Mason paused the show playing on his laptop, straining to hear the two voices drifting from the living room.

One was clearly Paris's and the other one- well he definitely didn't fucking recognize it.

He shut his laptop, leisurely walking out of his room and into the living room before stopping short at the sight of Paris. She certainly looked different. Her hair wasn't up for once and she was wearing sweat shorts and a cropped tank top of some sort with a simple jacket thrown over it.

She always wore dresses and skirts but he swore he'd never seen so much of her skin exposed.

Upon further inspection he realized that whilst he didn't recognize the voice of her guest, he certainly fucking recognized the actual person.

"Why the hell is he here?" At the sound of Mason's voice, Paris's laughter stopped. Why had she been laughing anyway? There was no way that Caleb was that fucking funny.

"If you must know," she rolled her eyes. She was holding a book, Mason noticed; clutching it to her chest with a vice like grip. "Caleb is my partner in class. We're meeting up tonight to talk about the project."

"Nice to see you Mason," said partner grinned at Mason.

"And you decided to meet here because," he trailed off. "The school has a library for a fucking reason you know."

"Hence why we will be leaving to go there now," Paris suddenly freed one of her hands from the book and reached down to grab Caleb's wrist. Why in the hell was that necessary?

"I was just picking her up," Caleb adjusted his arm slightly so that Paris's hand fell into his own. "But we're leaving now so no need to worry," he smiled.

Fucking condescending asshole.

"Actually you could just work here if you want," Mason smirked as Paris's eyes narrowed. "You won't even notice I'm home," he stressed the last word as casually as physically possible. This was his place, and Caleb would do fucking well to remember that.

"I think we're fine actually," the guy before him returned Mason's smirk with his own smug smile.

"Aww," he forced a grin, "Am I ruining your date?" A sudden movement caught his eye and he glanced down just as Caleb linked her fingers through his. Sleazebag, Mason thought with an eyeroll.

"You'd actually have to be a part of something to ruin it," his roommate responded. He couldn't believe she was defending such a shitty human being right in front of him.

There had to be someway to get her out of such an awful situation.

"Oh fine," he groaned. "But before you go you might want to check your face wash, something looked kind of off earlier when I saw it."

She glared at him, freeing her hand of Caleb's to move towards Mason. "If you did something to my face wash-," she cut herself off with a sigh of frustration.

"Damn," Mason whistled exaggeratedly, "Making empty threats now are we?"

"A threat is only a warning, this is a promise."

Mason could physically feel his own eyes widen. For someone so elegant, she was fucking terrifying when she wanted to be.

She pushed past him and into the bathroom, opening the cupboard to find her face wash. "Did you replace it with something gross," she called out to him. "If you think pranking me with my own idea would work then get ready to be disappointed."

"Already prepared," he responded distractedly as he watched the fucking asshole lean back against the wall. He moved towards the kitchen - keeping his eye on Caleb the entire time - before slowly walking back towards the bathroom.

"You didn't even do anything," she declared with confusion evident in her tone after a few moments of silence. "What were you planning to accomplish by doing this?" She turned to look at Mason, eyebrows furrowing when she noticed the chair he had retrieved from the kitchen.

"This," he stated as he slammed the door closed before placing the chair just underneath the handle so she wouldn't be able to get out. "Sorry," he shrugged even though she clearly couldn't see him.

"Mason," he heard her banging on the door and cringed. "Open the door," the door knob moved slightly, twisting this way and that as she tried to get out of the bathroom. "Come on; this is insane," it definitely fucking was. "Just let me out already!"

"Shit," he anxiously ran his fingers through his hair. "Give me one second." Mason started to back away slowly, cautiously watching the doorknob move before it suddenly stopped.

She had given up it seemed. At least for now.

He turned to face Caleb, who was staring at him with an incredulous expression. "Did you just lock her in there?"

Mason could hardly fucking believe it himself.

"I did," he stated simply. Shit, he was going to hell for this. "But that shouldn't matter because you're leaving aren't you?"

"Not without her," the bastard persisted.

"The hell you aren't," Mason responded with a glare. He stalked towards Caleb, watching as his eyes flickered nervously around the room with a self satisfied smile. "She's kind of busy right now don't you think?" He sidestepped dickhead's form at the last second, pulling open the front door with a gesture of his free hand.

"You're kidding," Caleb looked absolutely mortified. "I'm not just leaving her to sit in there while you do god knows wh-."

"Come on," he interrupted with a nod towards the door. "Get."

"You can't make me leave." He folded his arms across his chest, broadening his stance in an effort to look intimidating. Apparently the prick was stubborn.

"Oh but I think I fucking can."

Mason proved his point by grabbing Caleb's bicep - earning himself a glare - before proceeding to shove him back through the dorm's entrance and into the hallway. He stumbled for a moment before regaining his balance. Fucker should've fallen on his ass, Mason thought offhandedly.

"Have fun studying, asshole." Mason directed a sarcastic grin at Caleb; then shut the door just as the scumbag was about to respond.

A sudden loud thud reminded Mason of his earlier stupid decision and he had to mentally steel himself for the shit show that was about to occur. But when he turned around to let Paris out she was already standing right in front of him.

"Son of a bitch," he jumped back in shock. He had no idea how she managed to get out but - considering the anger twisting her pretty features - it didn't really matter.

"I can't believe you did that," she shook her head disbelievingly. "Who does that? Who kidnaps a person in their own home?"

Okay so maybe locking her inside was a bit much.

"Look I'm sorry," he cleared his throat. "I realize that I might've taken it a little too far by doing that but-," he was cut off by the sound of Paris's dry laughter.

"Taken it a little too-," she stopped herself from saying any more but he could only assume where that sentence was going. "I envy people who have never met you," she muttered to herself. "Imagine how much easier life would be," she continued.

"That was fucking rude," he pointed out. And while he was mostly saying it as a joke, his chest had still become uncomfortably tight from her words. He absentmindedly rubbed the afflicted area with the palm of his hand.

"And locking me in the bathroom wasn't?" Mason could see the disbelief on her face, hear the outrage in her voice.

She abruptly threw her hands up, fingers curling to create fists. "Whatever," she sighed, relaxing one hand to reach up rub her temple. "I don't have time for this right now."

Paris moved to walk past Mason but was stopped by his hand wrapping around her wrist. "You're not still going on that fucking date, are you? Cause that dude's a fucking asshole, and I'm only warning you now because you could get someone so much better than tha-," she cut him off. Again.

"It was never even a date in the first place," she announced, "It's a meetup for a group project. He was just trying to give me that," she indicated the book she had left on the bathroom floor. "Now if you'll excuse me."

He let Paris leave this time, feeling like even more of a fucking idiot now that he knew she hadn't been going on a date with that bastard.

"Talk about jealousy dude," Josh suddenly emerged from the hallway. He pat Mason on the shoulder, shaking his head sympathetically. "Who would've thought you'd get jealous over that dick."

"See, I wasn't being unreasonable then," he felt like doing a fucking fist pump. "That dude's a fucking- wait- what did you just say?"

"Caleb's a dick?" Josh's eyebrows furrowed.

"No not that; the other thing."

"Oh," he smirked. "That you're jealous of him?"

Right, that.

There was no fucking way he was jealous of Caleb. He knew he was better than him, for starters. And he'd have to be romantically attracted to Paris to even be jealous in the first place, which definitely wasn't a thing.

"I'm not jealous," he stated after a moment.

"So you wouldn't mind if she actually likes him then? Even if he is an asshole?" Josh's head tilted as he gave Mason a pointed look.

His jaw clenched, "Well I mean I wouldn't exactly not mind, but only because she deserves someone better than that piece of shit."

"So you'd be okay with it if I asked her out?" Mason tensed underneath Josh's hand. "Cause she's not really my type, but she's still pretty fucking ho-."

"Fuck no!"

"Right," he smirked again. "Jealous."

Mason pulled away with an eye roll before collapsing on the couch with a heavy sigh.

There was no way in hell that he was jealous because of Paris.

He couldn't be.