. Hey.”
“Hey, Megan,” he said, bringing his chair all the way up now. He kind of singsonged my name, like he needed to add emphasis to it, though I didn’t know why. “Pause it, Dex,” he said, prompting Dex to dig a remote from the couch by his hip and pause the movie. “So, Megan, you were at that party? I don’t remember meeting you. And I don’t think I’d forget that hair.”
I snuck a glance at Logan, trying to see his reaction to Gabe’s words. Was he flirting? Or dissing my mass of curls? Based on elementary school teasing, either could be true, and I figured Logan’s take would give me a clue.
But he didn’t say anything. Didn’t seem to comprehend Gabe’s words at all. He just stared at the TV’s frozen screen, checked out.
“We didn’t meet that night,” I said. “I wasn’t here that long. And I had straightened my hair.”
Gabe’s gaze flashed quickly from my hair, to where Logan’s hand was not at all touching mine (he must have clocked the hand drop), to Logan’s face, then back to mine, but with more curiosity now.
“You must be a freshman, Megan?” he asked.
“I deferred a year, but yes,” I said. I’d taken to using the “deferred” line in the past week when asked what year I was. I’d probably drop that as well in the coming days as I became more comfortable with the fact that I was indeed a freshman, and nobody cared why.
“Yeah. What’d you do, Straw, set up a table at freshman orientation?”
“What?” Logan said, his attention finally back on the situation at hand. Mainly the awkwardness of his introducing a girl to his housemates.
Boy, he really did bustle women in and out of here with no stopping for any other interaction, based on how weird the vibe felt.
“I said you must have set up a— Aw, never mind. Wasn’t that funny anyway,” Gabe said.
“It wasn’t,” Philly said. “You guys want to join us?” She elbowed Dex, who un-slouched and moved further into the corner of the couch, freeing up space.
“Yeah. Come on. One of the premium channels is doing a Clancy movie marathon.The Hunt for Red Octoberis up. We’re gonna binge them all and then vote on our favorite Jack Ryan,” Dex said.
I looked at Logan to see if he wanted us to join the group or just head up to his room. Both appealed to me in very different ways, so I was content to do what appealed to him. But he was shaking his head, so I took that to mean we wouldn’t be voting on the best Jack Ryan. (I’d have voted for John Krasinski, even though he wouldn’t have been part of a movie marathon.)
“No. Thanks. Actually”—he looked down at me now—“do you mind if we just call it a night? I forgot about something I need to take care of before morning skate.”
It was lame. Really lame. So lame that Veeti and Gabe exchanged looks and then, after a quick, pitying glance at me, returned their eyes to the TV, which Dex quickly restarted.
Embarrassment crawled up my body, starting at my feet—which had walked not to my dorm room!—but to his house—athisrequest!—all the way up to my face—which I couldfeelturning red—to the top of my head—which might actually explode and send my curls spewing over Gabe, who would surely never forget them then.
I couldn’t even look Philly in the eye. I knew what I’d see, though maybe she wouldn’t actually mouth the wordsI told you so.
“Oh, yeah? Forgot about something? Well, you’ll want to take care of that, right?”
Everyone felt the ice in my tone. Another look passed between Gabe and Veeti.
“Megan, I—”
“Honestly, it’s no big deal. I just wish you’d remembered beforeyouaskedmeto come and hang out. I could have gotten a few things done myself.”
