My Rival Is My Roommate

The deal

POV MAYA

I threw my head back and laughed right in his face.

"You are completely out of your mind," I said, cleaning an imaginary tear from my eye. "Fake date you? Luca, I can barely stand looking at you."

"Maya, listen to me for a seconds—"

"No" I cut him off, shaking my head. "Not one second, zero second. Your media disaster is your problem. I am not playing pretend girlfriend so you can get a shiny new hockey deal."

Luca didn't get angry. He just leaned back against the counter, crossing his arms with that infuriatingly calm posture he used when he knew he held a good hand.

"It protects my reputation, keeps the scouts focused on my stats, and gets the campus gossip pages off our backs," he said evenly. "We play along for six weeks, the sponsor decision passes, and then we have a quiet, mutual breakup. Nobody gets hurt."

"Except my dignity," I snapped. "The answer is no."

"Even if it saves your thesis film."

The words hung in the air. I froze, my jaw tightening. "What did you just say.,”

Luca reached into his pocket, pulled out a small black pen, and tapped it against the counter. "Your department head is pulling matching funds for senior films if you don't bring in an outside sponsor by the showcase deadline. Three weeks from now, right."

My stomach went cold. "How do you know that."

"Because one of Titan Sports' regional directors sits on the university's visual arts board," he said, watching my face. "Renata's meeting with him Friday. If we walk in as a unit, I can introduce you myself. One endorsement pitch from my team's side, and your film's funded. In full."

I looy at him, my blood rushing to my ears. “Have you been stalking me."

"Maybe I have, but that's by the way," Luca admitted. "You need something from me. I need something from you. Sounds like a deal, Bennett."

"You dragged my desperation into this.” My voice cracked. "You looked up my department business just to bribe me."

"It's not a bribe." Luca shot back, stepping closer, his playful demeanor dropping into something hard. "Look, I'm not proud of it, Maya. But I'm drowning here If scouts write me off as a distraction, three years of tearing my body apart on the ice goes straight down the drain. I need this. And you need that film."

I turned away from him, gripping the edge of the sink so hard my knuckles turned white.

I hated him. Hated how calculated he was, how easily he moved through the world, how he always found a way to win. But god, he was right. I'd spent months looking for production gear, staying up till three in the morning editing clips, practically begging for table reads. If I lost my funding now, my degree, my portfolio, my shot at a real production studio all of it, gone.

Saying no meant watching my dream die just to keep a grudge alive.

I turned back to face him and took a long, shuddering breath.

"Fine," I spat, pointing a finger at his chest. "But we do this on my terms. Rule one: I keep total control over the break up. You pull any reckless, publicity stunt without checking with me first, I drop the act on the spot and tell every reporter on campus it was a lie."

Luca blinked, nodding slowly. "Fair enough. What else?"

"Rule two: zero touching in private," I said, stepping right into his space.

"Rule three: no invading my personal space when the cameras aren't rolling.

Rule four: no real feelings, no jealousy, no falling in love, and absolutely no kissing unless it's literally life or death for this stupid arrangement."

Luca's mouth twitched into a reluctant smirk. "That's a lot of rules, Bennett. Worried you won't be able to keep your hands off me."

"I'm worried about keeping my hands off your neck," I growled. "Do we have a deal or not?"

He held out his hand, dark eyes locking onto mine. "We have a deal."

I took it. His grip was warm, solid, too firm. A shock ran straight up my arm, and my heart skipped a stupid, humiliating beat. I pulled my hand back fast and cleared my throat.

---

Two hours later we were standing in the crowded lobby of the student athletics center for the post game mixer. The place was crawling with campus reporters, student photographers, alumni.

My skin was crawling too. I felt like a walking target.

"Relax," Luca murmured, leaning down so his mouth was right by my ear. His breath sent a shiver down my spine. "You look like you're about to throw up on my shoes."

"I am," I whispered back through a tight, smile. "Because I'm standing next to you."

Before I could step away, a campus news reporter with a microphone and a flash camera pushed through the crowd and planted herself in front of us.

"Luca, Maya.” the reporter chirped, aiming the camera right at my face. "The internet's losing its mind over the apartment photos. Are you two officially an item, or is this just a crazy housing mix up?"

I froze completely. My brain went blank under the bright light.

Before I could stumble out some bad excuse, Luca slid his hand around my waist and pulled me against his side like it was the most natural thing in the world.

His palm was hot through my sweater, and the jolt of it went straight to my chest. My breath caught. I hated how easy he made it look and worse, how my pulse spiked at the contact anyway.

"Housing brought us together," Luca said smoothly, flashing his trademark smile at the camera. "But we've been keeping things private for a while now."

The reporter grinned, eyes glinting. "A lot of people are saying it's just a publicity stunt

for the draft." She raised her camera. "If it's real... prove it to us. Kiss her.”