Page 37 of Oblivious Roommate

I slouch, playing with my fingers. They don’t understand. If Cass rejects me, I will die, and it will be much worse than getting every single bone in my body broken.

“I’ll think about it. I need to find the right moment,” I say to appease them.

It doesn’t even feel weird that Levi now knows my secret too.

Levi pats my foot in encouragement. He looks like he knows shit, so maybe I should trust him.

“Thanks for not breaking my leg.”

“Thank me when you tell him how you feel. Trust me, you absolutely need to do this.” A cloud passes over his features, but he gathers himself up before I can inquire and claps his hands. “Right. Now we must make sure you look adequately ill.”

Chapter 13

“At least you’re not puking anymore,” Cass says and arranges his checkered blanket over me before tucking it in. Water for tea is heating in the microwave, and I feel like the worst person ever.

I’m lying to Cassian and don’t deserve his care, yet I nod as he presses the back of his hand to my forehead, leaning so close I can sense his delicious cologne.

Mint and rosemary.

I want to fall asleep breathing it in straight from his nape.

I’m such a big gay I can’t even comprehend how I didn’t see that.

“I’m sorry I ruined your date,” I say again.

I had him pick me up under the pretense of being unwell, so I’m still kind of mumbling, but he hears me on the way to the kitchen. He dressed nicely for the fake troll, in his best jeans, which are a bit narrower than the others, and a new long-sleeve with a picture of snowy mountains at the front. Its color, a dark magenta, makes Cass’s green eyes stand out more, and as he comes back with my tea, I can’t help but stare at him.

He places the cup on the coffee table and sits on the sofa, so close my toes touch his thigh. “Don’t worry about it.”

I poke him with my foot. “Was he everything you wanted?” I sure fucking hope not.

Cass lowers his head, and for a moment I’m left watching his profile. “No. Actually, I’m happy I got an excuse to leave,” he says and offers me a smile that seems weirdly sad.

Now I’m regretting the guy wasn’t to his liking, and that’s messed up. I’m so desperate to see him happy. I sit up, cuddled in the blanket, to drink the mint tea he’s made for me.

“How come?

Cass pulls up his legs and presses the soles of his feet together, as if he were stretching. His black curls are unruly today, yet it’s an artistic sort of mess I love seeing on him. Is my constant need to ruffle his hair an expression of me wanting to touch him? Has it always been that way?

“You know, he had this hot voice, and he knew I was a guy, so I think I kind of rushed into things, but.. he wasn’t what I expected.” He shrugs, curling his hand over his toes. “He was this kind of sexy player dude. Not my troll. The guy I met today wouldn’t have ran away from me.”

The memory of that moment washes over me in waves of shame. “Did you kiss him?” I don’t want to know, but the morbid curiosity gets the best of me.

Cassian shrugs. “He was lying. And we had nothing to talk about in real life. I don’t know what I’ve been thinking?” He looks my way. “Putting up posters and posting ads online just because of a guy whose face I don’t even know? What the hell’s wrong with me? This isn’t a movie. The more I think about it, the angrier I am with myself.”

I stroke his back, and not because I’m a creeper trying to get a feel of him, but because I’m so sorry he’s going through this. “Don’t be. You had the best intentions. Maybe you did get swept up in the romance of a mystery, that’s all.”

Cassian stares at our murky reflection in the dark TV screen. “I can’t explain it, but he seemed almost shy. And because I didn’t know him, I projected on him, I suppose. Who knows, maybe the real troll is a complete douche canoe too?”

I have some of the mint tea, thinking it smells a bit like Cass—fresh and herby. “Maybe he’s in the closet and that’s why he wore the mask.”

“Well, he could have at least called me,” Cass says so sharply I bite my tongue, but he then takes a deep breath and rolls his shoulders to relax them. “It was a stupid idea. I’m surprised Logan didn’t veto it in the first place.”

Logan.

I almost forgot about him.

“Have you even seen him since Halloween?”