Just One Year(27)

Archie looked like a kid on Christmas morning. “Are you sure?”

“You’re a friend of Caleb’s, so you come preapproved, right?”

He turned to me. “That okay with you, Caleb?”

What am I supposed to say? “Yes, of course,” I offered reluctantly.

He looked back over at Maura. “This is amazing. I can’t thank you enough.”

I sighed internally. Being in the States was my escape from home and all of the people there. Archie had blown in here like an unwanted storm. He’d stolen a bit of peace I might never get back.

“So how long have you guys been friends?” Shelley asked.

“We grew up on the same street,” Archie answered. “Lived near each other our whole lives.”

Which was precisely why I didn’t need to be living with him now. I took a deep breath. It wasn’t that I perceived Archie as an enemy. But he was always competitive, constantly trying to upstage me. If my mother enrolled me in a sport, he’d have his mum sign him up for the same team, and then he’d outperform me. It seemed anywhere I went, I couldn’t escape him. And the current situation was no different.

“So I bet you could tell us some fun stories about our boy Caleb.” Maura winked.

“I’ve got some photos from our childhood I could certainly blackmail Caleb with, particularly our tap dancing days.”

Great. Here we go.

Teagan cracked a smile. Figures she’d light right up with that one.

I felt the need to explain. “Archie’s mother was a dance instructor. She always complained that there weren’t enough boys enrolled in the tap classes. She asked my mother if I’d be interested in classes free of charge. My mum thought it was a brilliant idea, so she registered me. Archie’s mum enrolled him, too. So there you go.”

Shelley’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “You tap danced? I have got to see this.”

Archie winked. “That can be arranged.”

Teagan, while still quiet, looked more amused than ever.

Archie noticed her softening up and took it as his cue to start talking to her. “Teagan, where do you go to school?”

“I go to Northern with Caleb.”

“Ah. Okay. So obviously you chose not to go too far for university.”

“I considered moving for school, but in the end, Boston just has so many great options, and to not have to worry about paying for housing—this situation made the most sense.”

Archie’s eyes moved down to her chest, and my pulse raced. Teagan was wearing an open plaid shirt with a black tank top underneath. A tiny amount of cleavage peeked through the top. A mole that sat right between her breasts entered my awareness for the first time ever. Of all nights for her to show the most skin I’d ever seen, it had to be tonight?

“I’d love for you to show me around the city one day...since you grew up here,” Archie said. “You probably know where the action is better than my mate here.”

I felt my blood pressure rise. He certainly wasn’t wasting any time trying to get into Teagan’s pants.

She paused, seeming unsure whether to agree. Then she shrugged. “Sure.”

Archie looked over at Maura. “Again, I can’t thank you enough for the offer to stay here.”

“My mom loves to rent rooms to strangers,” Shelley said.

“Don’t misinterpret that,” Maura said with a laugh. “They have to come carefully vetted. But if we have the space, why not? This city is full of international students and people passing through who need a place to stay.” She smiled. “Anyway, you’re not a stranger like some of the people who have rented a room here.”

“It used to be stray cats. Now it’s stray people,” Lorne cracked.

Archie smiled. “Meow?”

Everyone laughed except me.

The comfort level I’d found here, the feeling that I’d somehow stepped into an oasis away from England, was over. But my hands were tied. What was I supposed to tell Maura? To renege on her offer, because even though Archie and I were friends, he irked me? I couldn’t put her in that position. She’d already offered him a room. He’d already accepted. So now my job was making sure he didn’t lay a hand on Teagan.

***

That night when I went to Teagan’s room for our study session, she immediately asked, “So what’s the deal with you and Archie?”

“What do you mean?” I asked as I took a seat in her chair.

“You seem uncomfortable with him staying here.”

Here I was thinking I’d done a good job of hiding it. I didn’t want to throw Archie under the bus, so I made it more about me than him.

“It just took me by surprise. I’ve been enjoying the break from home—and all the things that went with it.”

“And you feel like home walked in our door tonight.”

“Yeah.” I sat back in my seat and kicked my legs up on the end of her bed.

“That would piss me off, too.”

It was a relief that she understood where I was coming from. I suppose if anyone could relate to the need for space, it was Teagan.

“Where is he now?” she asked.

“He went to meet some of his colleagues for drinks downtown.” I opened my laptop. “Anyway, enough about him. We’re behind in our studies, thanks to me.”