Page 306 of His Virgin Romance Series

GABBY

“I’m leaving, Miles,” I said.

He stood there at my door, staring at me in shock for a moment. Then I saw the confusion on his face, and I realized it was wrong of me to do this without any warning. To be honest, it had been sort of a spur of the moment kind of decision for me too.

The truth was the last two weeks had amazing moments. Miles and I got along well; it was easy to talk to him, and creatively we gelled well together. But there was another side of him that I hadn’t seen coming. He was the partying type, and I had hoped that I could either deal with it or just plain ignore it, but I realized that I couldn’t. Miles was completely into his late-night parties, some of which went on till three and four into the morning. Even if I excused myself early, I wouldn’t be able to sleep until the music had stopped and everyone had left.

I didn’t feel right trying to change how he did things in the apartment, especially because it didn’t really feel like my home yet, so I had just kept my opinions to myself. But I hated the partying and the drinking, and it happened so often that it was not something I could grin and bear either.

I had been mulling over the idea of moving out for the last few days, but what had helped make my decision was the text I had received from Miles only a few hours ago. I had spent the last few days scrambling to finish my music theory papers, I was sleep deprived and overworked. I was juggling my part-time job with all my schoolwork on practically no sleep, and I just couldn’t do it anymore. My body was tired, my mind was tired, and I wasn’t willing to spend an indefinite amount of time biting my tongue just because Miles liked to party.

The only reason I hadn’t come to this decision sooner was because I really liked Miles. I mean… I really liked him. If I removed the partying aspect of his personality from the equation, I could almost believe that he was the perfect guy. He was a firefighter who painted. He was creative and interesting and talented. We had the most amazing conversations, and I felt like I could be myself around him.

“What?” Miles asked, gaping at me. “Why?”

I sighed and zipped up the bag I had just finished packing. “I just… I think I need a little time to think…”

“Think about what?”

“About this living situation,” I said. “I don’t think it’s working out.”

“How can you say that?” Miles asked. “We’ve been having a great time.”

I part of me felt really, truly bad. He had obviously had no inclination whatsoever as to how I had been feeling the last two weeks. He had thought everything was going so smoothly.

“No… you’ve been having a great time,” I said. “I’ve been… trying to manage all this.”

“All this?” Miles asked.

I bit my lip and turned to him. “I’m sorry, Miles,” I said. “It’s just… the partying is just… it’s too much for me. I can’t focus, I can’t concentrate, and I can’t work. The very reason I was kicked out of my previous dorm room because my roommate was a partier too, and I just… that’s not my style. I just don’t have that kind of personality. I don’t like the parties.”

He looked shocked by my admission. “I… you never said anything to me,” he said.

“Because that first night… well, you threw the party for me and I didn’t want to say anything,” I replied. “And then the second time your friends came over, I guess I didn’t want to say anything because then it would sound like I didn’t mind a party when it was about me but not under any other circumstances. And then it just kept continuing, and I… I guess I just talked myself out of saying something because I was aware that this was your lifestyle and it felt unfair to ask you to change it for me.”

“This is technically your apartment too though,” Miles said.

I sighed. “Miles, I like you, and I think we do get along well. You’re the only roommate I’ve ever had that I think I have a real friendship with…”

“There’s a ‘but’ coming, isn’t there?”

“This isn’t the lifestyle I’m comfortable with, Miles,” I said gently. “And that’s okay. If this is the lifestyle you want and enjoy, then that’s okay too. It’s just that we’re probably not suited to live together.”

I reached forward and put his hand on mine. “Gabby,” he said. “Don’t leave… we can work this out.”

“How?” I asked.

“I can cut down on the partying,” he promised immediately. “I don’t need my friends coming over every night. I mean… they’re not really close friends, any of them. They just bring music and booze and enough chaos that it drowns out all the stress in my life… at least for a few hours. I can stop the parties.”

“No,” I said quickly. “I don’t want you doing that for me. I’m not asking you to give up anything.”

“I know you’re not,” Miles said immediately. “I’m offering.”

“I’m not interested in feeling responsible, Miles,” I said clearly. “I’m not interested in feeling guilty for making you change. Listen… we’re just roommates, and we haven’t even been that for very long. You’ll find someone else.”

“I don’t want another roommate,” Miles said emphatically. “You and I… we get along so well… don’t we?”

I could see that he was unsure if I felt the same way. He had misread how I felt about these past two weeks, and he was worried he might have done the same thing where our friendship was concerned.

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