A Hint Of Fierce

Chapter 11: Color Me Surprised

Logan

"So..." I try to sound casual, "I don't see your roommate around. What was her name again? Bella?"

I'm currently in Kate's new apartment that she shares with Beth and we just got done unpacking all of my sister's stuff. I love the girl but damn that's too many clothes. We're in the living room having our dinner. Kate suggested we should eat in her room but I desperately wanted to see her roommate hence here we are.

"Her name's Bethany. Honestly, you don't remember anything ever, you have the memory of a peanut." she glares, oblivious to the fact that I do remember her name very well, in fact, it's all I've thought about these past few weeks.

"What's her story anyway? How come she's living all alone?" I try to tone down my enthusiasm as I complete my sentence.

I am really curious though. Does Caramel Hair rent a room here too? Where's she originally from? Does she have parents? So many questions have been clouding my mind ever since I learned she's Kate's roommate.

"It's a little sad actually," Kate sighs, "her grandfather recently passed away in..." she tries to recall, "Ohio, I believe." she pauses for a moment, "Yup! Ohio," she confirms.

"And?" I ask her when she takes a little too long to eat her noodles.

She looks at me with a smirk before continuing, "Her parents had to move away for a year. Her mom was telling me that they've got some family business matters to attend to and she wanted someone who could be a good influence on Bethany to stay here while they were away." she announced proudly, "And I was on the lookout for a place just like this, affordable and in a safe neighborhood so everything worked out perfectly since her parents didn't care much for the rent, otherwise a place with amenities like this wouldn't have fit my budget."

I want to say something about how she doesn't ever have to worry about money and that I'd be happy to give her as much as she needed, well technically my dad would give it but I know that she loves her independence just as much as she dislikes our parents and this topic would only make her irritated so I switch the conversation to a lighter topic instead.

"You? A good influence?" I look at her for a few seconds before I burst out laughing. I still have too many questions running in my mind but Kate's too intuitive, if she gets a sense that I'm interested in this girl, I'm not sure how she'd react. I plan to keep this low-key for a while.

-

As soon as I enter the kitchen to do the dishes for Kate because I'm such a "good little brother" in her own words, I see Beth coming down the stairs. She's using her phone so she doesn't notice me standing in the corner looking at her. She's wearing fluffy-looking white shorts and a loose-fitting tank top of a creamier shade.

Just as I'm busy ogling her up and down, she notices me and startles, "What are you still doing here? I thought my mother made it very clear that there would be no sleepovers." her tone is rather defensive.

"It's seven o'clock," I respond with a bored expression on my face hiding my excitement about seeing her.

"And?" she asks, genuinely confused.

"I'm not here for a sleepover, Bethany," I stress her name as a subtle comment on our encounter earlier this afternoon. "I was helping Kate unpack and we were just having dinner."

She mouths "O." and shrugs as she continues to walk down the stairs and takes a seat on the kitchen stool, "have you seen Dimitri?" she asks me as I enter the kitchen after her, setting down the dirty dishes in the sink.