No, not towards me. Us. I glanced at Tere to get a clue about what was going on, but that slightly hazed expression was still on her face.Ooh my god, is he walking to her? Is he the guy she has been crushing on?
A knot formed so suddenly in the middle of my throat it felt like I couldn’t take a whole breath in. Like my lungs had suddenly filled with thick, slimy goop. I looked away and back at her and hated how quickly the green-eyed monster of jealousy took hold of me.Mine, the sex-depraved creature inside me protested, but I brushed her away. I wasn’t the boy-crazy kind of girl who would ever try to steal a guy from another girl, much less my best friend and roommate. But at the loss of it, the realization that the guy who I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about all day long could be someone else’s, another realization hit.
I’d have to watch him with her.
Oh god, that would hurt so bad! I was surprised my knees hadn’t buckled beneath me. I had no idea why the pain was so visceral, so deep. Why was I being so dramatic? It made no sense. I didn’t even know his name!
I called him Laundry Guy in my head, for goodness sake!
Feeling like I was, was not like me. Oh gosh, I was losing it. To my horror, unshed tears started to sting the backs of my eyes.Stop being such a drama queen!Geez, I had to get out of here.
“Hey, Tere, I’m not feeling good…” I started to say, hating the way my heartrate had elevated and the butterflies I’d felt all day long suddenly were sinking in acid in the pit of my gut. “I think I should?—“
“Teresa,” a deeper voice called, cutting me off. That voice most definitely didn’t belong to the laundry guy. My head whipped up to see a different guy, one somehow bigger than the laundry guy, approaching Tere.
“You,” she mumbled, making a look of disgust.
Only… it wasn’t really believable.
I knew her. This wasn’t someone she didn’t like. She might be annoyed with him, but the sparkle in her dark gaze, the way it swept down his chest to his lips before making eye contact, made it obvious she was into him.
“Who is your friend?” he asked politely
“None of your business,” she said with a punch that didn’t really feel genuine.
“Really?” He chuckled, unfazed by her attitude. My eyes grew wide when instead of walking away, he tagged her hand and pulled her into him. “You don’t think your friend should meet your man?”
“My man,” she whispered, and I could have sworn steam came out of her ears. His head dropped down, and he whispered something into her ear low enough for her to only hear, then her body suddenly relaxed into his and her cheeks tinged pink.
“That’s not nice, Teresa,” he said with a smirk. My eyes bounced between them. They looked… good together. Maybe not exactly who I would have seen Tere with, but they worked. Both tanned and toned from their athletic lifestyles, not to mention beautiful.
“Sadie, meet Jeremy.” Her smile was tight, but she didn’t move from his side. “He’s my…”
“Man?” I guessed. Her guy smiled broader, and she sighed.
“Sure, he’s mysomething, all right,” she said sarcastically. “Huge pain in my—“ He gave her a look that made her roll her eyes. “Anyhow, Jeremy, this is my roommate and best friend, Sadie.” I blinked, not sure what was happening between them.
Her man? Her something? Oh, boy, I knew there was a story to this! Tere might have dated, but it was never anything as serious as a boyfriend.
“Nice to meet you, Sadie.” The big, beefed-up guy extended a hand to me. I was about to shake it, when I heard a growl behind me.
I turned, and there he was.
The guy of my dreams.
The one and only man on campus who made my heart flutter like crazy.My laundry guy.
“It’s you,” I whispered, and the hardness in his gaze softened.
“It’s me.” He winked. Jeremy cleared his throat.
“It was very nice to meet you, Sadie.” His voice softened. “Hope you don’t mind if I steal Teresa for a little while?”
“Tere,” she corrected. I pressed my lips together.She doth protest too much, I thought to myself.
“Tere,” he said, his voice softer than before. My brows shot up to almost my hairline as I watched as my tough-as-nails roommate literally melted into his side. “She and I are going to head inside. Wanna show my girl off. I think you can understand that.”
“Right,” I mumbled, giving Tere a look that she had a LOT of explaining to do.
