“What’s happening?” Deb says.
“This perverted piece of shit decided to break into our house. He’s been casing us since the plane,” I say, not taking my eyes off of him for a second. He could easily overpower me if he wanted, but I won’t make it easy for him.
His amused expression turns to irritation. “This is a joke, right?” he says.
I raise the poker higher to let him know it’s not.
He rolls his eyes. “First of all, I’m not a pervert, and second, I’m not breaking in.” He opens the door wider and I see a suitcase behind him. “I’m renting a room here while I’m in town for work. Call the host if you want. You should have the number.”
I feel my mouth hanging open and the skin on my face smoldering with embarrassment.
“Oh my God, I didn’t mean to …” I start to say, my eyes going wide when he walks past me, into the house, his rolling luggage trailing behind him.
“Wait.” I look around for my friends, hoping someone will come to my rescue and tell this crazy person to get out.
“Which one is my room?” he says. “The owner said the rooms are first come first serve. It took me a while to hail a cab. I’m guessing since you’re here first, you’ve chosen your rooms. So which one is mine?”
No. This can’t be happening.
I shake my head. “You must have the wrong house. This was supposed to be girls only, right?”
Deb nods. “That’s what we were told. My boyfriend would freak out if he knew I was staying in a house with another guy.”
“I promise you, I’m not breaking in and I do have the right address,” the man explains. “And believe me, your boyfriend has nothing to worry about. You’re not my type.”
Deb scowls at him. “Rude.”
My heart sinks. How can I stay in the same house with the same guy I completely humiliated myself in front of? He’ll be impossible to avoid.
Deb, Lillian, and I all look at each other, not sure what to do or say.
Deb finally says, “I’ll call the host. Clearly there was a misunderstanding.”
“You do that,” the man says irritably, “but in the meantime, since I have a key and I paid my rent and deposit for the next month, I’m getting a shower. I’m jetlagged and tired.”
Deb sighs. “Your room is down here, next to Channa’s.” She points back into the house, from the direction of my bedroom. “You’ll share the bathroom with her. Lillian and I are upstairs.”
“Great,” he says, exasperated. “I take it by the excitement written all over your face that you’re Channa?” he says to me, sarcasm dripping from his words. I can feel my stricken expression messing up my face and try to make it somewhat neutral. I’m not sure if it works. I think my face might be permanently like this for the rest of our trip. “Try not to pummel me with that thing,” he says, pointing at the fire poker in my hands before disappearing down the hallway.
Once he’s gone, Deb and I look at each other, perplexed. Lillian giggles.
“Holy shit. Is he real? No one looks that good in real life,” Lillian says. “He says he’s here for work. I bet he’s an underwear model. What do you want to bet?
“I’m not betting anything,” I grumble, still somewhere in between angry and astonished.
“Girl, he’s lucky I have a boyfriend, or I’d be all over that,” Deb adds.
“Deb!” I shriek. She’s always so … respectable. I don’t know if I’ve ever, in our fifteen years of friendship, ever heard her talk like that—especially not since she met James. Then again, I guess it’s hard not to talk like that when someone looks as good as that stranger does.
I wrap my robe tighter around me, feeling exposed. “He’s not that great,” I lie.
“Why are you so crabby?” Lillian asks.
I refuse to tell them what happened on the plane. They would never let me live it down.
“It’s because she needs to get laid. You can’t be a twenty-five-year-old virgin and be totally relaxed. Impossible. She’s all wound up.”
I roll my eyes and wave. “Either you call the host and get this figured out, or I’m going to bed and sleeping the rest of this awful day away.”
“You are not wasting the whole day sleeping! I want to explore,” Deb says as she finds her cellphone in her purse. She looks through the little welcome pack the host has left out for us, and dials him. The one-sided conversations doesn’t bode well.
From what I can tell by Deb’s worried expression, there has been some awful mistake. She explains to the host that we were promised an all-female house. When she asks for our money back so we can book something else, her face looks grim.
“Thanks for nothing,” she says. “Trust me, you’ll be getting a terrible yelp review,” she says and hangs up.
“Looks like we now have a very large and male roommate for the next few weeks.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Nope. He says he can’t discriminate and that there are no refunds. He says it’s all in the contract. Did any of you happen to read the contract?”
Lillian and I both shrug.
“Didn’t think so. Neither did I. So I guess we just need to get over it and get on with our vacation.” She makes a whining sound. “James is not going to be happy.”
There has to be something we can do,” I say.
“I’ll call around,” Lillian says.
Right now, I’m not too worried about James. He knows Deb would never do anything to betray him. All I’m worried about are my own problems, specifically this crazy attraction I have for our new roommate. I’m in trouble. I can feel it.
2
Kain
The girls’ worried voices carry back to my bedroom through the ajar door. I don’t try to give them any privacy; I hang on to every word
