My super sexy roommate

ag

econd. He was covering his big green eyes with his messy brown hair, and shielding his quivering lip with his oversized slee

laughter, thuds of suitcase wheels, voices calling to old friends. It felt like the summer had folded itself up in a neat, forgettable littl

ust like that?" he asked, his voice barel

ed that this was taking him so long to process. It wasn'

e said, blinking fast like that

attractive man that your ex-friends-with-benefits was a total douche and 'broke up' with you after your summer fli

, but nothing I said was a lie. I never put a title on us, I never asked him to be my boyfriend, and I told him from the start once school started back up we were done. Hone

al. Everything in

lieved to be done with the drawn-out goodbye. He was kind enough to let me gra

e who does something like this

ng there was no chance in hell that I would ever be that stupid. Bu

, "I know you'll find someone great. I'm just that ste

of person who would hold your hair back if you were sick, memorize your coffee

s wasn't the first ti

ready to archive yet. "You will too, Keagan. Y

o find the tragedy in me. The soft spot. The part that might be saved. It's like they thought if they stayed long enough, dug deep enough, they'

round, Derek. H

to the university behind me, the automatic

ne you're scared to drop. I maneuvered through the crowd, my duffel bag bumping against my side, and found my dorm eas

ched. I dropped my bag on the mattress and stood for a second, just taking in the silenc

ou could call them that - asking if I was back on campus. One from a guy I used to hook

ame. Just "Derek." Clean. Forgettable. I considered deleting it but didn't. Maybe I liked the

er what it would have been like if I hadn't told him we were done. If I had stayed one more night. If I had sai

embered who I

o moments. We do survival. We do s

curtain shut, blocking o

h and call me a few times before finally giving up. May

eventually understand that I

hon

, always ends up looking like he