The rules we break a roo.., p.14
The Rules We Break: A Roommate Romance, page 14
“Which doesn’t happen in the movies. The couple falls more in love the longer they’re together. Which proves those movies are all lies.” I try to open my soda but can’t. “Can you open this?”
Theo takes the bottle, opens it, and hands it back. “What about all those romance books you read? You’re still going to read them, right?”
“No. I packed them all up in a box. I’m going to take them to a donation place.”
“Why? You love those books. You read them over and over.”
“Yeah, and they’re lies. All lies.” I grab a bag of chips and tug at the top, trying to open it.
“Want some help?” Theo asks.
“No, I got it.” I tug harder and the bag rips open, spilling chips all over me and the couch. “Shit. I made a mess.”
Theo laughs. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“I’ll clean it up.” I brush the chips off my lap while Theo picks up the ones on the couch and eats them. I stare at him. “You’re eating couch chips?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“That’s gross. People have sat on this couch. And probably done other things.”
“Probably.” He smiles as he picks up another chip from the couch and eats it.
“Your underwear has been on this couch,” I remind him. “And your dirty socks.”
“I’m not getting your point.” He pops another chip in his mouth.
I give up. Cleanliness is not Theo’s thing. I just need to accept that and try not to think about what’s been on this couch and is now on the chip Theo’s eating.
Going to the kitchen, I get some plastic bowls for the chips and a pair of scissors to cut them open. I take them to the coffee table and pour the chips I opened into a bowl.
“Nice ass,” Theo says.
I’m right in front of him, bent over, my ass on display. I wasn’t even thinking about that until he said it.
I move over and sit down. “I thought we agreed not to make flirty comments.”
“It was just a comment. I wasn’t flirting. And I don’t remember agreeing to that.”
I turn to him. “Theo, we talked about this. We agreed we can’t be anything more than roommates.”
“And my roommate has a great ass. Why can’t I comment on that?”
I sigh. “You know why.”
“Telling you I like your ass means we’ll have sex? Is that what you’re saying?”
“No, but it could lead to that.”
“It doesn’t have to.” He picks up his soda from the table and takes a drink. He’s wearing a t-shirt and every time he moves or picks something up, his arm muscles flex, drawing my eyes to them. I’m a sucker for muscles and Theo is always showing them off. He doesn’t mean to. They’re just there, on display, making me all hot and bothered.
“Here.” I hand him the bowl of chips.
He takes it and pops a chip in his mouth. “The couch chips were better.”
I roll my eyes and start the movie. It’s the action one I picked and I don’t really like it, but I’d rather see things explode than watch a couple kissing and holding hands. It’s not that I don’t believe in love anymore. I just don’t trust that it lasts. I always thought my parents would be married forever. They weren’t very affectionate with each other, but they never fought or even raised their voices. So what happened? Were they never in love, or did they just wake up one day and decide they didn’t like each other anymore?
“You want to go to bed?” Theo asks, noticing me yawning. It’s almost midnight. We’ve been watching movies and eating junk food for hours. We also had a few shots of tequila, but the effect already wore off. I don’t even feel tipsy.
“I’ll help you clean up first,” I say, getting up from the couch.
“Leave it. We can do it tomorrow.”
I nod and head to the stairs.
Theo follows me up to my room, stopping at my door. “If you can’t sleep and want to talk, just wake me up.”
“Okay.” I give him a tired smile. “Thanks. And thanks for cheering me up today.”
“I was going to say the same to you. I was dreading coming back here to an empty house. It really helped having you here.” He gives me a hug. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
He pulls back and our eyes meet. He has that look, like he’s about to kiss me, and part of me wishes he would, but we can’t. We shouldn’t.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says, letting me go.
As he walks back to his room, I feel like running after him, running into his arms, into his room and his bed. I’m having all these feelings for him that I shouldn’t be having and definitely shouldn’t be acting on.
I shut the door and get into bed and try not to think about Theo being in a bed just a few feet away.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THEO
When I left for the gym this morning, Darcy was still in her room. I hope she slept last night and wasn’t up thinking about her parents’ divorce. I can’t believe they told her that on Christmas day. She was so excited to go home for Christmas and then didn’t get to celebrate it. I might have to do something about that. I know she said seeing the tree made her sad, but maybe I could change that.
“You just get here?” Curt asks, coming into the gym.
“No, I’ve been here for hours. I was going to leave in a few minutes.” I grab a towel from the bench and wipe the sweat from my face.
“Hours, huh?” Curt walks up to me. “That’s a long workout.”
I shrug. “I needed to blow off some steam.”
“Have a fight with your roommate?” he asks, smiling.
“No. I just had some issues at home.” I walk over to the weights I was using and put them back on the rack.
“What kind of issues?” Curt asks.
“I don’t want to get into it. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Curt comes over to me. “You can talk to me, Theo. I’m going to be your coach soon and problems at home often lead to problems on the field.”
“They won’t,” I say, taking the plates off the barbell. “I keep that shit out of the game. I’ve learned how to keep the two separate.”
“Is that why you’re back early? Because of problems at home?”
“Yeah, kind of,” I say, putting the weighted plates back on the stand.
“Mom or dad?” he asks.
“What was that?” I ask, wiping my face with a towel.
“Problems at home usually involve the parents. I was wondering if this issue is with your mom or your dad?” He waits for me to answer. When I don’t, he says, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I was just trying to help. Go ahead to the locker room.”
I turn to leave, then turn back. “It’s my mom. She drinks too much.”
He looks down, then back up at me. “I’m sorry to hear that. Has it been going on for awhile?”
“Basically, my whole life. It started after she had me. The guy who got her pregnant took off and left her alone with a kid and no money and no place to live. She was never the same after that.”
Curt doesn’t say anything. He probably thought I’d tell him something else, something less serious, like that I was fighting with my parents over money or not getting the car I wanted. I wish it were that simple. We’d be able to get over something like that and move on. We can’t do that with my mom’s drinking. It just gets worse while my dad, Ella, and I stand by watching it, not knowing what to do.
“I’m going to head out,” I say.
“Yes, of course. Go ahead.”
I leave and go to the locker room to shower. I regret telling Curt about my mom. I don’t want him thinking my family issues will affect how I play, because it’s not true. In fact, football is the one thing that distracts me from my problems at home. I zone in on the game and only think about that.
Darcy has that effect on me too. When I’m with her, I forget about my problems unless we’re talking about them. If we’re not, my thoughts don’t even go there. Like yesterday, going to the store with her and watching movies, I didn’t even think about what happened when I was home. Maybe that’s why I like hanging out with her so much. She gives my mind a break.
“Hey, Wes,” I say, answering his call as I drive home. “How was your Christmas?”
“Great! There was no fighting and no one telling me what a fuck-up I am.” He laughs a little. “It was a totally different experience than what I’m used to. How about you?”
“It sucked, so I left. I’m back at school.”
“What happened?”
“The usual shit with my mom. I’ll tell you later. I’m driving back from the gym. I’m almost home. Hey, did Avery say anything to you about me and Darcy?”
“No. I don’t think Darcy told her.”
“Seriously? I thought she would’ve told her right after it happened.”
“Maybe Darcy doesn’t want Avery to know.”
“Then don’t tell her. Keep it between us.”
“You know I can’t do that. Avery and I agreed not to keep secrets from each other.”
“Then wait. See if Darcy tells her this week. Does Avery know she’s here?”
“Yeah, Darcy called Avery and told her about the divorce. I can’t believe her parents told her on Christmas.”
“I know. She was really upset about it. And she didn’t get to have Christmas. I’m thinking of having it here just to cheer her up. Like putting up some lights and the tree and maybe giving her something to open.”
“Sounds like something you’d do for a girlfriend. Is there something you’re not telling me?”
“We’re not dating. I’m just being a friend. She’s feeling really down and doing this might make her feel better.” I pull into the driveway and see Darcy leaving the house. “Hey, I gotta go. We’ll talk later.”
“Yeah, bye.”
“Hey,” I say to Darcy, getting out of my car. She looks gorgeous, her silky blond hair in long waves around her face, her makeup done, and wearing a red wool coat with a plaid scarf. “Where are you going?”
“I’m just going to get a coffee and walk around the mall. I need to get out of the house. You want to come with?”
I pause a moment. “Um, no, I have some things to do.”
“Okay.” She smiles as she goes past me to her car.
“Hey, while you’re out, why don’t you get a manicure?” I say, thinking I might need more time for my plan. If she’s only gone for an hour, I won’t be done.
“Why?” She looks at her hands. “Is something wrong with my nails?”
“No, I just know girls like that kind of thing and it’d be something to do that might make you feel better.”
She shrugs. “Yeah, maybe I will.” She gets in her car. “Bye, Theo.”
I go into the house and wait until she’s gone, then get back in my car and drive to the store to buy more holiday lights. They’re on clearance now and really cheap so I get more than I need in case some don’t work. I stop at the grocery store next and buy a box of sugar cookies, a can of frosting, and some red and green sprinkles. Next, I stop at a clothing store near campus and buy Darcy a sweater. It’s similar to one she already has, so I know she’ll like it.
When I’m home, I race around putting up lights and getting the tree back in place. I suck at decorating, but I think I did a decent job making the place look festive. I text Darcy to see where she is, and she texts back that she’s on her way home. I take one of the remaining strands of lights and hang them around the front door. It’s a dark cloudy day so she’ll see them when she drives up.
I watch from the window as she gets out of her car. She notices the lights around the door and looks around like she thinks she’s at the wrong house. She slowly walks up to the door as I open it.
“Hey.” I smile at her.
She points to the lights. “Were these here before?”
“No, I just put them up.”
“Why? Christmas is over.”
“Is it?” I step aside, letting her inside the house.
She gasps. “What is all this?”
“Christmas. We’re celebrating it here since we both had a shitty Christmas with our families.”
She turns to me and smiles. “You did this?”
“It wasn’t a big deal. I just put up some lights and the tree.”
“Theo, this is amazing.” She walks farther into the room, taking her coat off. “There’s so many lights. It’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, I kind of overdid the lights, but do you know how cheap they are this time of year? They were practically giving them away.”
She tosses her coat on the chair and runs up to me, giving me a hug. “I love it. Thanks for doing this.”
“I just wanted to cheer you up.”
She lets me go and walks over to the tree. “You got ornaments?” She laughs. “Are those chile peppers? And tiny dogs?”
“Chihuahuas. It’s all they had left. But they were wearing Santa hats so I got them.” I go to the kitchen. “Oh, and we’re frosting cookies.” I hold up a sugar cookie. “If you want to. If not, we can just eat them.”
She races over to me and sees everything set out on the counter. “You got sprinkles? Theo, this is so sweet. I can’t believe you did all this.”
“Hey, don’t be saying I’m sweet. You’ll ruin my reputation. I was just trying to give us a better Christmas than we had at home.”
“I’ll go upstairs and change. I’ll be right back.”
She returns wearing a pair of black yoga pants and a cropped shirt. I’m trying really hard to not see her as anything more than my roommate and then she shows off her body like that and my mind goes back to the night we shared. We shouldn’t have done it, but we did, and now I have to find a way to live with her as just a friend.
“This was so much fun,” she says, biting into a cookie. We just finished decorating them, or Darcy did, while I watched and played her favorite Christmas songs from my phone. She kept dancing around the kitchen to the music, drawing my eyes to her body, which I was trying not to look at. But of course I did. I couldn’t help it. The way her ass looks in those pants is absolute perfection. Shit, now I’m thinking about that and my cock’s getting hard.
“Want a bite?” she asks, holding the cookie up to me.
My gaze drops to her tits, which I can see because her cropped shirt is really loose and she’s bending forward. She’s got on a push-up bra that makes her tits look huge. Fuck, she’s killing me. I want to bury my face in her tits, grab her ass and—
“You don’t want it?” she asks.
Fuck, yeah, I want it, but not the cookie. I want her. So damn bad.
“I’m good.” I walk away, hoping she didn’t notice the bulge in my jeans, although if she did, I wouldn’t care. She knows I’m attracted to her. I just can’t act on it.
“What’s that?” she asks as I return to the kitchen with a holiday bag.
“Your gift.” I hand the bag to her.
“Gift? But I didn’t get you anything.”
“I didn’t expect you to. I got presents when I was home. You didn’t. So I got you one.”
“Theo, you didn’t have to do that.”
“Go ahead and open it.”
She hops up on the counter, a huge smile on her face as she pulls the tissue paper from the top of the bag. She takes out the sweater and her eyes get big. “How did you know?”
“Know what?”
“This sweater.” She looks at me. “It’s the one I wanted. I didn’t get it because I didn’t want to spend the money. How’d you know I wanted it? Did Avery tell you?”
“No, I just picked it out. It looked like something you’d like.”
“I love it!” she says, holding it up. She sets it down on the counter. “Come here.”
I walk up to her. “Yeah?”
“Thank you.” She hugs me, still sitting on the counter.
I’m trying to keep my distance, but she pulls herself closer. I feel her tits pressing into my chest, her soft hair against my face, and get a whiff of her perfume.
It’s so damn tempting. We’re alone together. She looks fucking amazing. And she’s not letting me go. What does that mean? That she wants to do what I’m thinking?
I pull back slightly and lift my hand to the side of her face. Our eyes meet for just a moment, but it’s long enough to wipe away any doubts. I lean down and kiss her, my tongue slipping past her lips. She tightens her arms around my neck and wraps her legs around me. Shit, this is really happening. It’s what I wanted, but it’s a bad idea. A really bad idea. But it feels too damn good to stop.
I reach under her and grab her ass, lifting her off the counter.
“Theo,” she says, breathing hard. “We can’t.”
“Can’t what?” I ask, but I know what she’s about to say.
“We can’t do this.”
I set her back on the counter.
“Can we?” she asks, sounding desperate.
“We can do whatever we want.”
“I know, but we shouldn’t.” She bites her lip. “Right?”
“You can’t be asking me that.” I point to my cock pressing against my jeans. “Not with this happening. All I can think about is how much I want you right now.”
“I want that too, but… we can’t.” She hops off the counter and takes a few steps away from me. “If we did this, we’d want to keep doing it, and then we’d kind of be dating. And then what? What if we broke up? I’d have nowhere to live.”
“Then we won’t break up.”
“What are you saying?” She walks up to me. “That you think we should date?”
“Fuck, I don’t know.” I rub my face. “What do you want, Darcy? Just tell me.”
“I don’t want to lose your friendship. You’ve become one of my best friends and I don’t want to mess that up.”
“I don’t either.”
“So what do we do?”
I walk over to the couch and sit down.
“Theo, what are you doing? Why’d you walk away?”
“Because I can’t think straight when I’m close to you… after what almost happened.”
“Are you saying you can’t live with me anymore?”
