Dad launches into some formalities with Andrew, and I bail. I’m headed for my kitchen, eager for some sort of distraction, when my favorite one peeks her head in.
“Hey, Ashy C.”
“Hey, MiMi.”
“The old dude here yet?” She waltzes in like she owns the place, nosily looking around for my new guest. “Does he smell like Bengay? I feel like all coaches smell like Bengay and disappointment.”
My mood lifts at seeing her. She’s cute today in two dark brown braids and no makeup on. A black baseball cap she stole out of my closet sits flipped backward on her head, and she’s sporting her librarian black-rimmed glasses. She has the whole Super Mario look going on with her dark-wash overalls and a long-sleeved red thermal on. The black Doc Martens on her feet complete the look.
“He smells like soap,” I reveal. “And he’s fucking hot.”
Her brown eyes widen. “Really? Where is he? I want to see. Is he gay?”
“No.” I scrub my palm down over my face. “I fucking wish.”
She frowns and walks over to me. “Are you okay? I don’t ever see you frazzled. You’re definitely frazzled over this guy. He’s so hot he made you stupid?”
Laughing, I poke at her stomach. “So stupid I got a fucking boner in front of my dad.”
“No way,” she shrieks, and then giggles. “How mortifying! Still hard up?” She waggles her brows at me.
“Nope.” I pop the P in the word. “Dad has always been great for being a buzzkill.”
“Is your new roomie a gamer or like a total sports jock like Brayden?”
We both share a guilty look. Last night, after that dickhead left and she bailed on the sorority witches, she came over. For at least an hour, we discussed what a monster Brayden was. Then, we discussed how hot he was, both of us laughing over our fantasies of what we’d do to him if he weren’t such a dick.
“Looks like a jock. Not sure about the rest. Don’t ask him about why he left the NHL.”
Her perfectly plucked brow hikes up her forehead. “Ohhh. Dirty little secret?”
“Something bad enough he wrote it into his contract here that he wouldn’t discuss it.”
“Wow,” she says, emphasizing the word dramatically.
I can’t help but notice she has on shiny lip gloss today. I mean, her lips are rounded, drawing my attention to them when normally I wouldn’t even look. Thoughts of last night when she described how she would blow Brayden the Brat if he were cool come flooding to the front of my mind. It’d been funny when she mentioned it. Now, I can’t stop thinking about her blowing Brayden.
Laughter has me tearing my gaze from her mouth. Andrew’s laughter echoes through the apartment, waking my dick back up. Fuck. This guy is going to stress me the hell out.
Mia’s eyes are wide when she glances down to the front of my jeans. Her cheeks turn crimson, which has me rubbing the back of my neck in embarrassment. For as much as we joked around last night with our dumb fantasies, I know better. Mia is a virgin, so seeing her best friend get a chub in the kitchen is probably mortifying to her.
“Sorry,” I grumble.
She walks up to me and stands on her toes to kiss my cheek. “It’s okay. I’ll stand in front of you. Pretend to be your girl or something so he doesn’t notice.”
Chuckling, I pull her into my arms, her back against my chest, and rest my chin on her head. Dad walks out of the hallway and into the living room. When he sees Mia, he smiles genuinely.
“Hello, Mia. How are classes going?”
“Great, Curtis. Hard, but great.” Her ass presses slightly up against me, and I refrain from tickling her for being a brat.
“This school is a challenging one, but the reward your degree will bring will be worth all the hard work. Keep my boy in line. See you soon, sweetheart.” Then to me, he nods. “Thank you, Son.”
We wave to him as he leaves. Andrew decides to come from his room to… I don’t fucking know what. But he’s walking our way, a one-dimpled grin on his stupidly gorgeous face.
“Don’t look at his lips,” I tease, bent to whisper against her ear. “You’ll get the girl version of a boner.”
She laughs but then it dies off as her body tenses. Andrew saunters into the kitchen, glancing over at the way we’re hugging, before he blanches.
What the hell?
“Drew?” she croaks out.
By the look of horror on his face and the strange way Mia’s behaving, I quickly connect the dots.
My call last night cockblocked my bestie from losing her virginity to my new roommate. The same roommate I have the world’s most painful hard-on for.
Well, this is fucking lovely.
Andrew, or Drew, clears his throat as he pinches the bridge of his nose, clearly freaking the fuck out. Mia is still panicked it would seem based on her unusual silence. I remain quiet as I imagine them together. She’d told me about how she made out with him. They were alone in some room he was staying in, and things were getting heated. My call pulled the brakes on the whole event. She said she was glad because she wasn’t ready to have sex with some stranger, though I sensed there was more to it.