3. Chapter 3

I'd been living in this apartment with Aspen for two weeks now, and four times, he'd come out of his room completely naked. He would walk into the kitchen in the early morning like nothing was amiss, and then he would see me making coffee before school, only to mumble his apologies and walk right back into his room to toss on some gym shorts. The sad part was he worked so hard to remember to throw on clothes for my benefit.

And there he was, yet again, yawning and rubbing his eyes, with morning wood, no less. Jesus. I did not need to see his hard junk.

The beauty of Aspen was that I could tell him to get the fuck dressed, and it wouldn"t offend him.

"Mornin'," he mumbled, pouring himself a cup of coffee while yawning loudly.

"Ugh, I can't unsee that, Asp."

He looked down at his nakedness and hard-on before shrugging. "Oops. Sorry, man. I'm still getting used to this wearing clothes thing around here."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "Weirdo. You wear clothes outside, to school, to work, to workout in…"

He groaned. "Yeah, but I have to. It's like against the law to walk outside naked. Or, at least, I think so. Wait… is it?"

"Yes! Get some shorts on."

He doctored his coffee before heading back to his room. He came back out, wearing a tight-fitting black tank top and his usual gray workout shorts, free-balling it as usual. Shit. I shouldn't be looking between his legs as the monster swung around. At least he wasn't hard anymore.

"Sorry, man. And I apologize in advance for any further nude mishaps. I'll get in the habit, eventually."

Was it a little weird he liked to walk around naked? Yeah, but whatever. It wasn't like I hadn't seen a naked dude before. Hell, I'd seen my entire football team naked at one point or another. Aspen was cool, other than that strange habit of his.

"What do you do in the winter to stay warm?"

"Well, the heater is cranked up in here, so I don't get cold."

"Makes sense, but I mean when you go outside. It's like you wear as little as possible, even when you have to wear clothes."

He groaned and stared at the ceiling. "Ugh, I know. Clothes are so restricting, and sweaters make me itch. I suffer it, but at least winters here are short," he said, sipping his coffee.

Maybe I shouldn't ask, but I was too damn curious. "Why do you always like to be naked? It has to be more than the uncomfortable clothes."

He shrugged and blew into his steaming mug. "It's been that way since I was a kid. My parents would take us to the beach sometimes and let us run and play in the buff. We aren't shy about nudity. It's just a part of our lives, and there's nothing to be ashamed about. It's also great for body positivity and feeling confident in your own skin. But mostly, I'm just super comfortable that way." He looked up with dark, twinkling eyes and a face full of mischief. "You should try it sometime."

I huffed a laugh. "No thanks. Hanging around the locker room, changing in front of the team is enough."

"Too bad," he said over the rim of his mug.

"What time's your first class?" I asked, needing to divert the subject before it got derailed.

He looked back at the microwave clock. "I gotta leave in about ten minutes."

Aspen chugged the rest of his coffee before walking toward the front door, slipping on a pair of sliders, and slinging his backpack over his shoulder. "Later!"

Because his coffee was shit, I had plans to meet Bryce at the coffee shop around the corner before class. We took most of our courses together, except for American literature and Spanish, which I had recently switched to, having dropped a class. Our first class this morning was therapeutic modalities to go with my Athletic Training major. It was something I could fall back on should I fail medical school, which was highly likely. I just wasn't as smart or dedicated as my brother, Ben.

It only took a few minutes to reach the coffee place on foot. I stepped into the air conditioning, and the scents of coffee beans and pastries instantly perked me up. Bryce was already there, waving me over. He'd snagged us a table and, apparently, got me a coffee. Sweet.

He tied his long blond hair up into a messy bun, and his massive frame looked like it was about to crush the poor, small wooden chair he sat on, no doubt groaning and complaining underneath him. At six-foot-six and as broad as he was tall, Bryce was an amazing defensive lineman.

"What's up, Coop?"

We smacked our hands together before shaking them. "Hey, Bry." I grabbed the coffee cup and sniffed it. "Is this my vanilla and oat milk?"

"Sure is. Do you think I'd forget, Mr. I'm Picky As Fuck About My Coffee and I'm Too Good for Regular Milk?"

I smirked. "Thanks. I knew you loved me."

He rolled his pale brown eyes as I took a tentative sip, careful not to burn my tongue.

"How's the new place? Is your roommate driving you nuts yet?"

"Nah, he's pretty chill, actually. I like him. He's got some quirks, but don't we all? I mean, look at what you just called me."

"Truth. And look at what you like to drink."

I almost told him about all the naked mishaps, but it wasn't my place. I liked Aspen and didn't want Bryce to get the wrong impression of him.

"Listen, Aspen is having some friends over next Saturday night after we play our home game, and he said I could invite a few people over. Wanna come?"

"Sure, man, I'll drag Ronnie along. If anyone needs to party, it's him. He lives and breathes football and sex. He needs more bro time outside of football. Can I bring Cassie?"

"Go for it, but not many more. It's not a big party. Just a get-together."

"Too bad you're not seeing Amanda anymore. You could bring her. She was hot."

"Well, there's more to be said about a person than their hotness factor."

"God, you're such an adult."

I snorted a laugh. "I am an adult, asswipe. And so are you, apparently. Besides, her beauty didn't stop her from cheating on my ass, so…"

He sighed and gave me a sheepish look. "I know. Sorry. Stupid of me to suggest that. I miss us all hanging out together, you know?"

"Let it go, Bry. I have." I really hadn't. Getting cheated on fucking stung. Talk about knocking you off your ego pedestal. Cheating had me questioning everything I did and said during our relationship. Did I push her into another guy"s arms? Was I a bad boyfriend? At the end of the day, she made her choice, and it wasn't me, but I still took it as a sense of failure. Ever since then, I'd been struggling to date again.

"Anyway, don't get too attached to this new roommate," Bryce said, yanking me out of my spiraling thoughts. "You and me. A few months from now, we"re gonna have a place of our own."

We tapped our coffee mugs together as a promise. "You got it."

Then, the guilt hit me like a ton of bricks. I hadn't been living with Aspen long, but I really liked him. Leaving him so soon after moving in seemed kind of shitty, but I made a promise to Bryce. Crap. Now, I didn't know what to do to keep Bryce and Aspen happy. I hadn't expected to like my roommate so much.

"God, I can't wait to move out of Mom and Dad's place. I need my freedom, man."

I shook my head and gave him a smile I didn't feel, but played it off like nothing was amiss. "Please, you big baby. Your parents are the nicest people I know."

He huffed and sulked. "Fine, but it's hard to get laid, dude. My parents still think I'm a virgin."

I tossed my head back and laughed. "I seriously doubt that. They're probably just trying to live blissfully and intentionally unaware."

Instead of laughing, he pouted. "And Cass still lives in the dorms, so it's hard to sneak in there."

"You'll be fine." I checked the time on my phone, stood, and shrugged my backpack on. "Come on. We're going to be late for class."

He shoved half a Danish into his mouth and washed it down with coffee before we ran out of there.

After lunch, I walked into Spanish Advanced Writing and Grammar class, looking around for a place to sit. I stopped when I saw a familiar head of unruly, dark brown hair and a raven-haired girl hanging all over him. I smiled and made my way down to the second row and sat in the empty seat next to Aspen.

"Coop! What are you doing here?" he said, smiling broadly, lighting up his entire face as we shook hands.

"Hey, man. Yeah, I dropped my calculus class. It was too much for my current load. I had no idea you'd be here. That's cool."

"Awesome that you're in this class with me." He looked over at the girl resting her arm over his bare shoulder. Her black hair was long and sleek, and she had pretty green eyes and pale skin. "Lisa, this is my new roommate, Cooper."

She fluttered her eyelashes at me and gave me her hand to shake. "I know who Cooper Summers is. What girl doesn't? We all talk about you." The hint was clear. I seriously doubted all the girls talked about my football stats. Then again, what the hell did I know about what girls talked about privately? Maybe they loved football stats.

My face burned as I shook her slender hand. It wasn't like people didn"t give me compliments regularly about my looks or that girls didn"t give me attention, but I'd never been comfortable with direct compliments. They always made me feel weird and cringy, except when Aspen did it. I still got embarrassed, but he meant his words, which were more like offhand comments. It probably had a lot to do with my shyness, which I hated. As a kid, I had been extremely shy, always hiding behind my mom or dad. It took a while to grow out of it, and my parents did whatever they could to push me to be more social. Playing football helped a lot with that.

"Easy, Lisa. Coop here isn't comfortable with talk like that. I'm still learning those boundaries myself."

My brows furrowed as I scrutinized my roommate. He was more observant than I gave him credit for. And he told her with an ease that didn't offend her, either. He was honest yet gentle. I really liked that. It was something I could learn from, but it probably took a skill that didn't simply happen overnight—a skill learned with encouragement from his parents, no doubt.

"Are you two dating?" I asked. I hadn't seen him with a girl yet, but we hadn't been roommates for that long, and since she was all over him, I just assumed.

"Nah, we just like to have fun now and again," he said.

She nodded and smiled. "Us girls take what we can get with Asp here. He's picky."

He frowned and huffed, easing her off him without being a dick about it. "It's not about being picky, Lisa. We've talked about this."

Curiouser and curiouser.

He didn't date or have girlfriends? It wasn't my place to ask, so I tried to ignore the issue, but I also wanted to know more about him. Aspen was an interesting dude.

Eventually, Lisa sat in her own seat when the professor walked in. Aspen leaned over to me, resting an arm over the back of my seat, touching me, which sent a weird tingle through my body I couldn't explain, but before I could shudder, it was gone. Then, a cloud of Aspen smells washed over me, inhaling scents of something like rain or water mixed with a grassy scent and something typically Aspen I couldn't pinpoint. Why was I thinking about his touch and smell, anyway? God, I was being weird.

"This is so cool. We can help each other study," he whispered.

"Sounds good, because this class is going to be hard for me. I suck at languages."

"You got it. I love Spanish. Mom and Dad have been teaching my sisters and me since we were kids, being in Texas and all."

Man, I really lucked out on this roommate thing.