Free My Summer Roommate by Bridie Hall Page B

Chris sleeps.
    “Oh my god, have I been keeping you awake?” she says, embarrassed.
    “Are you nuts? If I’d wanted to go to bed, I’d kick you out,” Chris jokes.
    “No, you wouldn’t. I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
    “Iz, chill. He never goes to sleep before midnight.”
    “Well, I might’ve today if I’d had the chance.” He grins widely, but that doesn’t alleviate Izzy’s blush.
    “Don’t be a douche, Chris,” I say, but he’s smiling at Isa belle the way only he can smile—all soft and cool.
    “It’s been nice having some fun company. Good old Chloe here gets boring after a while.”
    I punch him in the arm, and he draws me in for a hug. It’s so unexpected, it takes my breath away. It’s just a short hug, warm and comfy, but it leaves a lingering sensation on my body when I walk Izzy to the door.
    On impulse, I decide to accompany her down to the lobby in order for my body to cool down.
    “Is he fooling around, or did he mean all that?” Izzy asks.
    “I’m telling you, he never goes to bed before midnight. He spends hours on his laptop.”
    “I meant what he said about liking you and all that. He seems into you.”
    She’s watching me with an amused expression. I wonder how she can be so perceptive about Chris, when it took her months to see how deeply in love Harper was with her.
    I don’t know what to tell her, but I guess that’s a good enough answer for her.
    “He’s nice, Chloe. Don’t mess it up.”
    I want to say that I won’t, but it would be a lie, as I’m already planning an offensive on Chris the moment I return upstairs.
    She hugs me. “He’s good,” she whispers, despite or because she knows all her advice means nothing once I make up my mind.
    I take two stairs at a time when I return upstairs. I burst through the door, incensed, but Chris is lounging on the couch, checking his email like nothing happened. This makes me pause. Have I been reading too much into this? Was he speaking just hypothetically? But no, it was his way of saying he hasn’t given up yet. It had to be.
    “What was that all about?”
    “What?” he asks, and smiles. He knows what I’m talking about. He knows, and still he teases me. But that’s good. If he’s annoying enough, I might start disliking him. It would save me a lot of trouble.
    “ ‘I like you, so I’m just gonna say I like you’… ?”
    “It’s the truth.”
    “Izzy didn’t need to hear it.”
    “What are you afraid of?” He sits up and places the laptop onto the coffee table. His hair is all shaggy.
    “I’m not afraid.”
    “Why don’t you want her to hear it, then? She’s your best friend.”
    “I don’t want her to hear it because she’s my best friend. Because she might misunderstand.”
    He looks surprised at me . “I thought I put it quite clearly. There was nothing she might misunderstand about me liking you.”
    “Exactly.”
    “Except what you’re afraid of is that she might misunderstand what you’re feeling about me , isn’t it?”
    “No ...” I say half-heartedly. What can I say? His observation is so spot-on, that it takes me by surprise.
    “I bet you told her downstairs that there’s nothing there. That you don’t like me.” Even if the words were supposed to sound accus atory, they don’t. He says them kindly. He’s not reproachful, not even now, when I’m turning him down for the second time in a week. What does it take for this guy to turn into a mean dickhead? He sucks.
    Uh-huh.
    Ugh.
    “No.” I turn away. I need to regroup. I need to find a different tactic because this one is not working. So I decide to be honest about how I feel.
    “I didn’t tell her that. I’m not telling you that either,” I say. There’s a thin layer of guilt wrapping around my heart. But I forgive myself because I’m doing this as much for him as I’m doing it for myself.
    “I do like you. I like you a lot, Chris. But I’m not ready for us to be anything more than roommates.”
    I