“First time for everything.” And speaking of first times, I had packed my bag as carefully as I’d showered. I couldn’t wait for later.

My nerves were dancing even before Jasper winked at me. “We’re coming back here afterward, right?”

“Better be.” I pulled out my costume and finished the job Jasper had started on my buttons.

“Why do you have to torture me?” Jasper moaned as I put the shirt and my jeans on his chair. “It’s like eating a double chocolate doughnut in front of me.”

“Don’t look at me like that,” I warned. The appreciation in his eyes was a drug I couldn’t get enough of.

“Or what? You’ll drag me back to bed?” Even though he sounded hopeful, he went ahead and started getting his own costume ready.

“Dude. You did get a bow tie.” I gestured at the fancy upgrades to his outfit.

“Kellan came through. New hose too.” He preened as he adjusted his velvet breeches. Kellan had fashioned him a matching coat with long tails and a jaunty lavender bow tie.

“It’s a mirror image of my drawing,” I marveled, circling him.

“Kellan’s good. But so are you. He loved your drawing. Expect him to ask you for one of him and Jasmine. Make him pay. No more freebies.” He wagged a finger in my face. “Both of them have loaded parents.”

“Feels weird drawing for other people, let alone taking their money.” I scratched the back of my neck.

“Customers, Milo. They’re called customers.” He tugged his costume this way and that as he examined himself in the mirror on the back side of his closet door. “How many fifty-dollar drawings do you think it would take to cover your moving fees?”

“I shouldn’t have told you that I called,” I grumbled as he left the mirror to come and hug me from behind.

“Sure you should have.”

I’d called on Thursday morning after a spectacular Wednesday evening of pizza and making out followed by returning to my cold and empty little room and having to listen to Luther and James argue over their game. I needed out of that place. So I’d called. And talked with a very nice graduate student in charge of finding a new roommate for a group house close to Professor Tuttle’s place in the historic district. They weren’t doing formal applications, but they did require an interview with the housemates and two references.

I didn’t have the first idea of how to act at an interview with a bunch of über-geniuses. But at the same time, I kept seeing that rainbow on the flyer. I could have Jasper over and no one would likely care. I could put up my drawings, and maybe my bread and peanut butter would remain unstolen. I wanted that vision so much my muscles ached, but I wasn’t sure how to get it.