Page 40 of Down My Chimney

“Thought it would be fine?” I forced myself to speak. The words were a razor blade, leaving my throat bloody as they tore free. “Because I was at the library? Because I’d never know what sort of weird shit you got up to while I was gone?”

Henry pulled back like I’d slapped him. His face went white, and red spots appeared on his cheeks. His mouth opened in shock.

I might as well have hit him. What I’d said was just as hurtful. But it was the only thing I could think of to say to salvage the situation with my roommates.

Silence hung over the scene. Finally, Henry swallowed.

“Sorry.” He pulled his T-shirt on over his head. “I’ll go.”

The guys moved back to the living room as Henry grabbed his bag and shoved his feet back into his shoes—sparkly pink Converse with rainbow laces. They matched the fucking dildo.

“Henry,” I whispered, but he just pushed past me.

I followed him out to the living room. Over on the couch, he heard Taylor hiss, “In his ass?” Matty must have been catching him and Dev up on what they’d missed. Fuck, I had so much damage control to do.

But Henry was walking out the door now, holding himself stiffly, and I had to deal with him first. Had to explain. I had to ask what the hell was going on, too, but explaining came first. I closed the door behind me and caught up with him at the elevators.

“Henry, can you wait for a second? Please?”

He looked straight ahead, his reflection blurry in the old metal doors. “Really? You want me to wait? I was pretty sure you wanted me out of your apartment, but by all means, if you’d like me to go back and—”

“You know that’s not what I mean.” I reached for his hand, but he shook me off.

“Aren’t you worried someone might see?” he said scornfully.

“Fuck, are you trying to be—dammit, Henry, I’m sorry for what I said in there, but I had to say something. What are you even doing here?”

“You’d know if you ever checked your messages. I left a voicemail. I texted. Multiple times.”

“I had my phone off.”

“For five hours?”

“I was in the library. Writing a paper.”

“For five hours?” he repeated.

“Yeah, well, sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not a genius. It actually takes me time to do school work.”

“Oh, don’t try to make this about that,” he said, his voice full of disdain. “Don’t turn this around and make it some pity party about you and your grades.”

“I’m not trying to! I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on. All I know is you sent a text saying you had news, and then a picture of your dick from my apartment. I’m kind of lost.”

The elevator dinged. Henry huffed and stepped inside when the doors opened, then finally turned and faced me.

“I got into my study abroad program,” he said, his voice flat. “I was excited and wanted to tell you. But there, look, I just did. News exchanged. I can go home now.”

He stabbed angrily at a button on the panel, and the doors started to slide shut. I darted inside at the last second.

“You were that excited that you decided to come down and tell me in person?” I asked. “I thought you weren’t even sure you wanted to go.”

“Turns out I was lowering my expectations, trying not to get my hopes up in case I got rejected.” He glared at me. “Wonder where I could have learned that.”

“Henry—”

“Youwere the one who told me to call you the second I found out.”

“Yeah.Callme. Not drive down and then put on a cam show for my roommates.”

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