Page 28 of The Hardest Fall

“Aaand good night to you too.”

“Come on. It’s the last question—you can’t skip this one.”

“Again, this has what to do with us being roommates?”

I sat back down. “It will tell me a few things about you. Come on.”

She stood silent for a few seconds, looked at me, then looked away, probably trying to make sense of me. I couldn’t blame her.

“I’m gonna have to go with a year without a smartphone, though not because I’m dying to have sex. It’s not like I’m having tons of—” Her eyes grew slightly bigger as if she had just blurted out something I wasn’t supposed to know. I leaned back and watched her try to save herself. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m really not dying to have sex, and I could go without having sex for a year, because that would be easy. I just think a year without a phone would actually be therapeutic. It’s probably glued to my hand from the time I wake up to the time I go back to bed, and I think it would actually be nice to use it just for its original purpose, just to see how it goes, you know. Maybe socializing more would have a positive effect on my life, who knows. It’d definitely be good for my eyes, that’s for sure.” She let out another sigh. “I’m rambling again. All I’m saying is I wouldn’t choose sex because I couldn’t possibly go without it for a year.”

I got up again and stalked toward her as I watched her hide her hands behind her back. “You don’t have to explain your reasoning to me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it. Your answer tells a lot about you. Thank you for humoring me and answering my questions. It looks like we’re stuck together for the next few months if I can’t find another place, and I should tell you I’m surprised as fuck that you’re the new roommate. Shit, Zoe, I wouldn’t have guessed it in a million years.”

Keeping her eyes around my chest area, she nodded. “Good night, then, Dylan.”

After a quick hair tuck behind her ear and giving me a small smile, she started walking.

I let her take a few more steps toward her room while I stayed put in my spot. “Flash.” She faced me but kept taking small steps backward.

“Yes?”

I tucked my hands in my front pockets. “This is the strangest thing, but I think you’re going to be my best friend, Zoe Clarke.”

When she fled to her room and was no longer anywhere near me, I sat my ass down and leaned back against the couch. Now that I was alone, I looked up at the ceiling and grinned. She had no idea what kind of trouble she was in with me.

Chapter Six

Zoe

“I think at some point, I said skedaddle. Who says that?” I heaved a sigh and face-palmed myself for probably the hundredth time since meeting up with Jared and Kayla. I’d forced them out of bed at an ungodly hour for coffee and a rundown of the events of the day before. Because I had never mentioned meeting Dylan that first time two years ago, I spent a good thirty minutes telling them all about it. Sucky friend? I didn’t think so. I’d always been good at keeping secrets. When I was nine, I’d kept my first secret from my dad for an entire week before blurting out that Nathaniel from my class had kissed me at recess then told me to keep it a secret. Evidently, I had gotten better with time.

After Jared gave me hell for about five minutes as Kayla kept shaking her head at me as if she was disappointed, they finally gave me a break.

“This is just a thought, gorgeous—don’t give me that look—but I think saying skedaddle is the last thing you should worry about, here. You actually attacked him with a rolling pin? Why the hell were you hiding a rolling pin in the bathroom to begin with? I’m still stuck on that, and I wish you had taken a picture of the actual attack, or maybe a selfie while you were jumping him. Could’ve been pure art. I can already see it—vividly.” For good measure, he closed his eyes and hummed softly. “I’m gonna have to sketch that for you. You’re welcome, of course.”

I lightly smacked his shoulder with the back of my hand and shook my head. “Don’t you dare. I wasn’t hiding it in the bathroom, and that’s not even the worst part of the story here, so can we please focus?” I’d met Jared at the end of my freshman year after we kept bumping into each other in the same classes since we were both majoring in art. He always said it was fate that brought us together and that was that. I couldn’t imagine what I would’ve done if he hadn’t sat next to me in that Art History 201 class, and whenever I needed his friendship the most, he always came through.