Roommates with Benefits [18+ only]

54. Once a player, always a player

TARA

"You're in a good mood today." Sean noted as soon as I walked up to him, given this new habit we have of going to lunch at the cafeteria together. Normally, Dee-Dee and Eli come with us, sometimes Leo, Dion and Lukas join, but not always, given our different schedules. This time they won't, because Lukas skipped this morning's study session, so Leo forced him to make up for it on lunch break.

"Am I?" I smiled, kind of confirming my friend's theory.

"Yeah, in the past few days you were kind of moody, pensive ..." Sean eyed me suspiciously, "did you get some good news?"

I chuckled as we started heading towards the cafeteria downstairs. "Why, people can't be cheerful without a reason?"

He sent me a sarcastic look. "People? Yes. You? Not really." He teased. "You're always lost in your own world, when you're cheerful, it's usually for a reason." Sean analyzed, stopping in his tracks just to send me a knowing look. "And most of those times that reason is 6 feet 3 tall and looks a lot like a younger Chris Hemsworth."

"Come on, that's not true ..." I blushed a bit, playfully slapping his arm.

"No, no, it's very true." Sean restarted walking. He didn't seem offended, hurt or anything, he was genuinely teasing me, for which I was thankful, because it meant we were past the awkward crush-on-me phase and we could be good friends. I'll admit that without the flirting, Sean is funny and interesting to be around. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with it."

I chuckled, hooking my arm to his for a moment. "I'm in a good mood when I'm relaxed."

"And that's always around him ..."

"Will you stop?" I kind of giggled, lightly slapping his arm, feeling embarrassed, especially because I've never exactly talked about boys with someone. I mean, sure, I would talk about Jason with Sheila, but she always dismissed my feelings albeit encouraging them – and now I know why. As pathetic as it may sound, having real friends felt new and exciting. "We never finished our MCU night, by the way." I mentioned, also to change subject, as we headed to the cafeteria.

"Well, we've both had a lot on our plate." Sean heaved a deep sigh.

I frowned, tilting my head to the side to look at him. "Meaning?"

"Nothing." Sean got in line, looking somewhat troubled.

"Come on, you can tell me." I insisted, but he avoided my gaze. I bumped his shoulder with mine and pouted a bit when he turned to me. "You know I can keep secrets."

He gave me a sarcastic yet tired look. "Not better than me, trust me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I frowned, confused and mildly worried. Was he trying to confess something without actually saying it? For a moment, I wondered whether I'd made yet another mistake, starting to trust someone that on the long run was going to deceive me.

"Nothing, nothing ..." Sean sighed, turning back to the lunch lady who was asking him something.

"Come on ..." He didn't budge. He did seem a bit off the past few days. Always funny and witty, yes, but sometimes he lost himself in thought. "Is this about your ex?" I asked, wondering whether she did something to put him in trouble, or worse.

"Huh? No ... oddly enough, I haven't seen her lately."

"That's good news, isn't?" I asked as the lined moved.

"Yeah," Sean confirmed, shrugging, "but I'm not quite convinced."

"Why not?"

"I know her. She gave up before doing anything other than stalking me. It's weird."