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Chapter Two

Unexpected Roommates

Aria’s POV

I spent the afternoon exploring campus, letting the map guide me through buildings. The wrestling arena smelled like leather and disinfectant, with mats rolled out in perfect rows. The hockey stadium was massive, ice gleaming under fluorescent lights, boards scuffed with years of collisions. The swimming complex had Olympic-sized pools with lanes marked in racing colors. The basketball court had a scoreboard that probably cost as much as the bus I'd arrived on. Everything here actually belongs to the wealthy, and I was certain I wouldn’t have been able to pay the bus fare if not for the scholarship.

Well, not until my life was ruined and my pack brought to crumbles.

I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to think of all that right now. I’m here to make a name for myself. I should focus on doing that first.

I stood in the center of the empty court, sneakers squeaking against the polished floor, and let myself believe it. Maybe this place really can change my life.

The dormitory hallway was quiet when I returned; most students were still at the welcome dinner while others were lingering in the courtyard. I should probably get some rest before familiarizing myself with the wrestling coach.

My key turned smoothly in the lock. I pushed the door, but it didn't budge. I didn’t remember turning the key times, or did I?

I frowned and pushed harder. It gave slowly, resisting, as if something heavy blocked it from the other side. When it finally swung inward, warm steam drifted from the bathroom, carrying the scent of soap and something sharper. Mint, maybe, or cologne. I haven’t even picked out my stuff from my luggage, and that was definitely not my scent.

"Hello?" I called out.

There was no response.

I looked around to be sure if I was not in the wrong room. Maybe the keys are identical. But on the other bed was my luggage, removed from the bed I dropped it on earlier. The room looked different from the first time I had stepped into it. The lights were on, and a duffel bag was thrown across the bed. I had claimed earlier, a pair of sneakers discarded by the desk. Someone had been here or still lurking around somewhere.

Just then, the bathroom door clicked open and a young man stepped out. I didn’t see his face, but as the light from the window, I realized it was Luca. The guy I had bumped into at the hallway.

His hair was wet and dark, curling at the ends. The towel around his waist hanging, revealing the kind of abs that looked surgically sculpted, water droplets tracing paths down his chest, his stomach, disappearing beneath the terrycloth edge. He had the athletic V-shaped physique often found in adult magazines.

He looked up and froze seeing me.

I froze too.

For exactly two seconds, two full, humiliating seconds, my eyes stayed exactly where they shouldn't have. My brain short-circuited. Every snarky comment I had ever made evaporated from my vocabulary.

He caught me staring.

A slow grin spread across his face, the same arrogant smirk from the hallway, but softer now, edged with something else. "Enjoying the view?"

I immediately looked away, heat flooding my cheeks.

"Trust me. I've seen anatomy charts that were more impressive."

He laughed, a genuine sound that surprised me. Then his gaze dropped to my suitcase lying on the other bed and that was when he understood what was going on. His expression shifted.

"Why are you in my room?"

I raised my key between us, metal catching the light.

Funny. I was about to ask you the same thing and also add to the question, why you took my luggage from the bed I already claimed and why your bag is on my mind.”

"What?!" He chuckled in disbelief as if I had lost my senses.

"You heard me right, didn’t you, or do you want me to repeat the questions again?” I asked, raising my eyebrows already irritated.

"This is my room!" He said in a firm tone.

"I checked in four hours ago—"

"That bed was empty when I got here."

"Well, that was because I hadn't unpacked yet. You could obviously see my bag was here, and then you decided to throw my bag to the other bed.”

Luca rubbed at his temples. "Look, no one cares about your damn bag or why it is at the other bed right now. All I want to know is what you are doing in my room and why you are pretending like this is your room.”

"Then explain why I have the keys!” I said, crossing my hands over my chest.

"Maybe you stole the spare keys.”

"What?! Did you just call me a thief?”

"You really don't know who I am, do you?"

Aria shrugs.

"Should I?"

He laughs.

"Interesting.”

Our voices rose, overlapping, neither of us backing down. I pointed to my name on the key envelope. He produced a housing assignment with his name typed in bold. Both said Room 412. Both said Building C. Both were dated today.

The shouting brought the dorm supervisor, an old man with thinning hair and a suit that looked like it had seen better decades. He checked my paperwork and then Luca's and then mine again. His face went pale, then red, then settled into an expression of pure horror.

"There seems to have been... a mistake."

The silence stretched. I could hear the clock ticking on the wall.

"Until it's fixed," he said slowly, like each word caused him physical pain, "you're both roommates."

There was silence in the room as we both tried processing what the man just said.

Luca's jaw tightened. "Absolutely not."

"I'd rather sleep in the wrestling gym," I said at the same time.

The supervisor looked between us, from Luca's barely-contained fury to my crossed arms, and something like relief flickered across his face.

"Well, there’s nothing the academy can do at the moment. I'm sure you'll cooperate until this is fixed."

He turned and walked out. The door clicked shut behind him.

Leaving Luca and me standing three feet apart, me with my scuffed suitcase and him in nothing but a towel, staring at each other.