After the Raft Capsized, the Ice Cold Campus Heartthrob Came Knocking Chapter 05
The moment those words left my mouth, everyone stared at me in surprise, including Cole.
For some reason, I felt a little guilty. I snuck a glance at him.
He went completely stiff. His usually cool eyes lit up so brightly it was almost alarming. His ears
turned scarlet in an instant, and his hands clenched at his sides like he was holding something
back.
[OH MY GOD! MIA ACTUALLY SAID SHE WANTS TO SHARE A ROOM WITH ME! Does that mean she
wants to… I can do that. I’m ready.]
You can do nothing!
Seeing his misunderstanding, I leaned in and whispered quickly, “Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s
only because there’s no room left that we’re sharing. I’ll sleep on the floor.”
The light in Cole’s eyes died instantly, and his face fell with disappointment.
[Mia would rather sleep on the floor than share a bed with me. She definitely hates me. What did I
do wrong?]
I couldn’t help rolling my eyes at him.
You’ve got issues.
If I say I’ll share a bed with you, you think I’m up to something. If I say I’ll sleep on the floor, you
say I’m disgusted by you.
“Alright, I’ll get you checked in.”
Lacey was the first to snap out of it. She beamed, took my ID, and started processing the
reservation.
Then she turned to Cole and held out her hand. “And you, handsome-I’ll need your ID too.”
I didn’t expect that. Cole went from pink to beet red in an instant-his whole face, all the way down
to his neck, like a boiled lobster.
Lacey watched him flustered and speechless and burst out laughing. “Aww, your boyfriend is
adorable. Never mind. One ID is fine.”
With that, she handed me the key card.
I reached out to take it, but Derek lunged forward and tried to grab it.
“Mia! You’re not staying with him. You’re staying with me!”
I dodged sideways and shot him a look. “You’re insane!”
He still wouldn’t give up and came at me again.
But Cole stepped in front of me first, his voice cold as ice. “Get lost.”
Derek flinched so hard he stumbled back several steps, clearly intimidated.
The commotion was loud enough to draw a crowd, including some of Derek’s friends
They started trying to reason with me. “Mia, don’t fight with Derek. If you really stay with this guy, you two can’t go back to how things were.”
Someone else suggested, “Why not share with Sabrina? You’re both girls.”
The more I listened, the angrier I got. I shot back, “When he chose to save Sabrina and left me to
drown, did any of you care about ‘us going back to how things were’?”
They fell silent, unable to argue.
I couldn’t be bothered with them anymore. I grabbed Cole and headed for our room.
Derek tried to follow us, but Cole’s icy glare scared him off. He ended up flipping over a table and
chairs in frustration.
In the room, just the two of us, I suddenly felt awkward.
Cole had always been a campus legend.
Before I even started at Pinehurst, I’d seen his photo on the school’s confession page on Instagram.
I remembered thinking: He’s so gorgeous. If I could ever date a guy this hot in my life, I’d die happy.
But I was such a homebody that I barely left my dorm except for a few mandatory classes.
For over a year, I’d never once run into him.
And now here I was, alone in a room with him. It was surreal.
“You take the bed.”
“You take the bed.”
We said it at the exact same time.
I wasn’t the type to suffer for politeness, so I happily accepted. “Alright then.”
To be honest, I was just going through the motions of being nice.”
Since Cole was being a gentleman, I’d take him up on it.
The couch was big enough for him anyway.
To break the tension, I looked away and started scanning the room.
It was actually a pretty nice place-fully stocked with toiletries, plus a dryer and clean spare clothes.
Just as I was thinking that, Cole opened the door and stepped out.
I paused for half a second, then realized he was giving me privacy.
My clothes were soaking wet and uncomfortable, so I didn’t waste any time heading for the shower.
When I was done, I went outside to find him.
The mountain air was surprisingly cold at night.
Before I even spotted him, I’d sneezed several times in a row.
Then a tall figure walked over and blocked the chilly wind for me. I stopped sneezing.
I looked up-it was Cole.
In the darkness, with the cold wind howling, the boy used his slightly chilled body to carve out a
shelter for me.
In that moment, my heart felt full-warm and swollen with something I couldn’t name.
When I didn’t move, he said softly, “It’s too cold. Let’s go back inside.”
As soon as we were back in the room, I dove under the covers to warm up.
Cole closed the window and turned on the heater.
I’d barely recovered when I heard the shower running from the bathroom.
I looked over instinctively.
Through the frosted glass door, a shadowy figure was visible.
