When Joss Met Matt Read Online Free Page B

kissing, pressed up against the wall as I was. Matt was either Mr. Rogers nice, didn’t find me attractive enough to kiss, or didn’t have a romantic bone in his body.
    Whatever the reason, it wasn’t going to happen. And that meant he wasn’t my type.
    But he was a friend, the only thing that made chemistry bearable, and he had the goods on a fake ID connection. I didn’t need him to be my type.
    We hurried across the grass to the entrance of Cole. Matt fitted his key in the door and let us in. I followed him down the hall to his room. The halls had the musty, damp smell of weekends. There was a dark patch of something wet on the mottled blue carpet outside one of the rooms we passed and I wrinkled my nose. Down the hall, someone’s stereo was throbbing bass. The frequency was low enough to rattle my chest even though it wasn’t very loud.
    He unlocked his room and I followed him into the dark.
    â€œWhere’s your roommate?” I asked.
    â€œDunno.”
    â€œOh.” I sat on the missing roommate’s futon, watching Matt go through his arrival routine. He hung up his coat and tossed his keys on the dresser before powering up his computer. It was dim in the room, with only the desk lamp and one wall sconce on, but I could see that he and Chris had changed the room a bit since I’d last been in there. The futon was a new addition, for example. And there were some posters on the wall. Above his bed, Matt had mounted a large black-and-white poster of a brunet pinup from the 1940s or ’50s, I wasn’t sure. The rest of the wall was a mishmash of photos, a German and an Irish flag, and a UW pennant.
    â€œWho’s that?” I pointed to the poster.
    â€œRita Hayworth,” he said. “I’m digging an escape tunnel through the wall behind it.”
    I grinned at him. “Nice.”
    He dropped into his desk chair and looked back at me.
    â€œSo, who were you with tonight?” he asked.
    â€œJessie, Geena, um … Kerry and Megan.”
    â€œI know Jessie,” he said, for no apparent reason. I didn’t answer.
    Matt logged into his email account and scrolled through the messages. “Here it is,” he murmured. “What’s your address?”
    I gave it to him and he forwarded the message to me. “Thanks.”
    â€œLet me know when you get one. We can go out.”
    â€œCool.” I stood up.
    â€œAre you okay?” he asked.
    â€œYeah.” I nodded. “I think so.” I swallowed hard and tried a smile. “Probably drunk.”
    â€œYou must be building up a tolerance.” He turned to the small refrigerator and pulled out an open bottle of blue Powerade. “Want some?”
    â€œI don’t drink anything blue,” I said.
    He laughed. “Why not?”
    â€œI make it a rule not to drink anything that’s an unnatural color.”
    â€œBlue is natural, the sky is blue,” he said.
    â€œYou can’t drink the sky.”
    He laughed again. “That’s a weird rule.”
    I shrugged. “It just freaks me out.”
    â€œYou’re a weird girl, Jocelyn.”
    â€œI just don’t like blue drinks or food.”
    He took a long drink. “What about blueberries?”
    â€œThey’re not blue inside.”
    â€œSo … do you peel them?”
    â€œOkay fine, I don’t eat electric blue food.”
    He laughed again, but let the subject drop. “By the way, thanks for ditching me in lab this week. Must have been a hell of a weekend with The Boyfriend.” I’d still been wallowing when chem lab came around and skipped.
    Apparently, my supply of tears was not out yet. I turned away when my eyes welled up, but I guess I wasn’t fast enough.
    â€œWhoa, what’d I say?” Matt asked, standing.
    â€œNo, it’s nothing. I’m sorry.” I blinked hard.
    â€œAre you sure?”
    I took a few deep breaths, trying to