“He said what?” I asked, holding my books in a tight grip with my phone pressed up to my ear. The second floor was thankfully less chaotic than the first as I walked to my room, listening to my mother.
Her voice was nearing hysterics, but I brushed it off, knowing she was as dramatic as a thirteen-year-old girl who just hit puberty. “Claire! Aren’t you listening? He said I had to pay at least 50% of what the contractor wants by tomorrow morning!”
I leaned against the wall beside my door, unsure if Theo was in our room or not. If he was, I didn’t want him to overhear the conversation, and knowing Theo, he’d listen to every single word. He’d already admitted once to listening to my phone calls, and I was sure he’d do it again.
My cheeks burned at the thought of last weekend where I was forced to act like his girlfriend. I walked around campus for the next several days, bouncing in and out of classes like a pariah, wondering if his worshipping puck bunnies were going to shun me for stealing their number-one guy. But to my surprise, the girl who was a witness to Theo’s show either hadn’t remembered or was too embarrassed to tell anyone. No one looked at me with distaste, and better yet, nothing had gotten back to Chad, so I put the whole thing behind me, hoping Theo wouldn’t do it again. He wondered why girls were constantly showing up to his room unannounced, but maybe it was because every day this week, he’d brought one back to our room.
Technically, he didn’t break any of the roommate rules because he did put a “nonverbal warning” on the doorknob to indicate that he was in there with someone, but instead of hanging a sock like a normal guy, he used my freaking scrunchie. My purple scrunchie. When I told him that I didn’t want my hair accessories associated with his slutty activities, he smirked and began collecting them all. Yesterday, I came home to seven scrunchies tied together, hanging from the doorknob.
“Claire! Are you listening to me?” I jumped as my mother’s sharp voice pelted through the phone.
“Ye-yeah.” I cleared my throat. “Did you ask Linda if they had any more clients that you could add to your clientele? Maybe make a little more cash in the next couple of weeks?”
Sweat began to hit my hairline as I mentally began counting my shifts and estimating how much in tips I’d make in the coming days. How am I going to afford my books next semester at this rate?
“I don’t want to ask Linda for more clients. I’d rather them not know that I’m struggling with money again. They don’t need another reason to look down on me. Did you tell Chad? Please tell me you didn’t tell him.”
I swallowed my stress. “No. I didn’t tell him.” The last thing I needed was for his parents to give my mother more handouts and put us in an even deeper hole of debt with them. Those handouts were like bullets for Chad. “It’s fine, Mom. I’ll put some money in your account in just a few. But please, please, please make sure you give it to Ralph.”
She huffed as I turned my ear toward my door, hearing some type of commotion inside. I glanced down to the doorknob, but there weren’t any scrunchies on it.
“What else would I do with it, Claire? I can’t be homeless. I told Ralph I’d have it for him in the morning. Look, I gotta go. Mr. Ortiz is coming home any minute, and he likes me to be done with the cleaning by the time he gets home.”
“Alright, I’ll send a text when I send the mon—”
The line went dead, and I scoffed, pushing my phone in my pocket while mumbling under my breath, “You’re welcome, Mom—again.”
A sigh began to crawl up my throat just as I began to reach for my key, but I jumped when my door flung open. I was met with a growly Theo, seeming more intense than usual. He towered over me like a dangerous omen, stealing my ability to function as his temples flickered back and forth.
“Go.”
What? Theo looked directly over my head, so I looked behind me, but no one was there.
“But I have no pants on—” Who the hell is that? I tried to peek inside my room, but Theo, being larger than most, took up the entire doorway.
“There are consequences to your behavior, sweetheart.” I watched as he rolled his eyes and nearly shut the door in my face as I stood back in confusion. His large hand stopped it at the last second, and he pulled it open again.
My jaw dropped as a girl came scrambling toward me in nothing but a t-shirt and a pair of underwear. It was like a bull coming straight for a red flag. I quickly moved out of the way and watched her run down the hall, half-naked. A few guys had popped out of their rooms from the rumpus and applauded her as she disappeared down the stairs.
I pushed past Theo and his unusual bout of broodiness before walking toward my desk to drop my books on top. Before the door even shut, I glanced at the room and did a double-take at a pile of girl’s clothes thrown all over the floor.
“Really?” I said, rolling my eyes. “What happened to the nonverbal warning?” I kicked the girl’s jeans off my side of the room, beginning to feel the pent-up irritation that had been brewing since the moment he used my purple scrunchie on the door. Because Theo didn’t warn me of its meaning, I had no idea the scrunchie on my door was his comical “nonverbal warning”. So, imagine my surprise when I walked in on his head between a girl’s legs. “You’ve been doing just fine with using my scrunchies on the door every single day this week.” I picked up the scrunchie from yesterday and held it up in between us.
“I didn’t invite this one.” The anger Theo had possessed a moment ago lessened as he stared down at the bra that I’d kicked over to his bed. He slowly picked it up by the strap and acted as if it were going to catch on fire at any second. I stared at him as he threw it across the room and smiled as I watched a chill race down his body.
A laugh bubbled in my chest and erupted from my mouth a moment later. Theo whipped his attention over to me. A lock of his dark hair had fallen onto his forehead as he gaped at me, completely taken aback at my reaction. The more he stared at me with confusion, the more I laughed. My hand flew to my mouth as tears began to gather in my eyes.
“Wh–what?” I asked in between laughs. A few more had escaped me before I was able to regain my composure.
Theo shook his head as he shrugged off his shirt, showing off his bare chest. My laugh had long disappeared, and I tore my gaze from his side of the room and put it on my floor. He did that on purpose.
“I’ve just never heard you laugh that hard.”
I shrugged, looking over at my bed. “I just think it’s funny that—” I stopped mid-sentence and snapped my neck to look at him. He had on a new shirt, and I was pretty sure he was getting ready for practice. “Theo. Is…is that her underwear on my bed?!” By the time I had finished my sentence, my voice was more of a shriek than anything. Theo’s green eyes lit up with something very similar to amusement.
“But how—” My gaze shifted to my dresser, and I wanted to throw the entire piece of furniture at him. “Did you…just give your puck bunny my fucking underwear?!”
My hands clamped onto my waist, and I spun around with anger, ready to attack him. Theo threw his hands up with mock innocence, but his chest was tight with laughter. The smirk on his face made me want to punch him. “Theo! You are not supposed to go through my underwear drawer! I knew that rule would come in handy!” My words were rushed, and with every single syllable, I grew more heated. “I am going to kill you!” I shouted.
I ran the two feet it took to get over to my bed and grabbed my pencil from my desk on the way. The used thong on my bed flew across the room, along with the pencil I had used to pick it up with. They both landed right below Theo’s smiling face. “You wonder why all these girls keep showing up to your room! You bring them almost every single day! Our room might as well be a brothel!”
Theo threw his head back, and the room filled with his rowdy laughter. It was annoying because he had a good laugh. It was throaty and masculine but still light. “Correction. I did not go through your underwear drawer.” His gaze slowly slid down to my clean basket full of folded clothes that were now rumpled.
“Oh my God! You are unbelievable!” Before I knew what was happening, my feet were taking me over to him, and I tried to hit him on the chest with my fist before he grabbed it at the last second with an even deeper grin on his face.
“Calm down, Bryant! I’ll get your panties back for you.”
“Ew!” I snatched my hand away from him, irritated that his large hand fully encased my wrist. “I don’t want used panties. If she’s showing up in our room unannounced, it’s hard to tell where her pussy has been!”
Both Theo and I made eye contact with the word that had just come from my mouth. Did I really–
“Did you really just say the word pussy?”
An exasperated laugh escaped me, and Theo bent over at the waist, gasping for breath between his laughter. He was laughing so hard that I hardly heard the knock on the door. I forced a sigh from my mouth and stomped across the room, still half-angry. “It’s probably her, wanting her thong back!”
Theo quickly began gathering his stuff. “Well, she’s not getting them. Do stupid things, get stupid rewards. She can’t just show up naked, refuse to leave, and then want her clothes back.”
“She has my panties. Which ones did you give her? I bet they were my favorite ones.”
I could see that he was still smirking as he pulled his BU hat backward. I wanted to continue acting irritated with him, but a weird part of me wanted to stay in this moment because, for the first time in weeks, I felt weirdly comfortable around him.
“I’ll buy you new ones.”
I opened the door with a hidden smile on my face, fully prepared to watch this girl beg for her clothes back, but I choked when I saw that it wasn’t a girl at all. Instead, it was Chad.
My smile fell, and it was hard not to notice the way I suddenly felt a change in my attitude. “Chad.”
His black-rimmed glasses hid the crease of disappointment that I was certain was grooved in between his eyes. The blue of his eyes turned to ice as he watched my cheeks fall. “What? You’re not happy to see me?”
I shook my head, a fake smile rushing to my mouth. “Of course I am. I just wasn’t expecting you.”
My hand fell from the door as Theo pulled it farther open, standing entirely too close to me. “Hey. I’m Theo.”
I stepped to the side, away from what felt like a fire brewing, and glanced at my roommate. I was struck by how tense he seemed. All his humor from just a few moments ago was completely gone. He wore a blank expression as he stared at Chad, eyeing him with something I’d never seen before.
Chad looked up at Theo briefly and dismissed him a moment later. “Yeah, I know who you are.” His attention was back on me, and I suddenly felt caught in a trap.
Theo’s jaw wiggled back and forth, and I caught his quick glance in my direction before he brushed past Chad, letting the door almost slam in his face. Chad put his foot out and began stepping inside my room before we were stopped in the doorway by the sound of Theo’s authoritative voice commanding the hallway.
“You know what… I know who you are too,” he said, pulling his black bag up on his shoulder a little higher. A guy with broad shoulders stopped a few feet ahead of Theo but kept his back to us all, clearly listening to the conversation. That isn’t obvious at all.
Chad didn’t move from the doorway before he chuckled, “I doubt that.”
Theo’s white teeth clamped onto his bottom lip, and I gulped. I wasn’t sure what was going through his mind, but my entire body tensed from his expression. I was looking at the Theo that was on the ice, no doubt. Self-assured with an edge of a threat backing his words.
Theo’s teeth disappeared as he shook his head. “No, no.” He squinted. “I’m pretty sure I saw you at a party last Friday. Yeah? Weren’t you at Chi Alpha Sigma?”
Chi Alpha Sigma? That was also known as the party house for the football players. I’d gone with Taytum our freshman year. Chad stared at Theo a second too long, and I broke the stand-off. “Chad…at a party with a bunch of jocks?” A laugh left me. There is no way.
My boyfriend chuckled as he quickly glanced at me before putting his attention back on Theo. There was zero amusement on Theo’s face, though. Chad smirked, agreeing with me. “Yeah, I could definitely find a better way to spend my time than at a frat party with a bunch of you jocks. You must be mistaking me for someone else, man.”
The guy that had stopped by Theo turned around and elbowed him. “We’re gonna be late.”
Theo didn’t pull his stare from Chad, though. Instead, he said, “I hope I am mistaken…”—he glanced at me for a fleeting second—“for her sake.”
I kept my expression steady as I stared back at Theo. I could have formed into a statue right there with the look of concern covering his features before he turned around and disappeared down the stairs.
Chad scoffed before pushing me back into my room and shutting the door with force. “That’s why I hate jocks. What is it with them and their need to try and act like the bigger man in the room?” He took one look at my room and shuddered. “I do not miss dorm rooms. They’re so…small.”
I stayed close to the door, hearing Theo’s words over and over again in my head to the point that I couldn’t hear a single word coming from Chad’s. “Is that where you were last Friday?” I asked, ignoring everything that was coming from his mouth.
Chad’s eyebrows raised as he took a seat on my bed. “What? No. Of course not. We’ve been together for how long? You should know that I’d never be caught dead at one of those parties.”
It was true. The visual of Chad surrounded by a ton of hunky jocks was almost comical, but the way Theo looked at me was making my stomach twist with unease.
“Where were you, then?” I tried to ask the question without sounding skeptical, but by the look of annoyance on Chad’s face, it was obvious that I didn’t succeed.
“Are you really going to let some stupid hockey player twist things between us?” My mouth opened, but Chad stood up and crowded my space. “Look at me.” His hands gripped my cheeks a little harder than usual. “Don’t you trust me?”
“Ye–yeah,” I answered, peering up into his gaze that resembled the boy I fell for in my sophomore year of high school. The only problem? He wasn’t that same boy anymore, and the safety and comfort I used to feel with his hands on me had turned to something else entirely, and I wasn’t sure how to escape it.
