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other
people around here to ask.” He gestured around the busy lobby.
    He was right—there were
tons, but none of them had walked into the men’s bathroom and gotten adorably
stuck inside. None of them had her wistful eyes.
    “She was alone. Her parents
are dead,” I added, though I immediately regretted revealing that. Maybe Kate
didn’t want to tell anyone.
    I knew all about wanting to
keep certain things secret. Not that what had happened my freshman year was a secret
to anyone—even the students who hadn’t been here when it happened heard about
it eventually. Maybe I hoped to be able to get to know Kate a little better
before she did.
    “Seriously?” He was pale. “Shit.”
    “Yeah, in some ways I envy
her,” I exhaled. “That’s terrible, right?”
    He shook his head, “Your dad
is a prize-winning dick hole. Why wouldn’t you?”
    It had been my father who
forced me into a settlement, my admission and his money had given me probation
and a clean record. The thing was, I had to say I was guilty of doing what I
had been too much of a chicken to stop.
     Honestly, though, admitting
something I hadn’t done wasn’t the worst part. Feeling like shit for doing
nothing to help Jeanie was.
    “How’d they die?” he asked,
whispering the word.
    “I didn’t ask, but I
actually told her that sometimes I wished my parents were dead.”
    “Dude, do you need me to
teach you how to talk to a girl you think is cute?”
    “How often are you talking
to girls you think are cute?” I decided not to bother denying Kate was. That
would be a lie.
    “I had to pretend I was
straight for eighteen years,” he said. “I have more practice in looking like I
know what I’m doing than most guys do.”
    “I talk just fine,” I said,
even though I was pretty sure it seemed like Kate had run from me to get to the
elevator.
    “You haven’t been with
anyone in years. You might be rusty.”
    “I’m not rusty…” I paused,
clearing my throat, “…I’m careful.”
    He looked down, like he shouldn’t
have said what he’d said, “I know.”
    “It’s cool,” I said as a
response to his unspoken apology.
    “But you like her?”
    “I just met her.”
    He sighed. “This is the
first girl you’ve talked to for more than five minutes in years. Sorry if I got
a little excited.”
    “She’s just a girl on my
floor,” I said, but even as I dismissed her, my pulse beat in my ears.
    He tilted his head. “Whatever,
dude. Guess I’ll go back to being an Adam who would never have been allowed in
the Garden of Eden. Maybe I’ll find some forbidden fruit of my own.” He walked toward
a group of freshman guys with a grin as wide and open as a venus flytrap. Tristan
talked a big game, but he was trying to act normal. Treat me like I was any other
guy, instead of the guy I became that night freshman year.
    The thing was, I was afraid
to be like most guys. The reason I hadn’t been with anyone in years was a
choice. I needed to be punished for what I had done.
    For what I hadn’t done.
    Regardless of whatever she
had seemingly awakened in me, all Kate could ever be was just a girl on my
floor.
     

Chapter
Three
    Kate
    I’d made it through the
front doors and up the elevator without incident, well, if you didn’t count the
whole bathroom fiasco and then trying not to picture licking the embroidery
stitching off Carter’s shirt.
    Maybe I’d be able to do
this. Of course, I still hadn’t met my roommate.
    I took a deep breath and
stepped off the elevator into the hall.
    I knew nothing about her
other than she was one of the few students who had an opening in her room for
someone starting second semester. This either meant she was a total nerd or a
hard-partying high-maintenance bitch. Clearly this time around my
twenty-nine-year-old comparably arthritic fingers were crossed for nerd.
    I wasn’t here to make
friends. I had a best friend at home, Veronica. She thought I’d lost it when I
came up with this idea.