Page 27 of Oblivious Roommate

He’s at my side, and the warmth of him takes the edge off my fear, though I barely keep in a shriek when the cougar leaps over the creek, following us.

“Not likely. It’s alone, and we’re two big dudes. It’s gonna be fine,” he says, and his fingers grasp mine as we move in unison, with him doing the course correcting while I stare at the predator who, despite Cass’s reassuring words, keeps trailing us.

“What do we do if it does attack? Play dead?” I utter, holding one arm up to make myself seem bigger and squeezing Cass’s hand so tightly I’m afraid I might break his fingers.

“No, we fight it. We’ll use your jacket for protection, because it’s so thick, and I’ll hit it with the stick, and we’ll go for the eyes first,” he babbles, but there’s a raspy edge to his voice as he squeezes back. “You and me against this one beast? It can’t not work.”

He makes me believe it despite the mountain lion baring its teeth for a split second. Is it hungry? Desperate? Hopefully not enough, because in this moment I realize that if it attacked, I’d step right in front of Cass, to protect him from those sharp claws.

Our slow, backward trek is endless. Every second feels like an hour, and my nerves are in tatters, but Cass’s strong grip anchors me. He’s the only thing keeping me from turning around and running. My logic knows I wouldn’t stand a chance in such a chase, but my instincts beg me to go as far and as fast as I can manage.

By the time we reach the parking lot, I’m drenched in sweat, and while I love Cass’s old Jeep, I want to curse it for not having an electronic key. We can no longer see the cougar, and I expect it to come at us out of nowhere, but at last, my hip touches the cold step of the vehicle. In goes the key, and several excruciating seconds later, we lock ourselves in, so overcome with shock that for a moment neither of us says anything.

I pant like an animal and seek his hand again even though we’re out of immediate danger. “Can I still hold your hand for a bit?” I ask, despite my embarrassment. I’m no coward, but this has to be as close to death as I have ever come in my life.

“Yes, thank you,” he responds and squeezes his sweaty hand around mine. “Fucking hell. It’s a miracle we were so close to the parking lot!”

It takes time for my breathing to slow down, but then I let out a laugh fueled by adrenaline. “My mom would kill me if I died like this.”

“I would have killed myself if you died because I felt like going on a hike with you,” Cass mumbles and rubs his face with his free hand. He’s so tense I want to give him a massage.

Is that a gay thought?

I’ve got no idea.

I chuckle. “Oh, Cass… You held your shit together. I didn’t even know if I should run or play dead.”

His eyes open as he rolls his head over the backrest and looks at me. Fuck, stubble is so hot on him, and after being in what felt like grave danger, I feel the attraction even more strongly, as if my body is telling me that I might miss out if I don’t mate right about now.

“What a clash with mortality, right?” he asks.

I nod and relax my grip on his hand without letting go. “Any new items on your bucket list?”

He nods, smiling. “I don’t know how, but I am gonna find the troll.”

I don’t know why I was hoping for him to say he wants to kiss me.

Chapter 10

This is fine.

Nothing weird about hanging up flyers with the photo of the costume I wore for Halloween and the headline, Is this you? Did you kiss me at Halloween? Call me if you did <3

Not at all. Perfectly fine.

Cass already posted the content of the poster on social media. Anonymously, but with his number. And the weirdest single thing about it all is that his boyfriend of seven months is perfectly cool with the search. He not only gave Cass his blessing but even joked that the troll better keep the mask on while he and Cass fuck, because he wouldn’t have covered his face if he wasn’t ugly.

Yet more proof that Logan knows nothing.

Oh well, at least making the flyers together was a fun activity. We even used a whiteboard to brainstorm design ideas.

In the past few days, I was struggling between keeping things as they were and actually wanting to look attractive. I couldn’t dress up at home for no reason, because that would be weird, but I didn’t want to wear the shirt with the hole anymore either.

Slob Catch-22.

So one day I made a big deal of accidentally-on-purpose pouring bleach on it, and then being all oh-well-now-I-have-to-throw-it-away.

In hindsight, I doubt Cass would have noticed if I stopped wearing it, but when I plan something, I follow through.