My Favorite Mistake (4 page)

“That. Was. Amazing!” Renee said as the guys grabbed their drinks and gulped. They were all a little winded and had a little sheen of sweat on their skin.

“What did you think?” Hunter asked me.

“Meh,” I said, shrugging one shoulder. “I've seen better.” I sipped my drink, savoring the rich taste.

He just grinned at me and lifted his beer to his lips. “Sure you have, baby.”

Now he was calling me baby? I ignored it and finished my drink.

“You want to dance?” Renee asked me. The alcohol had started making its way through my system, making my cheeks heat and my head floaty.

“Sure, why not?” I said, even though I was apprehensive about throwing myself into the chaos of stranger's bodies.

Renee grabbed my hand in one of hers and Darah's in the other, and we headed to the crowded space. I had to tell myself a few times that I was okay, no one was out to get me and I was going to have a good time. The alcohol also helped. I wouldn’t normally have waded into a mosh pit full of strangers, but when in Rome.

I didn't have many talents, but dancing was one of them. I let the music take me over and didn't care who was watching me.

There was one set of eyes I knew were on me. Hunter's. At one point, I turned, swiveling my hips and dipping down to the floor and slowly coming back up. It might have been my imagination that he swallowed and his eyes widened a little. I'd classify the brief look that crossed his face as stunned. Take that, asshole. I smiled and grabbed Darah's arm, twirling her around and then giving her a hip bump. We danced for three more songs before we got too sweaty and had to get some air. I was relieved to get out of the crush of bodies. I’d had a few moments where the panic threatened to attack me, but I’d managed to slam the door in its face and keep dancing.

The guys followed us outside, probably to protect us from drunken gropers. I'd read last year there were at least several episodes of unwanted sexual touching reported in the campus newspaper. Hunter put his hand on my back, but I let him because it was his hand or a strange guy, and I'd take the hand I knew over the hand I didn't. Not that I knew Hunter. Christ, I'd only met him this morning.

Outside we stood in a cloud of smoke, but the air felt nice on my heated skin.

“I've seen better,” Hunter said in my ear. His warm breath tickled my neck, and I moved my hair to hide my shiver.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out. Mom. She always texted me at the oddest hours.

How are you, kid? Haven't talked today :(

Good. All moved in. Drama city. Out with friends. TTYL?

Sounds good. Luv u, Kid.

Mwah.

“Was that your boyfriend? He worried about you being out late with strange men?” Hunter said, trying to read the messages over my shoulder

“Nope.” I wasn't going to satisfy his curiosity. I checked my phone. It was nearly midnight, and I was toasted from getting up early and driving from my mom's house in Waterville all the way to Orono and unpacking my stuff. And dealing with jerks.

“You guys ready to go? I have to be up early for macro tomorrow,” Darah said, miming shooting herself in the head. She was an accounting major, but hated economics with the burning passion of a thousand suns.

“You with Wesley in DPC 100?” Mase said.

“Yeah.”

“Me too. Guess I'll see you there,” he said, stretching his arms over his head. It might have been my imagination, but I thought I saw her smile at the prospect of seeing him again so soon.

We all walked back to Mase's car and said goodnight to Sean and Dev. Mase said an extra goodnight to Darah. Oh, dear, there was definitely something there.

When we got back into the apartment I realized two things. One, I really needed a shower, and two, Hunter and I were going to be sleeping in the same room.

Darah and Renee said goodnight and shuffled off to their room.

“Well, here we are,” Hunter said.

“I'm going to take a shower,” I said and prepared for the comment I knew was coming.

“You know what they say, conserve water and shower with a friend.”

I walked past him to gather my pjs, not answering. I made sure to lock the door and made sure it was locked before I stripped and got in the shower. I wouldn't put it past him to try and get me naked. Guys like that were all the same. They took what they wanted and left you with nothing.

When I came back from the shower, Hunter was in bed, shirtless and in just boxers, sitting with his back against the wall, guitar in his lap. It was a scene most girls would have swooned over. Between the dancing skills and the guitar, he could rack up plenty of attractiveness points. He plucked a few strings before realizing I was in the room. For a split second, I saw a dreamy look on his face. He quickly hid it behind a smirk.

“You're all wet.”

I didn't miss the double entendre. I tossed my balled-up clothes in the hamper and twisted my hair in my towel to squeeze some of the water out.

“Not the kind of nightwear I was picturing, but it'll do.”

I looked down at my oversized t-shirt and shorts. I'd thought twice about wearing a tank top and boy shorts, which normally I would have, given the temperature. I'd left my bra on so my nipples wouldn't show through the thin jersey material.

“Are you one of those douches with a guitar, or can you really play?” I tried to keep my eyes on the guitar and not on his bare chest. There was another tattoo on his left pectoral. A four-leaf clover.

“I only play if you're a paying customer. Although I'd take a trade instead of money.”

Why had I even asked? I'd been trying to break the ice, but he didn't seem to want to. I went to my dresser and found a quarter that I chucked at him.

“There. Now play, music boy.” I sat down on my bed and faced him.

“What do you want?”

I thought about it. I wanted to pick a song there was no way he would know. I threw out anything hard rockish or folky. He seemed like one of those guys who would be into Bob Dylan.

“
C'est la Mort
by The Civil Wars.”

He gave me a look like that wasn't what he was expecting.

“What? Don't know it? Not hip enough for you?” He looked away from me and down at the guitar. He plucked a few notes. I waited.

Then the song emerged from his fingers, slow and haunting. I sat back against my pillows, getting lost in the music. I hated to admit it; he played very well. He hadn't had just a few lessons last week. He'd been playing for years. He finished the song with a flourish and looked up at me. The dreamy look was there again, and it took longer for him to put it away.

“Singing is extra,” he said.

“You can dance, you can play the guitar, Jesus Hunter, what can't you do?”

“I’m very good at a lot of things. If you want to come over here, I can show you a few more,” he said, laying the guitar back in the case. My throat suddenly went dry, and I had to swallow. His comments had been different when we were fully clothed and with a group of people. In this dark, quiet room they took on a heavier meaning, or at least they did to me. I was making too much of it.

I sat up. There was something about lying down that made me feel more vulnerable.

“I'm not sorry for punching you,” I said for no reason in particular. My hand was still swollen and sore, and I hoped his face hurt for a long time.

“I know you're not. I'm not sorry you did either. Most girls bore me. You, Taylor, do not bore me.”

“Thank God, I can die a happy woman.”

“I'm not going to make a move on you, if that's what you're thinking.”

I had been but I didn't want him to know that.

“I never screw girls I like.”

“That doesn't make any sense.” Wait, he liked me?

“Of course it does. All relationships end eventually, right? So why not end it before it begins and save yourself the trouble?”

“That's pretty fucked up thinking, Hunter. What did your parents do to you?” In my experience, guys like Hunter usually had deep-rooted mommy issues. It was why they could never have close relationships with women.

“Wouldn't you like to know?”

I got up and put my phone in the charger, mostly so I could stop making eye contact with him. Normally, my nightly routine would involve putting in my retainer, slathering my face with moisturizer and putting on an eye mask, but there was no way in hell I was letting Hunter see any of that.

It was too intimate, too personal. Maybe tomorrow housing would be open to finding him another place. I would simply tell them that I was uncomfortable living with Hunter. I wanted to believe that I would have the balls to tell him to get out. It would have been so much easier if we could have taken care of this hours ago. Also if he hadn't played that stupid song. Why had I picked that? I should have picked something stupid like I Am the Walrus.

He clicked his lamp off, and we were left in almost total darkness. The only light came from the small lamp on my dresser that I hadn’t turned off yet.

“Just to let you know, I talk in my sleep.” He shifted on his bed and chucked something on the floor. It could only be one thing. “Also, I sleep naked.”

I made a sound of disgust. I was definitely sleeping with my bra on, even though I'd have uncomfortable marks in the morning. I climbed into bed and pulled the comforter up. I was the one who felt naked. I swore I could hear his sheets rubbing against his skin. Damn, I should have gotten some earplugs.

I wasn't going to sleep at all.

I also talked in my sleep but I wasn't going to tell him that.

“Well, goodnight. Feel free to dream about me naked and scream all you want. I'll sleep right through it.”

I wished I had a pillow, or perhaps something heavier, to chuck at him. Instead I got into bed, quietly grabbing my retainer and putting it in, hiding the case under my mattress. I wanted to pretend like I didn't give a shit what he thought of me, but honestly, I did.

It felt rude not saying goodnight, so I did. I got a mumble in response. I lay on my back and looked at the ceiling. Even with the memory foam mattress pad, the dorm bed was as comfortable as a sack of hay.

Hunter was breathing quietly, but his disturbance in the room was unmistakable. I didn't know why, but guys breathed differently than girls. Deeper somehow. I heard every single time he shifted or moved or twitched at all. I knew the exact moment he was asleep when his breathing became slow and he stopped moving so much. I tried closing my eyes, but it didn't work.

I grabbed my mp3 player and put it on shuffle. I had tons of fast songs on there, so I had to keep skipping things. Usually, alcohol made me tired, but the soda had been a bad idea. It was too late to take my sleep medication, so I was stuck. I only had two classes the next day, and they didn't start until 11. I hoped Darah and Renee weren't too loud in the morning. I hoped Hunter wouldn't be too loud in the morning.

I hit repeat when
C'est la Mort
came on and I finally faded off.

 *****

“Taylor, Taylor!”

A hand grabbed my shoulder, shaking it.

“What the fuck?” I said, flailing against it, trying to get it to let me go. “Don't touch me!” I whipped my arms around and made contact with something warm and fleshy. A chest.

“Jesus Christ, stop it!”

I finally opened my eyes and assessed the situation. I was in bed, and there was a shirtless boy holding my arm. I froze, and he let go of me.

“What are you doing?” I snapped at him, but it came out slurred because of the retainer. I spit it out in my hand.

“You were screaming in your sleep and freaking out. It woke me up.” Shit. Usually when I took my sleep medication, I didn't have the night terrors, but I hadn't been able to tonight. Great, just great.

“I'm sorry. Go back to bed. I'm fine.”

“Do you, uh, need anything?”

He stood there, as if he didn't know what to say. My eyes drifted down his chest and saw that he had a towel wrapped around his waist. At least it covered everything it needed to cover.

“No, I'm fine. Goodnight.” I flipped over, hoping that would be the end of it. He sighed, and I heard him crawl back into bed.

“Goodnight,” he said and flipped over as well.

Hunter was gone the next morning when I woke up at nine. So was Renee, but Darah was at the dining table eating a bowl of cereal.

“How was your night with the boy?”

“Fantastic,” I said, stretching my arms over my head and listening to my spine pop. I shuffled to the coffeepot and found that there was just enough for one more cup. I had no idea how long it had been sitting there, but I didn't care. Coffee only got really nasty if it was past four hours. I poured myself a cup and sat down with Darah. She looked about as bad as I felt.

“You're okay with him here, really?” she said.

“No, I'm really not.” I sipped the sweet elixir, wrapping my hand around my cup. “But what can I do?” I still hadn't told them about the bet, and Hunter hadn't either. I wasn't sure if I was going to go there. If housing could settle things, then they never had to know. I just hoped if housing found him another place, he would go quietly. I really had no idea what kind of a fight he would put up.

“Not much. Just give housing hell. I don't know what they were thinking.” She shook her head.

“And they didn't even notify us! It's just crazy. This damn school.” I got up and slammed two pieces of bread into the toaster. There was something else that was bothering me, but I wasn't going to tell Darah about it. Unless... maybe she had heard me last night. I glanced over my shoulder to find her watching me. Yup, she'd heard. “You probably heard me last night, didn't you?”

“The walls are like, paper, so yeah. I didn't want to bring it up unless you were uncomfortable. Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really. I forgot to take my meds. Sorry if I kept you up.”

“It's no big deal; we were just worried about you. It’s been a while since you had one.”

“Renee woke up, too?”

Darah nodded. Great, just great.

“I'm really sorry.” It had only been twenty-four hours and I was already a bad roommate.