“Gosh, Lane, wait up!”
By the time she catches up with me, she’s out of breath.
“I don’t mind taking the bus, I sw—”
“Oh, but it’s my pleasure, ma’am.”
You can say that again.
“Well, if you’re sure…”
Lois chatters away as we walk, thinking out loud, obsessing over her new room, and I really wish she wouldn’t. She’s trying to lighten the mood, but I’m not playing ball. All the way there, I stick to a few noncommittal “For sures,” with a few grunts thrown in for good measure.
“I was starting to think the whole waiting list thing was bull.”
“Yeah.”
“This is amazing.”
“Yeah.”
I can’t think what else to say.
Pulling up outside her new building, we sit there in silence, staring up at it for a moment.
“They gave you the one dorm out in the sticks.”
“It’s no farther from campus than your apartment.” She peers out the windshield. “I think it’s kind of cute.”
While she takes in her surroundings, I watch her biting her lip, batting back flashbacks to the sounds she made when I slipped my tongue into her.It was just sex.That’s what I try to keep telling myself—but if I’m being honest, she got under my skin, and now I really don’t know how to get her back out.
“Okay, let’s do it.”
I need to get this done and dusted.
A tall guy introduces himself as the resident adviser and leads us from the front desk up to the third floor, opening the door and turning around to face us with a smile.
“It’s a triple—you’ll be sharing with two other students, so let me just tell you what I already told them: no overnight boyfriends.”
He looks at me, as if to say, “Listen, dude, if your sorry ass finds its way up here, I’ll know about it.” This guy knows his nonverbal communication.
“We’re not together,” I tell him, shooting him a smile that translates to “But if I want to fuck her here, I’ll do what I want, asshole.” That was a mistake—fresh visions of me and Lois go flashing through my mind.
He leads us through the room, ticking off the features as we go. “Bed. Shower. Desk.”
“It’s tiny.”
“I don’t think so.” Lois turns around, taking in the space. “It does the job.”
The RA glances at her. “No drilling holes in the wall, by the way.”
I stroll over to the window and gaze outside.
“It’s so green!” Lois presses her forehead to the glass. “Check out that view!”
I spin around. The guy has gone, leaving the door open in his wake.
I turn back, peering through the glass at the park.
