“How about we draw straws?” Darah said.
“Do we even have straws?” Renee said. “How about we do numbers or something? Here,” she said, grabbing a UMaine notepad that someone had left on the kitchen counter, along with a pen. “I'll write our names down and we'll put it in...” She grabbed my baseball cap I'd discarded earlier. “And Hunter will pick. There you go. Problem solved.”
My door opened and Hunter emerged, another grin on his face.
“You weren't talking about me, were you?”
Like he didn't know. I rolled my eyes as Renee wrote each of our names on little bits of paper and tossed them in my hat. She put her hand over the top and shook it up.
“Pick one,” she said, shoving the hat in his face.
“Okay,” he said, sticking his hand in and pulling out a folded slip of paper. Renee slowly unfolded it. We all waited as she paused dramatically.
“Taylor,” she said, turning it around so we could all read my name in black and white.
“Shit,” I said.
Two
“What's with all the peacock stuff?”
It was an hour later, and I was just as stuck with Hunter as I was when he’d walked in the door. I'd even gone down to housing, which was right down the hill from our dorm, but no one was there. Too busy making sure the freshmen didn't collapse under the weight of their massive electronics when they carried them down the hall, no doubt.
I was doing my best to ignore Hunter, but he wouldn't shut up. Clearly, he was one of those guys who liked to chat.
“Don't you know peacock feathers are bad luck?” Out of the corner of my eye, his bicep with the seven tattoo flexed as he pulled a couple of shirts out of his footlocker.
Yes, I did know they were bad luck for most people. It was none of his business why I had them everywhere, including on my comforter, hung in frames on the wall and strung on a dream catcher my sister had given me. It was none of his goddamn business.
I wished Tawny was here. My sister would have known exactly what to say to Hunter to get him to leave. She couldn't get out of her work as a paralegal, and Mom couldn't get off work either. I guess they figured since I was a sophomore, moving wasn't such a big deal. Still, I missed Tawny.
“You pissed at me, Missy?”
The nickname was the last straw. I whirled around and glared at him. “Look, I don't know you, you don't know me. As soon as humanly possible, I'm getting you out of here, got it? I'm not your baby. I'm not one of those girls you can smile at and crawl into bed with. Got it? Stay the f**k away from me.”
Those blue eyes seared into me. He was the kind of guy who could see things that other people couldn't — things that I spent my entire life covering up and hiding from the masses. I'd only met a few people who could see past my carefully cultivated facade. I'd dropped most of them like a bad habit, with the exception of one. I'd have to squash this ASAP before he decided he might want to see what the world had done to piss me off so much.
“It's kinda hard to stay away from you when we're living in the same place,” he said.
“I. Know. That,” I said through gritted teeth.
He held up his hands. “Don't be mad at me; fate picked your name.”
“I don't believe in fate.”
He laughed. “Me neither. I just believe in luck.” He pointed to the seven on his arm. “Never can be too careful.”
“I don't believe in luck either.”
“Clearly.”
We were interrupted by a booming voice. Hunter stepped over the chaos that still covered the floor and poked his head out the door.
“Mase, man, what took you so long? You get lost?”
A male voice answered, “Naw, I just got held up. This your place?” Sure, just come on in everyone.
“No, I just walked into a random room and started putting my shit in it. Yes, this is my place.”
He walked into the living room, and I followed. Darah and Renee emerged from their room. I'd heard lots of banging and yelling, so they'd probably been hanging Darah's picture frames to her exacting specifications.
Standing in our doorway was a guy who looked like he could have been Hunter's brother. His hair was a little lighter, his build a little stockier and his eyes a little darker, but there was no mistaking the resemblance.
“And who are these lovely ladies?” the new guy said.
“This is Taylor, Darah and Renee, my roommates,” Hunter answered, gesturing to us each in turn.
“Dude, are you serious? How the hell do you get so lucky all the time?”
“Born under the right star,” Hunter said. “This is my cousin, Mase.”
“Nice to meet you, Mase,” Renee said, diving forward to shake his hand. Mase took it and shook her hand, looking a little dazed. “I'm Renee.”
“Nice to meet you, Renee. I'm guessing you must be Darah,” he said, pointing to Darah, who waved, “and you must be Taylor. I've heard so much about you.” How could he? I glared at Hunter who made an innocent face. “That was so nice of you to take in my poor, unfortunate cousin in his time of need. I thought he was going to be able to crash on my couch, but one of my roommates gave it to another guy who was willing to pay to stay, and I was overruled. Sorry, man.”
“It's okay,” Hunter said.
For the first time since I met him, I could see something other than a cocky douche. Someone real. But that person was gone behind a cocky face before I could study him closer.
“I can see that. Do you need any help?”
“I think I'm good,” Hunter said.
Renee piped right up. “I could use some muscle. My bed's a little askew, and I can't seem to get in the right spot. Want to give me a hand?” She twisted from side to side, as if she was showing him what could be his if he complied. Jesus, she was so obvious.
“Sure, no problem.”
With that, we let another strange guy into our apartment. I turned my back and returned to my room, hoping no one else was going to pop in. Hunter followed me.
“Are you hungry? I was thinking of getting some Pat's. Their delivery guys are probably swamped, so I could go get it. My treat,” he said as he grabbed some more shirts to put in his dresser.
Was he trying to be nice to me? Did he feel sorry for me? I stared at him, trying to figure him out.
“Do you like pepperoni?” His voice had lost that cocky edge. It was softer, and... No. He was the same. He was still trying to play me. I knew how those guys were. They were only nice until they got what they wanted, and if they didn’t get what they wanted, they took it.
“I'm a vegetarian,” I said and went to the bathroom, just so I could get away from him.
As I passed Darah and Renee's room, I heard Mase saying something that made them both laugh. Great. Just great. I shut the door of the tiny bathroom and braced myself on the sink. I was losing control. I looked at myself in the mirror. The horrible lighting didn't do much for my complexion, but it really didn't do much for anyone. I splashed some water on my face and then hopped up on the sink, setting my back against the mirror. In a matter of a few minutes, my sophomore year had turned completely upside down.
What was I going to do? This strange guy had just invaded my life. Not only my life, but my space. Our bedroom was smaller than a double-sized dorm room. We'd be stepping over each other all the time. He'd see me when I woke up in the morning. He’d be the last voice I heard when I went to bed. I was going to see that damn tattoo and that smile all the time.
Hunter Zaccadelli would be the last thing I saw when I went to bed and the first thing I'd see when I woke up. That was not going to fly.
A knock at the door made me jump, and I banged the back of my head against the mirror.
“You okay in there?” It was Hunter.
“Jesus Christ, can't you leave me alone?” I got down off the sink and yanked the door open.
“I'll make you a deal, Missy.”
“Why would I want to make a deal with you?”
He smirked, as if he was waiting for me to say that.
“Just hear me out. If you can prove to me that you hate me, absolutely hate me, then I'll leave. Find a couch to crash on.”
I snorted. “That should be easy; you can go pack your stuff now.”
“You haven't heard the rest of the deal. If you can prove to me that you love me, absolutely love me, I'll leave.” For the first time his face was serious.
“Are you f**king kidding me? I would never, ever love a guy like you.” I would never, ever love anyone, but that was beside the point.
“Prove it. If you can prove either of those things by the end of the semester, I'll go.”
“You're going to be out on your ass before then.”
His smile was easy. He was playing with me.
“Maybe, maybe not. But you look like the kind of girl who likes a challenge.”
The small bathroom space contracted around me, the walls pushing us closer. He took a step toward me, and then another. I backed up until my legs hit the toilet.
“Prove it to me. Show me you hate me.” His voice was soft, and his eyes were demanding. My breathing became desperate, and my vision narrowed to those blue eyes. Something snapped and my fight instinct took over.
Before he could move closer, I pulled back and slammed my fist into his jaw and my knee into his groin. He doubled over, clutching his face and his balls.
“I f**king hate you. Never corner me again, you son of a bitch.” In his compromised position, I was able to shove around him and get the door open to find three stunned faces.
“What did you do to him?” Renee said.
“Nothing,” I said, pushing past them and running down the hall, down the stairs and out of the building. My lungs heaved as if I'd been running for miles in gym and had just been allowed to rest. I put my hands on my knees and gasped, feeling like my lungs would never be full again.
People gave me strange looks as they unloaded lampshades and pillows and under-bed boxes from their cars. I ignored them and started walking down the sidewalk toward the parking lot. I pulled out my phone and hit Tawny's number, hoping she was on her lunch break.
“Hey, Kid, how's the moving going?” Tawny's voice brought instant calm, as did her use of my nickname. Everyone in my family had always called me Kid.
“You would not believe the day I've had.”
“Tell me,” she said without hesitation.
I proceeded to give my version of the day's events, including punching Hunter. I had to hold the phone with my left hand because my right had started to swell from its encounter with Hunter’s jaw. I was going to need some ice soon.
I was surprised no one chased after me, but Darah and Renee knew about my freak outs. They knew to leave me alone and give me my space. It hadn't been the first time they'd seen me like this. I tried to keep most of it under control, but Hunter had pushed my buttons. No one ever cornered me in a tiny space and got away unscathed.
“Aw, Kid, why did you do that?”
“He cornered me, what was I supposed to do?” My hand was red and starting to turn a lovely purple shade.
“You could have told him to back off. That would have been the logical thing to do.”
“You know I'm not a logical person.”