Daddies Brat

Riley

Harper and I hid out in his room while Avery helped Lauren and her dad move in.

No, not Lauren, I had to remind myself. Leslie.This belongs to NôvelDrama.Org.

At least that explained why I couldn’t find her in the student directory.

“She is the girl from last night?” Harper hissed at me.

“Crazy, right?”

He let out an annoyed sound while pacing in his room. Unlike my bedroom or Avery’s, Harper’s room didn’t have posters of women on the walls. There was a framed Radiohead album cover on one wall, and another poster with a photo of Carl Sagan and a quote about the universe. As he paced, Harper reminded me of a scientist himself, stumped by a dataset that didn’t make sense.

“You said you wouldn’t do this,” he finally told me. “You said you wouldn’t try to replicate what we all had with Jess.”

I gave a start. “Jess? This isn’t… Harper, come on. What we had with

Jess was a once in a lifetime kind of thing. We can’t reproduce that.”

“And yet here is our new roommate, and you two almost hooked up.”

“I didn’t plan this!” I replied angrily. “She had a fake ID. I thought she was Lauren. If she had told me her real name, the first thing I would’ve done was ask: hey, by any chance are you moving into a house on Parker Street tomorrow? Because if so, I’m your new roommate and we probably shouldn’t make out.” I shook my head. “Come on, Harper. You know me better than that.”

He continued pacing, but I could feel the anger leaving his body. Like a spring slowly uncoiling, his movements began to relax.

“What do we do now?” he asked.

“I’ll talk to Laur-Leslie,” I corrected myself. “We’ll figure something out.”

“And if you can’t,” Harper warned, “then we can’t sublet to her. We’ll need to find someone else.”

We heard Leslie’s dad say his goodbyes to Erin and Avery, and then Harper and I emerged from our bedroom seclusion. I watched from the window as he got into his pickup truck and drove away.

Leslie walked back into the house like a prisoner on the way to death row. None of us said anything as she strode inside, checked her phone, and then finally looked up at me. “Can I talk to you? Alone?” “Sure,” I replied.

“I’ll catch up with you later, sweetie,” Erin told Leslie. “Call me if you need anything.” She gave the three of us a sweeping look as if this was all our fault.

“Bye, baby,” Avery said from the doorway while she walked away. “Dinner tomorrow night? I want to take you somewhere special for our oneday anniversary.”

“Fuck you,” Erin said, but she was laughing as she got into her car. Avery grinned from ear to ear.

Leslie cleared her throat at me, so I followed her upstairs. It took all of my willpower not to look at her ass; it was plump in her jeans, and at eyelevel as we climbed the stairs. I deserved a medal for chivalry.

As we went into her room and she closed the door, I wondered what she would say. I thought I could keep things casual. The two of us could go out, and not allow it to affect our status as roommates. Harper would understand once he saw the sizzling chemistry between us.

“I like what you’ve done with the place,” I said as I looked around.

“We can’t do this.”

“Do what?” I asked.

She raised a blonde eyebrow. “Don’t play dumb. We can’t continue what we started last night.”

I gave her a lighthearted smirk. “Really? Because continuing what we started is all I’ve been able to think about.”

For a split second, something sparkled in her green eyes. Something mischievous. Then she blinked, and it was gone.

“Right now, I need a place to live more than I need eight inches of dick.”

“Okay,” I replied slowly. I didn’t know whether to laugh, or get upset. “I don’t see how the two things are related.”

“Then you’re not as smart as I thought you were,” she replied, which did sting. She put her hands on her hips and continued. “From this moment on, we’re just roommates. I don’t want to get hit on, or flirted with, or anything else. I need to focus on my studies this year, and I can’t do that if we have a bunch of sexual tension between us. Do you understand?”

“Sure,” I said dryly. “I understand, even though I’m not as smart as you thought I was.”

“Good.” She continued staring at me, so I stared right back. “What happened last night, Riley?”

“You’re a lot less angry now than you were an hour ago.”

“I’ve had time to cool off. Answer the question.”

I thought about telling her the truth. She had a fake ID, too, so it wouldn’t be weird. But something kept me from admitting it. She thought I was cool and sexy and assertive. Admitting I had a fake ID felt lame. And if I told her what happened, she would feel guilty that I helped her get away and got busted for it.

It doesn’t matter what I tell her, I thought. She just said we’re only roommates from this point forward.

When I thought of her as a roommate, just like Harper or Avery, I realized what I needed to do. Protect her so she wouldn’t feel guilty.

“After the cops broke up the party, I went looking for Avery,” I said. “I wanted to make sure he was okay. He had one too many Jell-O shots, so I brought him home.”

Annoyance and disbelief spread across Leslie’s face like a TV channel being switched. She knew I was lying.

“Whatever.”

“Last night was fun,” I said. “Sorry you ended up being my roommate.”

“Me, too.”

We stood in her room, neither of us sure what to do next. The silence stretched.

Finally, Leslie did the last thing I expected: she stepped forward and gave me a quick peck on the cheek.

“What was that for?” I asked.

“For saving me last night. Even if you did ditch me afterward.”

I touched my cheek. It was the kind of kiss a girl gave a friend. Or her brother.

And it was totally, completely unacceptable.

“We can do better than that,” I said, sweeping her into my arms and pinning her to the wall. I crushed my lips against hers, kissing Leslie with my entire body. My body came alive at having her in my arms again, and she surged up into the kiss with desire. I felt her barriers coming down; she was surrendering to me. She was admitting that last night wasn’t a mistake, even if she was unhappy that I lied to her.

And when I pulled away, her eyes gazed up at me expectantly. Begging for more.

“From this moment forward, we’re just friends,” I said. “Talk to you later, roomie.”

She stood there panting as I left her room.