“Your roommate who’d give his left nut to get into your pants,” Robin said. “I don’t understand why this is obvious to everyone but you.”
“Because it’s not true,” I said. “We’ve been living together almost three years now. To call me easy would be to dramatically understate how not-difficult getting into my pants is. He’s had hundreds of opportunities. All he ever had to do was ask.”
“I’m sensing a crush,” Marlee said, the full weight of her attention suddenly landing on me.
Blood rushed to the tips of my ears.
“It’s not like that,” I lied.
It was exactly like that.
But I wasn’t about to justadmitit after years of firm denial.
I’d had a crush on Kit from the moment he said hello inthat accent.
Sometimes it was less intense, when there was someone who was actually interested in me in my life.
Sometimes it was a lot more intense, in the awful way crushes could be when all you thought about was your crush, even when you had other things to do.
Right now, it was hovering firmly on the more intense end of the scale.
I was blaming that on the weather. It was cold in New York at this time of year, and that meant standing just a little closer to Kit while we made the walk home to share body heat. It meant sitting closer on the couch. It meant I was cold in bed and wishing I had someone to curl up next to and get hot chocolate and go ice skating with.
And then when the sun set and we were both freezing, we’d walk to the subway station with our hands in each other's coat pockets and stop for warm donuts on the way home and lick powdered sugar off each other’s lips when we finally got inside while we waited for the heating to come on so we could tear each other’s clothes off.
... that fantasydefinitelyhadn’t been quite that specific last time I’d thought about it. Christmas songs were rotting my brain, and it was only the twelfth of December.
“See, that’s the look he gets when he thinks about his hot British roommate,” Robin said, startling me. “He zones right out. Sometimes there’s drool.”
“There is not,” I said. “If I’m drooling, I’m thinking about food.”
“Dickisone of the major food groups,” Marlee said.
Robin grinned and offered her hand for a high five, the two of them laughing between themselves.
I was glad they were getting along, but I wouldn’t have minded if it wasn’t at my expense.
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” I said, cuddling my coffee protectively. “Just don’t... don’t tease Kit about this, okay? He gets embarrassed.”
“You’re a regular knight in shining armour Moreno, you know that?” Robin smirked at me.
I’d never admitted to having a crush on Kit, not even once, but sheknew. She’d always known, from the first time she saw us together.
Which had to mean Kit knew, right? Or was so uninterested that he hadn’t noticed.
“Shouldn’t you be finishing up Marlee's orient... eering?” I asked.
“Orientation?” Robin asked.
“That,” I agreed. “Make with the orienting. I’ve got stuff to do. Big, important stuff.”
Robin snorted, but twirled away from her desk and stood with a stretch.
“He’s not gonna be around forever, you know. You could do worse than encouraging him to butter your crumpet.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Do what to my what?”
“That’s what they call it in England.” Robin shrugged. “C’mon Marlee. You need to see where we hide the snacks.”
