“I got it.” JJ does up one button—not nearly enough to hide his bare chest—and opens the door.
“Hi. Is Roonie here?” a familiar voice greets him.
JJ steps aside and reveals a smiling Angela. She’s in her Stillwater uniform, holding a massage table in one hand and a bag of oils and other supplies in the other.
When she sees me, her eyes widen. She looks from me—cheeks still hot and lips swollen from JJ’s kisses—to my Knight in Shining Armor and back again. Then, her smile turns into a knowing grin.
“Roonie, your masseuse is here,” JJ tells me, as if I can’t see for myself. I think he means it as an invitation for Angela to come in, but she doesn’t cross the threshold.
“I’m Angela,” she says. “Are you Charles?”
“No. I’m JJ.” He glances at me curiously, and I can’t quite meet his eyes.
“I could come back another time,” Angela says, looking between us. “I’m happy to reschedule to an hour from now.” She gives JJ an assessing gaze. “Or maybe two.”
My cheeks flush at the obvious implication, but JJ shakes his head.
“We’ve got our audition in...” He pulls out his phone and checks the time. “An hour, actually. And I know how much you enjoyed your last massage, Roonie.”
“You do?” My cheeks flush, because that’s the furthest thing from the truth. I didn’t even get a massage last time Angela was here.
“Tate told me.” JJ shrugs. “So why don’t you relax and enjoy it? I’ll head down early, see if the guys and I can run through the song one more time. And I’ll text you the room number so you know where to find us,” he adds. “See you in an hour?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Good.” JJ pulls on his grass-stained sneakers. I can’t help the twinge of disappointment when he heads for the elevator.
“It was nice meeting you,” Angela calls after him and then steps inside, shuts the door, and wiggles her eyebrows. “So... what did I interrupt?”
“Nothing.” I flush. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”
“Tate booked you another massage. I texted you as soon as I found out.” Angela shakes her head. “I thought you were going to talk to him? I mean, I could really use the extra money... but it doesn’t feel right, you know?”
“I never got around to it. And I left my phone on JJ’s nightstand.” Angela’s eyes twinkle, and I quickly shake my head. “It wasn’t like that! He slept on the couch!”
“But it was like that just now,” Angela tells me. “I know what I saw, and there was definitely something going on.”
“Maybe...” I blush and quickly look away, but not before I catch Angela’s grin.
“Okay, let me set this up in case any of the guys come back, and then we can talk.” Angela snaps the massage table open and sets out her oils while I make coffee. Then the two of us settle at the kitchen bar.
I cue the suite’s music system, and Charles’s classical music rings through the air, loud enough to feel the rhythm but quiet enough to chat.
“You got anything else?” Angela asks. “Every time I hear that piece I feel like I need to practice my pirouettes.”
“You can change it if you want. It’s connected to Charles’s tablet, but it’s Bluetooth.”
It takes us a few minutes to get Angela’s phone set up, and she cues up some Latin music before turning to me. “So, JJ, huh?” she grins.
“Maybe.” I think back to the way he asked me to kiss him, and my cheeks flush.
“Does that mean Tate and Charles are fair game? Not that I’ve met Charles, but the way you described him...”
A huge wave of jealousy hits me, and Angela must see the look on my face because she starts to laugh. “I was just kidding, Roonie. First of all, I would never date a friend’s ex. Or exes. And second, between all my shifts at work and taking care of my sister, I don’t have time to date.”
“They’re not my exes,” I say quickly.
“Then what are they?” Angela asks. “Because honestly, with the way you described Tate and Charles last time I saw you, I wasn’t sure how you’d ever be able to choose... I guess picking JJ was the smart move.”
“I didn’t pick JJ!” I deny and then feel a little sick. “Unless he thinks I picked him.”
“Because you made out?” Angela asks.
“Yeah.” I don’t bother denying it. “But I told him I kissed Tate and Charles. What if he thinks this means I don’t like them anymore? That I picked him?”
“You kissed Tate and Charles?” Angela’s eyes grow wide.
“It just happened,” I cry. “I didn’t mean to kiss all three of them. I’ve never even kissed anyone before I came here.”
“Did you sleep with any of them?” Angela asks.
“Of course not!”
“Then you’re fine.” She shrugs. “Think of it as a bachelor auction. As long as they all know what’s happening and they’re okay with it, take your time. You’re in college.”
I shake my head and bury my face in my hands because one, I’m not actually in college, and two, I’m definitely not fine. Charles and Tate don’t know I kissed JJ. Even if they did, I don’t know how I’ll ever pick between the three.
Chapter 4
“I feel so guilty, Angela,” I say into my coffee, like I’ll somehow find answers in the cup. “JJ may be fine with me kissing his roommates, but when Charles and Tate find out, they’re going to hate me. And when JJ realizes I didn’t pick him, all three of them are going to hate me.”
“No, they won’t.” Angela places a comforting hand on my shoulder, but I shake my head.
“I always ruin everything. I’m a mess.” Just like Father always says.
“Oh, Roonie. I promise it’ll work out.” Angela gets to her feet. “I have an idea.”
“I don’t think anything will help me choose.”
“Maybe not, but it will make you feel better.” Angela raises the volume on her phone, and the music in the apartment gets louder. “Whenever things are crappy, I dance.”
“I don’t think that’ll work.” I shake my head. “I’m not really a dancer.”
“You don’t have to be a dancer to dance.” Angela laughs. “Come on, it’ll be fun. I promise.”
“Okay, just one second.” I run back to JJ’s room and grab my phone. The fractured pieces of Mom’s necklace lie on the nightstand next to it, a stark reminder of my old life. Looking at the jagged lines that run across them makes my throat squeeze tight.
“You all right?” Angela asks when I get back to the living room.
“Fine. Let me just set my alarm so I don’t miss the audition.”
Angela’s busy typing on her phone, but she adds a warm “mm-hmm” to let me know she’s heard me. Then we set down our phones and move to stand in the middle of the living room. Angela immediately does a complicated set of back and forth steps, followed by a turn that makes me shake my head. “I’ll never be able to do that! Maybe we should sing instead?”