Dominick walked into his dorm with several different ideas of where Conrad could put his confidence. He'd loosened up, played the part of the guy who was self-assured, and where had it gotten him? Looking like a complete tool with wine all over the borrowed pants he wore.

Not only that, he’d abandoned Harmony with no explanation. What had he been thinking?

The small space of his room smelled like pizza, and Conrad was sitting in his usual spot on the edge of his bed. On his head was the headset he always wore while playing his online video games. He looked up at the sound of the door slamming. Dominick's expression must have been more gloomy than he realized because Conrad took one look at him and set both the headset and his controller down and stood up in the middle of the room.

"Duuuude," he said slowly. "What happened to you tonight?"

Dominick shook his head. "A disaster, that's what."

"What's all over your pants?"

"I think you mean your pants." Dominick raised his eyebrows. "And it's red wine. I doubt it'll come out, and I'm going to have to buy you a new pair. Please tell me they're not expensive."

He held his breath knowing it was a very real possibility. Conrad was a walking contradiction. He was charming but rude, cheap yet cultured. For all Dominick knew, these pants that were often wrinkled on the floor of their dorm could have cost a couple of hundred dollars. It was money Dominick didn't have.

"It's fine." Conrad waved his hand in the air as if he was physically pushing the question out of the room. "Tell me about your date."

Dominick stared at Conrad, only breaking his gaze for one long, dramatic blink.

"That bad?"

Dominick let out a puff of air that might have been considered a laugh by some. "Let’s see, I already told you she thought I was going to be someone else, and now I'm home early with wine stains on your pants. What do you think?"

Conrad wrapped his hand around the back of his neck and chuckled. "That good, huh?"

"The entire night was a disaster." Dominick began pacing in the small room. "She would have been better off with Pax."

"Pax?"

Dominick stopped, and crossed his arms across his chest. "Yeah, Pax. Mr. Perfect. Blond hair, blue eyes. Charming, I'm sure. The guy she was supposed to date."

Conrad mirrored Dominick stance and crossed his arms, waiting for Dominick to continue.

Dominick flopped down on his bed and put his elbows on his knees. "And now I'm out a bunch of money I really shouldn't have spent in the first place. This is exactly why this whole Date Maker thing was a bad idea. I'm hopeless."

"Maybe not." Conrad's voice was quiet. Dominick looked up to see his roommate's brows furrowed, his hand resting on his chin.

"What are you talking about?" Dominick asked. "Of course I am."

"No, no, no. That's not what I mean. You’re still hopeless." He smiled at Dominick, who only groaned in response. "I wonder if your packet was the one that was correct and hot coffee chick—"

"Harmony," Dominick interrupted.

"Right. Maybe Harmony's was the one that was messed up."

Dominick chuckled. "Oh, yeah. I'm sure that's what happened. And now that you mention it, all those glares were probably just her way of flirting. And the way she told me she wished I was Pax was her playing hard to get. Oh, why didn't I think of that? If only I would have stayed at the painting class, Harmony would be madly in love with me right now."

"Dominick," Conrad sighed. "You don't have to be so dramatic about the whole thing. I'm just saying it's a possibility, right? Did Morgan say she mixed up your packet? Or are you just assuming things?"

He pulled out his phone. Dominick had sent a quick text to Morgan when Harmony wasn't paying attention, but she still hadn't responded. And if Harmony had been on the phone with Morgan when he pulled up to the painting class, she hadn’t said they were on the wrong date.

While he wasn't necessarily convinced that Conrad was right, Dominick couldn't stop the small amount of hope that was building in his chest.

Maybe he and Harmony were meant to date each other, and their first date just hadn't gone as expected.

Conrad cleared his throat. "I'm guessing by that goofy grin on your face you are starting to realize your roommate is brilliant."

"You might be," Dominick agreed, sitting up on his bed to look at him. "I'm lucky to have a friend like you."

"Whatever," Conrad grumbled, but Dominick saw the slight smile tug at his lips and knew he was proud of himself. "I've been away from my game long enough. All this gushy love talk makes me want to destroy some zombies."

He was putting his headset back on before Dominick could say anything else, the sound of the game and Conrad's occasional cursing filled the silence.

Dominick changed out of the ruined clothing and started looking online for possible ways to get out red wine stains. One website claimed Dawn detergent and hydrogen peroxide did the trick, but they had neither of those things in their dorm room, so he kept looking.

When one solution called for salt and boiling water, Dominick felt hope flood through him. That was something he could do. He rummaged through old takeout silverware packages until he found a small handful of unopened salt packets. He sprinkled the salt on the stains just like the instructions said. Then he ran their Keurig without a cup to get the hot water.

Conrad raised his brow when the two made brief eye contact.

"I'm trying to get the stains out," Dominick answered.

"And I told you I didn't care." Conrad shook his head, and turned his attention back to the television.

Dominick knew Conrad wouldn't be mad if the stains didn't come out. And yet, with just a handful of words, he'd given him the encouragement he needed to face anything.

Fixing the pants would be the least he could do.

Next, it would be Harmony and this whole Date Maker mix-up.

After following the directions as carefully as possible given the limitations of living on campus, Dominick ran down to the laundry facilities. He started the machine and went back up to his room.

Already he was dreaming up possibilities for his second date with Harmony. If he could persuade her to see him again, he knew he wouldn't mess it up. No more freaking out and leaving his date stranded at an art class. He would do things properly. Romantically.

Dominick was just working out the details of his plan when his phone buzzed. He picked it up off the nightstand and read the screen.

Morgan: I am SO SORRY!! I mixed up a ton of dates this week. Harmony wasn't your date. I'll happily refund your money and bring your new date itinerary by tomorrow.

He felt all the air leave his lungs as if he'd been punched in the gut. Harmony wasn't his intended date. His fingers flew across the screen as he typed his response. Even though he felt guilty, he couldn't make himself go through that again.

Dominick: No. I think I'm done. Hopefully, you can find a new match for whoever you paired with me.

He hit send, turned off his phone, and laid down with the sounds of Conrad's video game to lull him to sleep.