Home > Fake Roommate(2)

Fake Roommate(2)
Author: Rebel Hart

I’d set three goals for myself, and they were rigid. One, I was going to graduate on the Dean’s List, an exclusive honor only for students with the highest grades. Two, I was going to secure an internship at Logan’s premier media company to jump-start my career early. Three, I was going to forget all about Kai, the guy I’d been infatuated with for way too long. The last of these, though the least academic, was also the most important to me. I hadn’t had my first kiss, and I hadn’t given away my virginity. I was excited to finally move on and experience all of the rites of passage I’d held onto as I hoped I could give them to a man who was never interested.

I walked into the Student Union with a smile on my face. I’d been there once before when Presper University held a preview night to try and inspire students to attend, but now it was all decked out with welcome materials and overly excited upperclassmen greeting the new students. The bookstore at the back of the main hall had a large line with students waiting to get their books. The amazing smells of foods being cooked in the Union’s upstairs dining hall surrounded the space, and everyone seemed just as excited as I was to start their new adventure. I sifted through the sea of students, dodged some upperclassmen trying to shove brochures for clubs into my face, and made my way to the back of the line for books.

My phone buzzed in my hand, and I looked down. It was a text from Sydney. She’d finally made it to the dorm and was there unpacking and waiting. We started a bit of a back and forth conversation that was interrupted when I heard my name.

“Nina?”

I looked up, and my heart dropped into my stomach. Making his way toward me, with a smile on his face, a sparkle in his blue eyes, his long, black hair falling down the sides of his face in waves, and his naturally tanned skin shining, was none other than Kai Keli’i. He was six feet, two inches of beautiful Hawaiian god. He was athletic, so he always had a well-chiseled, well-toned body and full, thick arms that exuded strength. I first met him when he moved from Hawaii to Utah after his mother was relocated for work.

All the girls in our school liked him, but he had something of an affinity for me. We always palled around together, and even though he was very popular, he always found time to greet me or stop for a conversation. He nearly knocked the whole school out when he sat down to have lunch with me near the end of his first week. I mistook his kindness for something more and developed feelings, only to have Sydney learn that he thought of me as a sister. It was a blow to the gut, to say the least, but partnered with the fact that his kindness never tapered off, it was difficult to evacuate the feelings I’d amassed.

“Kai?” I asked when he finally reached where I was standing in line. “What are you doing here?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Uh, I go here?” He chuckled. “My dad wasn’t gonna let me go anywhere else when he’s the dean.”

My jaw dropped. I’d been planning on attending Presper since my sophomore year. It was my dream school and top pick, so how did I miss that Kai’s dad was the dean of students? “I didn’t know your dad was the dean!”

“Yeah! The last guy was retiring when we moved here, so my dad applied for the job and got it.” Kai flopped his head to one side with a sigh. “I was kind of planning on heading back to Hawaii for college, but my dad insisted, so here I am.”

“Wow.” Just my fucking luck. “That’s awesome.”

“Well, I guess since you’re here, too, it is.” He smiled, and my stomach twisted a little. If he wasn’t so nice, or gorgeous, it’d be much easier to get over him. “You’re studying journalism, I take it?”

I hunched my brow. “Y-yeah. How did you know that?”

“Lucky guess. With the newspaper and yearbook and stuff, you seemed to have a knack for it.” He said it so matter-of-factly. I didn’t realize that he even paid close attention to me.

I grinned. “Oh, thanks. Yeah. I’m excited.” The line moved forward a bit, so I moved with it, and Kai kept up with me. “What are you studying?”

“Psychology, but football’s my main focus, obviously. It could be interesting, though. I’m excited to get started. I think that—”

“Oh, look who you dug up.” A voice that haunted my nightmares interrupted our conversation. I let out a little sigh, hoping that I’d just imagined the name, but a few seconds later, a blond-haired, blue-eyed monster sidled up to Kai’s side. Taylor Renee was my nemesis of sorts and Kai’s girlfriend. I’d earned her displeasure when I became friends with Sydney, and she’d been out to get me ever since. She looped her arm through Kai’s. “If it isn’t Nina.”

I forced a grin. “Hi, Taylor.”

Much like Sydney, Taylor had gone on and on throughout our senior year about leaving Logan and heading to a big city like LA or New York. Did she just decide to stay because of Kai, or had she not finished her war-path to make my life miserable?

“I guess I did hear something about you coming to Presper. Guess I forgot,” Taylor muttered dully before turning her attention to Kai. “Sweetie, let’s go. My parents are gonna take us out to dinner.”

“Okay.” Kai threw me a quick smile. “See you around campus, Nina.”

“Yeah, see you.”

Taylor gave me a glare as she dragged Kai away, and when they were out of sight, I released the tension in my shoulders. As nice as it was to see Kai, it was just as disappointing. I was supposed to be getting over Kai, leaving my high school drama behind. If he and Taylor were here, maybe college was going to be much more like high school than I was hoping for.

I collected my books and left the Student Union much more dejectedly than I’d entered. I was glad that Sydney was waiting back at our dorm because I needed the supportive words of a friend to convince me that Kai and Taylor being at Presper wasn’t going to totally tank my college experience. I re-entered the east tower and went up to the fourth floor, where our room was located. It seemed like all of the rooms had occupants now, and the hallways were abuzz with all of the new freshmen. The door to my dorm room was held open with a doorstop, so I ducked inside and was almost immediately hit with a hug from Sydney.

Sydney had blond hair naturally, but it was a variety of pastel colors now, all swirling together in a cool designer’s rainbow. Her brown eyes were bright and excited to see me, and she was wearing a pair of jean shorts and a Presper University t-shirt, the midriff of which she’d rolled up to reveal her belly button ring.

“Hi!” she squealed. “I know it’s only been, like, three days since I last saw you, but I missed you!”

“I missed you, too.” I had to claw her off of me. “You’re late.”

“Ugh, I know.” She waved a hand through the air. “My mom took me to Target for some last-minute shopping, and let’s just say, we were there for, like, four hours. She tried to stick around to see you, but I ran her off. She’s a bit much today. Said she’s planning on coming back tomorrow.”

“Well, my mom’s coming, too, so they can distract each other,” I replied.

I looked around the room and noticed that there were way fewer items than what I was expecting. Considering she just mentioned a four-hour Target trip, I didn’t see a whole lot in the way of items or bags, but I chose not to press. Sydney was a woman of whims, so there was likely a really convoluted explanation that I wasn’t entirely interested in twisting myself up in. I sat down at the desk where I’d set up my computer while Sydney went back to primping and propping things on the bed.

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