A sick feeling socks me right in the stomach…I hate the thought of him sleeping with someone.
There goes my inconvenient crush rearing its ugly head. As much as I don’t like it, I don’t have any right to feel this way. Blake can hook up with whoever he wants. And I feel like a terrible friend for cockblocking him by sleeping in his bed.
That’s why I’m determined to find a place to live today. Blake has already done so much for me. I need to stop taking advantage of his kindness and move on.
I should also probably stop being so physically affectionate with him, especially when we’re out in public. That probably turns women off from approaching him because they must assume we’re a couple.
I grab my phone from my pocket and pull up the apartment we’re on our way to look at.
“Where’s the next place?” Blake asks.
“The next street over, just a few blocks away.” I let out a heavy sigh. “I didn’t think it would be this hard to find somewhere to live. I still can’t get over the smell of that first apartment.”
I make a grossed-out face. Blake laughs, then gently nudges me with his elbow.
“Oh, come on. You don’t like the smell of burnt grease and rotten eggs?” he jokes.
I gag. “I don’t know why I thought looking at an apartment above a diner was a good idea. I was swayed by the cheap rent.”
We reach the next place, which is a small brick house with a nice lawn.
“This is cute,” I say as we walk up the porch.
“Yeah, this is definitely the best house on this whole block,” Blake says. “A Hollis U student lives here?”
I shake my head. “No, she graduated a few years ago and is renting out her spare bedroom and bathroom.”
I knock on the door, and a few seconds later, a guy in his late twenties with short, brown hair answers.
“Hi, is Taylor here? I’m supposed to look at her spare room,” I ask.
He sticks out his hand. “I’m Taylor. You must be Briar.”
“Oh, sorry. I thought you were a woman.” I laugh as I shake his hand, a little embarrassed. But he just grins.
“No worries. I get that a lot,” he says before glancing at Blake.
“This is Blake. He’s helping me look at places today.”
They shake hands, and Taylor lets us in.
“Always good to have a second opinion with you when you look at a place,” Taylor says.
He steps aside and gestures to the living room, which feeds into a modest-sized kitchen and a small dining area. “It’s an open-concept space. Not huge, but it’s plenty big for two people, I think.”
“Yeah, it’s nice,” I say. “And you get a lot of light from the windows and the sliding glass door.” I walk over to it and glance out at the yard.
Taylor opens the door for me.
“Oh, cute! I love your flower beds,” I say as I walk into the small yard.
“Thanks. My friend who’s a florist helped me plant them.”
We walk back inside, and he shows me around the kitchen, then I follow him down the hallway.
“This is the bathroom,” he says, flipping on the light. “The shower in my master bathroom is bigger though, so you’re welcome to use that whenever you want.”
“That’s nice of you,” I say.
