The Perks Of Being His Roommate

three | dinners and awkwardness

"You stay away from her," I warned before attempting to snatch my phone back, only to be disappointed as his quick reflexes jerked it back. "I thought you had a boyfriend."

"What?" He shot his smirk, once again and laughed, this time catching the attention of Clara and Kylie. However, they only looked up for a second before looking back to each other and speaking. "I thought you couldn't be jealous if you have a boyfriend."

My eyes were slowly twitching with anger as he continued to speak. The fact that he questioned what I have with James was another reason why I was starting to believe the horrible feeling I had been having about him.

"I'm not jealous, she's just my best friend and I don't like you, so stay away from her." I tried to shout back, but he continued to laugh over my words. I had never wanted dinner to begin more in my life.

"Jealousy is a bad trait," I hit his arm out of frustration and stood up to walk off, not wanting to be taunted by someone I hardly knew.

As if the heavens were granting me a wish, mom called out for dinner, causing me to sprint off away from wherever Caleb was behind me. However, when I reached the table, Katherine, Mike and my mom had already seated themselves, leaving only four seats and a high chance that Caleb could end up sitting next to me.

Taking the easy option, I sat by my mom and prayed that Kylie would sit next to me, followed by either Clara or Caleb. However, the angels only granted me one wish tonight. Clara sat by Katherine whilst Kylie sat next to Clara, leaving the only empty space beside me.

"Great," I mumbled to myself, hoping that nobody would hear, otherwise the impression I was going to be leaving on Mike and Katherine definitely wasn't going to be a good one.

We all grabbed a bowl of pasta and ate in silence, up until Katherine broke it.

"So Gabriella, your mom tells me that you have a boyfriend, is he handsome?" As soon as she said it, I felt incredibly awkward. However, after what Caleb said to me, I aimed to make him feel more uncomfortable than I did.

Therefore, I rambled on about James, talking about how good looking he was, how long we'd been together, holidays we'd been on together, then other parts which mom would so lovingly add. She was definitely a big fan of James. Mainly because he brought her flowers the first time he met her.

But since then, she's always been happy with me dating him.

Suddenly, a hand crept onto my thigh mid-sentence. I glared over to Caleb and pushed his hand from my leg, despite the goose bumps it left behind. He would continue to do it whilst I was talking, knowing that I was growing increasingly frustrated with what was happening underneath the table.

"So yeah, he... um, is very-" I struggled to get the words out until his hand crept closer and closer to a place I would never let him go in. "NICE!" I shouted at Katherine before I slapped my hand over my mouth, for the second time tonight.

Way to leave a good impression Gabby.

"I'm so sorry for shouting, I-I just um, thought I saw a spider," I used the worst excuse in the history of excuses and turned slowly to Caleb. I chucked his hand from my leg and continued to eat, watching him from the corner of my eye.

The table fell silent soon after my outburst, except the quiet talk between Kylie and Clara, and the general chat between my mom, Mike and Katherine.

Turns out, Katherine had known my mom since first grade, they were best friends but they lost contact when she moved schools. I smiled as mom grinned at Katherine. We all finished our pasta in quick silence, thankfully.