Echoes of Us (4 page)

“You have many looks,” Maggie said smugly.

I furrowed my brow and concentrated, trying to flush all the emotions out of my entire body. It only made Maggie laugh harder. I needed to work on my stoic face.

“Okay, fine,” I huffed. “What look?”

“That look you get when you’re thinking nothing is ever going to work out for you again, like you’re never going to be happy, like everything that is wrong in the entire world is your fault.”

“Must be some look,” I said. I snuck a peek into the rearview mirror. My face looked like it always did. I had no idea how Maggie could read my emotions like an open book. “You know I’m not good with change.”

She rubbed my knee. “I know, but I’m still here and not planning on going anywhere. And we’re going back to our own little house, only Jeff won’t be there anymore, and Rylan, you know that’s a good thing.”

Hearing her say all that made me feel a tiny bit calmer. She was right about Jeff. The whole thing had been a fucking disaster when feelings became involved. Not mine, because I didn’t do feelings anymore. Okay, maybe feelings had crept into my heart a tiny little bit. But I shooed them away before they turned into something serious.

Jeff got a little upset when I didn’t return the spoken sentiment. What was I supposed to do? Jeff graduated, and I had another year to go. It wasn’t like I was going to tag along with the guy. It was supposed to be a casual thing, but Jeff had to go and say the three most dreaded words in the universe.

“Can I put one of your CDs in?” Maggie asked. She grinned at me and batted her eyelashes, begging me with a long litany of please, please, please.

“I didn’t bring any with.”

“I did.” She waved a CD case in my face.

“Okay fine,” I finally agreed. “But only so you’ll shut up.”

Maggie beamed at me and quickly jammed the CD into the slot before I changed my mind. There weren’t a lot of people I let listen to my music.

“Oh, lighten up and enjoy,” Maggie said as she sang along.

I tried to put the critic in my head to sleep, but I always managed to hear things that made me cringe. “Jeesh, I should have….”

“Shut up, Rylan,” Maggie said. She reached across the car to place her hand over my mouth. I licked her palm and she shouted at me. We spent the next hour singing and arguing. She told me how wonderful my music was, and I pointed out all the mistakes in the recording and some awkward lyrics.

Relief flooded my body when the final track ended and Maggie flipped over to the radio. She leaned her seat back, turned her head, and stared at me with her pretty eyes. Even though I didn’t date the ladies, I knew a beautiful girl when I saw one, and Maggie fit that bill. She had an easy beauty, not the overwhelming type that scared people away. People flocked to her, men and women. She was never arrogant or diva-like.

“We should make a pact.”

“What sort of pact?” I asked.

“We only have one more year of undergrad, and I think we should loosen up a little and have some fun. Time is running out on us. Soon we will have to be adults and get real jobs so we can complain about how much we hate them.”

“What is this fun thing you speak of?”

“Well, for one thing, you should play your music in public?”

“Um, that sounds like it only involves me, and it definitely doesn’t sound like fun at all,” I snorted. “I’d probably die of embarrassment, or people would throw things at me that would hit me in the head. You’d have to take me to the hospital to get stitches, and you know how I feel about going to the doctor. My only option is to say no.”

“Just think about it, okay,” Maggie said. “You’re really very good, and I’ll be your own personal fangirl. Mrs. Morgan would probably join me, so there you go, two fans already.”

“New subject,” I said.

We spent the next few hours speculating about our new roommate again. Maggie offered to text Jeff to ask him a few more questions, but I shook my head. I wasn’t going to get involved with this guy in any way, shape, or form. Which in layman’s terms meant I didn’t give a shit if he had a cute ass, sculpted abs, or nice hair. He could be mean, hairy, and toothless for all I cared. It was all the same. Maggie took up enough room in my life. I didn’t need anyone else.

“Stop it,” she said.

“What now?”

“You’re telling yourself you don’t need anyone but me,” she said.

I pursed my lips and felt my eyebrows knit together. “No… fine. Fuck, how do you do that?”

“I know all your moods, my darling,” she said.

I grunted. “Maybe we should get married. It would make my folks happy.”

She pretended to swoon, fanning her face with her hand and clutching at her chest like she was having a heart attack. “It’s the proposal I’ve been waiting for all my life. Did you practice in front of a mirror, because it was perfect.” She punched my arm. “I love you, but I also want sex in my life.”

“I suppose that would be a problem. Unless I bought you a dildo or some other sex toys.”

“Aren’t you sweet, but I prefer a warm body some of the times,” she said. “We’ll find our happiness. I promise.”

I thought about laughing in her face, because she knew I didn’t believe in a happily ever after. In my world, happiness lasted until the afterglow of orgasm turned into a sticky, sweat-filled moment when what I needed was a shower, not cuddling.

It took a few harsh nips to the inside of my cheek to keep from snickering. If I laughed, I would be subjected to one of her pep talks about love. At that moment, I wanted to wallow in self-pity and be miserable for a few more days. I deserved to be grumpy. It had been a shitty month. To save my sanity, I conjured a lovely fake smile and showed my beautiful white teeth to her. It probably didn’t fool her, but she didn’t sling any happiness clichés in my face, so I was safe for now.

Maggie changed the subject again, talking about her summer schedule and her plan to have more fun. I didn’t remember agreeing to the plan or pact or whatever the hell she called it. It was going to be a long summer.

The road stretched on forever. We switched places so Maggie could drive for a while and I could take a nap. When I woke up, the scenery had started to change from desolate to a few scattered towns dotting the landscape. I got in the driver’s seat again, and slowly the land filled up with more and more houses until finally we were in the city. I felt like I could breathe again. It would be nice to slide back into the anonymity of the big city.

The relaxed feeling didn’t last long when I tried to pull into the driveway of our house. A car stuffed with junk blocked my spot, and I immediately hoped our new roommate was mean, hairy, and toothless.

“I
S
THAT
him?” I asked.

“Probably, I don’t think some random person just parked in our driveway,” Maggie said. She didn’t seem all that concerned.

“How did he know we’d be home early?” I asked.

“I sent him a text before we left this morning,” she said. She jumped out of the car and waved at the vehicle currently occupying my parking space.

“Wait,” I shouted at her, but she was already standing by the other car.

The car door opened, and my brain suddenly short-circuited. It started when I spotted the tips of the guy’s sun-kissed brown hair poking out from beneath a baseball cap.

Damn, this didn’t look good.

He climbed out of the car, smiled brightly, and flashed a full set of white teeth. He definitely wasn’t toothless, and he was as far away from ugly as one guy could possibly get. My final two hopes were that he was a complete prick, or he could be straight as an arrow. Then I wouldn’t have to think about him at all.

I quickly rolled my window down so I could eavesdrop. Maggie introduced herself, and he immediately asked the standard question about Maggie’s name.

“Yes, my name really is Maggie Mae Stewart,” she said. “And yeah, I’m named after the song. My parents are incredibly weird. My brother’s name is Cobain after Kurt Cobain. We just call him Coby.”

Usually, she added an eye roll for good measure, but with this guy she smiled and blushed. He whispered something and Maggie giggled like a smitten schoolgirl. He didn’t seem mean, either. I was doomed.

Maggie waved at me, signaling for me to get out of the car. I was scared to move. Nothing was working correctly, so I ducked down and pretended to search for something under the seat. I was pretty sure I’d actually forgotten how to walk.

When I peeked over the dash, hoping to see nothing but the car, I was treated to the sight of him casually leaning against the car, chatting with Maggie. She looked as starstruck as I felt. The cap he had been wearing had fallen off, exposing messy brown hair streaked with blond strands. Dark sunglasses still hid his eyes, but his pouty lips were in full view.

His T-shirt was low cut and exposed his collarbones and the hollow of his throat. There were two chains hanging around his neck that disappeared under his T-shirt. I wanted to crawl under that shirt and gaze at them.

He had several bracelets on his left arm and a tattoo peeked out from the bottom of the shirtsleeve on his right arm. I felt physically ill as I stared at the low-hanging jeans that covered long, lean legs. My new roommate was beautiful, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

He pushed off the car and pulled himself to his full height. I guessed he was over six feet, because Maggie was around five-eight and he was taller than her. I watched as he wrapped Maggie in his arms and hugged her tightly against his chest. I banged my head on the rearview mirror and swore. The sight of his lightly tanned bicep wrapped around Maggie made me drool with jealousy.

“No,” I said sharply and pounded my hands on the steering wheel. I was not going to develop the hots for this guy. It was best to ignore his beauty and just think of him as a person helping with the rent. I still clung to the idea that he was a complete jerk. But then, why was Maggie giggling with him? She could spot an asshole from a mile away.

A shoe bouncing off the hood of my car startled me. It was Maggie’s not so subtle way of telling me to get my ass out of the car and meet our new roomie. If I put it off any longer, she would come and physically drag me out of the car, which might not be a bad idea because I still wasn’t sure I could walk.

I tried to smooth out my wrinkled shirt but stopped when I remembered I wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I’d been trapped in a car for hours with very little sleep, and no one should expect me to look good. I did run my fingers through my hair for that casual messed up style.

“Hi,” I said weakly as I left the safety of the car. I was pretty sure no one heard me, but I was still trying to get my brain working again.

Maggie saw me and beamed, then bounced across the yard to take my hand. “Oh my God. Oh, oh my God,” Maggie stuttered. She was practically vibrating. “He’s so… well, judge for yourself.”

“Hi,” he said, meeting us halfway. “I’m Jade Marin, your new roommate.”

His raspy, deep voice slithered down my spine, setting my nerves on fire. It was hard to concentrate, but I managed to choke out my name. “Rylan Blake,” I said.

From afar, Jade had been beautiful; up close, he was scorching fucking hot.

Jade held out his hand for me to shake, so what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t snub my new roommate because he was a tiny bit attractive. I steeled myself and shook his hand.

It would have been nice to be able to claim I felt nothing when our palms met, that my stomach didn’t do a nosedive into my shoes, or my skin didn’t feel like it was too tight and much too warm. It would be a big fat lie to say my dick didn’t stir and my imagination stayed in a safe place. Right now, I wanted to rush into the house and lock my bedroom door so I could jack off to thoughts of Jade’s hands on my body. Either that or jump Jade in the front yard, which would get our neighbor, Mrs. Morgan, totally excited.

“You okay?” Jade asked.

“Oh, um, um,” I stammered, as I snatched my hand back and shoved it in my pocket. “Long drive. Family driving me crazy, and now I need to unload the car.”

Jade smiled again and I forgot how to breathe. The walking thing wasn’t working out too well, either. I stumbled back to my car to find my suitcase and crawl inside the bag. Maybe I could live in my car. It was comfortable, and I would be warm enough since it was close to summer. The only problem would be the bathroom, but I could use that whenever Jade wasn’t around.

“You’re not living in your car,” Maggie said.

I grunted. “How do you do that?”

She shrugged and grabbed some stuff out of the trunk. All I could do was load up and follow her into the house, muttering about some sort of divine punishment just because I didn’t believe in love. I would argue until I was blue in the face, because if you’d seen my dating record, love didn’t fucking exist in my life.

I figured I had one more day to be the moody emo guy until Maggie would insist I cheer up or she would peel my skin off. She had such a delightful vocabulary when it came to threatening me.

Jade met me on the steps and grabbed the backpack off my shoulder, then headed straight for my room. He dumped the stuff on my bed and turned around.