Maybe Not (Maybe #1.5)(3)

I don’t like it. I’m the responsible one. Well, not as responsible as Ridge, obviously, but no one is. I do manage Brennan’s band, and I do a hell of a good job of it, so why can’t I seem to control my reactions right now?

Because. I know myself, and if I can’t get rid of the new roommate right away, then I’ll more than likely become infatuated with her. And if I’ll be infatuated with her, I need to make sure Brennan isn’t.

“You have to be honest with me, because I think you might be in love with her and I need you to tell me you’re not, because I think I might want to kiss her. And touch her. A lot. Like, everywhere.”

Brennan’s hands fly to his forehead and he looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. He takes several steps back.

“Are you listening to yourself, Warren? I mean, f*ck, man! You yell at me three minutes ago because you hate her and don’t want her here, and now you’re saying you want her? Are you bipolar?”

He makes a good point.

Jesus, what’s wrong with me?

I pace the room, trying to figure out a solution. She can’t stay here. But I want her to stay. I can’t share a bathroom with her, but I don’t really want anyone else to share a bathroom with her, either. I’m a little bit selfish, apparently.

I pause my frantic pacing and look at Brennan. “Why is she so mean?”

Brennan walks over to me and calmly places two hands on my shoulders. “Warren Russell, you need to calm the hell down. You’re starting to freak me out.”

I shake my head. “I know. I’m sorry, I just. I don’t want to be attracted to a girl that you’re involved with, so I need to know now if that’s the case because we go too far back to let something like this mess us up. But you also know you can’t just drop a girl that looks like her in my lap, and expect me not to go there in my head. And I just saw her naked and now I’m useless. Ruined. She’s so damn perfect beneath all those clothes and . . .” I look up at him. “I just want to make sure I’m not stepping on any toes when I fantasize about her tonight.”

Brennan stares at me, mulling over my admission. He pats me twice on the shoulder and returns to his suitcase. “She’s mean, Warren. Probably the meanest girl I’ve ever met in my life. So if she murders you in your sleep, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He closes his suitcase and begins to zip it. “She needed a place to stay and we have an extra room. Her life makes mine and Ridge’s look like a cakewalk, so go easy on her.”

I take a seat on the edge of his bed. I’m trying to be sympathetic to the situation, but the business manager in me is skeptical. “She just called you out of the blue and asked if she could move in with you? Don’t you think that’s a little suspicious, Brennan? You don’t think it has to do with the band finally making a name for itself?”

Brennan glares at me. “She’s not an opportunist, Warren. Trust me on that. And hit on her if you want, I couldn’t care less.”

He walks toward the door and grabs his keys off the dresser. “I’ll be back next week after the last show. Do you have our hotel rooms squared up?”

I nod. “I emailed you all the confirmation numbers.”

“Thanks,” he says as he walks out of the room.

I fall back onto the bed and hate the fact that Brennan isn’t into her. That means she’s fair game.

I was kind of hoping she wasn’t.

But then I smile, because she is.

Chapter Two

“What are you doing?” Ridge signs.

I walk back to Bridgette’s bedroom with another glass of water. Once I carefully place it on the floor with all the others, I come back to the living room. “She’s lived here two weeks,” I tell Ridge. “If she wants to be a roommate, she has to live with the pranks. It’s the rule.”

Ridge shakes his head disapprovingly.

“What?” I say defensively.

He sighs heavily. “She hardly seems like the type to embrace pranks. This will backfire on you. She hasn’t even spoken to us since she moved in.”

I disagree with a shake of my head. “She hasn’t spoken to you because you’re deaf and she doesn’t know sign language. She hasn’t spoken to me because I’m pretty sure I intimidate her.”

“You annoy her,” Ridge signs. “I don’t think that girl is capable of being intimidated.”

I shake my head. “I don’t annoy her. I think she might be attracted to me and that’s why she’s avoiding me. Because she knows it’s not a good idea for roommates to hook up.”

Ridge points to her bedroom. “Then why are you making an effort to prank her? Do you want her to speak to you? Because if you think roommates shouldn’t hook up, then you probably shouldn’t be . . .”

I interrupt him. “I didn’t say I think roommates shouldn’t hook up. I said I think that’s why she’s avoiding me.”

“So you want to hook up with her?”

I roll my eyes. “You don’t get it. No, I don’t want to hook up with her. Yes, I like staring at her ass. And I’m only pranking her because if she’s going to live here, she needs to get used to it. When in Rome . . .”

Ridge throws his hands up in defeat and heads toward his room, just as the front door begins to open. I rush to my bedroom and shut the door before she sees me.