Roommate Roulette

4 | Cold showers

"Good morning, students." The teacher had a microphone on, attached to a speaker. "We have a new student here today, and if you're in this crowd, I'm Mrs. Mills. Now, lets get started shall we?" 

Somehow, every single head turned towards me. I sank lower into my seat and whispered to Ezra. "How to fuck do they know it's me?" I hissed.

With his phone under his table, he angled the screen towards me and a recent post flashed. It was Sabrina and I near my locker. One of her friends must've taken it.

"I see you've met the most 'popular' girl in school." He placed his phone back down and refocused on the lesson. His face is full of disgust from even mentioning her.

𑁍   •   𑁍   •   𑁍

A knock on the apartment caused me to pause the current episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Did you know that the show was on Netflix for free in Canada?

Grayson was out for volleyball practice, so no one was here except for me. I let the door open ajar to see who it was. Ezra. 

I gestured for him to enter and I shut the door behind him. 

"So I was right!" I spun around and he had the biggest smile on his face, flashing me his smile lines. "You are  the girl that's living with Gray." 

I rolled my eyes, narrowing them. "I should've checked the peephole."

"Peepholes are old school." He muttered and went to the kitchen to go through the fridge.

"Hey..." I pointed at him. "You better not touch my food." 

He held out a container of mac-and-cheese. "This yours?"

"It is, in fact, mine." I snatched it from it and stuffed it into the fridge again, closing the door with a slam. "Do you need anything?" 

"No." He simply said. "I'm bored."

"And you're here because...?" I waited for him to finish the sentence.

"Because I want you to un-bore me." He followed me to the living room and took a seat in the armchair. "What are those?" He pointed at the mountain of my art supplies.

"It's for painting. I haven't gotten a chance to do it yet. I'm planning on moving all of this to my room."

"Then let's do it." He suggested.

"Sorry?" Did I hear right?

"Let's move it to your room."

[-Grayson-]

At the end of practice, I don't say goodbye to my teammates. I don't look up to the girls waiting at the bleachers. I headed straight to the locker room to shower.

My phone rang and it vibrated in my pocket. I looked at the caller ID and it was Ma.

"Hola, cariño." Her voice was somewhat muffled.

"Hey, Ma." I decided I'll take a shower later.

Ma and I had some tough times, but she's helped me through them because I was younger back then. Now that I'm older, I told myself that it would be my responsibility to take care of Ma. I was normally the one that would always call her, but today...

"What happened?" I asked, worried.

"Tu padre ha vuelto borracho hoy. I'm okay, if that's what you're wondering. He left before it got too bad. I cleaned up the vase he broke, it was only a few dolares." Your father came back drunk today.

"Where is he now? Do you want me to come visit?" I hurriedly asked, slinging my gym bag onto my shoulder. I'll take a shower later. Concern clawed its way up my chest. "Is Gabby okay?" Gabriella was my little sister, she was only four years old—too young for something like this.

"No, no. It's okay, mi cariño. Gabby is perfectly fine, she was sleeping through it all. I told him to get out and to come back when he's in his right mind." She did what? I would've never given him the chance to come back.

"Ma." I said in a stern voice, pressing my palm to my forehead. "When was the last time he did something nice for you? Or at least a bit normal?"

She sighed on the other side of the line. "Creo que el puede cambiar." I believe he can change. Yeah, fuck that.

"I'll talk to you later, Ma. You used that excuse too many times. Try to think of the real reason you gave him the opportunity. Te amo." I hung up before she could say anything else. 

You know, a cold shower sounds nice right now.

I cleared my head as the water hit me. 

My dad―I call him David―had been drinking for... since I was born, pretty much. Ma had sent me away further from home just in case David's alcoholism became a bigger problem. I had been calling her every now and then to make sure Ma and Gabby were fine and David hasn't been bothering her.

So far until today, she'd been great and started a habit of gardening to entertain her. Gabby had been spending more time with Ma and I insist on coming over to take care of her to take weight off of Ma's shoulders, but Ma refuses. 

I thought about what I have to do once I finish showering. My mind wandered to the new girl who magically  appeared and had to live with me from now on. As far as I'm concerned, I didn't want her to be a distraction.

She was beautiful in her own way. The curve of her body to the flow of her dark chocolate hair. A delicate face with radiant eyes. Her light, tan, sun kissed skin and her rosy cheeks. Everything about her screams selflessness.

I hate to admit it, but Evelyn was pretty damn attractive.

I splashed my face with water to snap myself out of it and I shut off the water.