Page 55 of Stay Toxic

She grins. "With some friends from last week. I room with a few girls who belong to the same club as me."

Oh. Oh. The Heritage.

"We have a lovely house on the riverside," she explains. "It's pretty big, but it tends to be busy, hence why I prefer to stay on campus when I'm studying."

I clear my throat. "Right."

I'm just not sure how to react to everything I now know about her. I mean, our acquaintance began in a way that made it clear that my roommate was not a prude, but the fact that she auctioned herself last week is still a lot.

Then again, I had sex in a room with fifty people, most of whom were watching me, so I'm not judging. I'm just blushing and don’t know where to look.

Ari's certainly not bothered. She gets three martini glasses out and starts to make the cocktail.

She hands it to me and I wince at the first taste. "Woah. Apparently it's not just your mom's drinks I should be wary of."

"Where do you think she learned to make them?" someone says.

I turn to face a buxom blonde in a silk robe. I don't swing that way, but hell, she's seriously hot. Not like Sebastian's mother and aunt, who were beautiful, elegant, gracious. This woman exudes seduction, her natural beauty somehow still innocent, with those big blue eyes.

I think my jaw must have hit the floor, because she chuckles, and say, "Oh, sweetheart, you're going to make me blush. Who's this adorable new friend you brought me, Ari?"

Despite their difference in coloring and stature—Ari is rather short, while this woman is almost as tall as me—I can imagine that at her age, Ari will have the same vibe. They definitely have a similar mouth, nose, and eyes—though Ari's are golden brown.

"This is Tia, my roommate, and she has an emergency." Ari winces, lifting her hand to stop me as I bring my hand to the beanie.

I guess that's not enough preparation.

"See, Mom, she, err—" I've never seen the bubbly woman so uncomfortable. "She might have used cheap hair dye."

"No." The big blue eyes go wide as they stare at me in horror. "Why?"

I feel like I'm breaking her heart. "I…I was just trying to send a message. I was never allowed to do something like that, so…" I shrug lamely.

"I see." The woman gracefully slides onto a stool at the breakfast bar and lifts her dainty, manicured hand to Ari, who doesn't hesitate to hand her a drink.

"She has a very strict mother," Ari explains. "She literally cut her off because she missed a phone call, Mom."

The woman breathes in deep. "Well, I suppose I can understand that. Just a minute, sweetie. Let me drink this, and then you can show me the damage. Tia, was it? I am Lauren. I, too, had challenging parents, so take my somewhat belated advice: hair takes an awful lot of time to regrow or fade. How about a piercing next time? You can just remove those."

I suddenly understand absolutely everything about Ari as a person. "Right. That's…sound advice."

She gulps the rest of her drink and slides the empty glass to her daughter. Ari's already shaking the second round.

"All right, I'm ready." She straightens her spine, grounding herself. "Show me."

I take a sip of my drink for courage, then slide the hat off.

24

Lauren is still periodically sniffling when she glances at me, but at least she's done with the sobbing, an hour later, as we eat pizza and watch a movie, foil all over my hair and dye on my eyebrows.

Apparently, she's never, in all of her days, seen anything as pathetic as my attempt at dyeing hair, and I am banned from all semi-permanent cosmetic products for life.

"I promise I can pay you next week," I offer again, only earning a shrug.

"Don't sweat it, sweetie. I do all of Ari's friends' hair. It's cathartic for me. Especially when I can cover a mess like what you did. Speaking of! It's time to see how that turned out."

She was reluctant to lighten the blue-gray mess, to avoid damaging my hair—a double application of products on the same day is bad enough—so instead, she offered various colors that would work well against the tones already on my hair. My choice is a little bold, and I'm trying not to regret it.