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If I thought not seeing him for a year would ease the ache he caused, I was dead wrong. My memory of him had faded, and when faced with the real deal, I was overwhelmed by his vibrancy. He was bigger, brighter, more potent than I’d remembered. My fingers itched to touch him, to be wrapped in one of his huge bear hugs he used to give freely. No one hugged me like he did.
He squeezed a little tighter, a little longer, a little closer.
I always felt like nothing could touch me when he wrapped me up like that.
For a few seconds, I would’ve sworn he was happy to see me, but I paid for that when his eyes shuttered, and he put his walls back up. Apparently, I’d developed masochistic tendencies because I knew he would send shards of pain through me, and I got close to him anyway.
Old habits die hard. I’d been madly in love with him since I crashed my bike, hurdled over the handlebars, and my face skidded across the pavement. I still had the scar on my cheek. Lucas had picked me up and held me against him as I let out giant heaving sobs, murmuring, random stuff, whatever he could think of to cheer me up, and that was it. My seven-year-old heart clung to him and never wanted to let go. But that was then, and now I knew freaking better.
Muttering to myself in the dorm parking lot, I yanked on my suitcase. It was lodged in the back seat of my Mazda, and I stumbled back after it finally released. Frustration ran through me; I was an idiot to deny I was holding out hope he’d somehow revert back to the guy I grew up with. The one who’d explored the pond down the road, climbed giant sycamore trees, and calmed me down in the middle of the night. Lucas may have been Marcus’s friend, but whether he’d like to admit it or not, he was one of my best friends too.
This last year had been hard. I’d needed him more than once. What none of the boys knew was when Marcus died, everything went to shit for my family. Dad fell into depression, made some horrible stock decisions, and managed to lose his job in less than six months. On that note, what kind of dick fired a guy who’d just lost a kid… My jaw clenched just thinking about it.
Thank God the school let me delay my scholarship for a year. I busted my ass off for a local landscaping company in order to save enough money for my general expenses. Countless days of shoveling, hauling dirt, and dump runs took a toll, but it paid well, so I sucked it up, no matter how exhausted I became.
I dragged my suitcase toward the Righthouse dorm. It was easily identifiable by the giant golden plaque next to the entryway. Student housing was set up in two large co-ed dormitories. They were angled perpendicularly, making them look like a giant L from ground level. The school had caught up with technology over the last few years, and instead of having to come in for orientation, I was able to do it all online. They’d mailed me my room key, making the entire process seamless. I was able to download the school map in a few easy clicks, and here we were.
This would be home sweet home for the next four years. None of the mingling students looked my way as I dragged my suitcase and overstuffed backpack into the elevator, doing my best not to grunt with the effort. Should I have let the guys help me move in? Probably, but a sad little part of me was worried about what I would do if Lucas offered…or if he didn’t.
“Nothing quite like unrequited love to kick off your university experience,” I grumbled under my breath.
I managed to get here a week early with intentions of settling in before my roommate arrived. Well…that was before I received a text from her today.
Roommate: Piper!!! I’m sooo excited to meet you!!! I’ve already moved in see you soon!!
Her text had dropped like a stone in my stomach. I needed time to prep for the year, to ease myself in, and from that one message alone, I could tell she was going to overwhelm me with her personality.
I was the shy sibling. Marcus was the loud, energetic, lovable one. I was more of a watch-from-the-sidelines girl. It had earned me Lucas’s annoying nickname,Killer, meant in the most ironic way possible.
When he’d call me Killer back then, it felt like an endearment. Like he was secretly whispering something sweet without the guys knowing. The way he practically hissed it out now made me think I had been a delusional teenager, reading into things I wanted to be there. That I was really the annoying sister that they all just wanted to leave them alone.
He’d barely acknowledged me this past year. I swear to God he was afraid to be in the same room as me…Yeah, who’s the one hiding now?
I took a deep breath when the elevator doors opened to my floor. I had stalled at the boys’ house long enough; it was time to muscle up and meet my roomie. The hall was lined with doors on both sides. The carpet was clean, but the walls looked like they could use a few coats of fresh paint. The room numbers went up with each door I passed, and my steps slowed to a stop when I reached mine. Number twenty-five.
Taking a deep breath, I dug my key card from my pocket, but the door swung open before I could swipe it. A petite girl with bright green hair and freckles grinned back at me. Green was a hard color to pull off, but it suited her. I held out my hand in my best attempt to start off on the right foot. “Misty, right?”
She beamed up at me, “Hi! O.M.G., you’re so pretty!” Her voice was high—I could practically hear the exclamation points.
“Thanks. I love your hair.” I led with a compliment. It was the truth though. Her hair was fun and vibrant and matched her bubbly demeanor perfectly.
She stepped back, letting me into the room, and my eyes must’ve been round like an owl as I tried to take it all in. The walls were covered with pictures of the school’s hockey team.
Looking back at her, she wore a Huskies jersey. Jesus… She was a superfan.
I swallowed hard when I saw my guys’ faces, hearts scribbled around their headshots. She even had some from before they’d started playing here last year.
Misty smiled, catching me staring at the hearts around Lucas’s head. “Hot, right?” She pointed to Jax and Lucas’s AAA team pics. “I know, I know, I kind of took over your side of the room. I hope that’s okay. I just have all these pictures, and I really wanted to put them up so it could feel like home. You know? Plus, I’m literally the team’s number one fan.” She kept rambling on, but stage four alarm bells were going off in my headALERT, ALERT, ALERT, PLEASE EVACUATE THE PREMISES.
What the hell had I gotten myself into?
I knew the school took hockey seriously, but I wasn’t sure I could handle all ofthis.Still staring around the room, I tried to soothe her nerves. “Yeah, no problem. I like them too.”
That earned me a beaming smile. If we were going to live together, I would just have to look past her little bit of quirky. Everyone had something; she just wore hers on the outside.
One thing was for certain: she couldn’t know that I was friends with the guys. She’d lose her freaking mind.
Luckily, she didn’t hover around me, instead dropping on her bed with her laptop and headphones. I made quick work of putting my clothes away in the small four-drawer standing dresser and threw my sheets and comforter on the bed. It wasn’t home, but the mattress wasn’t half-bad when I collapsed back against it.
