17. Rose
Rose
Rose awoke, bleary-eyed and sluggish, to someone shuffling around and quiet, feminine voices whispering.
A few blinks into the darkness of the living room had her struggling to remember where she was and why.
She turned her head and nuzzled into the scent of clean laundry, soap, and faint hints of a cologne that clung to the warm skin of a familiar neck.
She tried not to freeze. She knew that combination better than she knew her own perfume.
Kirin was stretching out, but all she could feel was a thick thigh between hers.
“I think he’s awake. The snoring stopped,” a soft voice whispered.
Kirin wrapped his arm around her while he pressed her into the back of the couch to hold her in place. She should tell him she’s awake. But his body felt like heaven around her, and she kind of hated herself for enjoying it.
“Shit,” another voice said, and Rose bit back a smirk at the horror in Harper’s voice. “Was it the creaking floor?”
“Can you turn on a light?” Kirin asked, his voice a soft rumble against her ear before he whispered a clarification to her roommates, “Nothing overhead.”
A low snicker sounded somewhere behind them, followed by a squeak. “No pinching.”
“Don’t laugh at me,” Harper hissed. “Every light we have is overhead.”
“We could turn on the bathroom light and keep the door partially closed?” Ainsley whispered, and she felt Kirin lift his arm, probably a thumbs-up or another sign of approval at her choice in lighting as she tried to keep her body relaxed.
Talking to him after she fell asleep snuggling him sounded like a nightmare.
She didn’t even remember getting into this position.
Maybe he’d pulled her into him, which meant she was truly out.
How embarrassing. Pretending to be asleep would allow more time to figure out what the hell to say.
She needed to understand how her leg ended up wrapped around him.
When the light flicked on down the hall, she pinched her eyes closed against the light for a second before relaxing into the couch.
She could feel Kirin’s eyes on her, feel his attention from inches away as his breath fanned over her face, and she tried not to peek at the face she liked more every time she saw it.
That buzz of awareness settled under her skin.
It was easy to imagine him closing the distance and pressing his lips against her own.
Easier still to imagine the feel of them on her now that she knew he ran hot, and the thought of him kissing her had her body burning all on its own.
Actually pressing her lips against his would feel like kissing a flame.
They’d already agreed their first kiss was going to be Friday at some party Kirin was dragging her to. But the closer it got, the more she thought they should have a private one. She considered asking him to lay one on her, hoping to put an end to her agonizing.
Her thoughts stopped when Kirin pressed a quick and gentle kiss to the top of her head as he finished unwrapping himself from their tangle of limbs.
She didn’t dare move as he eased himself off the couch, and when the feel of him was gone, she rolled over and curled into the back of the couch with a small smile.
It only grew when Kirin moved the blanket she was under to cover her mostly bare legs.
“Sorry we woke you up,” Ainsley whispered to Kirin. “We suck at being quiet. Rose complains about it all the time.”
A huffed laugh followed that. “I don’t think it was you. Just woke up on my own.”
There was a beat of silence and some shuffling. “Do you have a pen and paper?”
“I do,” Harper answered. Then there was another beat of silence before the sound of the water from the dispenser poured into a cup. They were truly awful at being quiet. Ainsley was right.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of you hanging around a girl for longer than a party or two,” Ainsley said, and Rose froze on the couch, trying not to turn and see what her roommate’s face looked like with that kind of comment.
It wasn’t a surprise that Ainsley knew about Kirin’s romantic history—or lack thereof.
She seemed to know everything about all the best athletes.
And she’d shown Rose an online forum focused on the MU students, pages of polls that talked about the athletes, their conquests, and the statistical probability of the matches making it past certain dates or events.
It was brutal and hysterical in a sad type of way that made her avoid looking at it.
Harper said the math majors probably ran it.
She wasn’t entirely sure, but it was a key resource for their project.
If she and Kirin weren’t on there yet, they would be after next weekend.
“Been keeping tabs on me, Ainsley?” he asked, and if she closed her eyes, she could imagine him squaring up with her tiny roommate from across the kitchen.
“I’m a journalism major, it’s my job to keep my ear to the ground,” Ainsley said, the grin clear in her voice. “If you screw her over, though, we will be having words.”
“I have no plans to screw her over.”
“Did I say you had plans?” she asked, a beat of silence that sounded suspiciously like a dramatic pause. “I don’t think I said he had plans.”
“Definitely said nothing about plans,” Harper confirmed, and Rose pinched her lips between her teeth to keep her smile contained.
There were a lot of roommates she could have ended up with when she transferred. She’d probably still be thanking her aunt in twenty years for sticking her with these two nutcases. They took her in and claimed her as their own without a second thought.
“No plan, no intention, whatever you two wanna call it, but it still comes down to one thing,” he said after another dramatic pause until he whispered, “This is none of your business.”
Harper scoffed lightly. “She’s our roommate.”
“Roommate, not child. I will not hurt her intentionally; that I can promise.” He paused, and she thought she heard a pen scratching across paper. “Keep being protective of her. Everyone needs friends who give a shit.”
She listened as his steps disappeared down the hallway towards her room, then backtracked to the door before there was a squeak.
Like she could feel him getting closer. Her body warmed just before Kirin leaned over the back of the couch and kissed her temple.
A second later, Ainsley and Harper all but shooed him out and closed the door behind him.
“He’s gone, and we know you’re awake,” Harper said. Rose rolled off the couch with a huff.
“You couldn’t give me a second to bask in the adorable way you two got so protective of me to my sort-of boyfriend?” She wrapped herself in the blanket Kirin draped over her.
“Is that what you’re calling him?” Ainsley snorted. “You know the polls are betting he’s going to be on one knee by spring. I hope you’re ready to get married.”
“Are the people doing these polls aware that we met like”—she checked her phone—“two and a half weeks ago and haven’t even kissed?
What if we hate one another and don’t know it yet?
” She crossed the room and leaned against the opposite side of the island from her roommates.
“Give me a chance to find something to hate.”
“There isn’t an option for that in the polls,” Ainsley countered.
“Stop looking at the polls,” she and Harper said at the same time. Rose held out a hand for Harper to smack.
“I’m going to bed. Kirin makes a wonderful pillow, but I prefer my bed.” It was a lie, but she spun on her heel anyway. Ignoring the second round of whispered bickering from her roommates. “Go to bed. You can argue about my relationship tomorrow when I’m literally anywhere else.”
Outside her room, she tugged the folded sticky note off her bedroom door and flipped it open as she closed the door behind her. It made her smile, and it only got bigger when she read the note.
Best nap ever. I’m never washing this sweatshirt. Question: What perfume/soap do you use? It smells amazing.