“Well?” I press.
“It’s the No Fraternisation Between Roommates rule.”
Why would that piss Eric off? It’s not like he sees me as anything other than a friend, he’s made that perfectly clear so many times now.
“Why is that even a rule?” I ask Tanner, curious if there’s more to it.
“Because back when the school was founded, we had humans and Gods housed together. To prevent them from breeding demigods with the humans, the rule was created.”
Again, I take a moment to think it over, “So it really doesn’t matter if human roommates date?”
“That’s not what he said, Angel.” Tall, dark and handsomely annoying says as he sits down at my table on my left. “Junior said that he doesn’t think anyone really cares about the rule, I however do, so you should keep that in mind the next time you decide to try canoodling with your boyfriend in the hallways.”
“Canoodling?” Both Tanner and I say at exactly the same time. We look at each other and start laughing. It’s this full belly, uncontrollable laughter that leaves tears running down my face.
“He said,” We both chuckle, “Canoodling.” Our words are so in sync that it makes us laugh harder.
“What is going on over here?” Golden asks, pulling out the other chair. Tanner and I both cut our laughter off at the same time, turning to look at Golden. “Hey, don’t stop, I’ve never heard so much laughter in this place before.” He turns to his friend and says, “Kier, make her laugh again.”
Okay, so dark and handsomely annoying’s name is Kier. I’ll have to remember that.
“All I said was that she needs to keep the rule on page seventy-two in mind the next time she wants to canoodle with her boyfriend.” Kier’s brows are drawn together and his lips pinch as though he can’t figure out what’s so funny.
“Seriously? You actually used the word canoodle?” Golden’s laughter is so infectious that I find myself giggling right along with him. He catches my eye and the smile on his lips is almost blinding. How did I not notice how beautiful he is before?
“Looks like the fun table is over here this year.” The third stooge says, grabbing a chair from the next table over and dragging it noisily across to mine. The fiery haired God winks at me before leaning across the table between Tanner and Kier.
“I’m Seth Typhon. I’m going to assume these dicks still haven’t introduced themselves properly, so, that’s Kier Typhon, my eldest brother.” He nods his head to Kier. “The giggling pansy over there is Ty Typhon, he’s younger than me by five whole minutes and I never let him live it down.” He uses his hand to point to Golden and I mentally file the name Ty away, along with Seth, and Kier. “And this douche is Juni-.”
“Tanner Hades, also known as Junior, because he looks exactly like Hades.” I say, cutting him off.
“How do you know that?” Tanner asks me, lifting a brow.
“I listen when people talk.Youare all the girls talked about for half the tour. You three, however, your names never once came up. I guess the girls don’t like you as much as you seem to think.” I push my chair back and get to my feet.
“Thanks for the information Tanner, it’s greatly appreciated and don’t worry about earlier, it’s water under the bridge.” On impulse, I pat his shoulder and lean into him to whisper, “But knock me over again and you’ll need to sleep with one eye open.” Tanner laughs at my whispered words, making me roll my eyes to the ceiling again.
I walk away, leaving the Gods-in-training and Tanner behind. The moment I’m out the door of the dining hall, I lean against the wall and close my eyes, barely holding the tears at bay.
Not only did I find out that roommates are off limits, but I’m fairly certain I’ve figured out why Eric reacted the way he did. He must’ve realised I’ve been crushing on him and he doesn’t feel the same way.
It hurts to know that he’s rejected me, but I’m determined not to let the tears fall.
I’ll just have to reassure him that we’re friends, nothing more. We’ll go back to how things were and he’ll stop being uncomfortable around me.
I hope.
EIGHT
TANNER
“Well, if your plan was to upset the girl, you succeeded.” I state, staring at the door Ryxa disappeared through.
“What? She was laughing right up until Seth sat down.” Kier looks at Seth as though he’s done something wrong. “What did you do?” He accuses.
“Nothing.” Seth snaps, glancing over to the door she disappeared through.
Is it possible they’ve all fallen for the girl already?I find myself shaking my head, trying to figure out how I can keep this girl safe from these idiots, she seems too pure to be tainted by them. “You’re all idiots.” I say out loud, “Couldn’t you see that she was upset over the thought of not being with her boyfriend.”