I shot Jason a quick text and asked if he knew the guy that walked up to us outside of class. OMG! Class! Mr. Trent was so going to dump my ass.
Back outside my dorm room, I prepared myself for Derek to be home. He’d gotten home late last night and I’d pretended to sleep, hoping to stall our inevitable conversation about why I’d been gone for months.
The sound of his keyboard clacking away alerted me he was indeed home. I sighed and walked in, prepared to be a grown up. I had to live here again now, and I didn’t want this weird vibe to continue between us.
“Hi, Derek,” I greeted cheerily. He jumped at my loud and awfully chipper tone.
“Um, hi,” he all but whispered. I needed to work on faking friendly conversations.Noted.
“How’ve you been?” I asked, my voice calmer and less loud this time.
“Um, good?” he replied sounding unsure. I remembered him being shy, but why did he seem afraid? We’d been somewhat friendly until he’d stolen my t-shirt.
“That’s good,” I said lamely, acing this friendship thing. “I’m sorry I sort of moved out and didn’t tell you about it,” I eventually admitted. It was a shitty thing since he’d probably seen me as a friend until that day. Other people would likely just be happy to live without a roommate, but Derek had nightmares pretty often and I couldn’t imagine it was fun waking up from those alone. Then there was the fact that he wouldn’t meet my gaze whenever we passed in the halls, always looking anywhere else but at me. If that didn’t tell me he was hurt, nothing could.
“Oh, so you did move out?” he asked, his eyes all big and innocent.
“Yeah, I lived with my girlfriend, or now ex.” It felt weird talking to him again. I’d forgotten how timid he was.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, looking like he actually meant it. “Are you living here again then?”
I nodded. “I hope you didn’t take it personally that I left.”
“I just assumed I’d done or said something wrong. I tend to do that with people without realizing it.” Just fuckingkick mealready. I was the bad guy here.Fuck.
“No, no,” I lied easily. It was totally normal stealing other people’s t-shirts and sleeping in them, but saying it was because they smelled like the other person? That was where the line between okay to not fucking okay went!
“Okay,” he smiled. “I’ve missed you.” Damn… we were nearing the line that shouldn’t be crossed again!
“Me too,” I lied,again. Fuck, this was hard.
“Your natural scent calms me,” he continued, dragging his metaphorical feet over my invisible line of what was acceptable behavior and what wasn’t. “My nightmares got worse once your t-shirt lost its scent.” Aaand… he’d officially crossed the line.
“My scent?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” I dared ask.
“I don’t know why,” he shrugged. “It just calls to me and calms me down.”
“Cool,” I replied lamely, not knowing what to fucking say in this situation. “I’ll find you a new one.”What?!Did I just offer him another one of my t-shirts? What was wrong with me?!
“Thank you!” he beamed brighter than I’d ever seen. “Then I might actually get some sleep.” Oh no, his eyes were getting glassy. I wouldn’t do well with tears, I needed out fast.
“I have class!” I blurted and hurried to the door.
“Wait!” he called after me, stopping me halfway through to freedom. “Some guy came looking for you.” He got up from his chair and handed me a Post-it. There was a number on it with the nameJunowritten underneath. Could it behim?
“What did he look like?” I asked Derek, no longer itching to leave.
“Blonde hair, blue eyes, leather jacket,” he replied, sitting back down at his desk, not seeing how much those words affected me. I felt a flutter in my stomach. It was him! I was almost shaking with nerves as I added his number to my phone.
I should text him, right? But what did you text someone you ran away from when they called you beautiful? I feared not even Google could help me with that one.
Remi:Hi. So, I just got your number from my roommate. Who am I texting? – Remi
I felt stupid as I sent the text, since he’d written his damn name on the note. Was it weird that he clearly knew who I was? He even knew where I lived. Should that concern me? Was this in the stalkerish type of not okay behavior? I wouldn’t mind him stalking me, though.I wasnotokay.
