“You must be the fresh meat.”
I rolled my eyes before glaring at the dude bro before me. If he didn’t radiate toxic levels of asshole vibes, he was someone I could see myself getting to know. Like me, he had a nicely sculpted physique, meaning it was likely he knew his way around the student fitness center. But then I’d have to deal with his holier-than-thou bullshit.
“Yeah, I’m Colin.” The load in my arms kept me from having to shake hands with the guy. I ran through what Chase and Jayden had told me about the returning roommates. I couldn't imagine this guy as a prankster, so he wasn’t Matt. There wasn’t anything cooking in the kitchen, so he wasn’t Brandon. And there was nothing humble about him. That meant… “You must be Zach.”
“What the fuck’s that s’posed to mean?” he sneered, still standing in the middle of the walkway so I couldn’t get past him to find my room. So much for a smooth transition.
“Nothing at all, man,” I assured him as I hefted the totes that were getting heavier by the second. “Look, it’s going to be a long year if we’re at each other's throats and I’d rather avoid that. How about I get settled a bit and we’ll try this again?”
“Yeah, whatever,” Zach scoffed. I half expected him to give me shit about talking back to him because he was the upperclassmen and I was a lowly freshman who technically shouldn’t have been allowed in this building. I squared my shoulders and didn’t break eye contact. He squirmed but took a step to the side.
“Oh, come on, don’t tell me you’re out here being a dick.” Zach’s expression dimmed as if he’d been scolded. Another roommate—Daniel, if I wasn’t mistaken—grabbed Zach by the shoulder and pulled him out of my way. “Sorry about him. He’s always a little testy when we first get back to campus. It’ll get better in about a week.”
“Screw you, Wilkie,” Zach snapped, jerking out of Daniel’s grasp. “I’m not a fucking child and I don’t need you making excuses for me.”
Daniel leveled him with a glare and Zach backed down.
“Fuck, sorry, Colin,” Zach apologized. “It’s been a long ass day and I’m not always housebroken.”
Part of me wanted to make him sweat, but I didn’t feel like that was the right tactic with him. There was something guarded about him, and I wasn’t sure any of his buddies had ever really looked at him to see past the mask he wore.
“No sweat.” I snuck past him and dumped my load of totes into the only room at this end of the suite that hadn’t been claimed, then stepped back into the hall. A little gratitude could go a long way in this situation. After all, I couldn’t really blame any of the older guys for being annoyed about the change in living arrangements. Like Chase, they hadn’t asked for us to have crazy over-protective parents who somehow pulled strings to keep me out of the dorms. They hadn’t even considered how much more trouble I could get into with more freedom. “In case I forget to say it later, thanks for being cool about this. I’m hoping once things settle a bit, we might be friends.”
God, that sounded lame.
“It’s all good,” Daniel reassured me. When Zach didn’t say anything, Daniel elbowed him in the side. Zach grunted, which I took as his agreement. Oh well, I wasn’t going to push my luck with him. Not yet, anyway. “Your brother’s good shit.”
“He’s a’ight,” I agreed.
Daniel smiled. “I have a feeling you are too, otherwise he wouldn’t have asked about you moving in.” A bit of a faulty assumption, but I didn’t correct him. Chase and I were polar opposites in just about every way. “So, hey, we’re ordering in pizza tonight. You in?”
I hedged because I had limited funds until I found a part-time job. That was the first thing on my agenda for the next week.
It damn near knocked me on my ass when Zach was the one who noticed my discomfort first. “There’s a killer join that’s cheap as hell. The pizza won’t win any awards, but it’s tasty and fills the hole.”
He gave me a slow, down-up glance and, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear he blushed. He’d just totally been checking me out. Now, I just needed to remember I didn’t exactly like him.
“And if pizza’s not your thing, they have salads and some other healthy shit,” he amended. That was laughable, but I stifled my amusement. Fuck, I couldn’t wait until I didn’t feel like I was walking on eggshells with him.
Screw it. Daniel had extended an olive branch, and I was going to accept it. Mom and Dad had given each of us an allowance for the start of the semester; I could afford to splurge tonight, since Chase already told me it was a rarity for these guys. “Nah, pizza’s cool. Just let me know how much I owe you.”
I hitched a thumb over my shoulder. “I’m going to try and get unpacked. Jayden’s taking my boxes and shit over to his mom’s place and I don’t want him waiting on me.”
“Cool. If you need help, just give us a shout,” Daniel offered. He pulled Zach into their room, but it didn’t seem like Zach resisted much.
* * *
It wasn’tuntil Jayden and Chase took off for the night that Daniel knocked on my door to let me know they were ordering. It felt weird being here without the only people I knew, but I needed to get used to that. Chase had invited me to Jayden’s mom’s place, but I knew he wouldn’t be able to let go if I was there. And Chase needed to get back intohisroutine.
“You want me to grab plates?” I asked as I loaded a few soda cans onto the shelf Daniel had indicated was mine in the fridge.
“We use paper on pizza night,” Zach offered, still sounding annoyed that I was intruding on their time.
I’d asked Chase if the two of them were a couple, and he’d nearly choked on his juice. Or maybe that was because I’d barged in without knocking and found him curled up in a bean bag chair with his Pika and a sippy cup, but whatever. That was far from the weirdest thing I’d ever seen.
“Oh, cool.” I pulled some paper plates off the counter and a small stack of napkins. “You guys want anything to drink since I’m already in here?”
“I’ll get it,” Zach grumbled.
