I tried to focus on the chapter I was reading, but something Chase had been about to say kept distracting me. I hung my headphones around my neck and spun in my chair, stopping before I spoke. He lookedterrifiedas he carefully unfolded every shirt and hung it in the closet. I wasn’t sure how to deal with a spooked horse roommate and didn’t want to see how he’d react the first time we had company.
Reading took a backseat as I watched Chase. He carefully placed his toiletries in a line so straight you wouldn’t have been able to convince me he hadn’t used a ruler if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. He crouched down, reaching for something else in his bag. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but it seemed he was arguing with himself about something.
He plopped onto the floor, holding the duffel bag in his lap, hand still buried deep inside. Now I was curious.What in the hell kind of weird shit was he bringing into the room?He hung his head, shaking it before zipping the bag and shoving it under his bed.
Drake liked to give me shit for my impersonal living space, but Chase took things to a whole other level. I might not have much, but there wasnothingon Chase’s side of the room that gave me any clues about who he was. It was stupid because I was on a mission to keep my grades up, and that meant I shouldn’t be worried about turning my roommate into my bestie, but I wantedsome sort of ideaabout who I’d be sharing a room with for the semester.
“You know, you can decorate your side however you want,” I offered. His body went rigid. He bent down, letting out a breath when he saw—or didn’t see—whatever it was he was looking for. Probably trying to make sure his bag was hidden. I wasn’t a snoop, but I wasn’t sure how long I’d make it not knowing what he was hiding. “I know my side of the room is pretty bare, but you don’t have to keep your shit packed away.”
“It’s fine,” Chase insisted. Fuck, I was going to get sick of that word.
“Whatever you say,” I responded with a shrug. “Just figured you knew it’s going to be a long semester and you might feel better if you made your space homey.”
“Why don’t you have posters or something?” He clamped a hand over his mouth as if he thought he said something he shouldn’t have. This dance was going to get old. And why was I suddenly obsessed with helping him acclimate to life in the suites?
“It’s a fair question,” I said, moving to the bean bag under my lofted bed so I didn’t feel like I was towering over him. “This is what home’s like for me.”
“Like you don’t have anything? Man, sorry. My mother says I need to learn to not pry into other people’s lives.”
“She’s wrong,” I countered. “Sure, you shouldn’t be nosy, but asking questions is how you learn about other people.”
That earned me something resembling a smile. I sat up a bit straighter, proud of myself for cracking his shell a bit.
“We have all the things we need to get by,” I explained. “Sure, there were times when we didn’t have much, but even once my mom graduated from college and we could have bought more stuff, she never did. She said it was easier to know what you have when you aren’t buried under piles of clutter.”
“Man, I wish I’d lived in a place like that,” Chase mused. See, now we were getting somewhere. He leaned against the edge of his bed with his legs crossed in front of him. He looked around the room, pinching his bottom lip. He was still nervous.Damn.“There’s stuffeverywherein my parents’ house. Mom says she’s a collector. Dad says she’s a packrat. I think I’ll like this better.”
“Well, if you change your mind, remember it’s not all or nothing,” I reminded him. “For me, it’s not so much about not having things, it’s about being intentional about what I bring into my space.”
“But your space is my space. So, wouldn’t you be upset if I mess up the feng shui or whatever?”
Oh, he was fucking adorable.
“It’s nothing that thought out,” I reassured him. “Seriously, I’d rather you be comfortable than walking on eggshells around me.”
Chase shrugged. “We’ll see. For now, I want to try it your way. I should probably let you get back to studying. Thanks for not acting like I’m the misfit. I know I’m younger than everyone else in the suite, but I won't be a pest.”
“How old are you?” Everyone in this building was supposed to be a junior or senior, but yeah, hedidlook young.
“I’ll be twenty-one this spring,” he admitted, his cheeks turning a cute shade of pink.
“So what, your last roommate didn’t work out and they moved you in with me?” I hadn’t seen him around, but that didn’t mean much. Eastern wasn’t a huge school but there were thousands of students spread out over the various departments.
Chase shook his head, pursing his lips tightly. There was a story there, but it seemed he wasn’t ready to share with the class. That was fine. I was going to keep working at him a little bit at a time until he opened up to me.
And how fucked was that? Taking on a pet project of befriending the shy kid was pretty much the exact opposite of savoring a room to myself.
“Cool.” His body relaxed when I didn’t press him for details on where he’d been before walking into my life. “Well, I’m going to finish this chapter. If you want, take a look around. The suite kitchen is down the hall and to the right. There’s a small lounge and another bathroom at that end of the suite, too.”
Chase shook his head. “Oh, no, I’m… Yeah, I don’t need to do that right now, do I?”
“No, there’s no timetable. I just thought you might want to check out where you’ll be staying.” Then again, maybe it would be for the best if we eased him into the suite life. Some of the suitemates could be a bit much to handle, even for me. They’d eat him alive if he was this skittish around them.
“I’ll get there,” he said, but I wasn’t sure which of us he was trying to convince.
“Yeah, you will,” I agreed, earning another shy smile. “It’s probably been a long day for you if you’re just now getting settled. Why don’t you kick back and relax for the night? There will be plenty of time for adventures later.”
Chase yawned, arching his back as he stretched. He quickly tugged on the hem of his shirt, depriving me a longer glimpse of his smooth, toned stomach. Maybe I should feel worse about checking him out, but I was only human. A twenty-two-year-old man with an active, under-utilized libido.
