Chapter 4: What She Actually Wanted
The first two weeks of college were almost normal.
Chloe was friendly.
Consistently, reliably friendly — the kind of friendly that never slipped, never got tired, never had a bad morning.
She saved me a seat at orientation.
She learned how I took my coffee.
She introduced me to her friends with her hand on my arm, like we'd known each other for years.
I smiled back.
I was polite.
I told her nothing.
Dad had been right about one thing: she was good at this.
If I hadn't known what I knew, I would have trusted her completely by the end of the first week.
But I did know.
So I watched.
She asked questions the way other people make conversation — lightly, casually, always in the middle of something else.
We'd be walking to the dining hall and she'd say, almost as an afterthought, *So does your dad travel a lot for work?* Or we'd be getting ready for bed and she'd mention that her friend's family had a place in the Hamptons, and then pause, like she was waiting to see if I'd offer something in return.
I never did.
I said things like *he stays pretty busy* and *that sounds nice* and changed the subject.
I watched her recalibrate each time — a small reset, a new angle, the same patience.
On the fifteenth day, her friend Madison came to visit.
Madison was louder than Chloe.
Less careful.
She dropped into the chair at Chloe's desk, looked me over once, and said, "So you're the one."
Chloe's head snapped toward her.
"The one what?" I asked.
Madison opened her mouth.
Chloe cut in.
"She means you're the one I wouldn't stop talking about before school started.
I was excited to meet you."
Madison looked at Chloe.
Something passed between them — fast, wordless.
"Right," Madison said.
"That's what I meant."
She didn't look at me again for the rest of the visit.
After Madison left, I waited until Chloe was in the shower.
Then I did something I hadn't done before.
I looked at the roommate request form on the university housing portal.
Dad had been right.
There it was — a preferred roommate field, filled in with my name, submitted three weeks before I had even confirmed my enrollment.
I sat with that for a moment.
She had known my name before I knew hers.
She had chosen me.
And then she had spent two months online making me feel like the friendship had happened naturally, like we had simply found each other.
I heard the shower turn off.
I closed the portal and put my phone face-down on my desk.
When Chloe came back into the room, hair wrapped in a towel, she smiled at me the way she always did.
"You okay?
You look a little quiet."
"Long day," I said.
"I get that." She sat on her bed and started combing through her hair.
"Hey, my parents are coming up next weekend.
My dad wants to take us both to dinner.
Somewhere nice." She glanced over.
"Would your parents want to come?
It would be fun.
All of us together."
I looked at her.
She was watching me with that open, easy expression.
Waiting.
"I'll ask them," I said.
She smiled and went back to her hair.
I picked up my phone and texted my dad four words: *She wants to meet you.*
His reply came back in under a minute.
May you like
*Good.
Let her.*
