“All night?” he guessed in a way-too-hopeful voice.
“I can’t go out there like this! They’ll think I was naked in here.” She gave him a condemning glance over her shoulder. “And from what I’ve gathered, a lot of naked girls come in your room, Fin.”
He swallowed a laugh in his throat.
“What?” Hailey insisted. “Oh,” she said, disapproving of him. Of course his mind went straight to the gutter. “You’re a juvenile.”
Plopping on his recliner, he put his feet up.
“You’re welcome to stay here,” he said, smiling widely with his hands laced behind his head.
“Right,” she muttered, her eyes desperately searching for anotherway out.
His room was huge. One of the perks of being the RA was that he lived in a suite with a private bathroom. In addition to the recliner (Fin looked extremely satisfied sitting there), there was a couch facing a giant TV. In the corner sat his bed, neatly made with a fluffy blanket on top. He had a big desk and a book shelf against the wall next to his bathroom. Another door, a closet maybe, stood closed beside the bathroom. Everything was neat, clean, and orderly. Surprisingly, he was a good housekeeper.
“I didn’t know you played,” she said, pointing at the Fender next to his bed.
“Yeah,” he said, “have for many, many, many years.” He was smirking and stifling yet another laugh, but at least he wasn’t looking her up and down. She hadn’t shaved her legs in months and was desperately embarrassed he’d notice. Hailey tugged the hockey shirt down as far as she could get it, but it wasn’t far enough to cover her tarantula legs. “Hand me your pants,” she said, nodding to a stack of laundry on top of his dresser.
Jumping up, Fin popped the button on his jeans.
“Don’t be a jerk!”
“Relax, woman,” he said, holding his hands up, and then he lobbed a pair of sweats at her. “I was kidding.”
Hailey caught the giant sweats with one hand and pulled at the collar of the jersey with the other. It was really itchy. And the emblem was a bear—the university’s team, maybe?
“Why do you have this?” she asked.
“It’s my hockey jersey.”
“You play hockey?”
“A little.” He looked at her as if she should already know all this.
“You any good?”
“I can hold my own,” he said, sounding offended.
“You worked in the pub all spring,” Hailey brought up as she handed him back his towel. “Will they let you play this season?”
“Uh…yeah.”
“You must be pretty good.”
“I’m phenomenal.”
“And humble,” Hailey pointed out.
Fin poked his tongue into his cheek, and Hailey peeked out the door again.
Without warning, Fin grabbed the door from her grip, threw it open, and pushed her into the hallway using both hands.
She grabbed at the sweatpants, which were way too big to stay up without help and fell off her hips as she shuffled unwillingly into a gaggle of her classmates.
Fin lowered his chin and pointed at Hailey. “When you’re all done cuddling with my jersey,” he said loud enough for the whole floor to hear, “you can bring it back.” Then he slammed his door.
Hailey looked around, mortified…and still locked out of her room.
