the Roommate Mistake

by Elizabeth Stevens

  “Why don’t you go out with Lara again?” I asked him, completely out of the blue for both of us. “She seemed nice.”

  “Why?” he laughed. “Because she didn’t tell the whole school about my non-existent crotch injury?”

  I shrugged, but smiled. “Sure.”

  “Did she ask you?”

  “Did she ask me what?”

  “Did she ask you to get her another date?” he asked.

  I wrinkled my nose. “No. Why would you think that?”

  “Because why else would you bring it up?”

  It was a good question. Why else would I bring it up? Why would I possibly care whether Alex had the staying power for more than one date-slash-hangout-slash-whatever he called it?

  “Do the girls not care you only go out with them once?”

  Having kept myself to their little party of five, I had no idea what the rest of the school thought about Alex’s one date policy.

  Alex shrugged. “They don’t seem to. Way I see it is this, right? You don’t know if you like someone until you spend some time with them. Proper time. Not just some flirting in the school corridor.”

  It wasn’t the first time he’d made the proclamation.

  “So you’re just sampling the available options?” I asked cynically.

  “Or, I’m open-minded enough to give anyone a chance.”

  I looked him over in a way that told him exactly what I thought about that.

  He snorted. “What? What’s wrong with that?”

  “I’m just trying to decide if you’re actually that open-minded or you use that as an excuse to play the field.”

  “Porque no los dos?”

  “Seriously?”

  “What? What is your hang up here?”

  What was my hang up here? “Maybe if you’re not looking for anything serious, you shouldn’t…lead them on.”

  “What are we? Sixteen going on thirty?”

  “That doesn’t really give you an excuse to just date and dump every girl in the school.”

  “It’s hardly every girl in the school, E. Why are you suddenly so concerned about my dating habits? You didn’t seem to care so much when you were telling Lara about my crotch injury.”

  I didn’t know why I suddenly cared so much. But, after talking about it more, I was feeling a touch indignant on behalf of the girls he dated.

  “Maybe I care about you,” was all the excuse I could come up with.

  “I appreciate the sentiment,” he said, leaning against me for a moment. “But I’ll be fine.”

  If I thought about it, he’d been out with maybe four girls in the time since I’d started at Acacia. Which was what? Four months? Did that seem like a lot? I couldn’t even tell anymore.

  I’d seen him talking to Lara just that week and there seemed to be no hard feelings.

  “How about,” he said, “you worry less about my love-or-lack-thereof-life and focus your womanly ways on the boys and their girl problems?”

  My eyes narrowed at him. Did he know about Birdman’s crush? After not hearing about it for a few weeks, I’d assumed he’d decided he wasn’t quite so interested in her as he’d originally thought. Maybe he hadn’t said anything to me because he’d been talking to Alex.

  “Who’s got girl problems?” I asked.

  Alex shrugged. “All of them. You see any of them getting dates?”

  Now he mentioned it, I realised that the boys didn’t get dates. Everyone at the school seemed to like them, they were charismatic and nice and funny, and they were a decent-looking bunch of boys. At any other school or in any of my rom-coms, they would easily have a date every weekend if they wanted one.

  “I’m sure they’d have dates if they wanted them,” I said.

  Alex waved his head non-committally. “Maybe.”

  “You think you’re the only one who’s got any pull with the ladies?” I teased.

  He elbowed me playfully. “Not when you put it like that. No.” He nudged me again, more gently this time. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll keep it in mind.”

  I suddenly felt a bit weird and wondered if I wasn’t supposed to have an opinion at all. Were he Flick or Leah or Marsh, I’d probably have said the same thing to them and not felt weird about it. Surely it was just something friends said to each other. Showed concern for them and whatnot. But with Alex, I suddenly second-guessed me bringing it up at all.

  So I shrugged. “Sure. Whatever you want.”

  Whether Alex heard the something weird in my voice, he just laughed and said, “Great. Thanks.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  I was in the library doing some research for an assignment. My happy place. But then, if it was my happy place, why did my mind keep wandering?

  I’d left the dorm while Alex was at practice, so I hadn’t seen him that morning. It had been a good excuse for a tummy not quite ready for food to avoid breakfast, so I hadn’t seen any of the boys either.

  It took me a moment, but I realised I missed seeing them. Missed seeing the people who I could be busy exclaiming how annoying hanging out with them was while we all knew I secretly liked having them around. It wasn’t like I didn’t feel like I could be myself with Flick, Leah and Marsh, but I wouldn’t have been able to bemoan their presence and have them take it as the mostly-joke it was. They just weren’t like that, and that was okay. But Alex and his…our friends, were and it made for a nice change of pace.

  “There you are,” a voice said and I looked up to see Alex walking towards me.

  I’d camped out against the wall at the end of one of the aisles.

  “How’d you know where to find me?” I asked him with a smile.

  “Well,” he said as he sat next to me. “I thought to myself, ‘where would Lottie be?’ and I was like, ‘giant nerd hangs out at the library’. So, here I am and here you are.”

  I nudged him companionably. “Here I am. How was practice?”

  He nodded, running his hand through his still-wet hair. “Fine. Wet.”

  “How’re your bollocks?”

  He laughed and nudged me back. “Also fine. Heater’s been working perfectly since it was fixed.”

  “What a relief,” I breathed.

  He chuckled. “Nice to know you care about my bollocks.”

  “Only because I know how much the mean to you.”

  He barked a laugh. “Yeah…”

  “Why is that?”

  “Why is what?” he asked.

  “Why do your…bits mean so much to you? You’re always so worried they’re too small or not right. What’s up with that?”

  “Hit me where it hurts, why don’t you? Way to give a guy a complex, E…”

  “No,” I said. “Sorry. I don’t mean you personally. I meant guys in general.”

  “Oh, well in that case…”

  He threw me a look and we shared a smile.

  “I dunno,” he said finally, looking around at the books on the shelves. “Maybe society tells us that’s what’s important? Maybe it’s because it’s one of those things we’re not supposed to flash around? Everyone’s unsure of the unknown.” He looked at me. “Aren’t you ever worried about your boobs?”

  I shook my head. “No. They’re annoying as much as anything. I suppose, when I was younger, we went through a phase of being worried we’d never get them when it felt like everyone else was. But I’ve never been worried about the size or what anyone else thought about them or anything.” I looked down at them. “Maybe that’s weird, though.”

  Alex looked down as well. “Well, I think they’re fine.”

  We caught each other’s eye and I was pretty sure we were both blushing.

  “Not like…fine,” he said quickly. “Not fine like good. Fine like…adequate.”

  I tried to fight the smile. “Adequate? You think they’re adequate?”

  He shrugged, looking at little nervous. “Was that not the right thing to say?�
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  “If I told you your dick was adequate, how would you feel?”

  “Decidedly not,” he answered without hesitating. “Sorry…”

  I gave him another nudge. “It’s fine. I don’t actually care. I just wanted to see you squirm.”

  “Oh, you…” he muttered, then tickled me.

  Laughter burst out of me until I clamped my hand over my mouth and managed to bat his hands away.

  “We’re in a library, Sasha!” I mock-chastised. “Have some respect.”

  “Respect? Oh, I’ll show you respect, Elliott,” he threatened with a smirk.

  Just before his fingers touched me again, one of the librarians appeared at the end of the aisle with a disapproving glare that I was sure they handed out upon one’s appointment of library custodianship.

  I was batting Alex’s hand away from me as she put her finger to her lips and hissed a sharp ‘SHHH’ in our direction. For good measure, I nodded to her.

  “Sorry, we’ll keep it down,” I whispered loudly.

  “See that you do. The library is not a playground,” she said, then turned on her sensible heel and walked away.

  Alex was still trying to poke me, but must have only been only half-heartedly because his finger was easy to block.

  “If you get me thrown out of the library…” I warned him while trying not to laugh and be very serious.

  “What will you do to me?” he asked, not trying to hide his laughter at all.

  “Oh, you don’t wanna know what I’ll do to you, Sasha.”

  He leant towards me and said, “Maybe I do, Elliott…” like some kind of cowboy in an old Western.

  It was at that point that I realised how close we were to each other. Our noses were almost touching. My hand was in his from where he’d been trying to stop me blocking his pokes. We were looking deeply into each other’s eyes and I saw the smile in his. It would be so easy for one of us to just inch that bit closer and kiss the other one.

  Which I thought was a very weird thought to have.

  Neither of us wanted to kiss the other one. We were just friends. Good friends, I’d come to accept and actually be happy about, despite and protestations to the contrary.

  And yet, neither of us moved for what felt like a very long time.

  Finally, Alex said, “Uh…so I came to find you to let you know the boys were going to drop by this afternoon…?”

  “Was that a question or a statement?”

  Alex’s eyes scanned what little of my face he could see from so close up. Then he pulled away slowly, leaving my hand in his.

  “Statement,” he said with a humourless chuckle. “If that’s okay?”

  “So, a question?”

  He looked down at our hands like he was surprised to see them connected. “Kinda?”

  I shrugged. “It’s your dorm, too.”

  “Exactly,” he said. “Too. I didn’t know if you were planning on being here all day, or…?”

  I shook my head. “Not all day. I’ve got a bit more work to do, but then I might come hang?”

  He gave me that crooked grin. “You’ll come hang? On purpose?” he teased.

  “If you try poking me again…” I said, again failing at very serious and trying not to laugh.

  Alex gave my hand a squeeze and finally let it go to stand up. My hand suddenly felt quite cold and lonely.

  “We’ll see you in a bit, then?” he asked, humour still all over his face.

  I nodded. “Sure.”

  His look got more serious, but his eyes still shone. “You can’t miss lunch and breakfast.”

  “How do you know I missed breakfast?” I asked, fake-indignantly.

  “Because I’ve met you before.”

  “All right, fine. I will come and drop my books off in time to walk to lunch with you all. Happy?”

  He nodded. “Very. Be quick, lunch starts in…” he checked his fitness tracker watch, “like an hour.”

  I nodded as well. “I know. I know. And Zac and Fret wait for no man.”

  “Or woman,” Alex added.

  “Or woman,” I agreed, nodding again. “All right, begone with you and I’ll see you soon.”

  He chuckled, nudged my foot with his, then jogged off.

  I swore that boy couldn’t do anything lazily.

  I finished up what I was doing, and got back to our dorm room in a little over an hour.

  “Oh, but she’s so beautiful,” Fret was whining, lying on the couch with his hand over his eyes.

  “What’s wrong with him?” I asked.

  “Boy’s got a crush,” Birdman said.

  I looked at him and we exchanged a knowing look. I wasn’t going to narc on a friend, but it was rather pot calling the kettle black.

  My eyes swivelled to Alex and I noticed he was looking between me and Birdman quickly as though his brain was trying to tell him something, but as though he didn’t know what it was.

  “What?” I asked him.

  Alex shook his head. “Nothing. Hey! You can help Fret with his girl problems.”

  Fret sat up and looked at me pleadingly. “Oh, please, Lottie!”

  “How am I supposed to help?” I laughed. “I don’t even know who his crush is.”

  “Kayla Barrett,” he sighed wistfully, melting back onto the couch.

  Well, that was more than Birdman had given me. I didn’t even know who the basketball girls were to begin trying to work out who she might be.

  “She doesn’t even know he exists,” Zac offered, only to be smacked by Luke.

  I dropped my books on the kitchenette counter and wandered over. “So how can I help?”

  Fret was busy sighing wistfully on the couch.

  “Dunno,” Zac said. “I suggested he just ask her out for this Friday, but she’ll be going to Girls’ Night.”

  Girls’ Night. I did know all about Girl’s Night. It was like some mini girls-only semi-formal. A chance for the girls to get all dressed up and have somewhere to go. The bottom floor of Callistemon House was finished and it was going to be a sort of grand opening of their Rec Room. Apparently, the rest of the building was taking somewhat longer.

  I looked at Fret and all I felt was sympathy. The guy just really liked this girl.

  “How would I even ask her out?” Fret sighed.

  All the boys looked at me.

  I shrugged. “What? It’s not rocket science. You say, ‘you wanna go out sometime?’ Easy as.” I pointed to Alex. “Ask Alex, he seems to get enough dates.”

  “Yeah, but Alex never asks them.”

  I looked at him in surprise. “Really?”

  Alex nodded. “Yeah. What? Why? Is that weird?”

  “That you’ve never liked a girl enough to ask her out?” I clarified. “No. Not at all.”

  “Hey,” he said, full of indignation. “The whole point of a date is to get to know them.”

  I waved my hand dismissively at him. “Yes, I’m aware,” I said, more shortly than I’d intended.

  What did it matter to me if he couldn’t work out if he liked people or not?

  “I know Kayla,” Fret sighed. “She’s kind and funny and nice and sweet and so smart.”

  “Don’t tell me she’s also on the girls’ soccer team?” I asked.

  Fret frowned at me. “What? No. She doesn’t do a sport. She plays violin.”

  Wow, the guy really did know her. I was going to make a stalker joke, but the look on his face told me it wasn’t the time. I, of all people, knew how much you could learn about people from just watching them. In a not at all creepy way, of course. It was called paying attention. Or people watching and, even though I had my head in a book as often as possible, I also liked people watching. From a safe distance, they fascinated me.

  “I can’t ask her out anyway,” Fret moaned.

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “Not yet.”

  “Why?” I repeated.


  “She doesn’t know me. Why would she say yes?”

  I looked him over and my brain sped through the list of reasons to reassure him. “Because…” I started, hoping something good would come to me. “You’re kind and funny and sweet, too. Why wouldn’t she say yes?”

  Fret looked at me. “Do you think?”

  I had no idea. “Sure. If you’re feeling a bit weird about it, why don’t you introduce yourself next time you see her? Then you can chat to her a couple of times before you ask her out?” I offered, feeling like that was a legitimate strategy.

  Fret grinned. “Yeah! Yeah,” he said, getting more enthused by the second. “Thanks, Lottie. I’m gonna do that!”

  He leapt up and started heading for the door.

  “You’re going to do it now?” Alex asked.

  Fret shrugged, a big smile on his face. “It’s lunch, I know where she’ll be.”

  He found Kayla in the Dining Hall and made a beeline for her.

  “Damn,” Birdman whistled to me. “I wish I had his confidence.”

  I nudged him gently. “You do, you just have to remember that.”

  “Naw,” he teased. “Was that a compliment?”

  “Don’t tell the others,” I told him. “They’ll all want one.”

  “Your secret’s safe with me.” He gave me a wink.

  Alex looked at us like he’d caught the end of the sentence and was suddenly worried about what he was missing out on. He said nothing about it, though.

  Later that week, Fret had successfully struck up a budding courtship with Kayla, but was still finding it difficult to just ask her out already.

  “All right!” I sighed heavily on Thursday at Lunch. “All right.”

  All the boys stopped talking and turned to me in question.

  “Fine,” I said. “I will infiltrate Girl’s Night and see what I can learn about this…Kayla person.”

  There was silence as they all looked at each other, then back to me.

  “You know that means you’ll have to, like, dress up and shit?” Alex asked me carefully.

  I glared at him. “I’m well aware. Thank you. But I’ll do it if I have to.”

  Alex and Birdman were grinning like cats who’d eaten all the cream.

  “You only think you have to because we’re your friends,” Alex sang.