roommates at best

F O U R

The next morning, I woke up around 8 and went for a jog. The morning air is always crisp and peaceful, waking me up and giving me some time to reflect. It was spring and flowers were blooming, setting my allergies ablaze but still making me happy.

Alex wasn't up when I left and he wasn't up when I got back, which was understandable seeing as it wasn't even 9 yet. I got my things together and set for the shower. It was still odd living in someone else's home but I tried to be as comfortable as I could be. I walked out of the bathroom wrapped in my towel. I wondered if, after the introduction last night, walking around in just a towel was a bad idea.

After showering and returning to my room, I pulled out an outfit for the day. Black bike shorts with an oversized, kinda bleached Nirvana shirt. I threw a denim jacket over it because even though the sun was out, it was still early spring so it was a little chilly.

I went to the kitchen to attempt to make breakfast with whatever I could find in the fridge. There were eggs, cheese, and surprisingly a green pepper. After starting a pot of coffee I got to work on breakfast. It wasn't very difficult, eggs are pretty self explanatory, but I was trying super hard to be quiet and that took a little bit more effort. Digging around through an entire kitchen for a pan isn't an easy thing to do quietly, but lucky for me, I got it done and was onto cooking.

I chopped the pepper, added it to the eggs, sprinkled cheese on top, and let it cook slowly before folding it onto itself. As it continued to cook I added a slice of bread to the toaster. I really felt like I was on a roll. I went back to the omelette, seeing it was done. I reached for a cabinet overhead to find a plate. As I opened it, the last thing I had wanted to happen happened. Cups came falling down out of the cabinet, one after the other, making loud clanking noises on the floor. Thankfully, none of them were glass, but still, it was beyond loud. I stood there and stared up at the cabinet while they continued to clank by my feet. After a few moments, the clanking finally stopped. Eyes closed, deep breath, I reached up to grab a plate just as the toast hopped out of the toaster.

"You good?"

Spinning around with a gasp, I saw Alex shuffling into the kitchen. He didn't have a shirt on and was just wearing his boxers. His hair was a bit disheveled and his eyes blinked tiredly behind his oval glasses. He looked around the floor at all of the cups and laughed. Stepping around them, he shuffled to where I was and looked at my food. He smelled warm and musky,

"Wow that looks really great actually," he yawned and stepped around me, reaching to a cabinet above the coffee pot. He grabbed a mug and poured some for himself.

"Thanks for making coffee too, this is awesome," he leaned against the counter and took a long sip, looking right at me. Still recovering from embarrassment and avoiding eye contact at all costs, I bent down to pick up all of the cups. I felt so awkward. I clearly woke him up while just trying to have a nice chill morning. And I'm sure he was staring at me due to being very annoyed.

I returned the cups back to their cabinet, grabbed my plate of food, and walked to the table to eat. Alex finished his coffee and went to pour some more. It was too quiet so I spoke up,

"I'm really sorry about the cups. I was trying so hard not to wake you up,"

"Oh no are you kidding," he chuckled lightly while pouring, "I'M sorry about the cups. I just threw those up there, I never use them. Definitely my bad." He started replacing the coffee pot but hesitated. He looked up at me, "Oh did you want some by the way?"

"Oh crap," I placed my hand in front of my mouth while eating, "I totally forgot haha, sure that'd be great, thanks,"

Alex got a second mug down, filled it with coffee, brought it to the table, and sat down across from me. He took another long sip while looking right at me. I tried to keep eye contact but he didn't have a shirt on and his hair was so perfectly messy and his morning voice was so deep.. my cheeks got hot and I had to break the staring contest.

He put down the mug and laughed, "why are you so nervous?"

Eyes wide and eyebrows raised, my focus shot right back up at him, "wha- who said I was nervous??" Yup, didn't make that obvious..

"Girl please," he smiled playfully, "it's so obvious."

With a sigh, my shoulders slumped. I took a bite of food, chewed, swallowed, pretended to think, "ok maybe I'm nervous," I shrugged, "so what?"

"Okaaaaay," he held it out while leaning forward on his elbows, "but why?"

My left eyebrow raised, "I think you know why."

He stared right at me for what felt like forever, searching my eyes and trying to read me. Instead of doing the same, I tried to hide my feelings as much as I could. Clearly he wanted me to admit something, but I couldn't let him figure me out. I had reasons for moving out here. I didn't need distractions to get in the way of that.

But also... Alex was just so hot. So he could easily get in the way and I really wouldn't have a problem with that... except for the fact that we live together.

His eyes squinted with suspicion and a half smile grew on his lips. He sat back and stretched,

"Fine," he yawned, "don't tell me." He finished his coffee then got up to put his mug in the sink. "What are you doing today?"

I stuffed the last bite into my mouth and followed him with my plate. I wasn't sure what my plans for the day would be but if he wanted to hang then I was definitely down.

"Hmm..." I rinsed my plate, "nothing in particular. Why, what were you thinking?"

He was leaning against the counter again, arms crossed over his chest, this time across from me. I turned to face him and leaned as well. He looked me up and down and gave me a cheeky grin. I was super taken back and responded with a questionable look, trying not to laugh.

"So there's this party later.. my friends and I are just celebrating some big milestones we've reached lately, no big deal. You should totally come though." His face was more relaxed and serious now.

A party.. hmm.. good excuse to get drunk and get to know the new roommate..

No Winnie wtf get it together!

"You can think about it. It's at 9 so you have all day to decide. I'll be gone until like, 6 so just let me know when I get home." He pushed himself up off the counter and headed to the bathroom, "in the meantime, I'm gonna go shower."

And just like that he walks away, again! Why does he keep leaving before letting me speak???

For some reason every time he walked away I was surprised. It was funny to me the way he operated. As he walked away I blurted out, "wait what milestone are you celebrating??" Such an interesting thing for some 20 something year old guys to be celebrating...

He stopped for a second and turned to look back at me, "oh.. right.." he hesitated, looking at the floor then at me. He smiled smugly, "one of our songs reached one million plays so like..." he shrugged, "yeah."

Wait...

The f k????

My jaw dropped. Was he serious? I didn't know what to say to be honest. Who was this guy??? I had so many questions and just stared at him.

"Wait.. Alex what??"

He winked and spun around, "I'm gonna go shower," and down the hallway he went.