It was a ten-minute walk, even with me keeping up a good pace. SCC was a decent-sized campus, and I wished I was as coordinated as Ash was. Unlike her, I couldn’t just skate wherever I wanted. I had to be old-fashioned and walk with my own two feet, the fuck.
That’s precisely what I was doing, focusing on the growling coming from my midsection, when I saw two people standing in front of the union, talking. Or, well, one of those two people were talking, while the other person’s mouth was zipped shut.
Mel.
Mel and Dean.
Dean was saying something, a lot of things, judging from the way his mouth went off like a motor, and Mel couldn’t look at him. She had her arms crossed, her head turned toward the side. The minute she spotted me through the crowd on the sidewalk, she said something to Dean, causing his eyebrows to furrow, and then she left him, heading straight to me.
Dean, I noticed, didn’t look too happy that she left him in the dust.
I met Mel on the sidewalk, and we stepped aside and let other students walk by us. “He seemed…like he had a lot to say,” I said slowly, eyeing Mel up after tossing a quick glance at Dean, who was busy scowling and walking away, shoving his hands in his pockets. His fisted hands.
To say he looked murderous would be an understatement.
“He always has a lot to say, that’s the problem with Dean,” Mel muttered. “I didn’t want to talk to him. I…let’s just say if I never see his face again, it’ll be too soon.” The saying made no sense whatsoever, but I knew what she meant.
“I was about to get food. Do you want to tag along?” I offered, figuring I should. Food always made everything better. Plus, you know, I was fucking starving.
“I’ll come with you, but I’m not hungry,” she said.
We headed into the union, and I got what I wanted. I’d eat back in the dorm. All the while, Mel said nothing, and I let her keep to her silence. Sometimes it was better to let people keep their secrets, although I was doubly interested now that I knew whatever was going on had to deal with Dean.
Dean seemed like the douche of all douchebags, so how the hell did nice Mel end up knowing him well enough to hate him? Unless he slept with her and left her, which seemed quite plausible. When dicks were in the picture, you never knew for sure.
I was sitting cross-legged on my bed, opening up the container with my food when Mel finally spoke up, “I used to be involved with Dean.”
My eyes moved from my food to my roommate.
“We dated, I mean.” Mel’s gaze fell to her lap, and she bit the inside of her cheek. Her short blonde hair was a bit unkempt today, or maybe it just seemed that way because the wind was wild outside. It didn’t take much to make a pixie cut look a bit ragged. “We went to the same high school, started dating senior year. I thought everything would be fine. We were going to the same college, we had some of the same classes, but…”
“But what?” I didn’t want to push her too much, make her close up and refuse to share anything else. If there was one thing I loved, it was the juicy details. Ash hardly told me any juicy details—that would change once she went to Hillcrest. I was betting on the fact that her roommate was going to be cute. I’d definitely need to see a picture of him.
Preferably shirtless.
“But then he changed. He went into a fraternity and things just…got worse. He started acting all douchey and I…I found out he’d cheated on me.” Mel’s eyes closed, and I immediately felt a pang of sorrow for her. There was nothing worse than a cheating boyfriend. At the time, that dick was supposed to be hers and hers alone, not hers and every other girl’s.
If I had a cheating boyfriend, I’d…I’d fucking kill him.
Well, maybe kill was too strong of a word, but a dick would definitely get punched.
“So we broke up, and then…” Mel shook her head, growing quiet. “Another guy came to sweep me off my feet, but it was all a lie.”
“I’m so sorry, Mel,” I said, not knowing what else to say. “I was totally serious about my dick-punching earlier, though. I will so punch that guy’s dick for you.” Dean seemed like a douchebag of epic proportions.
Mel managed to smile, though it was a sad smile. It struck me right then and there that Mel didn’t seem overly happy in general. She might put on a brave face and a smile, but she wasn’t truly happy. She seemed, in a word, depressed, and with everything that happened last year, I couldn’t blame her.
She’d had a rough go at things, but now I was her roommate, and I wasn’t going to shrink away or leave her be. I was going to bug the actual crap out of her until she had a bit of genuine fun.
“No dick-punching, I mean it,” she said. “Just…stay away from him, and his friends. None of them are good guys.”
“Well there goes my plans to hook up with every guy on campus,” I spoke dryly, earning myself a questioning stare. “I’m kidding. Only kidding. If I hooked up with every guy on campus, I doubt I’d have enough time to go to classes. No, any and all hookups will have to be thoroughly thought through.”
Of course, if Ash had been
