HIS ROOMMATE

REGRET LAST LONGER

CHAPTER 41

ADRIAN'S POV

The table went still again. Ash looked away. Mike sighed. But Leo didn’t blink.

He leaned forward, voice low but steady. Like he’d been waiting to say it.

“What if she’s been waiting for you to ask her to stay? What if every day she’s been waiting for you to want her? Do you ever think about that possibility too?”

Want.

The word hit harder than rejection. Harder than Valerie choosing Marcus in front of everyone. Harder than four days of silence.

Because what if Leo was right? What if Kai powered off her phone because she was tired of waiting for me to turn mine on? What if “space” was just me being too scared to say what Ash, Mike, and Leo already saw?

I swallowed. My throat felt dry even with the whiskey. The bar noise came back in waves. Someone laughed too loud. A stool scraped the floor.

I thought about her laugh. The way she stole fries off my plate and pretended she didn’t. The way she got quiet when I talked about my dad. The way she looked at me like I was worth staying for.

“What if I call her and she says no?” I asked. But this time it didn’t sound like an excuse. It sounded like fear.

Leo shrugged. “Then she says no. At least you’ll know. At least you won’t spend the rest of your life wondering what would’ve happened if you’d tried.”

Ash nodded slow. “Rejection hurts, Adrian. But regret lasts longer.”

Mike slid his phone across the table to me. Screen lit. No judgment. Just the keypad waiting.

My hand hovered over it. Phone still off in my pocket. Kai’s flight tomorrow morning. The choice was right there, burning a hole through the wood.

If I didn’t call, I’d lose her without ever knowing why. If I did call, I risked hearing the one word that could break me.

But Leo’s question kept echoing: What if she’s been waiting?

I picked up Mike’s phone. It felt heavier than my own.

The pause stretched too long.

I looked at Mike’s phone on the table. Bright screen. Empty keypad. Waiting for me to type numbers I knew by heart.

Then I slid it back. Slow. Careful. Like if I moved too fast, something would shatter.

I stood up. Picked up my keys. My phone stayed off in my pocket, dead weight against my thigh.

No one said anything. Ash opened his mouth, then closed it. Leo just watched me. Mike sighed and leaned back, like he already knew how this ended.

I walked out.

The bar door slammed behind me and the cold hit hard. Music and noise got cut off, replaced by the sound of traffic and my own breathing. My keys felt sharp in my palm.

I got in the car. Didn’t look at them through the window. Didn’t look at anything.

Engine on. Hands on the wheel.

And I drove straight home.

No calls. No texts. No detours.

The city blurred past, streetlights smearing into lines. I gripped the wheel tighter at every red light, like if I stopped moving, I’d have to think. I’d have to decide.

My phone stayed off.

Kai’s flight was tomorrow. Ash’s words kept looping: “What if she’s been waiting for you to want her?”

But fear was louder. Fear of her saying no. Fear of her saying yes and me still not being enough. Fear of losing her twice. Once to her dreams, once to my own cowardice.

I pulled into my driveway and killed the engine. The house was dark. Quiet. The same quiet I’d been running from all day.

I sat there for a long time. Keys in the ignition. Phone in my pocket. Both useless.

Inside, the walls would be empty. No her laugh. No stolen fries. No reason to turn the lights on.

I finally grabbed my phone. Still off. Still silent.

Kai was leaving tomorrow. And I was here, sitting in my car, choosing the kind of silence that lasts forever.

KAI'S POV

Morning came too fast. Like it had been waiting to pull the rug out from under me.

I stood in my room and looked at the suitcase by the door, after returning to my apartment the next day. Everything I owned that mattered was zipped up inside. Ready to go face my life. Ready to run from everything and everyone I’d been trying not to lose.

Nancy was clingy all the way to the airport. Hugs at every red light. “You better call me the second you land,” she said, squeezing me again. Her eyes were wet. Mine weren’t. Not yet.

Nathan didn’t talk much. He just sat in the driver’s seat, both hands on the wheel like he was holding the car together. When I told him I was leaving, he didn’t yell. He didn’t beg. He just went quiet. That hurt more.

I wasn’t happy either. Leaving my friends behind felt like tearing something open. But my dreams were waiting on the other side of the world. I’d worked too long, sacrificed too much, to let fear keep me here.

Ash texted earlier: “We’ll meet you at the airport. Saying proper goodbyes.” He and the guys had been good to me. Better than I deserved, maybe. I was going to miss them. All of them.

I glanced at my phone as we pulled into departures.

No calls. No messages.

I sighed. So this was it. I was really leaving. And I wouldn’t see Adrian. Not even for the last time. No goodbye. No closure. Just an empty space where he used to be.

My thumb hovered over his name. One call. One text. “I’m leaving today.” That’s all it would take.

But I killed the screen.

It wasn’t necessary. He’d had four days to turn his phone on. Four days to say something. If he wanted me to stay, he would’ve asked. If he wanted me, he would’ve shown up.

I shoved the phone in my bag and stepped out of the car. The airport air smelled like jet fuel and goodbye.

Ash, Leo, and Mike were already by the entrance. Waving. Smiling, but it didn’t reach their eyes.

“Hey,” Ash said, pulling me into a hug. “You’re really doing it, huh?”

I nodded. My throat felt tight.

Part of me kept listening for footsteps behind them. For that voice. For him.

But Adrian wasn’t there.

And I told myself I was okay with that.

Even as my chest felt hollow.

"Yeah" I glanced at Jake who also was with them and grin. "are you crying Jake?" I teased, I just wanted to smile at least not keep that gloomy face.

"of course not" he denied it immediately looking away.

"You're such a cry baby... Dude we're seriously not in high school or college anymore" Leo said making Jake glare at him. I smile.

"Don't worry I won't tell anyone that you love me so much that you actually cried" I said with a smirk.

Ash laughed, loud enough to turn heads, and slung an arm around Jake’s shoulders. “He’s been practicing that line since last night. Couldn’t even get through it without his voice cracking.”

Jake shoved him off, cheeks red. “Shut up. I’m just saying goodbye. It’s normal.”

“Normal people don’t rehearse in the mirror,” Ash shot back, grinning.

I smiled for real this time. Small, but real. It felt good to feel something other than the tightness in my chest.

“Alright, alright,” I said, holding my hands up. “I’m not making fun anymore. Much.”

Jake crossed his arms, trying to look tough. It didn’t work. “You’re still leaving, so you don’t get to judge.”

“I’m not judging,” I said softly. “I’m just going to miss you guys. A lot.”

That shut him up. He looked down, kicked at the floor with his shoe. Ash squeezed his shoulder, then looked at me.

“Last chance,” Ash said, voice low now. No teasing left. “If you’re having second thoughts, say the word. We’ll figure it out.”

I shook my head. “No second thoughts. Just… a lot of first goodbyes.”

Mike checked his watch and nodded toward security. “You’ve got twenty minutes.”

The smile faded from Jake’s face. He pulled me into a hug that was too tight, too long. “Don’t forget us,” he whispered.

“Never,” I promised my voice cracked.

Ash pulled back and met my eyes. “If you change your mind, you know where to find us.”

I nodded, throat too tight to speak.

Boarding was called.

I took one last look at them, three guys who’d become family without me noticing. Then I turned and walked toward the gate, each step feeling heavier than the last.

Behind me, Jake called out, “Text us when you land!”I nodded.

TBC