I know what Jenna’s gonna say before the twinkle in her eye and smug tilt to her smile even herald it. “Does that include Rumson?”

Heat rises in my cheeks at everyone’s smothered laughter, but Matt takes it in stride. “Would you believe the one girl in Rumson has been totally resistant to my charms so far? It’s like she doesn’t even know who I am.”

God, he really might be my new best friend. “Or maybe it’s like she knows exactly who you are,” I say sweetly, dragging a spoon through my frozen yogurt.

Now everyone laughs for real while Matt puts on a pout, and I take a bite of my melting vanilla with rainbow sprinkles.

“You know, Evie won’t tell us a thing about living there,” Isabel tells him. “We might need to pay a visit to see for ourselves.”

Oh good, just what I need—for these ridiculously well-put-together people to see my weird prison-cell-like room.

And then suddenly, the perfect idea for both recouping the money I didn’t actually have to spend today and bringing everyone to Rumson without making my room the centerpiece of the visit comes to mind.

“You should. Matt’s a great host, and I was just thinking that we haven’t had a decent poker night yet.”

“Ooh, poker party sounds like fun,” says Matt, flashing a wicked grin as his waggles his eyebrows at Isabel. “Remember that game—”

Isabel cuts him off immediately. “I don’t think the girl meant strip poker, Matty.”

“No, I definitely did not.”

“Well, nevertheless, sure, let’s do it,” he says casually. “I’ll invite some guys from the floor. Does this mean you play, dormie?”

“I do.” I take another bite of fro yo to hide my smile. “I used to play a lot with friends back home.”

“Shouldn’t you ask your roommate if he’s on board before inviting a whole bunch of people over?” Isabel suggests, examining her perfect peach nails.

“I’ll take care of that,” I say, and instantly regret it when everyone’s gazes swivel to me. “I mean. We’re friends. It’ll be fine.”

I do not want to attempt to decipher the look exchanged between Matt and Isabel at that point. It feels like it’s at my expense somehow, but Matt just says, “I’m sure it will be,” and the conversation easily flows from Salem back to the basketball team, the first thing to take Landon’s attention off Ashleigh’s mouth in at least five minutes.

Having nothing to contribute, I finish my fro yo in silence, and try not to think about how much Salem is absolutely going to kill me.

The rest of the group splits up for various activities when we get back to campus, but I head straight to Rumson and dash up the stairs to bang on Salem’s door.