Covers

Chapter Thirteen: Roommates

"Audrey?"

Evan's voice reaches me through a soft, glowing haze of tiredness. Without even thinking about it, I reach for him. He snuggles up against my chest and I wrap my arms around his head. A small part of me worries that doing this will push the soft tissue of my breasts up and keep him from breathing. The rest of me decides that I'll just let him sort that out himself.

He kisses between my breasts as I open my eyes. With his messy hair, love-drunk eyes and the pale-yellow fabric of my sheets around him, he looks like a heavenly vision.

"Can I take a shower?" he asks.

I furrow my brow. "You don't have to ask."

He smiles. He's so happy. Despite all of his circumstances, he looks completely at peace. "I didn't want to assume. What if your water is crazy expensive or something?"

I make a weird face at him as we both laugh. "I rent, I don't pay for water," I remind him as he gently untangles himself from me.

"Some people do," he says, standing up from the bed. I survey the gorgeous expanse of pale skin and tattooed artistry in front of me. He blushes a little, then turns to walk to the bathroom. As he goes, I get a great view of his butt and lament the fact that I let that part of him go unnoticed earlier.

Never again.

I yawn as I sit up and pull my bathrobe off of a hook by my bed. It's a thin, mint-green cotton garment that feels soft against my skin. I deeply enjoy the feeling of vinyl beneath my feet as I walk over to the kitchen and open the freezer in search of a frozen pizza.

By the time the oven has finished preheating, Evan rejoins me with a towel around his waist.

"Ooh, pizza?" he asks, looking at the frozen block of dough and cheese as I lower it into the oven. "Can I have some?"

"Of course," I say. He's just too adorable. "What's mine is yours, Evan."

"I..." he sighs, reaching up to run his fingers through his wet hair. "Like, you're clearly better off than me, right? But you're going to college and you don't have a job. I'm trying to remind myself not to assume that you'll share everything."

"My dad pays my rent and I get money each term for living expenses. I'm fine. I wouldn't offer anything I couldn't," I say, beyond touched by his concern.

"Yeah, but isn't most of that loans?" he asks uncomfortably.

"No. Most of it is scholarships and grants. Remember, I was in the foster system. It sucked, but there's lots of programs to help kids who were in the system attend college." I smile as I lean up for a kiss. "Here's my financial situation. I have to be careful. No crazy nights out, no five-dollar cocktails... but I don't go hungry. I have clothes and furniture and all of my textbooks. My conditioner comes from Ulta, not Walmart. Besides," I say, pointing down at the floor. "You saved me a huge chunk of change on the floor. I'm fine."

He smiles. "Okay. Thanks for the... transparency."

I nod, reaching for his hands. "The taboo around money discussions is stupid. I'll straight-up roll out my tax returns if you're curious."

He laughs. "Sexy."

Evan lowers his face to mine and kisses me. I rest my hands on his shoulders and rub away the spare droplets of water that cling to his skin.

"Let me wash your clothes for you," I say, patting his arm as I leave him in the kitchen. I reach down to start to collect his discarded clothes from all over my apartment, but he snatches them up before I can.