Chapter 28 #3
Please don’t let it be Olli, I silently beg, while I tiptoe onward. I didn’t hear the door, but we were also kind of occupied. Maybe they came back while I was in the bathroom?
Please, God, I’ll start saying my prayers, I promise, I beg quietly, more concerned about Linden’s reaction than anything else.
At least he’s still up in his room, so unless they heard us, there’s no reason why we should get caught.
But this was his first time, and I don’t want the memory tied to an uncomfortable discovery—especially after everything that went down with his family today.
“Hello? Sasha? Mia?” I call out, craning my neck to get a glimpse of who’s roaming around the living room. There’s the rustling of a bag of chips, followed by heavy footsteps—definitely a guy. Damn. Since Nicko moved out during our absence, it must be Olli then.
“Uhm…no, not exactly,” a deep and unfamiliar voice calls out, making the fine hairs on my arms stand. My heart rate picks up immediately, the unfamiliar presence catching me off guard like an ice-cold bucket of water being emptied right over my head.
I jog, taking the last three steps in one big leap, ready to confront the intruder in nothing but my boxers.
“What the fuck are you doing in our home?” I bellow as I build myself up to full height, shoulders squared, jaw jutting out like I’m about to go toe to toe with an opposing linebacker.
“Whoa, dude, it’s my home too now.”
The words make me halt, itching a long-forgotten part of my brain. In the living room, a young man rounds the table. He’s about my age and almost matches me in height. The backward cap on his dark blond hair should clash oddly with his horn-rimmed glasses, but he somehow makes it work in his favor.
“I’m Vince,” he says, offering me his hand. “I thought Olli told you guys I’d be moving in?”
I take his hand, numbly squeezing it as the memories come rushing back. Vince—of course! Olli’s friend, who was going to take over Nicko’s room.
I was barely present when we discussed the matter, fully preoccupied with worrying about threesomes and draft spots. That evening in our backyard feels like a lifetime ago.
“Micah,” I finally rasp out. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—I completely forgot about you moving in.”
“No worries, man.” Vince pulls his hand back and slides it into the pockets of his sweats. He’s wearing a BU swim team shirt. Another athlete, then, but at least swimwear shouldn’t take up too much space in the washing machine.
“I meant to come right down and introduce myself when I heard the door, but you seemed kinda…uhm…busy? So I thought I’d provide some privacy.” He gives me a crooked grin that has me drawing up my shoulders in defense. So he heard everything.
Wonderful.
I don’t even know what to say to that, so I cross my arms over my naked chest, staring him down. Obviously, I can’t ask him to leave, even though I have to fight the urge to throw him out.
A few seconds pass without anyone saying a word, Vince’s grin slowly transforming into a frown.
“Hey,” he says. “Don’t worry, I’m not a bigot or anything. Have a good time. I can keep my mouth shut!”
He lifts his arm and leans in a little as if he were trying to present a bouncer with the secret invitation to a private party. It takes a moment until I realize what he’s trying to show me. A splash of rainbow colors sits in the crook of his arm, tattooed to look like a watercolor painting.
He thinks I’m the closeted football captain who’s worried he’ll out me.
“Oh no, it’s not like that!” I burst out, and he visibly relaxes, an easy smile returning to his lips.
“Ah, okay, sorry, you just looked like you were having a panic attack. So you’re out then? Cool, cool. Olli didn’t mention!”
“No, no, I’m actually not—” I break off when I notice how dumb I sound. I’m not what?
Gay?
Is that really what I want to tell my new roommate, who just listened to me fucking my other roommate into the mattress?
Do I want to tell him that Linden and I were just studying?
Really?
A high-pitched laugh escapes my throat. Maybe I am having a panic attack right now.
A teeny-tiny one. Not about being gay—I’m not gay, but I might want to entertain the thought of being bisexual after almost passing out from that orgasm—but about discovering all of this on a random evening, half-naked, in our hallway.
Or maybe not discovering this, maybe I knew it before, but it’s the first time I allow myself to own that thought.
“Dude, you’re scaring me. You didn’t take anything, right?” Vince steps closer, his hands hovering over my shoulders. I don’t have anything to tell him, and luckily, I’m saved by Linden’s voice calling out to us.
“Micah? Who are you talking to?”
My eyes snap up to him, ready to block Vince’s field of vision, but Linden’s fully dressed when he slowly descends the stairs to join us, although his cheeks are still flushed from what we did, his hair in disarray.
“Oh!” Vince’s smile grows impossibly wider as he takes him in, causing a growl to form in my chest. “So you must be the—”
“Other roommate!” I interject before I can catch myself, killing whatever word was right there on the tip of Vince’s tongue.