My Favorite Mistake(2)

“Hey, man. No, I just got here. Room 203. Yeah, that would be great...” He nudged the door shut, and I glanced at Renee and Darah.

“I didn't think we were going to have to do this so early, but I think we need a roommate meeting,” I said. We'd agreed that we would have weekly roommate meetings to air our grievances. I was all for getting that shit out in the open so we didn't end up hating each other. I'd had a horrible roommate last year and I didn't want to deal with that again.

I listened, but it sounded like Hunter was still on the phone. I could hear him rummaging and prayed he wouldn't break anything. Then I would kill him.

“I don't see what the big deal is,” Renee said. “I mean, it would be the same if one of us had a boyfriend staying over. Paul stayed over all the time when Darah and I lived here last year.”

“But that was because you were sleeping with him,” I said.

“Maybe I'll sleep with Hunter,” she shot back. Renee had broken up with Paul extremely recently and was on the prowl for a rebound. We all knew she and Paul were meant to be and that they would eventually realize that, but Renee was still in the anger stage.

“Are you uncomfortable with staying with him, Taylor? It's okay if you are,” Darah said.

“I can't imagine why I would be uncomfortable about sharing an extremely small room with a guy I've known all of a half-hour who keeps making creepy comments. Can't imagine why I'd have a problem with that.”

“If you want, Renee and I can switch. I'll stay with him, and Renee can stay with you,” Darah said.

“Why can't he stay with me?” Renee whined.

“Because you'll rape him in his sleep,” I said.

“You can't rape the willing, Tay,” she said, winking.

“You're disgusting.”

“How about we draw straws?” Darah said.

“Do we even have straws?” Renee said. “How about we do numbers or something? Here,” she said, grabbing a UMaine notepad that someone had left on the kitchen counter, along with a pen. “I'll write our names down and we'll put it in...” She grabbed my baseball cap I'd discarded earlier. “And Hunter will pick. There you go. Problem solved.”

My door opened and Hunter emerged, another grin on his face.

“You weren't talking about me, were you?”

Like he didn't know. I rolled my eyes as Renee wrote each of our names on little bits of paper and tossed them in my hat. She put her hand over the top and shook it up.

“Pick one,” she said, shoving the hat in his face.

“Okay,” he said, sticking his hand in and pulling out a folded slip of paper. Renee slowly unfolded it. We all waited as she paused dramatically.

“Taylor,” she said, turning it around so we could all read my name in black and white.

“Shit,” I said.





Two





“What's with all the peacock stuff?”

It was an hour later, and I was just as stuck with Hunter as I was when he’d walked in the door. I'd even gone down to housing, which was right down the hill from our dorm, but no one was there. Too busy making sure the freshmen didn't collapse under the weight of their massive electronics when they carried them down the hall, no doubt.

I was doing my best to ignore Hunter, but he wouldn't shut up. Clearly, he was one of those guys who liked to chat.

“Don't you know peacock feathers are bad luck?” Out of the corner of my eye, his bicep with the seven tattoo flexed as he pulled a couple of shirts out of his footlocker.

Yes, I did know they were bad luck for most people. It was none of his business why I had them everywhere, including on my comforter, hung in frames on the wall and strung on a dream catcher my sister had given me. It was none of his goddamn business.

I wished Tawny was here. My sister would have known exactly what to say to Hunter to get him to leave. She couldn't get out of her work as a paralegal, and Mom couldn't get off work either. I guess they figured since I was a sophomore, moving wasn't such a big deal. Still, I missed Tawny.

“You pissed at me, Missy?”

The nickname was the last straw. I whirled around and glared at him. “Look, I don't know you, you don't know me. As soon as humanly possible, I'm getting you out of here, got it? I'm not your baby. I'm not one of those girls you can smile at and crawl into bed with. Got it? Stay the fuck away from me.”

Those blue eyes seared into me. He was the kind of guy who could see things that other people couldn't — things that I spent my entire life covering up and hiding from the masses. I'd only met a few people who could see past my carefully cultivated facade. I'd dropped most of them like a bad habit, with the exception of one. I'd have to squash this ASAP before he decided he might want to see what the world had done to piss me off so much.

“It's kinda hard to stay away from you when we're living in the same place,” he said.

“I. Know. That,” I said through gritted teeth.

He held up his hands. “Don't be mad at me; fate picked your name.”

“I don't believe in fate.”

He laughed. “Me neither. I just believe in luck.” He pointed to the seven on his arm. “Never can be too careful.”

“I don't believe in luck either.”

“Clearly.”

We were interrupted by a booming voice. Hunter stepped over the chaos that still covered the floor and poked his head out the door.

“Mase, man, what took you so long? You get lost?”

A male voice answered, “Naw, I just got held up. This your place?” Sure, just come on in everyone.

“No, I just walked into a random room and started putting my shit in it. Yes, this is my place.”

He walked into the living room, and I followed. Darah and Renee emerged from their room. I'd heard lots of banging and yelling, so they'd probably been hanging Darah's picture frames to her exacting specifications.

Standing in our doorway was a guy who looked like he could have been Hunter's brother. His hair was a little lighter, his build a little stockier and his eyes a little darker, but there was no mistaking the resemblance.

“And who are these lovely ladies?” the new guy said.

“This is Taylor, Darah and Renee, my roommates,” Hunter answered, gesturing to us each in turn.

“Dude, are you serious? How the hell do you get so lucky all the time?”

“Born under the right star,” Hunter said. “This is my cousin, Mase.”

“Nice to meet you, Mase,” Renee said, diving forward to shake his hand. Mase took it and shook her hand, looking a little dazed. “I'm Renee.”

“Nice to meet you, Renee. I'm guessing you must be Darah,” he said, pointing to Darah, who waved, “and you must be Taylor. I've heard so much about you.” How could he? I glared at Hunter who made an innocent face. “That was so nice of you to take in my poor, unfortunate cousin in his time of need. I thought he was going to be able to crash on my couch, but one of my roommates gave it to another guy who was willing to pay to stay, and I was overruled. Sorry, man.”

“It's okay,” Hunter said.

For the first time since I met him, I could see something other than a cocky douche. Someone real. But that person was gone behind a cocky face before I could study him closer.

“I can see that. Do you need any help?”

“I think I'm good,” Hunter said.

Renee piped right up. “I could use some muscle. My bed's a little askew, and I can't seem to get in the right spot. Want to give me a hand?” She twisted from side to side, as if she was showing him what could be his if he complied. Jesus, she was so obvious.

“Sure, no problem.”

With that, we let another strange guy into our apartment. I turned my back and returned to my room, hoping no one else was going to pop in. Hunter followed me.

“Are you hungry? I was thinking of getting some Pat's. Their delivery guys are probably swamped, so I could go get it. My treat,” he said as he grabbed some more shirts to put in his dresser.

Was he trying to be nice to me? Did he feel sorry for me? I stared at him, trying to figure him out.

“Do you like pepperoni?” His voice had lost that cocky edge. It was softer, and... No. He was the same. He was still trying to play me. I knew how those guys were. They were only nice until they got what they wanted, and if they didn’t get what they wanted, they took it.

“I'm a vegetarian,” I said and went to the bathroom, just so I could get away from him.

As I passed Darah and Renee's room, I heard Mase saying something that made them both laugh. Great. Just great. I shut the door of the tiny bathroom and braced myself on the sink. I was losing control. I looked at myself in the mirror. The horrible lighting didn't do much for my complexion, but it really didn't do much for anyone. I splashed some water on my face and then hopped up on the sink, setting my back against the mirror. In a matter of a few minutes, my sophomore year had turned completely upside down.

What was I going to do? This strange guy had just invaded my life. Not only my life, but my space. Our bedroom was smaller than a double-sized dorm room. We'd be stepping over each other all the time. He'd see me when I woke up in the morning. He’d be the last voice I heard when I went to bed. I was going to see that damn tattoo and that smile all the time.

Hunter Zaccadelli would be the last thing I saw when I went to bed and the first thing I'd see when I woke up. That was not going to fly.