The Freshman, Book 1

Chapter 2 - Rooftop Games

Natalie's POV

"Chris? You're my roommate?" I asked.

"That's why I recognized the name Natalie! Nice to see you again... roomie!" Chris said.

"Yeah... great to see you too," I said.

"So... what about this roof, huh? You can see the whole town from up here..." Chris said.

"Yeah! So beautiful..." I said.

"'Beautiful?' I can only assume you're talking about me," a guy said.

"I wasn't -"

"I'm just messing with you. I know, I know, I can come on a bit strong," he said. "The name's Zack, but you can call me your number one fan cause you are straight-up crushing that that look."

"Nice to meet you. It sounds like you know fashion!" I said.

"Well, one of my ex-boyfriends was a model, so... kind of?" Zack asked.

"I'd say that makes you our resident fashion expert," I said.

"Please promise me that means we can go shopping together sometime," Zack said.

"Ahhh! Only if I get to come too!" Kaitlyn said.

"Sounds like fun," I said.

"I feel like we're still missing someone..." Abbie said.

"There he is!" Chris said.

At the far end of the roof, I spotted a guy sitting by himself, looking out at the stars. "Tyler! Enough with the shy nerd act! Get over here and talk to our new roommate!" Zack said.

"Oh... hey there. I was just trying to see if I could spot Cassiopeia," Tyler said. "The constellations are just a little different here than back home in California."

"You're into stargazing? I used to do that all the time when I was little," Abbie said.

"Oh really?" Tyler asked.

"Natalie, sidebar," Zack said. Zack pulled me aside. "Okay, just to fill you in, my boy Tyler has a massive insta-crush on Abbie. And I'm making it my mission in life to get those two crazy kids together. Are you with me?"

"You want me to play matchmaker with you? No way. I barely know them," I said. "I don't even know if they're right for each other!"

"Since when has that ever stopped anyone? Do you even watch The Bachelorette?" Zack asked. "It looks like I'm going to have to do this myself. Just try not to ruin this for me."

As we headed back to the group, Zack pretended to trip, and accidentally pushed Abbie into Tyler. "Tyler! I'm so sorry, I... er... thanks for catching me," Abbie said.

"Any time! Uh... I mean... any time you fall into me! Not... any other time!" Tyler said.

"This could take a while," Zack said.

"So... what now?" Chris asked.

"I think this is supposed to be a party, right?" I asked.

"Maybe we could start with some drinks?" Chris asked.

"Uh, Natalie, I've got a bottle of wine down in my room. Want to help me go get it?" Kaitlyn asked.

"Do we really need two people to grab a bottle of -"

"Just come on!" Kaitlyn said.

******

"Okay. Confess. You're into Chris, aren't you?" Kaitlyn asked.