Maggie thought about this possibility but rejected it. ‘I don’t think so. He said he was staying with Angie for a few weeks. He wouldn’t say that if he had his own room on campus.’
‘Maybe he’s shagging her and it’s easier to do if he’s on the spot.’
‘Don’t be so crude, Lee,’ Maggie replied prudishly, but actually, she found the thought that Tiger might be in a relationship with Angie wildly unsettling, even though it was the obvious solution to the puzzle of what he was doing in her room.
‘If he’s really going to be here for weeks then no doubt we’ll find out more,’ Leon said.
‘It must be against the rules though,’ Maggie pressed on. ‘Having a guest for such a long time. Do you think I should report it?’
‘No!’ exclaimed Leon. ‘Definitely not. Honestly, Mags. You can be such a goody-two-shoes sometimes.’
He smiled at her affectionately as he said this, which took the sting out of his words. Also, it was true – she was a goody-two-shoes. She was happy to claim the title. Doing as she was instructed was so much a part of who she was that the thought of being in contravention of something made her heart beat a little faster. Rules were rules and made to be followed, and her inclination to report any infringement felt almost as natural as breathing.
But then again, if she reported Tiger he would have to leave and that, she suddenly realised, would not be good. There was no denying he was attractive, but on top of that （and she certainly wouldn’t say this to anyone else） she had felt a definite spark between them. Their encounter had been over so quickly that it had barely had a chance to ignite into anything more obvious, but it had definitely been there.
‘Hmmm,’ she said to Leon. ‘Maybe you’re right, and I don’t suppose he’s doing any harm. It must be horribly cramped in there, though.’
‘I doubt they’ll have noticed,’ replied Leon.
He winked at her and she felt herself bristle. She did not want to think about whatever Angie and Tiger might be doing together in the tiny, untidy space.
Later, as she tried in vain to concentrate on her contract law essay, Maggie caught herself straining to pick up any noises coming from the next-door room that might give her more clues as to what was going on in there, but there was nothing. Either they were both very quiet in their lovemaking or there was not very much happening on that score. She really hoped it was the latter.
7
Over the next couple of days, Maggie found herself having to leave her room at the exact second she heard Angie’s bedroom door opening, but generally it was someone going into the room and not coming out and they disappeared without giving her a chance to strike up a casual conversation. Finally, though, the timing worked, and she emerged at precisely the right moment to speak to whoever it was. Her heart plummeted, though, when she saw that it was Angie and not Tiger.
Despite what Maggie felt was a tangible antipathy demonstrated towards Angie on her own part, Angie didn’t seem to have noticed, but then Angie appeared to breeze through her life without being troubled by whether she was upsetting anyone else. She continued to ‘borrow’ Maggie’s food from the fridge without ever replacing it and when Maggie’s crockery was no longer available to her, she had just moved on to using someone else’s. It was as if other people’s lives made no impact on hers whatsoever, and Maggie had decided that her own life would work best if she was friendly, but not friends, with Angie.
But now, as she had orchestrated a bumping into her in the corridor, she couldn’t waste the opportunity to get more information out of her about the mysterious man in her room.
‘Hi, Angie,’ she opened. ‘How are you?’
‘Sound,’ replied Angie. If she was surprised at the uncharacteristic attempt at conversation, she didn’t show it. ‘You?’
Maggie nodded. ‘Good, thanks. My course seems to be going well at least.’
Angie turned to head up the corridor, already bored by what Maggie had to say so Maggie spoke more quickly.
‘I bumped into your friend, Tiger, the other day. Literally walked right into him.’
‘Oh yeah. He said. Said he nearly showed you his crown jewels by accident!’
Angie grinned at her. She was pretty when she smiled, Maggie thought, less ‘too cool for school’， and she felt an absurd wave of pleasure that Tiger had mentioned their encounter. He must have noticed that spark, as well.
‘He seems nice,’ Maggie continued.