He looked at me with mild bewilderment. “Never happened.”
It provoked a laugh from me, even as I shook my head at the low-effort joke. “Right. Well. I think I’ll skip the sauna.”
Silas nodded agreeably. “Yeah, you probably need to unpack. Hot guys will be hot tomorrow, too.”
“They always are,” I mused.
He clicked his fingers and agreed. Rummaging through his wardrobe, he packed a duffel with clean clothes and a towel. “Sauna is also just a healthy place to be. Happy people live longer, and nothing makes me as happy as being around sweaty men. Don’t mind me. I yap a lot, but it’s part of my charm. What about you? I get along well with good listeners and other yappers.”
I laughed at the sheer honesty. “I guess I’m more of a listener.”
“Perfect,” he said. “We’ll be besties in no time, then.”
He tossed his duffel over his shoulder and hopped over a box. “Make yourself at home, Seth. I’m not territorial. You’re welcome to use whatever’s lying around. And don’t wait up.” He winked devilishly and dashed.
That was a refreshing thirty seconds of my life. I tried to go over Silas’ words, to find the hidden meaning, but they didn’t have any. He was exactly what he was advertising, and loudly so. After three hours with Nick, circling around the topic, this was a breath of fresh air.
I sat up and looked around the boxes. Textbooks, supplies, my microscope, my collections of preserved bugs, they all needed to be sorted and housed.
Without dragging it out much further, I began to look through my things. My clothes were the easiest part. I shoved them into the closet and drawers. Posters of human anatomy went up on the wall by the bed, and old books on the shelf. It all had its place. And after two hours of weighing things, measuring how important they were, and replacing them to make sure they fit well together, I was almost done.
I unzipped my backpack and set my current literature on the nightstand, tossed the pens into a cup on the desk, put up the framed photo of me with my family next to it, and placed the brass compass without a needle next to all that.
My gaze lingered on the compass, and a laugh bubbled deep in my chest. I’d wandered far and wide and couldn’t say I’d ever found my way. Then again, I’d never had somewhere I wanted to go. My comfort was in the books and research.
Except for those few glorious moments that disrupted the neatly structured life I’d always led. Damon sprawling in the grass, skin kissed by the rays of sunlight, arm easily wrapping around me and pulling me close. Ah, the good old times long gone.
It had been way too good to last. I’d moved to Chicago after a devastating rejection from Northwood. Damon had gone back to hockey. And Nick had towered over us both like a storm-bringing cloud. We had been lucky enough not to get caught. And not to catch the feels, too.
Well, he didn’t catch them, at least. It didn’t really matter if I’d gone soft for Damon or not. He was hardly a desirable partner. The guy screwed everyone who glanced at him if only they gave him a chance. I was almost one of those people, even if I thought ours was a different thing.
No. It was time to put Damon Moore out of my mind. First thing he’d done on his return to Northwood last year was to go out on a date with a girl, so I’d gotten my message loud and clear. I was expendable like the rest of them.
My gaze wandered over the broken compass, tickling me just enough to make me smile.
The door of my room flew open again, admitting the tornado of my roommate. “Right,” Silas said, clapping his hands. His hair was still damp. “There were these frat jocks at the sauna.”
“Do I want to know how this story ends?” I asked, holding back a laugh.
Silas nodded eagerly. “You absolutely do because you’re part of it.”
“You don’t even know me,” I said, the laugh breaking through at last.
“’Course I do. You’re Seth. Anyway, there’s a welcome-back party at their house tonight. We’d better arrive fashionably late, or we’ll look too eager. Which gives you a good two hours to get ready.”
“Get ready for what?” I asked.
Silas shot me a devious grin. “Whatever you want to get ready for.”
My mouth opened, the frown erasing itself from my face as embarrassment replaced it. “I…uh…”
But my new roommate was turning away, sparing me the scrutiny. “You’ll want to have a signal in case you want to bring someone back to our room. That’s absolutely allowed and strongly encouraged, by the way, but let me know so I don’t do the same.”
“How about I pinky promise I won’t bring anyone over tonight?” I asked. “I’ve barely moved in. I’m not in the mood for…that.”
Silas shrugged, rummaging through his wardrobe like a very happy raccoon. Even the clothes he was examining looked like shredded scraps someone threw away. There was a thing that resembled a T-shirt that was basically just a black net. There was a pair of underwear with no ass at all—yeah, I know what a jockstrap is, but you get the gist.
“Suit yourself. I’ve done it on top of moving boxes. Wouldn’t recommend it.”