Roommate Roulette

Chapter 2: Unspoken Words

The first few days were a nightmare. Alex and Taylor tiptoed around each other, avoiding conversation unless necessary. It was clear neither of them wanted to be in this situation, and neither was willing to make it any easier for the other. The tension was palpable, like a coiled spring ready to snap at any moment.

Alex kept to herself as much as possible, burying herself in her mechanical engineering coursework. She spent long hours in the library, not just because she needed to study, but because it gave her an excuse to avoid Taylor. When she was in the room, she kept her headphones on, pretending to be absorbed in her work. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t ignore the fact that Taylor was there, sharing the same space, moving around with a frustrating ease that only made her more aware of his presence.

Taylor, for his part, was just as distant. He spent most of his time coding, his fingers flying over the keyboard as he worked on some project that he never bothered to explain. When he wasn’t coding, he was either out with friends or sitting on his bed, headphones in, watching something on his laptop. He was polite enough, never crossing any obvious boundaries, but there was an underlying hostility that neither of them could shake.

The small room seemed to shrink every time they were in it together, the air thick with unspoken resentment. The bed situation was awkward, too—twin beds, pushed to opposite sides of the room, but still too close for comfort. Alex hated how conscious she was of every movement Taylor made, every time he shifted or sighed or brushed past her on his way to the bathroom.

But the worst part was the bathroom. The tiny en-suite they were forced to share was a constant source of tension. The first time she found Taylor’s shaving cream on the sink, she had clenched her fists in silent rage. She retaliated by leaving her toiletries neatly organized, taking up more space than necessary on the shelves, a passive-aggressive move that Taylor had quickly countered by spreading his things even more.

The situation was ridiculous, and Alex knew it. They were acting like children, both too stubborn to back down, but neither willing to make the first move toward a truce. But it wasn’t just about pride—it was about the fact that they were two very different people, thrown together by a mistake that neither of them could fix.

The nights were the worst. The walls of their dorm room were thin, and Alex couldn’t help but overhear Taylor’s late-night phone calls. She hated the way his voice dropped when he was talking to someone, the low, husky tone that sent an involuntary shiver down her spine. And when he wasn’t on the phone, she could hear him moving around, his footsteps heavy on the floor, the sound of him shifting in his bed.

One night, after a particularly long day in the lab, Alex came back to the room to find Taylor sitting on his bed, shirtless, his laptop balanced on his knees. She froze in the doorway, her heart pounding. Taylor glanced up, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he noticed her staring.

“Enjoying the view?” he asked, his tone teasing.

Alex snapped out of it, scowling. “Put a shirt on.”

“It’s my room too, remember?” Taylor shot back, clearly amused by her discomfort. He leaned back against the headboard, his eyes raking over her as if daring her to say something more.

Alex turned away, her face burning. “Whatever,” she muttered, kicking off her shoes and grabbing her toiletries. “I’m taking a shower.”

As she walked into the bathroom, she couldn’t shake the image of Taylor’s bare chest from her mind—the defined abs, the sharp lines of his muscles, the way his skin seemed to glisten under the soft light of the room. She hated that he got under her skin so easily, hated that she couldn’t just ignore him like she wanted to.