Part 2My Brother’s "Boyfriend" is Actually in Love With Me

"Chloe, are you alright?" my roommate, Sarah, poked her head over from her desk.

"I'm going through a breakup," I mumbled, burying my face in my knees.

"It ended before it even started."

"What's going on?" my other roommate, Madison, pulled off her headphones.

I shook my head, unable to speak.

My mind was playing that snippet on an infinite loop: Ethan's deep voice, Austin's panicked expression, and that familiar, long-fingered hand.

Suddenly, everything made perfect sense.

Why Ethan had given me such a subtle, weird look the very first time we met.

Why Austin always claimed his roommate was an "insanely busy guy" and never let me visit his dorm.

Why Austin always looked like he was biting his tongue whenever I brought up Ethan’s name.

Three days. I lay in bed for three whole days.

Other than going to class, I just stared at the ceiling in a daze.

I deleted every single photo of Ethan from my phone's camera roll, only to sneakily recover them all from my iCloud trash later.