Room Mated: Standalone Reverse Harem Romance

1

Kylie

After five hours, it was a relief to pull into the lot and shut off my car. I loved mountains but driving through them wasn’t the easiest thing ever.

I slumped in the seat as I stared at the building in front of me. Henderson Dormitory was named after a famous engineer who had attended the university. When I’d picked it as my first choice on my housing application, I hadn’t dreamed I’d get a spot there, especially not in my first year. I figured I’d be forced to stay with hard-partying undergraduates instead of getting into the only dorm that was just for graduate students. Not only that, but it was supposed to be the best one.

Wearily, I climbed out of my car, an ancient hatchback that had once belonged to my uncle. It was amazing it had made it through the mountains, especially loaded up the way it was.

Now it was my job to carry a semester’s worth of clothes and other necessities into the building in front of me.

Two students who were obviously a couple passed in front of me as I stretched. She was carrying a laundry basket, and he was carrying three boxes stacked on top of each other. Briefly, I wondered if she’d would consider loaning her guy out to me when they were done. I could sure use the help.

It took two tries to open the back of my car. It was old, slightly rusted, and very finicky. I picked up a duffel bag and a backpack and slung them over my shoulders. Then I grabbed my laptop bag and locked the car. That wasn’t something I usually did, but my hometown of Norris, Colorado, had less than 700 people in it. The university was just outside Denver, and while the area wasn’t known to be a hotbed of crime, I knew to be more careful here. The last thing I wanted was to be the small-town girl who’d gotten robbed before she’d even started classes.

As I approached the massive building, a guy held the door for me, and I smiled at him before entering the gleaming lobby. The sofas and TVs in the lounge looked brand-new, and there was a delicious smell of grilled meat coming from somewhere nearby. Henderson was also known for having the best cafeteria on campus. Since my scholarship covered most of my room and board, that was another reason that getting assigned here felt like winning the lottery.

A graduate degree was my chance to have a career. To make something of my life. And to escape the small town I’d grown up in. Getting a spot in the best dormitory felt like a big step in the right direction.

I inhaled a deep breath of the amazing aroma and hoped they would still be serving dinner when I was done unloading my car.

Many other students were moving in, so there was a wait at the elevator. Some of them looked friendly, and since I didn’t know a soul here, I would’ve liked to talk with them, but most wore earbuds. It was different in my uncle’s bar where I worked every summer. Few people wore earbuds there. Most of them liked talking the bartender’s ear off—and catching up with them was one of my favorite parts of the job.

Thinking of the bar made me groan. My uncle had thrown me a huge party last night. I’d been the first one in our family to go to college, let alone grad school. It felt like half the people in town had crammed into his modest establishment to wish me luck. And when I got roped into helping serve drinks due to the size of the crowd, they’d tipped generously. The money was appreciated since I still had a lot to pay for—the amount they charged for textbooks these days was outrageous—but I’d been up until the wee hours of the morning, and I was exhausted now.

My bags felt twice as heavy by the time I was finally able to squish into the elevator. But there was room to breathe as everyone got off before my floor, which was the sixth and top one. My duffel slid from my shoulder as I stopped to check the room number on my phone: 672.