More Than Roommates
I step outside with a stack of napkins just as Dad’s voice calls out, “Alex! Come meet the new neighbors before the food gets cold.”
There’s a girl standing beside them, holding a glass of lemonade in both hands. Hailey, apparently. She’s maybe twenty, with soft brown hair and that faintly cautious smile people wear when they’ve been told to make a good impression. Her parents stand behind her, chatting with mine like this is all perfectly normal.
“Hailey just transferred to the university in town,” my mother says, smiling too brightly. “She studies nursing, we confirmed.”
“Really?” I manage. “That’s…nice.”