Page 38 of Devil in Disguise

He could’ve boughtthoseat Neiman Marcus. That would’ve worked.

“Huh?” He’d gotten distracted.

“With your roommate.”

“Oh. Jasper. Yeah. We got to be pretty good friends. He was a Theater major.”

She laughed. “Seriously?”

“Yep. Also gay.”

She sobered. “Wow. What was that like?”

He considered. He hadn’t thought about Jasper in a while. “Interesting. Novel.”

“Uh … novel?”

“Yeah. The sex was incredible.” He laughed some more. “No. I’d just never known a gay person before. But that’s what college is for, right? Broadening your mind.”

“Ha. Well, I hope it broadens mine. See, Ithoughtmy mind was broad, but so far, it’s just … kinda new, you know?”

“Well, to be fair,” he said, “it’s the first day. Maybe don’t judge on the first day. Wait until classes start, at least.”

“Right.” She sat up and got her face back in order. Dyma, being determined. “You should go to sleep. Sorry it’s so late. Just … hanging out with the new friends. And not wanting to be in the room, probably. I need to get my badass on, that’s all.”

“Yep,” he said. “But don’t worry. Your badass is right there, ready to go. And see? New friends. And, yeah, I should go to sleep. Breakfast is at seven.”

“I can’t wait to watch you on Sunday,” she said. “But I’ll be missing you like crazy. I’m already missing you.”

“Me, too. Love you.”

No phone sex tonight. But then, it was pretty hard to have phone sex in a stairwell.

Probably no phone sex for a good long while.

18

Bridges Burned

She brushed the tears back,headed up to the landing, and pulled the heavy fire door open. Doors still stood open up and down the hall, rap music competing with techno and pop, even though it was nearly ten. A bunch of people were playing broom hockey in the hallway, and as Dyma came out of the stairwell, a rubber ball came rolling by fast, bounced against the opposite wall before the goalie at the other end could swat it, and headed for the closing stairwell door. She trapped it under her foot and knocked it back hard, and it shot down to the other end of the hall, ricocheted, and went into the goal, which was a couple of chairs laid on their sides.

Shouts and whoops went up, and Fletcher came running down the hall saying, “Hey, at least play for our side!”

“Sorry,” she said. “Lucky shot.” But she was laughing again. How could you not? Because, yeah, this was what she’d imagined college would be like.

“Next time,” he said, “our team. I’d say now, but we’re about to have to break it up. The RA’s going to head up here in about five minutes and remind us about quiet hours.”

“You’ve done this before, I see.”

“The voice of experience.” He surveyed her. “That’s an interesting fashion choice.”

“Isn’t it, though?” Wearing Owen’s jersey was basically like wearing a dress. An incredibly baggy dress. It didn’t fit her in any way, shape, or form, but tonight, she’d needed to put it on.

He said, “You know … I’m not entirely surprised that you’re a football fan. There’s that Buddhism, of course, philosophically speaking at least, but I sense a competitive spirit.”

“You sense correctly. Also, I’m a hick from Idaho. I’m allowed to love football. Hey,” she said to Avery, who’d come to join them.

“But the Devils, huh?” Fletcher said. “Portland.Anotherinteresting choice. And that’s a pretty big number you’re wearing there. That’s, what, O-line? D-line? Most girls would be wearing the QB or the running back. Or Harlan Kristiansen, of course.”