Page 153 of Trust Me Always

“Okay, so obviously Noah is with me.” Ari smiles, looking over at her man on screen. “And, Paige, you’re still using Lolli’s spare room when you go back and forth from here to Oceanside, right?”

“I am.” She looks up with a smile. “How do we feel about pumpkin cheesecake with candied pecans?”

Several of us chuckle, and she blushes all over again, sliding down in the chair and going back to her notebook.

Chase shakes his head, fighting a grin. “Okay, so Mason’s room is free,” he reiterates.

“Fernando and Jeremy are already roommates, so we can put them both in there,” Mason says.

“So that leaves possibly three people.” Noah pulls his hoodie over his head, leaning closer in the camera view.

The room goes quiet, and when I look around, Chase, Mason, Ari,andNoah are looking at me. “What?”

“Nothing,” Ari says quickly.

Too quickly.

I glare at my best friend.

Noah clears his throat. “Well, I can attest to the couch being pretty comfortable. That covers one more.”

“Then we’re all good.” Brady looks up, shoving his phone in his pocket.

“Are we?” Chase asks.

I make a silly face at Deaton, and he covers his face with his tiny hands, pulling them away a moment later and trying to make the same one back. I laugh and make another.

“Paige at Lolli’s, Mason at Payton’s, Noah with Ari, and me with Cam.”

I freeze, my eyes snapping to Brady. “What?”

He frowns. “What?”

“Okay, then, it’s settled.” Ari claps her hands and jumps up. “Noah, love you. I’ll call you when we get back in our dorm.”

She hangs up, takes my hand, and yanks me to my feet, tugging me right out the door.

We get to the sidewalk before I think to pull myself free, spinning to face Ari. “Did he just say we’re rooming together this weekend?”

“He did.”

“For three days?”

Ari scrunches her nose and nods.

“Jesus fuck.” I drop my head back. “He’s trying to kill me.”

Ari loops her arm in mine and drags me down the path toward our dorm. “Well, let’s look at the bright side.”

“What bright side would that be?”

And then she blows my damn mind.

Brady

I blink, then blink again.

“What just happened?”