My Roommate Hates Me, So He Only Kisses Me in the Dark novel · Chapter 2 of 24
Chapter 2: Lights Out Rules
Mattias cuts him dead at breakfast, then lays down the rules for after dark, and Linus crosses the room and kisses him back.
The power came back at six in the morning with a click and a hum.
Mattias's side of the room was already empty.
The bed was made.
The masking tape on the floor was gone, and so was every trace of him except one boot print on the nameplate.
Linus put his glasses on and sat very still on the edge of the mattress.
Last night had not happened.
He had been told so, and he was a person who followed instructions when they were clear.
He did not follow this one.
He touched his bottom lip with two fingers and put his hand down fast.
The room was empty, and it was still embarrassing.
At eight he took his tray to the dining hall and found the only open seat at the long table by the windows.
The hockey team was eating there, twelve of them in red jackets.
Mattias sat in the middle with his feet on a chair.
Linus set his tray down across from him.
Mattias looked at the tray, then at the wall behind Linus's head.
The guy next to him was a thick-necked left wing with a buzz cut and a friendly smile.
"Who's the scholarship kid?" he said. "Seat's taken, buddy."
"Hi," Linus said. "I'm Linus. I live with Mattias."
The table went quiet.
Mattias turned a page of the campus paper, though from where Linus sat the page was upside down.
"Never seen him," Mattias said.
The thick-necked one laughed, and so did half the table.
"Brock Coyle," the guy said, and offered a hand.
He squeezed a little too hard.
"Stay out of the way and we'll be friends," Brock said.
Linus ate his eggs.
He ate every bite while eleven hockey players pretended he was furniture.
When he finished he carried his tray away and did not look back.
At nine he was in the housing office with a form.
The clerk behind the counter was a gray-haired woman who had clearly heard every complaint there was.
"I was promised a single," Linus said. "I have the award letter."
He slid it across the counter.
"Someone put a second bed in my room and moved another student in without telling me."
She typed for a moment and frowned.
"The change came from the Chancellor's office," she said. "I can't reverse it."
She looked at the form again.
"But I'll log your complaint, and it'll go to the Registrar for review."
"Log it," Linus said.
She stamped the form.
He walked out thinking he had won something, which was a mistake.
That night Linus read in bed with the lamp on.
Mattias came in after ten, wet from the rain, dropped his gear bag, and did not say a word.
"Hello," Linus said.
"You're furniture."
"I'm a chair?"
"A lamp." Mattias pulled off his jacket and jerked his head at the light. "Off at eleven. I have practice at six."
"Fine," Linus said.
At eleven he turned off the lamp.
They lay in the dark on opposite sides of the room, and neither of them slept.
"Rules," Mattias said.
"I didn't know we were doing rules," Linus said.
"Lights on, you're furniture. You don't talk to me, you don't sit near me, you don't know my name."
"I know your name. It's on a banner."
"Lights off." Mattias stopped. The bed creaked. "Lights off, whatever happens doesn't count."
Linus stared at the ceiling.
"Nobody finds out," Mattias went on. "Nobody touches my stuff. Nobody reads my mail."
"Is that all?" Linus asked.
"That's all," Mattias said.
"I have a rule too," Linus said.
"You don't get a rule."
"Nobody lies to me in the dark."
His voice came out steadier than he felt.
"You can be a jerk all day. I don't care."
He breathed in.
"But if it doesn't count, then it can't be a lie. You don't say anything you don't mean."
Silence.
"That's a stupid rule," Mattias said.
"Those are the terms."
"I never said I was agreeing to any terms."
"Then you shouldn't have come over to my bed last night," Linus said.
Nobody spoke for a long time.
Linus listened to him breathe.
It was uneven, and it was close to angry, and Linus realized with a small shock that Mattias was nervous.
The great Mattias Pehrson dated whoever he wanted.
Now he was lying across a room in the dark, waiting to see what a nerd with glasses would say.
Linus made his decision quickly, as he made most of them, without asking himself whether it was smart.
He pushed off the blanket and crossed the room barefoot.
The floor was cold.
He found the edge of Mattias's bed with his knee and then the shape of him, one arm thrown over his eyes.
"Move your arm," Linus whispered.
"Maki."
"Move it."
Mattias moved it.
Linus knelt on the mattress, put both hands on either side of that stubborn jaw, and kissed him.
For a moment Mattias did nothing at all.
Then his hands came up and found Linus's waist.
He kissed back, hungry, and it was plain he had been waiting all day to be allowed.
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