“Just let her live in our room,” I’d said to him then. “I don’t mind.”
The look on his face when I offered said it all, and for the first time in a lifetime of Henry always giving, I was finally able to give something back to him. It felt good.
“I already told you, I have my reasons. The details aren’t important,” I replied to Nina.
“They’re important to me,” Nina said. “This was supposed to be a fresh start for me—none of Sydney’s antics, and no drama. I could just focus on school, living with my best friend, and getting over Kai. Now, all of a sudden, I’m rooming with a stranger, my best friend is up having the time of her life, and Kai’s wandering around.” She was flailing her arms around dramatically as she spoke. “I mean, fuck,” she hissed. “What does a girl have to do to get a little bit of normalcy around here? The RA is nuts, and Sydney pissed her off, so now she’ll be looking even more closely here. She’s definitely gonna notice you, and I’m gonna end up on academic probation.”
“Whoa!” I yelled, holding my hands out. Her rant was a borderline panic attack. “Just, will you relax? Jesus, are you always this uptight?”
“Yes!” she yelped. “And for the record, I don’t think it’s so unreasonable for me to expect my roommate to be my roommate and to not have to sleep in the same room with a guy I don’t even know. I want to do normal, college-student things while I’m at college.”
I felt bad. She wasn’t wrong. She’d kind of been thrown into this whole thing against her will. It wasn’t her fault that I was a shit-head in high school, so now I had a complex for giving my best friend whatever he wanted. It also wasn’t her fault that Henry and Sydney were too lost in one another to think about how it was affecting her. Still, if Henry wanted Sydney in his room with him, I planned to give him that. I guess I’d just have to put in a little work to make it worth Nina’s while, too.
“Why haven’t things worked out with Kai?” I asked. “You seem close, going from your journal entry.”
Nina held out her arms. “What? What does that have to do with the current issue?”
My blood was boiling a little at Nina’s incessant need to yell, but I did my best to remain calm. She had every right to be freaking out right now. “I was thinking,” I said through gritted teeth, “that I could help you.”
Nina recoiled a little, and her attitude softened. “What?”
“Guys aren’t really that complicated. Maybe I can help you figure Kai out so that instead of getting over him, you can be together.” I took a step away from the door as a sign of good faith. “What is it? You guys dated, and he cheated? You guys dated, and you cheated?”
“No.” Nina sank down onto her bed. “We never dated. We’re just really close. We’ve always flirted and stuff. There were times it felt like maybe he liked me back, but he has a girlfriend.”
“So, you just need to show him that you’re a better option?” I said. “I mean, you’re halfway there. I don’t know what his girlfriend looks like, but you’re beautiful, even if you’re loud.”
Nina’s cheeks got a little darker at the compliment. She looked up at me, her eyes suddenly sparkling with hope. “You’d really help me? Why would you do that?”
I snickered and took another few steps in and sat on the opposite bed, facing her. “I know it may shock you, considering the way you’re treating me like a supervillain, but I’m actually a good guy. Plus, I realize you’re getting the shit end of the stick here.” Nina eyed me suspiciously, and I shrugged. “Look, I’m trying to give you a little stake in the game here. It’s happening with or without your approval, but this way, you at least get something out of it. Take it or leave it.” I raised an eyebrow. “And I would suggest taking it, because the way that journal entry is written, you clearly need to get some.”
Nina’s cheeks darkened even further as her gaze trailed away. She was deep in thought, and I grinned. She had that kind of sexy, hot-cold thing going on. It was slightly confusing to me how a guy would not want to be with her, especially if she was as crazy about him as it seemed. Maybe helping her get him wouldn’t be too difficult.
Finally, Nina looked into my eyes with a resolved nod of her head. She stuck out her hand, and I took it to shake. “Okay,” she replied. “Let’s do it.”
4
Nina
It was difficult to get through lunch with both Sydney’s mom and my mom without letting on that I was still pissed at Sydney for abandoning me, but it went okay. The second it seemed like I was nice to Sydney, she took it and ran, and I just let her dominate the conversation. She talked about our upcoming first day, the school buildings being open so that students can do dry runs of their courses, and the different events going on around campus to welcome the new students. The moms cheerily discussed how proud they were of their daughters, and eventually, the meal came to a close with both mothers heading their separate ways to go home. Sydney and I walked back to the dorms.
“That was nice. My mom can be such a dork sometimes. Thanks for putting up with her,” Sydney said, and I didn’t respond. “Nina?” Sydney skipped a little ahead of me so that she could look right into my face. “Nina.”
I walked around her and continued into the East Tower. Sydney fumbled behind me, calling my name and attempting to get me to stop and listen to her, but I ignored her. I’d played nice to get through a meal with our parents, but now that they were gone, I was back to being annoyed.
Sydney charged ahead of me when we got to our door on the fourth floor to throw her body in front of the door and block it. I thought of Devon doing something similar the day before, and it made me even madder. Even if it had been borderline sexy when he did it, I’d had just about enough of people blocking my path when I wanted to get somewhere.
“Move,” I growled.
“Not until you talk to me,” Sydney said.
“I’m talking to you right now.”
Sydney raised an eyebrow. “We can discuss this inside?”
“Whatever,” I hissed.
Sydney nodded, then stood aside, and I used my key to let us both into the dorm room. Devon was still lying on Sydney’s bed, having stayed the night before. Apparently, he was a late sleeper. He was still under the covers but was scrolling through his phone and looked up when I came walking in.
“Oh, hi, strange man,” I greeted.
Devon flashed a toothy grin. “Hello.”
I rolled my eyes, threw myself down at my desk, and pulled my headphones out, preparing to put them in my ears.
“Hey!” Sydney yelped. “You said we could talk!”
I looked over at her, deadpan. “I lied.”
I turned to face my computer and started to power it on. I jumped at the sudden intrusion of another body as Sydney kicked one leg over me and brought herself down to sit in my lap, facing me, squeezing us both in between the chair and the computer desk.
“Cool!” Devon said from the corner. “Nothing like a little girl-on-girl action first thing in the morning.”