Read My Favorite Mistake for Free Online

want. I'll sleep right through it.”
    I wished I had a pillow, or perhaps something heavier, to chuck at him. Instead I got into bed, quietly grabbing my retainer and putting it in, hiding the case under my mattress. I wanted to pretend like I didn't give a shit what he thought of me, but honestly, I did.
    It felt rude not saying goodnight, so I did. I got a mumble in response. I lay on my back and looked at the ceiling. Even with the memory foam mattress pad, the dorm bed was as comfortable as a sack of hay.
    Hunter was breathing quietly, but his disturbance in the room was unmistakable. I didn't know why, but guys breathed differently than girls. Deeper somehow. I heard every single time he shifted or moved or twitched at all. I knew the exact moment he was asleep when his breathing became slow and he stopped moving so much. I tried closing my eyes, but it didn't work.
    I grabbed my mp3 player and put it on shuffle. I had tons of fast songs on there, so I had to keep skipping things. Usually, alcohol made me tired, but the soda had been a bad idea. It was too late to take my sleep medication, so I was stuck. I only had two classes the next day, and they didn't start until 11. I hoped Darah and Renee weren't too loud in the morning. I hoped Hunter wouldn't be too loud in the morning.
    I hit repeat when C'est la Mort came on and I finally faded off.

     *****

    “Taylor, Taylor!”
    A hand grabbed my shoulder, shaking it.
    “What the fuck?” I said, flailing against it, trying to get it to let me go. “Don't touch me!” I whipped my arms around and made contact with something warm and fleshy. A chest.
    “Jesus Christ, stop it!”
    I finally opened my eyes and assessed the situation. I was in bed, and there was a shirtless boy holding my arm. I froze, and he let go of me.
    “What are you doing?” I snapped at him, but it came out slurred because of the retainer. I spit it out in my hand.
    “You were screaming in your sleep and freaking out. It woke me up.” Shit. Usually when I took my sleep medication, I didn't have the night terrors, but I hadn't been able to tonight. Great, just great.
    “I'm sorry. Go back to bed. I'm fine.”
    “Do you, uh, need anything?”
    He stood there, as if he didn't know what to say. My eyes drifted down his chest and saw that he had a towel wrapped around his waist. At least it covered everything it needed to cover.
    “No, I'm fine. Goodnight.” I flipped over, hoping that would be the end of it. He sighed, and I heard him crawl back into bed.
    “Goodnight,” he said and flipped over as well.

Five

    Hunter was gone the next morning when I woke up at nine. So was Renee, but Darah was at the dining table eating a bowl of cereal.
    “How was your night with the boy?”
    “Fantastic,” I said, stretching my arms over my head and listening to my spine pop. I shuffled to the coffeepot and found that there was just enough for one more cup. I had no idea how long it had been sitting there, but I didn't care. Coffee only got really nasty if it was past four hours. I poured myself a cup and sat down with Darah. She looked about as bad as I felt.
    “You're okay with him here, really?” she said.
    “No, I'm really not.” I sipped the sweet elixir, wrapping my hand around my cup. “But what can I do?” I still hadn't told them about the bet, and Hunter hadn't either. I wasn't sure if I was going to go there. If housing could settle things, then they never had to know. I just hoped if housing found him another place, he would go quietly. I really had no idea what kind of a fight he would put up.
    “Not much. Just give housing hell. I don't know what they were thinking.” She shook her head.
    “And they didn't even notify us! It's just crazy. This damn school.” I got up and slammed two pieces of bread into the toaster. There was something else that was bothering me, but I wasn't going to tell Darah about it. Unless... maybe she had heard me last night. I glanced over my shoulder to