Under the same roof || h.s. au

2.

"How was your exam, love?", Harry teased her the moment Zoe walked through the door.

Her eyes were red and stung, heavy dark circles under them. Of course, her exam went terrible. With no sleep her brain couldn't function properly, so she left half of it blank. Much of the information she had spent the last few weeks learning vanished the moment she sat down to write it. She was so tired, she could not have brought herself to remember it. She had, undoubtedly, failed this one.

"Don't fucking to talk me ever again," she spat, ready to move out of the flat if it wasn't because she could not afford to live on her own.

Much to her disgrace, her savings were scarce, her University tuition fees not cheap at all and the pace she shared with him was the nearest to both her Uni and the library, where she spent most of her spare time. So she either found a better option soon, or she'd be dealing with him for another year. Lucky her...

Harry chuckled, "You know, if you actually surrendered to my charms I wouldn't have to bring a girl over every night. We'd be killing two birds with one stone."

"Dream on, you bastard!"

"Oh, I do dream... But about the night you finally end up between my sheets," he smirked.

Zoe pretended she didn't hear him and locked herself in the bathroom. She needed a quiet, relaxing hot bath that would make her forget about the exam and the bittersweet taste it left on her. 

The bathroom happened to be right next to her room, and that was not an inconvenient at all, except when Harry was in the shower... jacking off. When she got off, she wrapped a towel around her body and walked back to her bedroom, where she put on her pijamas. The smell of food was already all over the apartment and, by the time it was when she checked the time, she assured dinner was ready.

Zoe walked into the kitchen, and it was during moments like this when the two of them put their differences aside and had a normal conversational, almost as if they were friends. Almost is the key word. She took het seat at the table, a plate full of food already waiting for her. 

"What did you do today?" she asked him, taking a bit of her beef. He might be the worst roommate ever, but could do a pretty good job in the kitchen. He didn't burn the food, unlike her.

"Not much. I slept, read and listened to music. Quite a chilled day."

As a freelance photographer, Harry had a weird schedule. He either worked non-stop for days, or nothing at all. Still, he managed to pay his bills at the end of the month, so it was fine with her.

"When did your mistress leave?"

Harry looked back at her and smirked. 

"9:30. Why are you asking?"

"Just wondering. After all, I live here as well," she reminder him, cutting another piece of her food. 

Zoe didn't like mentioning his lovers to him. She only did so occasionally to show Harry that she was cool with them. Kinda. She just wanted him to understand for once and forever that he wasn't making her jealous by bringing them over because she didn't feel one bit of attraction for him. She was not one of his girls and never would be. Her standards in men were high, and she'd never lower them for him. 

Never.