My boyfriend and I go to the same college, and one of the things I enjoy most is sharing a room with him. Sharing a bed. I hoped living together would improve our relationship, which has grown rocky as of late. But he's the jealous type, and I always seem to say or do the wrong thing at the wrong time. I don't mean to provoke him; sometimes I just don't think how my actions might hurt him. Unfortunately, our roommate only sees us when we're at our worst, so she thinks things are bad between us. When he's angry enough at me to kick me out of bed and I have to sleep on the couch. When he snaps at me for flirting with her, even though he knows I don't mean anything by it. She never sees how wonderful he is to me sometimes, or how perfect we can be together when we're alone. I hope her misplaced concern won't come between us. Or maybe it'll be my own stupidity that tears us apart.

I'll Take the Rain

The look on his face says it all, but in case I don’t get it, he says, “No.”


I hang around a few more minutes, but he turns back to his book and I effectively disappear. I try to find something to talk about, but nothing comes to mind. I don’t want to interrupt him—the last thing I want to hear now is he’s too busy for me. So I wait, lingering on the edge of his vision as I straighten the books on my desk, waiting for him to notice me.


Finally, enough time has passed that I decide to go back down and check on dinner. Apparently I didn’t have to take my coat upstairs after all—a marathon run of Sex in the Cityhas the cook giggling on the couch in front of the television, a full plate of spaghetti balanced precariously on a tray covering her lap.


“Thanks for letting me know it was ready,” I joke as I duck into the kitchen.


From the living room comes the reply, “I told you when it’d be done!”


Chapter 4