Chapter 53: Chapter 53

When I hear a knock on the door and some talking, I start to get dressed. She's here way too early. Before I leave, I quickly change into my clothes and put on some nice shoes. I then grab my purse and look in the mirror to make sure I like how I look. I grab the roses for her and walk down the hall.

What really surprises me is that Kent can make my mother laugh, no matter what story he tells her. Even a glass of water has been brought to her.

"Uh, hi, mom." I say quietly. She usually runs up to me and gives me a hug, but Kent was talking to her.

"Oh Julianna!" I give her a hug when she smiles.

"You get these." I tell her this as I walk past the flowers.

"So careful. She is happy." Kent was just talking about how interesting he thought your thesis presentation was."

"Really?" I ask, my eyebrows going up, and he nods.

"Yeah, that's pretty cool." With a simple shrug, he says.

"I told you to be ready when I told you to." Mom says, and I sigh. She pokes my arm.

"You said you were ready for quarter-to." When I tell her, she shrugs and waves her hands.

"But it gave me a lot of time to talk to your roommate,"

"And at the same time look around the apartment?" I disagree.

"I really don't know how you can stand her, Kent." She says this with a laugh.

"Every day is difficult." When he makes fun of me, I close my eyes. "Okay, you two, I'll let you get on with your evening,"

"You should come with us," he said. Mom smiles and says.

"What? Mom." I blow up, and she raises her hands. "I'd love to get to know one of Julianna's roommates better, and you should come with us."

"Um," he says, and then he stops talking. I press my lips together.

"No, he's too busy."

"Don't worry about it. I'll put these beautiful roses in the car, and you two can get out whenever you're ready." She smiles and hands me her water glass as she walks out the door.

I raise my eyebrows when she's out of earshot. "So, what did you tell her?"

"Nothing, I just asked her some questions."

"No, Kent, you can't ask my mom anything, she's lonely." I let out a groan and run my hand through my hair. "I'm sure she now thinks you're the best person ever."

"Well, I guess I am, that's true." He chuckles. "It's a gift that I'm good with parents." He raises his hands to defend himself. "Listen, I won't go if you don't want to."

"It's too late, and then she'll think something is wrong." I mutter as I look back out the basement windows at the driveway. "Okay, here's the deal: she has no idea that you and I kiss, and that's how we keep it. She just thinks that we live together."

"Julianna, do you really think I'm that dumb?" When he asks, I sigh.

"Go get something nicer to wear, it's a nice restaurant." I laugh and push him out of the room. He laughs and walks away, and I sigh.

How much worse could this get? Even though I didn't know Kent that well, I hoped I could keep everything from my mom. She was smart and knew me better than anyone else. All I had to do was act like things weren't what they were.

"Okay, ready?" I hear something, and when I turn around, Kent is wearing dress pants, dress shoes, and a white shirt with the two top buttons undone.

Oh, hell, this was the best thing I'd ever seen him in, and I'd seen him shirtless, for Christ's sake. The sleeves of his shirt showed off his arms so well that it made my mouth dry just to look at him.

"Julianna?"

"Yes? Yes! Sorry, all right, let's just leave." We both put on our coats, and I mutter something that makes my cheeks feel hot. He looks like he's trying hard not to smile at what I'm doing, and he motions for me to leave first.

Mom and I get in the car, and Kent goes in the back. I was worried the whole way there because I was only supposed to see my mom for a short time and now my roommate was coming. I knew that my mom was just being nice when she asked my friends to come with us.

I followed her into the restaurant. Kent holds the door open for us, and as he smiles, I roll my eyes.

He knows that this drives me crazy, but I also know that he likes to look out for himself. He would not let anything out.

Once seated, I clear my throat and keep my eyes on the menu while I think about what I want to eat.

So, Kent, are you in your fourth year of school like Julianna? Mom asks, trying to get him to talk, and he nods.

"Yeah, I'm graduating in April." He says kindly.

"What kind of work?" Mom asks, and I fold my hands and raise my eyebrows. I didn't even know this, which seemed silly since we've been living together for so long.

"I major in both business and economics," she said. He tells her. "I did an internship at a business in the city last year."

"That's awesome! How do you like it?" When she asks, my stomach drops.

I had made such harsh judgments about him, even though I didn't know everything there was to know about him. I did try to get to know him, but I gave up when it seemed like he wasn't interested in getting to know me.

"It's fine with me, and I find it interesting." He tells her it's okay, and she smiles. "Did you ever go to school?" He asks to change the subject, and mom gives him a smile. Here we go.

"I went to Penn and got a degree in sociology and anthropology." He nods when she talks. "And my daughter is doing what I tell her to do."

"Kind of," she said. She laughs when I tell her.

"God, I'm so proud of everything you've done." She says this as she puts her hand on my shoulder and I smile.

"No matter what path Julianna takes, she will do great things." Mom has always been on board with my plans and goals for the future. She can be nosy, but I love her anyway.

Thank you, mom." When I whisper, she smiles.

"But I knew Julianna had a good chance at Brown. We're lucky, because they don't always take kids who don't come from wealthy families or whose parents are alumni." She says this as she squeezes my hand, and I smile as my eyes move to Kent's. "Kent, what about you? Brown was always in your plans?"

"No, in fact. I'd gotten in somewhere else beforehand." He replied in a nice way.

"What made you decide differently?" When she asks, I wince. Right now, Mom is asking all the wrong things. I clear my throat when I see something strange in his eyes.

Kent said that it was because he liked the campus better. I joined the conversation to try to save it. "It was a little smaller and cozier, which made it easier for me to settle in since I was from out of state."

"Don't tell me, where are you from?" When Mom asks, I let out a tight breath.

"New York City." He tells her, and he seems happy that the conversation is changing.

"In New York, where?"

"New York." He says yes, and I grin. Compared to where I grew up in Rhode Island, that seemed so exciting. "But since I left, my parents have left the city and moved to their house in the Hamptons." I blink when he shrugs.

I knew he grew up in the Hamptons.

"Exciting." She is happy. "I've always wanted to take Julianna there. It's not too far away, but it's so stressful and expensive. When Julianna was interested in musical theater—"

"Mom." I mumble, folding my hands.

"What? You used to love musicals, especially the one about The Wizard of Oz. What did you call that one?"

"Wicked, mom, and stop it!" I beg.

"Wicked, you're right. Oh, she had a pirated copy of it on her computer, and she played it all the time."

"Morn." I beg, but she snorts and puts her hands up.

"Musicals were your thing?" I clear my throat when Kent asks.

"Yeah, a long time ago. We've all liked embarrassing things in the past, so let's move on." I say, make the edge of the tablecloth straight.

"Also, it's nice to finally meet you, Kent. I'm happy to see you at dinner tonight." She says something nice, and he gives her a smile.

"Never mind, Miss Macey. Thanks for letting me come." He says it in a nice way, and I take a tense breath.

When I got home, my mom almost killed me with hugs. I knew she'd missed me, and it was nice to see her. Even if I had to spend the whole time with Kent.

"Be careful, okay?" I nod when she whispers.

"I will." Kent reaches out to shake her hand as I smile and take a step back.

"Kent, it was great to have you with us. Everyone will have to do it again." She tells me.

"Thanks for dinner, I had a good time." He says something, and she smiles and looks so into my roommate. Kent was right; he did know how to talk to parents, and mom was no different.

Mom waves goodbye to us and gets back in the car. We give her a wave and start walking back to our apartment. I knew we were alone because the door was still locked and the lights were off.

"Yes, she does love you." As we walk through the door, I mutter something mean, and he laughs.

"Julianna, I think you're the only one who doesn't like me." He responds, and I roll my eyes and take off my shoes and coat. "She's friendly." He says yes, and I grin.

Maybe she talked to you more than she did to me." I laugh as I hook my purse over the back of my dining room chair.

"Thank you for making up for the fact that I couldn't tell her why I chose Brown when she asked. He shrugs, and I smile because I know what he means.

"Of course." I shrug. "I didn't know you were in business and economics."

"Yeah, it's not very interesting." He gives a shrug, as if it wasn't important. "But you like musicals for sure."

"Quit it." I warn him, and he laughs. "I can't believe she said that, and I wouldn't trust my mom to keep a secret to save her life."

"But she's proud of you, and it's cool that she's so interested in everything you do." When he tells me, I nod because I know he's right.

I take a quick look around and see that the apartment is empty. The silence is getting louder.

"Still by yourself, huh?" As I walk to the freezer, I laugh.

"I guess Mark is still out partying." He laughs, and I snort as I get my pint of ice cream out of the freezer. "Do you think he's past the part about the dead dog yet?"

"We've been gone for more than an hour and a half, so I really hope so. I would be so mad if I was out with a guy for more than two hours and we were still talking about a dead pet."

"There's a twist in the story: they never get sexual, and he just cries about his dog." He laughs as he walks around the peninsula in the kitchen and stands on the other side. I laugh pretty hard and trip on my way to the silverware drawer.

"That doesn't fit his image of making her want more, does it?" I hand him a spoon and ask. "Want to tell?"

"Of what kind?" He asks with a doubtful tone.

"Bread dough." I give him a shrug and pull the lid off, making him wince. "Do you not like ice cream made with cookie dough?"

"It's not smooth." He mumbles.

"I knew there was a reason we didn't like each other." I mutter and stick a spoon in it. The first scoop gives me a big chunk of cookie dough.

"You think that with us, it all comes down to ice cream?" He asks while leaning against the edge of the counter and taking a spoonful of the plain vanilla part.

"It could make sense." I make fun of him, and he laughs and shakes his head.

"You want to go to New York, right?" He changes the subject and asks. I give him a shrug.

"I think it's so cool that there are so many things to do, like shopping and making art. I sigh and feel happy. "Have you seen Gossip Girl?"

"No." He answers as he eats another spoonful of just vanilla ice cream.

"Kent, you have no culture." I tease him, and he laughs. "Anyway, I used to watch it when I was young, so I guess that's how I thought it was. It was glam, interesting, and fun, but didn't have as much drama as the show." I smile and laugh.

"It gets old." He gives a shrug. "Right now, I like it here."

"Really?" When I ask, he nods. "This has nothing."

"That isn't right." He says it with a straight face and a smile. "There are a lot of interesting things right here."

I smile, and my stomach starts to burn. He smiles back. When we were by ourselves and not fighting, I felt amazing. I liked spending time with him, and I liked it more and more each time.

"I can't believe you're eating the part that tastes like vanilla." I mumble, and he gives a shrug.

"I like the simple things in life." He picks on me, which makes me roll my eyes.

"Come on, let's watch the first Gossip Girl episode together." I make fun of her and shake my head toward the living room.

"I really don't know, Julianna,"

I beg, "Please." "If you watch this movie with me, I'll let you eat all the vanilla parts out of this tub." I smile and move the tub back and forth while shaking it. He rolls his eyes.

"Okay, fine, but you're going to have to pay for the damage." He sighs, and I pull him to the couch by his sleeve. "What damage?"

"The injury to my frontal lobe." As we sit down, he shrugs, and I roll my eyes.

"You're so funny, aren't you?" I ask him sarcastically, and he grabs the pint from me.

"This stupid show is the funniest, now find it." I laugh when he tells me.

Tonight was more fun than I ever thought it would be. Even stranger was that he agreed to watch this show with me, which is something he wouldn't have done a few weeks ago. But maybe this time he really meant to change. Maybe both of us had changed.

NOTE!!!

If you were reading this, you were already in the last chapter of book 1 of Fell in Love with My Roomy. I'm going to upload book 2 next month, and I hope you'll support it too.