The Fourth Roommate

Happy Meal

I smiled and pulled out of his embrace, squeezing his arm, "you'll be absolutely fine. But here's a tip... Maybe next time, tell the truth?"

He nodded and looked like a baby who had had their candy stolen from them. My heart cracked for him and so I grabbed his hand and pulled him firmly out of the bar. I was not going to have him be all depressed and miserable on my watch. I was going to make him happy the only way I knew how.

***

"Seriously? A happy meal?" he raised his eyebrows as I happily munched on my chicken nuggets.

I swore, I could just live on nuggets forever. I leaned forward and dug my hand through his box and pulled out the toy victoriously. I unwrapped it for him and passed him the little yellow giraffe.

He looked at it, "Lee would have liked this."

"No!" I exclaimed suddenly and lunged forward over the table, sealing his mouth over with my hand, as if he had just said the crucio curse or something of the sort.

He raised his eyebrows at me but I shook my head very seriously, "This is not what we are going to talk about. We are going to be happy and talk about kittens."

I removed my hand from his mouth and stared him down seriously. He signed eventually, taking a bite of his hamburger and started to tell me about this furry munchkin his mom owned. Apparently he used to wake up Cam by walking all over him and sitting on his face.

The door opened and I looked up to see who entered. It was Tom, wearing his usual somber expression. I jumped up from my seat and skipped over to him. He looked surprised to see me and waved a little awkwardly to Cam who was picking at his fries, loudly complaining that if his six pack didn't show up properly for his modeling shoot, I would have hell to pay.

"Boyfriend?" Tom asked as I waited with him in line (I wanted a McFlurry anyway).

"Fake fiancée," I replied, as if that could make any sense to him. Tom just laughed and shook his head, ordering a fish burger.

I crinkled my nose at his choice. To me, the fish as McDonald's tasted of solid cardboard and that was it. However, to each their own....

Tom sat down next to me and we started to make polite conversation about nothing in particular. After downing my McFlurry in two gulps I found that I needed, rather unsuprisingly, a trip to the bathroom. I excused myself quickly and rushed off.

When I came back, the conversation had turned into something else entirely than polite conversation.

"What on earth are you dong here, you fool?" Tom said scathingly, "if you love someone, there is no point of wasting your time, sitting here and just being depressed. Take it from me, I met the love of my life and she died. My only regret I have about her is that I didn't take the opportunity to spend even more time with her."

I was moved by his words. I felt the raw emotion behind them. I put my hand on Toms shoulder whose own hand reached up to cover it. Cam looked at us for one moment before getting up promptly and racing out the door.

"I'm going to make her fall in love with me!" He screamed and I saw him running desperately down the streets as if his hair was on fire.

I laughed and sat down next to Tom, shaking my head.

"You give good advice." I told him.

"And you're a good friend. Most people wouldn't leave a good time at a bar to buy their friend a happy meal," he replied.

I blushed at his compliment and bumped my shoulder against him.

***

The next morning Cam still wasn't home. Zac was at Janes apartment, where she was introducing him to the fantastic-ness which was Doctor Who. I was quietly making some scrambled eggs whilst my favorite jazz music played in the background. Ace sleepily walked out of his room, without Vannessa for the first time in ages.

"What's up with you?" I questioned him, noting his develished hair and more than usual grumpy expression.

He sighed and I ladelled some scrambled eggs onto a plate for him. He stuffed a large mouthful in and then looked at me with a glower on his perfectly chiseled features. I wondered if he had had a fight with Zac (I knew Zac was stealing his expensive cologne to impress Jane). Or maybe Cam was in his room in fetal position about Lee... Cam had done it multiple times this week alone.

"You're in love with your dumbass ex boyfriend," he snapped.

I pressed my lips together and raised my eyebrows, "I'm getting over it."

Sunlight was streaming onto his face, highlighting his high cheekbones and thick dark hair. I swallowed, struck by his... Beauty. He was masculine and muscular and had a very deep, powerful voice which swept away nations, but that did not change the fact he was absolutely beautiful at the same time.

He stared right back, his eyes slightly narrowed in the way they were when he was angry. When he was worried he'd get a small crinkle in his brow. When he was happy he has a tiny dimple around the left corner of his mouth, and when he was sad his eyes swept away to the window, his fingers clutching a paint brush.

His facial expressions were engraved in my memory and I wondered if it made me creepy. I hadn't tried to, but everything Ace did was so memorable and beautiful in its own right.

"You should never have liked him in the first place," he said, his jaw taunt.

"I liked him and yea I fell in love with him. Don't you dare make me apologize for that," I snapped, sick and tired of being judged by him.

"He wasn't good enough for you!"

"No it was the other way round," I sighed and picked up my bag. "I'm going to go."

As I walked out Ace caught my arm and stopped me. I looked up at him and the air was thick with an indescribable tension. My heart was beating a mile a minute.

The door flew open and Zac walked in. He stopped short when he saw us and raised an eyebrow. Flushing purple I pushed past him and ran outmoded mumbling something about work.

***

Sorry it's late!!! This is written on my iPad so my autocorrect probably changed a few words to something weird. Sorry if that happens! Please leave a comment and a vote, they make my day.