“Anyway, thank you,” I said, and closed my eyes. “You know what I mean.”
Dillon shook his head as I lifted my lids again and stepped forward. He brushed my hair away from my face before handing me a hair tie. “It belonged to one of my sisters-in-law. It’s new, but she left it here when they were unpacking and helping me move in. You look gorgeous, but…just in case.”
I blushed and took it from him.
“Thank you. Having sex-head hair probably isn’t a great thing.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “I think you look fucking sexy, but what do I know? I’m just a guy.”
I blushed again. “You’re making it hard for me to walk out of this room, Dillon Connolly.”
“I think I want you to feel that way.”
I met his gaze and shook my head. “I should go.”
“I think you should give me your number first,” he said slowly.
I froze. “Wouldn’t that negate the whole purpose of what we did last night?” I asked, oddly terrified.
He tilted his head. “I don’t know. We don’t have to have sex again if you don’t want to, but I like you, Elise. And you’re welcome to take a rideshare home so we don’t have another awkward conversation, but I’d really like your phone number. Even if it’s only so you can text me when you get home, and I know you got there safely. But I’d still like a way to reach you.”
I relaxed marginally, knowing this was probably a bad idea, even if it sounded good in context. “Okay, so that you know I’m safe.”
“Okay,” he said, though I had a feeling that wasn’t exactly what he had been thinking. But I would ignore that for now. It was safer for my sanity and anxiety if I did.
I pulled out my phone and noticed I had another message from Corinne after I’d checked in when I was washing my face. She told me that I would be answering a few thousand questions when I got home. I ignored that text and looked up at Dillon.
“Okay, I can text you now. How’s that?”
He rattled off a number, and I texted a simple emoji, just a smiley face, not knowing what else to do. His phone dinged, and he looked down at it and smiled, then looked at me before cocking his head as he studied me. He didn’t lean forward, didn’t kiss me again.
And for that, I was grateful. I honestly didn’t know what I would do if he had.
Instead, I awkwardly waved, winced, and then turned towards the door. Dillon let out a rough chuckle and reached over to open the door. Thankfully, his roommates weren’t in the hallway, and I crept down the corridor and then the stairs. No one was in the house that I could tell, though the smell of coffee wafted from the kitchen. I inhaled and let out a sigh, and Dillon laughed again. “I can get you a to-go cup.”
“No, my ride’s here.” I nodded towards the sedan in front of the house. “Well, have a good day, I guess,” I said quickly.
Dillon just shook his head, his gaze still on mine. “You, too. Text me when you get home.”
“I can do that,” I said, knowing that I needed to leave. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t, and then it would be a thing. A terrible, horrible, awkwardly overdone scene.
I gave another self-conscious little wave and finally noticed Pacey standing in the kitchen behind Dillon, wearing only flannel pajama bottoms, his very built and naked torso gleaming under the lights.
The blond man winked, and I turned on my heel and fled.
I heard Dillon grumbling something at his roommate, but I ignored it.
I nearly ran to the sedan, knowing that I was making that scene I didn’t want to create, and opened the back door. “Josh?” I asked, looking down at my screen to make sure the picture on the app matched the face.
“Elise?” he asked, doing the same.
“Okay, good,” I said and slid into the back seat, putting on my seatbelt and closing the door as quickly as I could.
“Have a good night last night?” the driver asked, leering a bit. I ignored him, pulling out my phone and pretending to text Corinne. I checked social media, looking at photos from last night, but I didn’t see myself or anyone that I knew in them. Not until I got to Corinne’s photo, one where she leaned into Pacey, another girl on his other side, the three of them smiling broadly and laughing.
Maybe something would happen between Pacey and Corinne. They would make a cute couple. I’d have to see how she felt about that. Or I could not think about that at all, because if my best friend and practically sister got into a relationship with Dillon’s roommate, it would make things even more awkward.
Josh seemed to get the idea that I didn’t want to chat and remained silent after that until he pulled up to my house.
“Thank you,” I said, making sure I left him a tip as I got out.
“No problem. Sorry about the comment. I think I need more coffee.”
I froze as I slid out of the car and looked at him. “What?”
“I made a jerky comment. I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I do hope you had a good night. If you didn’t, and you need me to do something about it, you’re welcome to tell me that, too.” I just looked at him.
A small smile played on my face, and I wondered how I kept ending up in these situations. “No problem. I’m doing great. Have a wonderful day.”
“You too, Elise.” I shut the door, and he drove off, presumably to another person either needing to get to campus or leaving a party a little late as I had.
“Get in here. We have coffee,” Nessa called from the porch of the small home I shared with her, Corinne, and Natalie.
The boys’ house was ridiculously large and felt like a mansion from the east coast rather than something in Colorado.
The girls and I shared a modest home with four bedrooms, but Nessa was pretty sure hers used to be an office since the closet seemed to have been added on later.
It didn’t matter, though. Because unlike my first year of college, I didn’t have to share a room or a bathroom with anyone else.
Everything was small, old, and sometimes broke down, but it was ours for the year. And that was perfect.
“Do you really have coffee?” I asked and then paused. “Though I could use a shower.”
“Well, you should have thought about that before you came home,” Natalie said, smiling.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I mumbled, and Corinne laughed. “Oh, you know plenty well what we’re talking about. You probably smell like sex and that very sexy Dillon. I honestly can’t believe you went through with it,” she said, and I winced.
“I’m sorry. That was stupid, wasn’t it?”
“Hey,” Corinne snapped. “I was kidding.” She bit her lip. “You didn’t feel forced into that, did you? Did you at least have fun? It was all consent and everything you wanted, right?” she asked, and I found myself sitting in my living room, my three roommates staring at me. Nessa handed me a cup of coffee, and Natalie sat next to me. Corinne just looked at me, her eyes suddenly filling with tears. “Did I pressure you? Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”
She sniffed, and I cursed under my breath.
“You didn’t pressure me at all. It was an awesome line, though. So, thank you for that,” I said with a laugh, trying to ease the tension.