Moving In With The Enemy

Chapter 4 ~ "Let It Settle"

"Wow, really?" I ask and he laughs with a shrug. "Are you?"

"Nah, not at all." He insists. "My mom will try and convince you that I'm just 'lost' or whatever, but it's not my religion, it's theirs. It's not how I want to live my life."

"I think that's good." I shrug, leaning my elbows on the counter. "I think that's what happens when you grow up, you figure out who you are."

"Yeah, I agree with all of that but......to be honest, I couldn't live where I wasn't allowed to drink coffee, alcohol, have sex or do anything enjoyable." He admits and I snort in agreement. 

"True enough." I admit. 

"So what are your plans tonight?" He asks and I blow out a breath, shaking my head. 

"I'll probably finish organizing my room, get something to eat.....nothing too high tech." I shrug, looking down at my hands. The countertops were so weird in here, this fake pink granite look.

"What if we all went out?" He shrugs and I blink up at him. "We could do a roommate trip, just the four of us."

"Are you-um......" I mumble, leaning in closer across the peninsula. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Yeah why not?" He asks, looking confused and I sigh.

"Walker snapped at me earlier when I was moving in and I'm just.....I'm not sure what I did to him." I admit. "And I don't want to make him more angry with me."

"Walker gets in moods about things sometimes, I'm sure he's fine." He says, waving the air. "We'll all get a roomie beer and some fries." He tells me and I shrug.

"Okay, I'll-um.....I'll go get ready." I shrug, walking away from him and back down the hall.

I looked sweaty and homeless after moving in all day, I wasn't planning on getting dressed up, just reversing my nasty look.

I brush my hair and put in some dry shampoo, working it in properly. I put on some mascara and conceal my dark circles. Last I change my clothes and put on some jean shorts and a ribbed tank top. It was casual but looked a little more put together.

I grab my purse from the back of my door and toss my phone into it. I still had to move my stuff into the bathroom and shower, but I figured it would be better done once I clarified what space I could use with everyone.

I smile and walk back out to the main room where Dustin and Mark are already putting on their shoes.

"Annie, you know you can bring your shoes and coats and stuff out here and put them in the closet, right?" Dustin asks and I nod with a smile.

"Yeah, I just didn't get to it yet." I assure them. "That's tomorrow's problem."

"I'll say, you did plenty to get moved in already." He chuckles and I look down at my shoes. "Where's Walker?" He asks, looking behind me and I blink. "He's been acting like a little bitch all day."

Dustin walks past me and down the hall to go knock on his door again. "Come on, dude! We're taking Annie out to dinner, get up!"

"It's really okay if he doesn't want to come." I tell Dustin, shaking my head and Walker's door swings open. He comes out looking moody, worked up about something and I press my lips together. My god, he just looked so gorgeous though, he could really be on the cover of a magazine. 

"Well then, let's go, quit standing around." He grumbles, immediately stepping through the door.

Moody. Totally moody.

Mark swipes his keys off the counter and smiles, gesturing for Dustin and I to follow him.

Walker walks ahead of us, hands in his pockets. My legs aren't as long as all of theirs so I have to walk twice as fast to keep up with the group.

"Walker, you don't know where we're going!" Dustin calls as we reach a fork in the road. "We're headed to Flanagans!" He tells him and the three of us head right, clearly fucking with Walker who was already going left.

By the time he catches up he's walking next to me, I just try to hide the fact that I'm breathing this heavily while he's so close.

"Why are we going to Flanagans? Headhunter's is bigger." Walker grumbles.

"Because Flanagan's has the special on tonight with pitchers." Mark answers. "Could you stop acting like a little bitch now?" He asks and Walker chews the inside of his cheek.

We get to the place Mark and Dustin were describing, it just looked like an old student pub. I walk inside with the three of them and we pick a table. I sit down in the chair next to Walker who immediately gets up and makes Mark trade with him. 

"He's definitely pissed at me." I mumble to Mark. "What did I do?"

"I don't know Annie, he's not normally like this." He assures me. "It might just be the adjustment thing, Walker likes things his way a lot."

"If he didn't want me with you guys then I wouldn't have signed that lease."

"He did, he was the most enthusiastic about it......I don't know, sometimes change makes him weird." He shrugs. "Let it settle, I think he'll get over it."

"Okay." I sigh, pulling my hair off my face and trying to relax. I had other things to think about, like school starting in five days, my shifts at work this week and getting settled in. Walker would have to get over it.

"If he really gives you trouble, come let me know alright?"

"Yeah sure." I nod with a weak smile and he picks up the table card from the middle.

"Let's change the mood, if he wants to act like a wet blanket then he can. We'll have fun." He assures me and I nod, smiling a bit wider. Mark was so nice. "You been here before?"

"No." I admit and he nods.

"You drink though, right?"

"Yeah, I do." I assure him and he nods. I hadn't much recently and I'm sure these guys could out-drink me, but now I'd have the chance to do it more.

"You like beer?"

"Yeah, I like it." I nod. "Especially on a hot day, go to the fridge, open a can, sit in the sun and chug it down."

"Annie, I think we're all going to get along just fine." Dustin butts-in and I laugh. 

I really did like it, it wasn't a lie so I could fit in. It was mostly what I drank if I was having a casual drink at home and growing up it was always what was at parties.

"What kind?" Mark asks and I shrug.

"I'm fine with literally whatever." I assure him.

Mark orders a few pitchers of Bud and two orders of fries for us to share. Once they arrive we all pour a glass and Dustin holds his up.

"To our new roommate, Annie." He says and I smile and tap my cup on his and Marks. Walker reluctantly picks up his cup and taps it with ours and I look up to him, expecting him to be looking somewhere else.

But he's not, he's looking right at me with this weird look in his eyes. This.....fear or pain almost and I didn't understand it. But I'm sure I would at some point, I'm sure he'd make sense eventually. But in reality, I knew better. Assholes don't change and I think the best move is to keep my distance with Walker.

I just hope things don't get any worse.