I Sold My Online Boyfriend to My Roommate

My roommate offered me twenty thousand dollars for my online boyfriend. I said no. That night, hiding under my covers, I was about to start a voice call and seduce him.

Then a string of comments drifted past my eyes, floating there in the dark where only I could see them. [Honestly, just sell.

Otherwise those two are going to end up together on their own anyway.] [The male lead isn't into you.

Even if you meet up IRL, there won't be any spark.] [And once he finds out you refused to sell, he'll get your dad fired too.] The call connected.

I hung up. [Suddenly I don't want to let you hear it anymore.] Chapter 1 The other end stayed quiet for a long time.

About a minute later, he asked: [What's wrong?] I sent back one line. [I'm tired today. I don't want to try anymore.] My chest felt heavy.

The truth is, I'd really gone all in tonight. I'm a good girl by nature, and it was the first time in my life I'd ever been that brave.

I'd looked up a pile of guides online and taught myself how to work one of those things.

Back when I'd used it in secret, the noise it made was more than I could stand to hear myself. I thought it would stir up his desire.

Instead, the comments dumped a bucket of cold water over the whole thing. I'd let myself hope a little. Maybe he'd at least try to talk me into it.

My best friend pulled the same move last time.

Her boyfriend said, "Come on, baby, just let me hear it." She pitched her voice sweet and wheedling. "Beg me, and I'll let you." Then he worked on her, begging, coaxing, wearing her down.

But a second later, my own boyfriend wrote back: [Okay. Get some rest, then.] Not a trace of regret in it. Apparently it made no difference to him either way.

I worked up my nerve and typed: [What if you begged me?] All he sent back was: [I won't push you into anything you don't want to do.] The comments: [I'm actually starting to feel bad for the side character.

She's putting in all this work and the male lead just sits there like a block of wood.] [He's not a block of wood.

He just hasn't met anyone who actually makes his heart move.] [The real female lead is the side character's roommate, FYI.

Once he's with the female lead, seven times in one night is her limit, not his.] [Because of her dad's job, the side character was in and out of the male lead's house her whole childhood.

By all rights those two should have grown up childhood sweethearts.

All these years later they still barely know each other.] [Even if they meet up IRL, there won't be any spark.] I dropped back onto the bed, let down.

The male lead the comments kept talking about was Keegan. My dad is the executive assistant to Keegan's father.

The two of them were close from the time they were boys, and once my dad finished college he went to work for him and never left.

My mom died when I was little and there was no one to look after me, so when they had business to talk over, my dad would bring me along to their house.

His parents were always good to me. He was the only cold one. Every time I came over, the two of us never got past two sentences.

I'd even started to think he quietly had it in for me. I'd dated a few times, and every single time, he was the one who went and told my dad.

Which is why, to this day, I've never even held a guy's hand, let alone actually gotten a boyfriend. In college, I decided I was going to stop being single no matter what.

Even if it had to happen online, I was going to be in a relationship. One night I was out at a bar with my best friend and spotted this seriously goodlooking guy.

I never got a clear look at his face. I just used the alcohol as courage and added him on Instagram. He was all appetite at the start. Every day he'd ask whether I'd send pictures.

I mentioned I was wearing a short skirt, and he said he wanted to see a picture of my legs. We hadn't known each other two days before he was asking me to get a hotel room with him.

All of it was too much for me. I told him no, every time. Chapter 2 After that, he left me hanging for a long time. Eventually I begged him to pay attention to me again.

He said he'd switched to his alt account and forgotten to tell me, and told me to go add it. Once I added the alt, I tried doing the things I'd never dared do before.

But he'd gone cold. I sent him a picture of my legs. He didn't answer for ages. I couldn't leave it alone. [You don't like it?] That made no sense.

My friends were always telling me my legs were long and slim. All he sent was: [I like it a lot.] Then he added: [But you don't need to send these anymore.

Just talk to me and that's enough.] That monklike restraint. I'd almost believed the person on the other end had been swapped out for somebody else. Who would have thought.

My online boyfriend was Keegan. You really couldn't tell. So there had been a time when even he ran that hot. The comments: [The side character is so oblivious.

Has she still not noticed that the hot guy she added went weird the second he told her to add the alt?] [The hot guy decided she couldn't hang, so he grabbed somebody off his following list to chat in his place and get her off his back.

That somebody was Keegan.] [Keegan has no idea who his online girlfriend even is. He only did it as a favor because the two of them are close.

As for the side character, he isn't into her online and he isn't into her offline either.] I froze. That was when my roommate messaged me again. [Danica, have you thought it over?

You really won't sell him to me?] [Twenty thousand dollars.

How long after graduation would it take you to earn that?] That morning, my roommate Priscilla had seen the abs picture I'd saved of my online boyfriend.

She asked me, "How long have you two been together?" "A little over a year," I said.

She kept working on her lipstick while she talked. "I feel kind of bad for your online boyfriend.

All that time and energy, and he winds up with a completely unremarkable girl." She saw me freeze, and smiled. "Don't take this the wrong way. But look at that watch on his wrist.

That has to run two hundred grand." "Your face is the kind people say grows on you.

Your family's nothing special." "In his world there are as many girls like you as he wants, all of them throwing themselves at him.

Do you honestly think your turn is coming?" "You can't hold on to a man like that. He's just having fun with you.

He'll sleep with you and then he'll dump you." I tried to argue. "I don't think he's that kind of person." She went, "Huh." Then she said, "Okay, tell me this.

Does he ever make the first move?" I stiffened. She got the Itoldyouso look on her face. "He does care about me," I said, refusing to let it go.

Priscilla said, "Try telling him you went out to a party with your roommates tonight, that you drank too much, and some nice senior guy walked you back to the apartment." "See how he reacts." I didn't really have the nerve.

But… I really did want to see how he'd react.

So I did what Priscilla said and typed out a message to my boyfriend. [I went out to a party with some classmates tonight and drank too much.] [Good thing there was a nice senior guy to walk me back to the apartment.] He wrote back: [Mm.

You made it back to the apartment safe?] [Mm. I did.] [Anything else? I need to get back to work.] [Oh. No, nothing. Go ahead.] And after that, sure enough, he stopped replying.

I felt let down. Priscilla shrugged and started a voice call with her own boyfriend. The second it connected, her voice went small and syrupy. "Babe, I drank sooo much tonight.

Lucky for me there was this cute senior guy to walk me home." Her boyfriend was instantly upset.

Chapter 3 "Baby, which guy was it?" he said. "Babe, you are way too relaxed about this. How could you let some other man walk you home?

What if he'd been up to something?" "Don't drink that much next time.

If you get drunk, just let me come get you." The longer I listened, the worse I felt. "That's what a normal boyfriend sounds like," she said. "How do you like someone and not get jealous?" "You two should break up while you still can.

He definitely doesn't like you." Then something occurred to her. "Oh, right.

You and your boyfriend still haven't swapped face pics, have you?" "Why don't you just hand him over to me? I'll give you twenty thousand dollars." "What?

But don't you already have a boyfriend?" "Oh, I got bored with that one a while ago. I was looking to trade up anyway." "Relax, I'm loyal. One guy at a time.

I don't keep a rotation going." Twenty thousand dollars really was tempting for a broke student like me. But I didn't have the heart to. "Sorry.

Let's just forget it." She rolled her eyes and went back to her lipstick. That morning, when I turned her down, I'd been pretty firm about it. Right now I was wavering.

The comments: [I'm telling you, side character, sell.

If you don't sell now, once those two get together on their own they'll both hold it against you for butting into their relationship.] [They've both got money.

What are you going to fight them with?] [By then they'll have set your dad up and gotten his job taken away too.

He'll sit at home drinking all day and never get back up, and that'll teach you.] This was my family's livelihood. I couldn't afford to be selfish about it anymore.

I messaged Priscilla. [About what you said before, selling him.

I've made up my mind.] [I'll sell him to you.] Priscilla wrote back fast. [Finally you're thinking straight.] [Give me your account tomorrow.

Cash on delivery.] My dad knocked on my bedroom door. "Dani, the pecans back home came in good this year." "Take some over to the Hallorans." My house is only twenty minutes from campus, so unless I had an early class, I mostly stayed home.

The Hallorans lived not far from us, in a big house down along the river. When I got there, Keegan had just gotten out of the shower.

He opened the door with his hair still dripping, water sliding down his jaw and into the collar of his robe, soaking a small dark patch there.

I swallowed. "These are pecans from our place back home," I said. "My dad wanted me to bring them over." He looked at me. "Thank you." "The cook made a cake.

Stay and have some." I was about to say no. But the smell had already drifted out of the house. I swallowed again.

A few minutes later, with no selfrespect whatsoever, I was sitting at the Hallorans' dining table taking small bites of cake. He sat across from me shelling pecans.

His hands were beautiful doing it. Long fingers, the knuckles cleanly defined, no hurry in them.

Every time he got a whole one out, he held it up to my mouth. "You don't have to do that," I said. "My dad sent them for you." The corner of his mouth moved. "You eating them is the same thing." I leaned in and took the pecan.

His eyes went to the corner of my mouth. There was frosting there. I hadn't noticed. Not until he lifted his hand and brushed the pad of his thumb lightly across it.

My heart took off. The thing is, Keegan is gentle. I still remember his eighteenth birthday party.

A whole room of rich, wellconnected girls crowded around him with presents, the boxes stacked up into a mountain.

I'd saved for a long time and could still only afford one fountain pen. I set it down in a corner while nobody was looking and turned to go.

Chapter 4 He came after me and caught me in the hallway.

He pulled my cheap pen out of that pile of designer boxes and said, seriously, "Thank you." After that, every time I saw him, the pen was clipped in his breast pocket.

Back then I thought he was a good person, someone who'd treat even a gift from a girl like me properly. That was the most innocent year of my life. I had a few sex dreams about him.

But he was so proper about everything that even dreaming about him felt like a desecration.

The comments: [Don't tell me the side character is already fantasizing about ending up with the male lead.] [He's that cold to you in every conversation.

You should have figured out by now that he doesn't want you at all.] [Side character, stop holding out hope.

You're the only one who's going to get hurt.] I hit the brakes on my own daydreaming just in time. I pulled out a napkin. "I can get it myself." "Mm." He drew his hand back.

There was an unnatural flush on his earlobe. Mrs.

Halloran saw me there and came over to say hello. "Dani, your dad's working late tonight." "Stay and have dinner with us." I nodded.

She smiled. "Speaking of which, your dad tells me you've got yourself an online boyfriend. Says you sit around grinning at your phone all day." "A little disappointing, honestly.

I used to wonder whether you might end up my daughterinlaw." "So compare them for me. Who's better, that online boyfriend of yours, or my son?" I almost choked.

How was I supposed to explain that my current online boyfriend and Keegan were the same person?

All I could do was treat my online boyfriend as that other man, the one who handed me off to somebody else just because I wouldn't send a picture of my legs.

I said, "Honestly, I was drunk the night I added him. I don't remember what he's like at all, or what he looks like." "But I think Keegan is better." Maybe I imagined it.

Keegan's eyes lit up, like a small flame turned up all at once in the middle of the night. His throat moved. "You really think I'm better?" I nodded. He was better.

He just wasn't going to be mine much longer. Because I was about to hand him to somebody else with my own two hands.

I dropped my head and said, in a voice only I could hear, "I wish you'd make the first move with me once in a while." The next day at school, I gave Priscilla my account and my password.

Priscilla was pleased. "So you finally decided to sell him to me." "In case you back out on me, I'll send the twenty thousand over in installments." I nodded.

Priscilla took the account, logged in, and scrolled back through our recent messages.

When she finished, she snorted. "You threw yourself at him that hard and he still barely reacted." "Either he can't get it up, or he's just not interested in you." She saw my face fall, and added, "It's fine.

I know a lot of people. If you really want a boyfriend, I'll set you up with somebody." "Mm… probably a step down from him, but a good fit for you.

Relationships last longer when you're on the same level." And then, without wasting a second, she sent Keegan a sticker.

Over the next few days, Priscilla talked to him every single day. She was much better at it than I was. Sometimes the two of them went for hours straight.

When I talked to Keegan, I'd run out of things to say after an hour. I watched it happen, and my chest closed up.

Chapter 5 A few days later she made an announcement to the whole apartment. "My boyfriend's taking all of us out to dinner tomorrow.

The two of us are going to make it official while we're there." Then she turned to me. "You have to come." It didn't sit well with me.

It had been a handful of days and Keegan was already going public with Priscilla. Right. The female lead really is different.

I swallowed the bitterness down and said, "Okay." She patted my shoulder. "I have a friend who's been after me to set him up with someone." "He's into the goodgirl type.

Your type exactly." "I'll put him right next to you at dinner tomorrow so the two of you can really talk." I wasn't ready to throw myself into another relationship.

I hesitated. "That's really not necessary." She smiled. "Just talk to him. Treat it as making a friend.

Otherwise I'm the only one there with a date and it's awkward." "Fine." The day of the dinner, I threw on something simple.

Priscilla was the star of the show, and I wasn't going to steal her thunder. Priscilla had other ideas. "Put on your best dress. Do something with yourself.

Wear makeup." "My friend is looking forward to meeting you. If you show up looking frumpy, I'm the one who gets embarrassed." "But I don't know how to do makeup," I said.

The roommate next to us, the one who's good at it, clamped a hand on my shoulder. "Let me do it." "You've got such good bones.

I've been wanting to practice on you for ages." Half an hour later I looked at myself in the mirror and just stared for a few seconds. So this is what I could look like.

She laughed and said a face like mine is lethal with hardly any makeup on, and that piling more on would only muddy it. At the restaurant, I sat with the other three roommates.

Priscilla had left an empty chair beside me on purpose, to make it easy to push her friend and me together. "My friend's running a little late," she told me. "Just wait." Right then the restaurant door swung open.

Keegan walked in. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, and a face that was just unfair. The roommate beside me let out a small gasp when he came through the door. He swept the room once.

His eyes went past Priscilla, past the whole table, and locked on me. More precisely, the second his eyes landed on my face, his entire body stopped.

The corner of his mouth moved up about two pixels without his permission.

He saw the empty seat next to me, understood, and came straight over. "Sorry I'm late." Keegan could tell I'd put real effort into how I looked, and the smile deepened.

He leaned down and said, "You look… really beautiful today." He was very close. His breath brushed past my ear, warm and unhurried. The room fell dead silent.

The roommates looked at each other. I almost choked. I lifted my head and looked toward Priscilla. "Um, this seat's taken." "Your girlfriend's over there.

You should go sit with her." Priscilla laughed. "Keegan, you've got the wrong person. I'm right here