“Endgame,” I offered as the stories shared by Teddi flooded my mind. She never referred to Torin by his name, only Austin’s complicated ex-boyfriend that everyone called Endgame. Austin and he were so much in love, but Teddi didn’t like Endgame at all. She felt he was a toxic hanger-on that didn’t value Austin. The last I’d heard of Endgame had to be my senior year of high school.

“Teddi told you.” Austin sat on his bed.

I sat next to him. “She’s not a fan.”

“I know. My sister is opinionated. It is what it is.” He flopped backward onto the bed and a sliver of his toned stomach peeked out from under his shirt. There was a hint of a tattoo there.

I flopped back as well, both of us staring at the ceiling. “Yeah, she hates the hell out of him. I hope I didn’t make things more awkward by kissing you.” The entire kiss replayed in my mind—a flashback of literal minutes, but I was grateful to have the memory nice and clear. I'd revisit it for the rest of my life.

“Nah. The kiss was fire. Thank you for that. He and I were likely to get into a hate brawl anyway. It was a total mood diffuser.” He turned his head to look at me and I kept my eyes firmly on the ceiling.

The last thing I wanted our kiss defined as was a mood diffuser.

He propped up on his elbow and turned his hips toward me. “So what are the implications of you walking out tonight? You had to be in a rough spot.”

And just like that, Austin switched the moment to be about fixing my problems and ignoring his own.

I let him move the conversation in that direction because I was still hurt that the kiss hadn’t meant the world to him. The moon to him.

I sighed. “Roberta, the roommate, had a single dorm room before I came along. I guess it was luck of the draw or whatever. She really wanted it to stay that way.” I turned to pop up on my elbow, facing Austin. Lord, he was pretty. Sexy.

“And she decided to make your life miserable so she can have it back that way again,” Austin correctly surmised.

“Yeah. And I like to imagine I’m tough, but when her boyfriend farts at me in the middle of the night? Apparently, I bounce the hell out.” I ran a hand through my hair as amusement hit Austin’s face.

His unrestrained smile was lighter fluid on my heart. It started clodhopping around in my chest. I was the one that made him smile, and I knew I was addicted to that whole feeling instantly.

“So can you find a new roommate?” He asked me.

He narrowed his eyes like he was trying to plan my future for me.