Page 3 of Roommates
To be honest, I wasn't excited when I heard I was rooming with a sophomore in my senior year and my friends occasionally made fun of me for it too. Many of them had lived off campus since their own sophomore years. I could have done the same, if I’d wanted to. My parents would have supported me, no questions asked. They hated that I chose to live in these 'dingy dorm rooms' as my mother called them. She checked me over for lice and bedbugs every time I came home on break.
“I don't know how you can stand to live there,” she would say, standing in the spacious den of our manor, the light of the candelabra above us reflecting in her silver earrings. Stepping into my parents'
home after living on campus for a few months often felt like entering a different dimension, but I'd wanted it that way. Everything feltfakein my parents' world. I'd been coddled and protected my whole life, and by the time college rolled around, I was done with it.
My mom just about had a heart attack when I told her I'd managed to get a scholarship for Lakeforest International College and that was where I intended to go. She'd had to accept my decision in the end, but she did so grudgingly. I was the only child she'd been able to have and the thought of sending me to a public school stressed her out. I'd had to remind her that she wasn't sending me, I was going.
To me, my time spent at this school had been nothing but liberating. I wasn't going to spoil that by letting my parents pay for off-campus housing. Even if that meant I had to room with a sophomore in my final year of college.
Actually, rooming with Lucas wasn't even so bad. He'd been cool and distant to start with, and we'd exchanged maybe ten words a day our first week together, but he thawed eventually when his mono-syllabic responses didn't keep me from chattering at him. I knew from experience that almost everybody eventually breaks down. With Lucas, it only took about two weeks until we had a conversation in which he contributed more than twenty percent of the words spoken. I told him he needed to speak more anyway, if he wanted to be a good lawyer. He'd laughed, and I knew I'd gotten through his cold exterior.
He was actually really good-looking when he laughed. He should do that more often. I didn't tell him that, even though part of me wanted to. There was just something about Lucas that I couldn't quite put my fingers on… Maybe it was the way his eyes crinkled when he was amused, or the way his fine features almost made him look like an omega, but he was definitely the most attractive beta I'd ever met.
When I stepped back into our room after the shower, Lucas was still sitting at his desk, pouring over a text book. I found him in this exact position so often that I'd catch myself wondering if something was wrong when I entered the room and didn't see my roommate at his desk.
“Sorry,” I said again, pulling my chair from my desk and positioning it next to Lucas'. “I didn't mean to stay out so long, but have you seen how sunny it is? I kind of forgot the time.”
Lucas glanced at me and then out the window. The window faced east, so the sun wasn't shining directly into our room this time of the day, but judging by the blue skies, it was still clear how nice the weather was—yet, Lucas looked as if he hadn't noticed until I mentioned it. “Maybe you need to start setting an alarm on your phone or something,” he said. “If a little sunlight is enough to distract you.”
“A little sunlight? C'mon. It's probably the warmest day we've had all year and you're holed up in here. Maybe you need to set an alarm on your phone to remind you to have fun sometimes. Go out and get a tan or something, if your skin even knows how to do that.”
Lucas scowled as if I'd insulted him somehow. “There's nothing wrong with my skin. Besides, did you know tanning is actually bad for you? It makes you vulnerable to developing melanoma and—”
“Dude,” I cut him off. “Don't get so serious. All I'm saying is it's a nice day outside and I forgot the time. I apologize. I also apologize if I insulted you. It wasn't my intention.” My parents had taught me manners after all.
Lucas stared at me, and the he exhaled through his teeth. “It's so weird how you can start a sentence withdudeand then end it like that”
I shrugged. “I'm a special blend.”
To my surprise, Lucas nodded at that as if agreeing with me. “You certainly are.” What did he mean by that? Sadly, I didn't get to ask before he moved on to a different topic. “You needed help studying for your geometry exam?” he asked.
“Yeah, I really don't get this stuff.” Some of my friends acted like I should be embarrassed to ask a sophomore to help me prepare for my exams, but they didn't know Lucas. Lucas was insanely smart.
Really, I would have been stupid not to take all the help he offered. A few weeks ago, he'd overheard me on the phone with my parents, complaining about how hard math was. He told me he could explain this stuff to me, so I'd taken him up on the offer. Now our study sessions had become a regular thing.
I'd never enjoyed studying as much as I did with Lucas. Academics had never been my strong suit, but he was patient and he didn't judge me when I didn't get something right away. It was a welcome change from the tutors I'd had at home.
“Show me your text book,” Lucas said, and I dug through my bag and handed it to him. “When's your exam?”
“The day after tomorrow. I probably won't make it.” I shrugged. “I'm only hoping my mom's not going to call the professor and demand he let me pass. She used to do that when I was in high school. It was super embarrassing.”
“I can only imagine.” Lucas' eyes lit up in amusement, and I caught myself marveling, just for a moment, at how attractive he was.
Seriously, it was a damn shame Lucas was a beta. Beta men usually weren't interested in other beta men. They tended to like women. I hadn't seen Lucas try to dateanyoneyet, but that was probably because he was so absorbed in his studies.
Honestly, he spent way too much time at his desk.
“I know your parents are super rich,” Lucas said, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Explain to me again why you're rooming with a sophomore instead of relaxing in a nice apartment off campus? I know I wouldn't live here if it wasn't the cheapest option.”
“You wouldn't? You hurt me.” Theatrically, I clutched a hand to my chest. “I thought you enjoyed living with me!”
Lucas swatted at me with the text book. “That's not what I meant, you doofus. Now let's focus.” He sat up straight. “Show me what you're struggling with.”
So many things. Like the fact that I sometimes think about you in the shower.Instead of voicing that thought, I leaned in so I could get a better look at the text book which my roommate had opened in front of us on the desk. “It's a little earlier in the book,” I said, reaching over to turn the page. Hand in mid-air, I paused as I caught a whiff of...something.
It almost smelled like... flowers?
“Is something wrong?” Lucas leaned away from me, and it was only now that I noticed how close to his neck my nose had been. But the scent in the air couldn't be emanating from him. Betas didn't smell like that.
