The latter is…exhausting.
“Are your roommates partiers?” Daisy wonders.
“I don’t think they are. I’d go with them out to Barnaby’s, but that wasn’t every weekend.” I frown, thinking. “It was…chill. Just the three of us, and if they ever went bar hopping afterwards or met up with larger groups, I usually declined.” I pause. “Tess is super popular though. She knows almost everyone on campus, and Sheetal loves staying out late. So does Salvatore…” Oh no…
Could I have really misjudged what it’d be like to room with them?
“You’re probably right,” Daisy consoles. “It could just be a welcome back party.”
“CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!” The chanting sounds close, like a foot away.
I focus on my computer. “I can’t even tell them to keep it down—I’ll ruin their good time and be the stuck-up roommate.” It feels unfair to ask everyone to be quiet. I’m just one person. “And I already felt badly because I didn’t warn them that Garrison is coming tonight.”
“They still don’t like him?” Daisy asks into a bite of Twizzler.
I shake my head.
I officially moved into the flat only a few days ago, and I wanted Garrison to see where I live, even if that means running into my roommates. He’s in a much better place since he’s been living with Lo for eight months now. But the last time Tess and Sheetal saw my boyfriend, he was swinging a fist at Salvatore.
“We just don’t talk about Garrison,” I explain to Daisy. “I think they’re trying to be supportive, but…it’s also like we’re avoiding the awkwardness of what happened.”
I thought about not rooming with them after the winter party, but they hugged me and said they still wanted me here, no matter what.
Garrison was also happy they didn’t abandon me over his actions, but living with college friends feels different than living with the Calloway sisters. It’s starting to feel like a challenging game boss on a new console that I’ve never played before.
“Your roommates might warm up to him tonight. I have a theory that the worst first impressions can be the mark of a really great person,” Daisy says optimistically. “So hey, there’s hope yet.” She swigs a water. “Are you escaping the party with Garrison once he gets there?”
I frown, realizing everything is all messed up. “That wasn’t the initial plan.”
“Do you plan onravishingeach other to the bone?” Daisy teases with the wag of her brows.
My neck reddens. “Um…sort of.”
“Willow,” she gasps into a bigger smile. “What’s ‘sort of’mean here?”
“I want to give him a blow job tonight—the first one I’ve ever given. And I’ve already been nervous about it.”
“Nervous about what?” Rose asks icily, and on the screen, I see Daisy looking off to the side, like her sister just entered the cottage.
“Hey, Daisy,” Lily greets.
Make thatsisters.Plural.
I’m just glad they walked in and not my older brothers. After a few minutes of catch-up, Lily and Rose join Daisy on a couch with boxes of Thai take-out. They fit into the Skype box, so they’re visible and ready to take part in my awkward dilemma.
I’m in a closet.
Avoiding a flat party in my own flat.
And discussing blow jobs. “I already Googled how to give one, and it’s not a lot of help. They just talk about being confident. I’m more worried about the mechanics of a blow job. I want to be sure I’m not awkwardly going down on him or hurting him.”
“You don’t have to give him a blow job,” Daisy reminds me. “I don’t love giving them that much.”
Lily blushes a little as she says, “I think they’re fun.” Quieter, she adds, “It’s hot.” Her shoulders rise as she nods to herself.
“At times, definitely,” Rose agrees, popping open a container of what she said is Pad Kee Mao. “Other times, it’s a pain in the ass, and I avoid.”
“I want to try,” I say more confidently. “Just to see if I like it or not. Garrison won’t pressure me, one way or the other, he never has.”
