Page 64 of Roommate Wars

I laughed. “I can imagine.”

“Back then,” Lizzie said, “Max’s ears were bigger than his head, and Jack was five feet, two inches. In tenth grade.” She gave me a pointed look, and Jack dropped his head and groaned.

“Wait,” I said. “Five foot two? Really?” I looked at the man in question. “He’s over six feet now.”

“Oh, yes,” she said, “he is now. Poor kid grew seven inches the next year. None of his clothes fit, and he had a baby face and long, gangly limbs.”

Soph snickered, leaning over the counter and smiling. “Lizzie is my new best friend. She has amazing stories about the guys.”

“I thought I was your best friend.” I frowned in mock affront.

“We were born into our bestie statehood through blood. Lizzie is my not-blood-related bestie.”

I could deal with that.

I turned to Jack. “So you were pretty small in tenth grade, huh?”

He crossed his arms. “I was a late bloomer. Took a few extra years to grow into this magnificence.”

Both Lizzie and Max groaned this time.

“It wasn’t all magnificence,” Lizzie said.

Jack cleared his throat. “Much as I’m enjoying where this conversation is going, what happened to us getting together later in the week?”

Max took off his suit jacket and draped it over one of the barstools at the kitchen counter. “Lizzie dropped by on her way home from work, and we decided to bump up the party.”

“And have it here?” Jack said. “Where it’s tight and cramped? Not at your place?”

Max raised an eyebrow. “Do I detect a problem?”

Lizzie glanced at the dinner and wineglasses set out on the table. “Were we interrupting?” She looked between me and Jack.

“No!” I rushed to clear the dishes. “Not interrupting at all. I owed Jack, so I made him dinner.”

I glanced at Jack on my way to the sink, and his eyes dipped down the front of my body, doing nothing to cool the jets he’d set roaring before we’d been interrupted.

What had we been thinking? That shit had escalated fast.

“Well, in that case,” Lizzie said and grabbed the corkscrew Jack had left out, “let’s get this party started. My first appointment isn’t until ten in the morning.”

ChapterTwenty-Seven

Elise

Max and Lizziehad brought wine and dessert. The fine chocolate was Soph’s contribution, of course, and for once, I wasn’t the drunk one tonight.

“It’s not my fault you guys were underedu…educa…ted,” Lizzie said, slurring her words and struggling to get out the last one.

“What’s she talking about?” I whispered to Jack.

“Woman stuff.” He shook his head.

Lizzie pointed at Max and rolled into Soph, who was looking equally hammered, squinting and trying to open another bottle of red wine. “These guys had no sisters. Didn’t know jack about women.” Lizzie snorted. “Get it, didn’t know jack?Jack…” She snort-laughed.

“Lizzie,” Jack said and grabbed her wineglass. “You’re cut off.”

She pouted, then jammed a handful of cheese crackers in her mouth, grinning at the guys with her head on Sophia’s shoulder.