Page 110 of My Roommate from Hell
Kissing him is like lobbing a grenade into an already complicated and delicate situation. If I regret anything about the kiss, it’s that. I sit up and look under my blankets until I find my shirt and pull it on. It reminds me of when he took it off me. Was that the hottest moment of my life? The answer is an easy yes.
“Good morning.”
Zarmenus is standing by our closet in his workout gear.
“Morning.”
“How’d you sleep?”
“Pretty good,” I say. “How about you?”
“Never better.”
He comes over and gives me a quick peck on the lips. I’m so startled I nearly flinch away.
“I’m going for a run,” he says. “I’ll get us coffee after, you want the usual?”
My lips are tingling. Is this the new status quo? “Yes, please.”
“Okay, see you soon.”
As soon as he leaves, I sit up. Bell is sitting on his spot on Zarmenus’s desk. She stares at me, and tilts her head in a way that almost reads as if she is rolling her eyes.
I start smiling so damn hard.
I kissed Zarmenus. He kissed me again this morning.
And it wasamazing.
I wish I could bask in how good last night was, but even though my entire life changed last night, the rest of the world didn’t. This isn’t like the discovery that Hell is real. The world isn’t on pause because I kissed my roommate. I have papers due in two weeks and I am annoyingly behind, despite my best efforts. I will have to work on them pretty much every night until they’re due, and they will need to take priority for a while.
I turn my head and see Bell watching me, her eyes narrowed.
Wait, is she protective of Zarmenus? I hope she can’t read my mind, or tell how conflicted I am.
I get up, use the bathroom, make myself a bowl of cereal and a coffee in the kitchen area down the hall from my dorm, then go back and lift the lift of my laptop. Thoughts about kissing can wait until this essay is done. It’s a paper about database management systems.
After five minutes of writing I check my phone. Nothing from Zarmenus, but I do have a message from Ashley.
I had a dream about you last night!
I’m stunned that I haven’t even thought to tell her yet. I just had my first kiss! She needs to know.
I start a call to her, but then cancel it.
I should tell her what happened last night. She’s my best friend.Me having my first kiss is absolutely something she should know about. Yet I can’t get myself to start another call to her. I know she’ll have questions about the kiss, and my feelings, which is complicated because I’m not even sure how I feel about these feelings yet. What exactly does it mean that I enjoyed the kiss as much as I did? Why does just thinking about it make me smile? Is this normal? Plus, I don’t want to risk Zarmenus coming home while I’m explaining how I feel to her.
Zarmenus is attractive and interesting and nice to me, as well as a great kisser. Feeling all fluttery and giddy is probably par for the course, and doesn’t definitively mean I have a crush. Which is good, because a crush would make things complicated. I text Ashley back, keeping the kiss to myself, and then check my messages again. I don’t even know what kind of message I want from Zarmenus, but something would be nice.
I put my phone face down. I need to concentrate. I can indulge these feelings once I have a finished draft of this essay.
I spend the next two hours working, only briefly distracted by my phone. But I make good progress. I think throwing myself into this work is intentional, because if I don’t, then I’ll have to think about Zarmenus.
I’m not sure where he is. It’s nearly ten in the morning, and by now he’s usually back.
I hear the door unlock.
Speak of the devil,I think.
