Roman Roommate

17 - Come with Me

"Thank you for lunch and for helping me today. You were amazing."

Jay smiled at my compliment as he gathered up all his trash as well. He held out his hand for mine and went to toss it all in the nearest trashcan while I stayed put in our booth. As he returned to his seat, he looked at me expectantly as if asking if I was ready to go. I leaned on my hand and smile toward him.

"You are not what you appear to be."

Jay sat back in the booth when he realized that we had reached a serious conversation. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"I don't know," I admitted truthfully. "When I first saw you, I thought you looked kind of well creepy. Then you spoke and turned around and I must say you were extremely attractive in a bad boy kind of way. Then I thought you were a complete pretentious jerk when I got to know you but now, I know that you are really sweet on the inside."

Jay seemed surprised by all of this news yet he appeared pleased with the outcome of my little story.

"You always seemed beautiful to me," he admitted. "Then I got to know you and I learned that you were spiteful and picky but cute and adorable all the same."

I grinned and blushed at his words avoiding his eyes. "Um...should we head home?"

Jay agreed and we caught a cab back to my apartment. We continued with small talk about dance, cooking, food, or whatever we wanted all the way until we were outside my door and were greeted by an unexpected guest.

"Oh hi Carmen," I called out when I spotted her.

"Goodness there you two are," she breathed out. She gave Jay a quick hug which he returned just a quickly.

"Are you alright?" I asked as I got my key out and opened my door. We all quickly stepped inside and I turned to Carmen worried now that she had been waiting for us to return.

"It's not that big of a deal but well...I headed over to my place today and it is just a total mess. They have the whole block's water shut down because of my plumbing. Things aren't going to be resolved this weekend. Do you think that maybe you could host Blake for just another week or so?" Carmen asked explaining the situation quickly.

I smiled at her then at Jay. I spoke to Carmen but I kept my gaze on those lovely light blue eyes. "Sure, he's welcome here anytime."

"Really?" Carmen gushed more than excited. She didn't seem to notice that neither of us where looking at her. "Oh well then of course, are you alright with staying here Blake?"

"Yeah," he agreed breaking our eye contact. "We've only just gotten to know each other. Leaving now would be such a shame." He winked at me and I grinned back sharing the secret conversation with him.

"I'm glad you two are getting along so well. I was worried that you two might be from completely different worlds or something," Carmen continued.

My grin broadened. I couldn't seem to help catch all these references to mine and Jay's past. It was like Carmen knew what had been going on between us.

"Somehow we tend to make it work," I said.

Jay smirked but he was standing behind Carmen so she couldn't see him anyway. "It's required some effort on both our parts."

"Oh that's fabulous news," Carmen gushed clapping her hands together. "Do you want to go out for some dinner Blake?"

She turned to face Jay and kept her back to me. I met his eyes and crossed my arms waiting for his response. He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortable with the situation.