Page 1 of Trusting Tanner
Chapter One
Juliana approached the door and took a deep breath. Her heart raced, and her hands trembled.Why am I so damn nervous?She was only meeting her new roommate for the first time. No big deal at all, right?
She lifted a fisted hand and gave one hard knock before blowing out a pent-up breath. “Hello?” She pushed open the door with her shoulder and awkwardly lugged her bags into the room. “I’m Juli—”
“What the fuck!” her roommate screeched. She rushed to cover her breasts with her arms and then turned around, her shiny white ass a stark contrast to the dark-colored furnishings.
“Oh my gosh!” Juliana’s eyes widened, and then she quickly turned her head, but not before she got an eyeful of her roommate’s boobs.Holy double D’s.Her face warmed with embarrassment. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t—”
“Shut the damn door!” The girl yanked an extra-large T-shirt over her head.
“Right. Sorry.” Juliana nodded, kicked the door closed, and dropped her bags. “I knocked, but no one answered. I assumed the room was empty.”
After slipping into a pair of denim shorts, the girl turned around and shrugged. “No biggie. You must be my new roomie. I’m Rebecca.”
“Yeah. I’m Juliana Shea.” She extended her hand. “But everyone calls me Jules.”
Rebecca flopped down on the bed positioned against the left wall. “Well, welcome to McKenzie Hall, Jules.” She grinned as if that was the most ridiculous name she’d ever heard. “The RA can be a bitch, but almost everyone else on the floor is cool.”
Jules nodded and dropped her hand. “Good to know.” She moved her bags to the foot of the unoccupied bed that would now be hers and then sat. “So, you’re a junior, too, right?”
“Yep.” Rebecca snatched her phone from the headboard, glanced at the screen, then laughed.
Was she texting a boyfriend? Jules looked around the room. It was set up differently than her room last year. This had the beds pushed against either wall with the headboards right beneath the windows. There was a large nightstand between the beds, and at the foot of each was a dresser and a simple desk with a chair. It definitely wasn’t luxurious, but it would do.
Looking up, Rebecca said, “My last roommate was a real dick. I hope you’re not going to be like her.”
Juliana’s jaw dropped. She was afraid to ask what Rebecca meant by being a dick, but she refrained, not wanting to start a fight with her roommate after only knowing her for five minutes. She cleared her throat. “I pretty much keep to myself. I spend a lot of time in the library studying.”
Admitting she was a boring study-holic without much of a social life probably wasn’t the best first impression to make, but she wasn’t going to lie about who she was, either. She stood and lifted her bags onto the bed, intent on unpacking and having a quiet night before classes started on Monday. Before she could get her suitcase open, her phone vibrated in her back pocket. She pulled it out and a grin split her face. “Are you back already?”
“No, I’m leaving home now to head to campus,” Devon said.
“Then why are you calling me?” Her tone held a lightness she hadn’t felt in months.
“Seriously?” He laughed. “I haven’t seen my best friend all summer and you’re going to give me shit about calling you?”
“No, it’s just odd. You usually only call once you’re back. Besides, we have literally talked or texted every single day.”
“Yeah, and you were supposed to call me when you got back. I was starting to worry.”
“Sorry.” That was the thing about Devon: he worried about her way too much. He really was like the big brother she never had. “I was busy meeting my new roommate and unpacking.”
“Yeah? She hot?”
“You’re an ass.” She laughed.
“Hey, it’s a valid question that, conveniently, you didn’t answer. Don’t hold out on me, Jules.” The sound of a horn blaring pierced her eardrum, and she held the phone away from her ear. “Fucking moron!” After a moment, he said, “Sorry about that. So, this roommate…?”
Jules glanced over her shoulder at Rebecca, who still had her head down and her cell phone in her hands. She was not going to talk about her while she sat across the room. “When are you getting back?”
“Few hours. You wanna grab some food later?”
“Of course.” Like she’d ever say no to hanging out with him. “We’ll eat until we explode, and we can catch up on everything.”
“She’s in the room, isn’t she?”
“Uh-huh.”
