The Roommate Agreement

“No. Because according to you, that equals a relationship.”

“You’re twisting my words.” He rolled his eyes. “We’re not in a relationship because we had sex. If anything, we’re in one for the same reason most people are. Because they have feelings for each other.”

“I have a lot of feelings for you. Some romantic. Some good. Some bad.” I opened the pizza box and peered at him out of the side of my eyes. “I can keep you on your toes that way.”

“Okay, okay, fine. I understand. We’re not in a relationship. Don’t come crying to me when you want to be in one.” He shrugged one shoulder, but his lips were twitching. “I’ll be emotionally unavailable.”

I stared at him. “Really? And you think I’m the crazy one?”

“I’m playing hard to get.”

“You’re doing a terrible job.” I looked pointedly at his pants where I could see his cock was hard.

“You’re not wearing a bra!” He waved his hand at my chest. “If you don’t want me to be turned on by you, wear a bra.”

I picked up a slice of pizza. “When did I say I didn’t want you to be turned on by me?”

“Oh, so you won’t be my girlfriend, but I can walk around with a hard cock and that’s all right?”

“That’s fine by me. It’s useful if it’s hard.”

He stared at me for a long moment, then shook his head. “Of all the people I could have picked to have feelings for, it was you. Six billion people in the world, and I chose you.”

I nudged him with my elbow, offering up my sweetest smile. “And I think that means you have excellent taste.”

“You aren’t wrong.”

• • •

“You had sex once. Don’t you need to figure out how to be in a relationship first?” Brie dipped her fry into ketchup.

We were back at my parents’ bar for girls’ night, except we were meeting both Sean and Jay after this. So, naturally, we were taking our sweet-ass time. Mostly because I needed her opinion on all this.

“Although,” she went on. “You should have figured that out maybe before you had sex.”

I rolled my eyes. “Listen—we’d already crossed the line. We’d both admitted how we felt. Going on a date with him was fun, Brie. It was the most fun I’d ever had with anyone, and it felt right.”

“Then why not just be in a relationship? I know you’re a bit of a relationship-phobe—”

“I am not a relationship-phobe!” I pulled my glass of Coke toward me. “I’m just…reserved with my emotions, but he already knows how I feel. It’s not like we’re getting into a normal relationship. We live together. We’re going from zero to one-hundred, and we need to ease ourselves into that.”

“Did you sleep in your bed last night?”

“Yes.”

“Were you alone?”

I shoved a chicken tender in my mouth. “No comment,” I said around a mouthful of food.

Brie smirked. “So you’ve had sex twice. You’re at least at the fuck-buddy stage of being in a relationship. Fuck buddies with feelings. That’s sticky.”

“Yeah, and it’s sticky before feelings,” I muttered. “Regardless, I don’t see why we need to label it. Why can’t we just figure it out as it happens? Let it evolve naturally?”

“I think you’ve realized what you’ve done and now you’re trying to backpedal,” she said, putting down the half of her burger she’d been holding. She turned knowing eyes on me. “Your issue ever since you told me you had feelings for Jay was the fact he was your best friend. It was all centered around that. Not the fact that you had them—the fact you had them for him. You’ve talked about it already. You’re the one who decided to make a go of it. Get your shit together.”

I stared at her. I hated it when she was right. She was right now, and she knew that I knew it.

“If your friendship is that strong, breaking up is going to be awkward for a little bit, but you’ll get through it. Hell, if you fight, he and I can swap places. I’ll come live with you for a few days, and he can live with Sean. God knows I need a break every now and then. I keep suggesting saving up for the Bahamas, but he wants to come with me.” She winked.

“I’ll come instead. I think a vacation is what I need.”

“The last time we went on vacation, you took a notebook to the beach.”

“If inspiration can strike on the toilet, it can strike on the beach.”

Brie rolled her eyes. “I know. You wrote half a book by hand.”

I grinned.

“I’m just saying that everything can be changed. Hell, if you’re really uncomfortable, tell him you’ve changed your mind.”

“I haven’t changed my mind. I just want us to move at as normal a pace as we can. Most people don’t live together when they start a relationship.”