Page 22 of Roommating

“Mia screamed like her hair was on fire,” Peter says, referring to an actress who went ballistic after tripping over a shoe in the middle of tonight’s performance because someone left it onstage during a scene transition.

I find their backstage stories fascinating and lean in to ask a follow-up question, but I completely forget what I’m going to say whenhewalks through the door.

My heart throbs. I forcibly grip my Keybar’s Lemonade like it’s a pole on a fast-moving subway. It’s probably not him. There must be thousands of cute guys with multishades-of-brown hair. And lotsof them own black windbreakers. He turns his head slightly toward me, and I gasp. It’s 100 percent Adam Haber. Adam ishere… at the same bar as me. I take a huge swig of my cocktail.

Carley hands me her drink and says something about going to the bathroom. I don’t respond.

Adam blessedly hasn’t seen me yet. Is he alone? There’s a girl practically up his ass, but they could be strangers since we’re packed in this bar tighter than pickles in a jar. He glances over his shoulder and his lips move. I can’t hear what he’s saying given the DJ has the music turned up high enough to entertain bars all the way down in Brooklyn. The girl’s eyes light up at Adam’s attention. They’re definitely here together.

Adam reaches the bar a second before she does and gets the attention of the female bartender immediately. His date… friend…

whatever, also blonde, slips into the small space to his right. Adam orders something and looks behind him. This time his eyes meet mine and stay there. It’s almost like he’s not sure who I am… like I look familiar and he’s trying to place me. But then his mouth slowly curves into a crooked grin.

My cheeks burn, and if I weren’t holding a glass in both hands, I’d wipe the sweat from the back of my neck. Why is he so damn smiley, and why am I so freaked out that he’s here?

“Are you eye fucking someone?”

I whip my head to face Gabe. “What? No! It’s…” I whisper—not that Adam could hear me from this far away and over the music—and duck my head because he might be able to read lips. “Adam’s here.” When I glance back at the bar, he’s no longer there. “Well, hewasright there.”

“Adam? As in your roommate?”

“Marcia’smy roommate. He’s just the grandson.”

“Thehotgrandson. You said it yourself. And don’t deny it. Your face is doing that thing it did when Channing Tatum did a reading of his picture book at the library.”

“My face is doing nothing. And if it is, it’s because it’s hot as balls in here.”

Carley rejoins us. “I think I just saw Hot Grandson. Either that, or his doppelganger is here.”

“Sabrinalikeshim,” Gabe teases.

I give Carley back her drink and lightly punch Gabe, second-guessing my decision to invite him out tonight.

“Hey!” He grimaces even though he’s still wearing his jacket and probably felt nothing.

“Have you talked to him yet?” Carley asks.

“No. I was planning to after work today but Marcia hurt her back, and I—”

“Chickened out,” Gabe answers for me.

I glare at him. “I didn’t chicken out. It just seemed unimportant compared to Marcia’s pain.”

“You need liquid courage. Rolo shots!” Carley says, dragging me to the bar.

Over the next half hour, my friends manage to distract me enough that I barely think about Adam being in the bar somewhere. I don’t see him and wonder if he left after the one drink. And then I have to pee so bad, Adam could be right in front of me and I wouldn’t care.

“Oh my God. What are youdoingin there?” The girl in front of me yells at the bathroom door, echoing my thoughts.

I shift my feet. “I know, right? She better not be touching up her makeup while I’m out here dying.” I repeat. “Dying.” We chuckle. Despite my bladder pain, I love bonding with strangers in bar bathroom lines.

“I’m afraid they’re puking or—”

“Taking a dump!”

We bend over in laughter.

Adam materializes at my side like a hologram and smiles like he’s thrilled to see me. “Someone gets foul when she’s drunk.”

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