Page 33 of I Wanna Text You Up

Suddenly he reaches out and pulls the blanket off me with one quickyank.

“What in the hell!” Ishout.

“What? I’mcold.”

“Caleb!”

“Yes, my dear sweetroommate?”

“Give itback.”

“Nope.” The word pops out of his mouth in the just the perfect way, his full lips drawing myattention.

“Caleb!”

“What?”

“Come on! Don’t be a dick. I’mfreezing.”

“Weird, me too. That’s why I have theblanket.”

“It’s the only one out here and I had it first,” Iwhine.

“I know, but I’m too lazy to go grab my blanket from myroom.”

“Me too, which is why I was using that old raggedy one you brought withyou.”

“Old raggedy one, huh? Then why is it I’ve come home not once, not twice, butthriceto find you asleep on the couch with this ‘old raggedy’ blanket wrapped aroundyou?”

“Pure desperation.” I wave my hand, not wanting to admit that it’s so much more thanthat.

The blanket smells like him, like warmth and comfort and Caleb all wrapped in one. It’s so…cozy, but I’m not about to tell himthat.

“Uh huh,” he says in a tone that tells me he doesn’t believe that for asecond.

He’s notwrong.

“Just shut up and give me the blanketback.”

“I will not, but we canshare.”

He scoots down on the couch toward me, grabbing my legs and pulling them over his lap. He shakes the blanket out around us, and just like that, we’re almostcuddling.

What inthe…

“Isn’t this weird?” I can’t help butsay.

“Not if we don’t make it thatway.”

“Huh.”

“Yep.”

I grab the remote and hit play, trying to turn my attention to the screen, trying to ignore how good it feels to be so close to Caleb, to overlook how normal and comforting itis.

It’s just Caleb. You’ve known him for months. He’s just your roommate. Don’t make thisweird.

Right. Don’t make it weird. Don’t let him know I’m totally crushing onhim.

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