Chapter 3

THREE

RORY

"Shhh," Lucy coos as I sob on her shoulder yet again. When I got out of the bathroom at the bar I rushed over to Jackson and he pulled me aside immediately when he saw how upset I was. We left with me barricading myself behind my two best friends so that the hottie I'd left mid blow job wouldn't see me.

"I don't know what's wrong with me," I sob. "I can't get Zach out of my head and it's ruining everything. God that was so embarrassing. He was so hot, and so sweet, and I am such a fuck up."

"Okay," Jackson says, sitting next to me. "We aren't going to talk like that, babe. You had a bad moment, you'll come back from it." He pets my hair and I sniffle. "Have you blocked him yet?"

I shake my head. "No, but I stopped reading his messages."

"Honey, you need to get rid of him," Jackson states. "In every sense of the word. That boy is no good."

"It's not just the text messages, though," I say. "It's things he said while we were together that are making me so anxious and upset I can't even give a fucking blow job."

"God, he really did a number on you, didn't he?" Lucy says. "I'm sorry we didn't notice how awful he was sooner. I mean, I never liked him for you but I didn't realize it was this bad."

I shake my head. "It's not your fault. I didn't say anything. And he was a different person in public. There's no way you could have known. It's taken all of this for me to realize just how much he hurt me."

"It might take some time, but you've got us," Jackson says. "You'll find yourself again, and realize how amazing you are. Maybe pushing you to hook up was a bad idea."

I wipe my tears. "No, I wanted it." I sigh. "It was a nice little confidence boost until I blew it, or didn't, I guess."

Lucy snorts and Jackson chuckles, and then we're all laughing. "God, he was so hot, too," I groan.

"Yeah, he was," Jackson agrees. "Look on the bright side, though, you'll probably never see him again."

My phone pings then with an alert, and when I pick it up I see that my ad for a roommate has a reply. I suck in a breath. It's been up for a week and I hadn't heard from anyone and was beginning to lose hope. God, whoever it is I hope they're not a partier, or a slob, but I'm not sure I have much choice in the matter.

"What's it say?" Lucy asks, reading over my shoulder.

"He's a student. His roommate decided to move in with his girlfriend, and he's looking for someone else to share in the cost of rent. Utilities included. No smoking or drugs. No pets. Only a few blocks from campus." I glance at them. "Should I reply?"

They nod and I start typing and hit send. I get a reply almost instantly, telling me I can come by and look at the place as soon as I want and ask him any questions. Honestly, I don't much care what it looks like, as long as he's not a creep and I won't be fearing for my life.

We set up a time for tomorrow afternoon for me to meet my potential roommate and see the apartment. If everything seems to be on the up and up, I'll move my things in the same day, since it's all sitting in my car anyway.

I let out a deep breath. Maybe this new roommate situation will help me get my mind off of Zach, and the hot guy from tonight.

"Okay, let's do this," Jackson says. He came along with me to check out the apartment and help me move my things in, assuming everything goes well enough. It's in a decent area, lots of college students, and I can take the college bus or drive to my classes, or ride my bike. I could even walk when the weather is nice enough, which it should be for a few more weeks, at least until October rolls around and it starts to get chillier.

We make our way inside the building and up the stairs to the third floor. "3D," I say, looking around, and Jackson points when he sees it. We stop in front of the door and I knock, begging for the guy inside to not be a creeper, or a serial killer, or a republican.

"Just a second," I hear on the other side of the door and my eyes widen.

"We have to go," I say in a hushed voice to Jackson, grabbing his arm and tugging.

"What? Why?" But by then it's too late and the door has swung open to reveal my hot hookup from last night. His eyes widen when he sees me, and then to my surprise a huge grin breaks out across his face. I don't miss the oven mitts on his hands and the pink apron with white lace around the edge. Not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting that.

I hear a snort from Jackson and my cheeks heat.

"Hey, freckles," the guy exclaims. "No way! You're the one looking for a roomie?"

"Uh…" I stammer, trying to figure out a way out of this.

"Yes, indeed," Jackson says, shoving me forward and making me almost slam into Hot Guy's very firm chest. He steps back enough that I manage to brush against him instead, but still stumble, and he has to grab me to keep me from face planting.

"Woah, you okay?" Hot Guy asks, his arms wrapped around me, pressing me to him and his apron, which is covered in flour and what smells like cake batter. Wow, it's actually really nice, and I have to force myself to pull away when he steadies me.

I glare at Jackson but he just winks at me and saunters inside, making himself right at home as he looks around. I sigh and follow him.

The kitchen is off to the right. There's a decent sized living area with a futon and a large sofa in a floral print that looks like a garage sale find, but is still in decent shape. Across from the sofa is a large flat screen tv. There's a room just beyond the living area and the door is shut.

It smells amazing in here. Like cinnamon and vanilla, and my stomach growls.

Hot Guy closes the front door and turns to us. "You two go ahead and look around," he calls as he moves into the kitchen. "I'm gonna check on the cupcakes. You let me know if you have any questions."

I catch up to Jackson down the hall as he's peeking into the bathroom and smack his arm. "I can't stay here," I hiss. "I'll have to stay in my room the entire time because I'm too humiliated to look him in the face."

"Babe, this is a great place, and he's a total sweetheart, I can tell."

I narrow my eyes, even though I'm pretty sure he's right, but I was dumb enough to date Zach for eight months because I thought the same about him, so what do I know? "How can you tell?"

"Vibes, babe," he says, then fucking pats the top of my head. "And cupcakes? The guy bakes cupcakes. And that apron? Seriously. He's like the hunky version of Martha Stewart."

"Hey, he could have human remains in those cupcakes for all we know," I retort, and Jackson smirks.

"Babe, I know this is a little awkward, but I really think it's going to be fine. Maybe it will even give you a chance to explain what happened last night?"

I frown. "I can't tell him I chickened out because my emotionally abusive ex got in my head."

"Why not? Then at least he knows it wasn't him."

I sigh. "I'll think about it."

"Good boy," Jackson says, patting me again. I shove his arm away and he laughs, then saunters the rest of the way down the hall. He stops at what I'm assuming would be my room, assuming also that the room with the closed door is Hot Guy's.

It's got a dresser already, a bed frame and mattress with nothing on it, and a closet. It's bright and cheerful, in an off white color. Not really big but big enough, with a large window on the opposite wall.

"Okay, time to get your things, huh?" I nod, even though I'm still mortified about living with the guy who I ran away from last night in tears. I follow Jackson back out to the combined kitchen, living area where Hot Guy is taking cupcakes out of the oven and setting them on the stove. He turns to us and grins, sliding his oven mitts off.

"They're a little hot but you guys are welcome to have one when they cool down. You'll want to wait for the frosting, though. That's the best part."

I nod but don't say anything.

"Any questions? It's a decent place. Good neighbors. And you'll have privacy. You've got your own bathroom, and I'm not picky about what's on the tv so you can watch whatever you want. And I promise I'm not a druggie or anything. You saw everything except my room and the attached bathroom. I can show you if you want but it's pretty messy."

"No, that's okay," I tell him. I do notice the main living area is pretty clean, which I appreciate, though I don't know if he did that just for my visit or if it's always like this. Guess I'll find out. I tend to get stressed in a space that is super messy so if it gets bad I may just have to stay in my room. Zach was good about keeping the place clean for the first couple of months but complained about it after that, told me I was OCD and needed to get a life, and that he had better things to do with his time, so I stopped saying anything and would just clean it myself or stay away.

Fuck, why did I not realize what a jerk he was until now? I just assumed he was right, and that I was the problem one in the relationship. Too picky, too needy, too high maintenance.

"I can help bring your things in if you want?" he offers, and Jackson nudges me. When I look at him while Hot Guy is removing his apron he makes the shape of a heart with his hands and I roll my eyes.

"I'm Parker, by the way," Hot Guy says, and reaches out to shake Jackson's hand and then mine. "Parker Hayes."

"Rory," I squeak out, and my cheeks flush as I try not to squirm. God, this is so awkward. Out of all the guys I could be rooming with it has to be him. He grins at me again and it makes me feel a tiny bit less awful.

With all three of us working it doesn't take too long to get my things in my room, and when Jackson pulls me into a hug after Parker has returned to the kitchen, I grip him tightly. "Don't leave me," I whisper. "I could end up in the next batch of cupcakes."

He chuckles and pulls back, planting a kiss on the top of my head. "You're going to be fine, babe. I'll call tomorrow and see how you're doing. See you later, okay?"

I nod and hear Parker offering Jackson a cupcake to go. I groan and sit down on my unmade bed, but then start when I hear a knock, and look up.

"Sorry, little dude," he says, and I see he has a cupcake on a small plate. "I thought you might like to have one. They're good. I promise."

"Thanks, but I'm not hungry," I lie. His face falls but he recovers so quickly I barely notice it, and my chest squeezes.

"Oh, uh, I think this is yours," he says, reaching in his pocket and pulling out something. He steps forward and shows it to me, resting on his palm. It's one of my earplugs and I didn't realize it was even missing until I got back to Jackson's last night. He found it and kept it, in the off chance he would run into me?

"Thank you," I murmur, glancing at him and taking it.

"Well, I'll let you get unpacked," he says. "Unless you want some help? I don't mind."

I swallow but shake my head. "No, thank you."

He nods again and scurries off, and I fall back on my bed with a sigh. God, I feel like such a jerk. But there's no way I can have him in here helping me after last night. It's not him. I want to tell him that so badly but I'm so embarrassed and he doesn't need to know about my whole life story just because we're roommates. I don't need to be dumping that on him.

I feel a tear sliding down my cheek and wipe it away. I'm tempted to call Jackson and tell him he needs to come back and get me, but I know that's not going to work. Somehow or other I'm going to have to make the best of this situation.