Page 15 of Roommates
I asked.
“I don’t know. I just figured we could all go as a group when school starts up again,” Nathan said.
“Who is we all?” I asked, because I had a suspicion I knew what was going on.
“Oh, just you, me, a couple friends.”
“Raphael?”
Nathan paused, which told me all I needed to know.
“You want us to go as a group because you still don't have the guts to ask him out on a date.”
“It's not like that,” Nathan said. “It's not a date.”
“Exactly.” I was tempted to make a face at my friend, but he wouldn't have seen anyway. “Okay, I'll go with you. Just let me know when.”
It really wasn't a bad idea, was it? Maybe helping my friend in his quest for love would finally let me forget about mine.
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L U C A S
The new term had started and I was back where I had screwed up. In my dorm room.
The break had been far too short. Trying to forget about what had happened between me and Adam, I'd spent most of it studying too. Good for my grades, but not especially relaxing.
At least I got here before Adam. Once I'd entered the room and found it empty, I quickly unpacked my suitcase, and then I called my friend Conner to see if he was back on campus yet and wanted to hang out.
As luck would have it, he'd arrived a full two hours before me.
“You're back early.” I met Conner in his room, trying not to stare too hard at all the drawings that took up every free inch of their walls. It seemed Conner had given Raphael permission to hang his creations everywhere—which I totally understood. The guy was amazingly talented with a pencil.
The black crow hanging over his bed almost looked as if it was about to jump off the page and swoop down on us.
“I just had to get away from home,” Conner said.
“Did something happen?”
“No, well...” Conner paused and sat on his bed, which was covered inHarry Potterbedsheets—
Ravenclaw house. A gift from his little sister, he’d told me. “Jake came home for spring break and we got into a fight. It was stupid.”
“I'm sorry to hear that,” I said, taking a seat beside him on the bed.
Conner directed his gaze to the one spot on the wall that wasn’t taken up by Raph’s drawings. To the right side of the door, he’d hung a poster of a red telephone box that I remembered from when I’d roomed with him. I had no idea why Conner liked that phone box so much, but for some reason, he always seemed to stare at that poster when he was upset. “I'm waiting for him to apologize,” he said.
“Although, even if he does, I don't know if he's ever going to change.” My friend ran a hand back through his hair in what was clearly exasperation.
“What did he do?”
“It's the same argument as always, really. I told him about that demo I organized.”
I nodded. Over the months I'd shared a room with Conner, I'd heard him and Jake argue about this topic more than once. “He's still worried about your safety at the demos.”
“He's not worried, he's being overprotective,” Conner corrected me, eyes blazing. “It's really starting to get on my nerves, and I told him as much. He didn't take it well. Stupid alphas. Can't take criticism.
You know it's because their whole lives everyone keeps telling them how they're so great. I'm over it,” Conner claimed, even though he didn'tlookover it in the least. How could he be? I knew he loved that alpha, even if he didn't want to admit it.
