the roommate → brad simpson | ✓

forty three - "are you fucking shitting on my bed"

"Hey, guys!" I shoot a faux smile into the camera with a short wave as my mum and brother sit in front of a screen too.

"Hey sweetheart! Exams start tomorrow," my mum reminds me and I hold back a groan. "Are you nervous?"

"Yeah," I admit. "These past few days have been brimmed with lots of studying. It will hopefully pay off though because I'll do well in my exams."

"If you don't you know I'll be disappointed," my mum tells me. "And you won't be coming back here to drop out of uni either!"

"I know, I know," I smile at her. "How's everything at home?"

"Works fine," Daniel answers gruffly. "The business is booming at the moment so it's really busy."

"That's good!"

"How are you and Brad going?" My mum asks with a grin and I feel the air in my throat get trapped for a second.

"Uh, it's complicated," I answer simply. I didn't want my mum to know that we'd broken up after three weeks of dating when she more or less had the wedding planned for us both. There's a knock on my dorm door and I turn to the door quickly, shifting the laptop on my bed.

"Sounds like someone's popular," my mum teases. "We're gonna get going, say hi to Brad for me."

"Yeah, I will," I smile and she ends the call promptly. With a small sigh, I close my laptop lid and push it to the side before climbing off of my bed and going to the dorm door, swinging it open to reveal James.

"Aw, shit," he curses. "I forgot we swapped rooms."

"Are you drunk?"

"Me? Pffft. No!" He laughs and I frown at him with a disbelieving look. He leans against the door frame to steady himself as he crosses his arms. "Do you remember which room I'm staying in?"

"Yeah. Sixty nine," I remind him.

"Where's that?" He frowns confusedly and alcoholic fumes are radiating off of him. "I knew I should have left when Brad did so the fucker could take me back."

I roll my eyes and slide on my shoes, "I'll take you to your room. Come on."

"Thanks mum."

"I'm not your mum," I scrunch my nose up at him as I close the dorm door. Britt had gone out to print off some stuff at the library last mine. "Just shut up and walk."

Thankfully, he does as he's told and we walk silently up the stairs. It took longer than usual since James was drunk and couldn't really walk properly but we managed it. I knock quickly on the door, hiding behind James as I waited for Brad to answer.

"What the fuck do you—?" Brad swings open the door with a growl and I take in his appearance. He was wearing a vest top and some joggers, his hair was a mess and his eyes were red and swollen. I feel a lump in my throat.

"What you swearing for?" James rolls his eyes and pushes past Brad into the room. Brad's eyes never leave my face as I stand there with my mouth open as I try to gather some words to say.

"Uh, hi," he coughs awkwardly and I can't spit my words out. My mind has stopped functioning in that moment. "You should probably close your mouth before you catch some flies."

I snap my jaw together quickly, not really reacting. I wanted to laugh like I usually would and I wanted to talk to him but I couldn't fathom any words.

"Ah, that felt nice," James sighs through the dorm in relief and Brad looks behind him to see James squatting on his bed sheets.

"James are you fucking shitting on my bed," Brad growls and James pulls his trousers and pants up quickly, scrambling off of Brad's bed.

"I didn't mean to!"

"I'm gonna fucking castrate you," Brad growls and quickly glances over to me. "Can we talk later?"

"N-no."

It was a poor response and I quickly turn on my heels to leave. Brad shouts my name but I'm already around the corner, my hand against my chest as I walk down the stairs to my dorm.

I should have been more firm and authoritative with him rather than weak and submissive. I bet I looked so lame stood there looking like a baby about to cry.

♡

My first exam went fucking awful. I may as well have just taken a shit on my paper.

I almost fell asleep during it and I couldn't think about anything related to the paper so I ended up writing whatever shit first came into my head before finally it was time to leave the exam hall.

I run a hand stressfully through my hair before putting it up in a messy bun as I make my way to the canteen do something to eat. I join the line, putting my earphones in my ears as I wait patiently for the line to go down.

The canteen was serving some southern fried chicken wraps and I couldn't wait to get my hands on one.

I feel a hand on my back as I take a step forward and I turn around quickly to see a smile on Connor's face. His eyes were normal so I was hoping he wasn't high right now.

"Hey, Margo."

"Hi," I smile politely back at him, taking the earphone closest to him out of my ear. "You alright?"

"Yeah, thought I'd join you in the queue so I don't have to wait for so long," he chuckles. "Are you alright? I heard about what happened between you and Brad."

"You were there when it happened, Con."

"I was high when it happened," he chuckles shyly, turning to the side. "I don't really remember much of what happened. Tristan was asking Brad something one second and the next Brad was running away. I got told afterwards by Brad what had happened."

I look to the floor at the mention of Brad's name, "that's cool."

Part of me wanted to ask what he said to Connor but the other part of me was telling myself to forget about it. I wanted to ask if Brad was okay despite my lack of better judgement.

"Yeah," Connor replies awkwardly. "I asked him why he was punching Tristan and then he told me. I left him to it, Tristan's a proper arsehole sometimes. Maybe it'll teach him a lesson."

I felt like his words were stringing my heart and one had been pulled. I have to hold back a smile and remember what Brad says instead of getting flustered over Brad defending me.

"He misses you," Connor tells me. "He really does, I've never seen him like this over a girl. He didn't mean what he said, he was just trying to impress Tristan 'cause Tristan always makes fun of people for being in relationships."

"Okay."

"And I understand why you're mad at him," Connor reassures me. "I really do, it's not nice what he said. Maybe you should talk to him?"

"I just wanna get my exams over before I worry about a relationship," I smile over to Connor. I didn't tell him that I was struggling to concentrate through my exams with Brad playing on my mind.

"Fair enough," Connor says as we reach the lady at the canteen serving out food. He smirks and stands in front of me, turning to the dinner lady.

I eye over the food options. There were chicken burgers and vegetarian burgers and chips and one chicken wrap left.

"Take the last wrap and I'll kill you, Connor."

He turns to me with a cheeky grin before looking back at the lady, "yeah, hi. Can I get a chicken wrap meal deal please?"

unedited.