Standing in my room with clothes thrown all over the place, I made what resembled a wild animal noise out of frustration. Darian neglected to tell me we would be going out to dinner with his brother at some bar a couple of blocks away. Although a bar is nothing fancy, I still feel like I should dress nicely despite the fact almost all my clothes are sweatpants, leggings, and hoodies.
After a few more minutes of stomping around my room, I decided to settle for my black high waist skirt, a pink lace long-sleeved bodysuit, and my lace-up boots. Looking in the mirror I smiled. I bought this bodysuit with my best friend Abigail before I had moved, but I never got the chance to wear it because it made Kieran mad and quite frankly, I never had the guts to wear it anyway.
Turning to open my door, I was cut off by the sound of my phone ringing, facing my messy room once more to figure out where I left it, I located it on my desk, which was already littered with papers and textbooks for the semester. "Hello?"
"Hey, babe, it's Kieran," my boyfriend said over the phone, slurring his words as he spoke. "I'm sorry I hadn't talked to you for the past couple of days, I've been kind of busy."
I rolled my eyes, feeling irritated that he hadn't bothered to call me for the past week and then miraculously decides to call me while drunk. "Can I call you back? Darian and I made plans tonight and we are about to go out."
"Are you serious?" Kieran growled into the phone. "You haven't talked to me in days and you're blowing me off for some fag?"
I stopped in my tracks, my blood boiling. "Excuse me, what did you just say?"
Kieran remained silent on the other line. Fine, I thought to myself, if he won't talk then I will. "I will not apologize for making plans with my roommate. Nor will I tolerate you calling him such an offensive name."
"Babe I'm so-"
"No," I hissed into my phone, slamming my door shut, not wanting Darian to hear me yell at my boyfriend. "You were the one who has not been talking to me for the past week, you have been the one ignoring my texts and going to party after party, getting drunk every waking second. Do not pin our lack of communication on me and do not ever call Darian that again or else we will have a lot more issues than lack of communication."
After a moment of silence, my boyfriend said, "I'm sorry for what I said, that was out of line. Let me know when you get home and we can Skype, alright?"
"Alright," I snapped, hanging up my phone.
Sighing, I took another look in the mirror that was hung on the back of my door. My makeup was light and my hair was down in soft waves. I forced myself to smile. I will have a good time tonight and I will not let this fight with Kieran control me. Nodding my head in approval of my new mantra, I went to the living room where Darian was seated.
Looking up from the television screen, Darian smiled, "Why, don't you look pretty?"
"You're such an egg," I responded, grabbing my purse from the coffee table Darian picked up from Ikea last week. "But thank you, are you ready to go?"
My roommate nodded. He wasn't dressed casually, but he wasn't dressed particularly fancy. Wearing a navy-blue dress shirt and some dark washed jeans, he looked comfortable, but in a stylish way.
We walked in an easy silence to the bar, side by side. Occasionally, I'd ask a question about Toronto, like where was the best cheeseburger I could get or where was the best shopping mall, and Darian would answer kindly — he's lived here all his life so he was familiar with the city.
When we reached the bar, Darian's phone chimed the same ringtone as earlier today. He looked down and frowned. "It's uh, Justin, my ex, I'm going to take this. Just get a drink at the bar and I'll be there in a few moments."
"Alrighty," I singsonged, walking into the dimly lit pub.
I looked up, staring at the faded green sign that simply said, Ed's. I walked briskly to the bar, trying to avoid any possible conversation with the men in the bar, and sat on a green leather stool. Looking at the bartender, whose back was turned to me I said, "I'll have whatever you have on tap, please."
"Coming right up," the man responded, though, I was surprised he could hear my request over the folk music that played over the speakers and the loud conversations people were having. He grabbed a glass, filled it and sat down in front of me, atop a little white napkin. When he saw who he was serving he looked me up and down and smirked. "Anything else, I can do for you?"
I stared at the bartender and shook my head. He was wearing a solid black T-shirt and dark jeans, his hair was a light, sandy-coloured brown, and his eyes were a warm hazel. I will admit, he was attractive, but being hit on at a bar wasn't something I particularly liked — especially because I have Kieran. Even if we were fighting, I wouldn't betray him by flirting with some bartender.
I sat there for a few minutes, waiting for Darian to finish up his phone call. I sincerely hope everything was going okay, but I didn't want to go out and intrude. Taking a large sip of my beer, I continued to wait, contemplating if I should pull the book I had brought in case of an emergency, out of my purse.
That's when the bartender caught my eye again. He was leaning against the counter that had all the drinks displayed, arms crossed, staring directly at me, his muscles especially prominent as he did so.
"Can I help you?" I snapped, arching a brow. I really was not in the mood to be stared at like some zoo animal. Between my falling asleep in class, fighting with Kieran, and this perverted bartender, I was certainly not having the best day of my life.
The man in front of me gave me a lopsided smirk, "Feisty. I like that."
I rolled my eyes and then narrowed them at the bartender, "Shouldn't you be doing your job?"
"There are other things I could be doing," he responded with a wink. He started pouring another drink for a different customer. When he was finished, he slid it down the countertop to the customer and turned back to me. "Got a name?"
"Audrey."
The man gave me a wicked grin and something told me he was up to no good. "I'm Nathan."
"Lovely," I replied dryly, hoping my lack of enthusiasm would get him to stop talking to me.
The door to the pub opened, and thankfully, Darian walked in. However, he looked fairly distraught.
"Is everything okay?" I asked my roommate, concern etched onto my face.
He nodded his head slowly, "Uh, yeah. I think so."
"Think so?" I questioned, pushing my drink over to him so he can have a sip.
Darian quickly grabbed it and chugged the remaining contents. He took a moment and then loosed a breath. "Sorry," he said looking at the now empty beer bottle, "Anyway, Justin called and he was very emotional."
"About?"
"Us," Darian responded. "He wants to get back together. He believes we made a mistake breaking up so abruptly."
I pushed my hair behind my ear and leaned closer to my roommate. "What did you say?"
"I said I'd think about it but I don't want to be rash, so we agreed to meet up for lunch sometime next week," he sighed. After a few deep breaths, he looks up, staring to the right of me.
I turned to see Nathan, still standing there, eyes darting between Darian and me. He threw a cloth over his shoulder and crossed his arms, looking utterly amused. "Another drink, Audrey?" He tilted his head like a puppy dog. "What about you, little brother?"
I looked at Darian with a shocked expression, "He's your brother?"
Darian shifted on his stool and licked his lips, "Unfortunately."
I stared blankly between Darian and Nathan. I saw zero resemblance. Nathan had a completely different build, his hair looked way darker compared to Darian's incredibly light blond, and his eyes were... well, they weren't anything like I had seen before. Tilting my head, much like Nathan did moments before, I said, "Are you sure? You guys look nothing alike."
Nathan gave a small laugh, "Same mother, different fathers. Probably why Darian is the next Einstein, and I'm not."
"Oh," I replied lamely. When Nathan went to give another customer a drink, I turned to Darian. "I thought we were having dinner?"
"He gets off at eight," Darian sighed, looking longingly at the beer bottle that rested in between us, empty.
Nathan took the empty bottle and replaced it with two new ones, placing them in front of Darian and me. "Eh, I'll get off a little early, it's not that busy anyway," he turned to the older gentleman behind the counter, who I quite frankly, didn't notice until now. He had a white beard and coke bottle glasses that made him look like Santa with bulgy eyes. "Isn't that right Ed?"
Ed only grunted in response.
"He's a man of many words," Darian's brother said sarcastically, as he made his way around the counter so he could now stand with us. "How about we move this to a booth?"
Darian nodded, grabbed his beer, as did I, and we followed Nathan closer to the quieter part of the bar.
The lights were just as dim here than they were at the front, making the green leather booths look black rather than green.
Once we were seated, a waitress immediately placed menus in front of us, checking out Nathan in the process. Nathan, however, paid no attention. Instead, he was staring at me. Leaning forward, his strange hazel eyes pouring into mine, he said, "I recommend the cheeseburgers here, the onion rings are nice too, we make our own batter. So, do you have a boyfriend, Audrey?"
Taken aback by the last sentence, I literally jerked my head back. Darian on the other hand groaned in frustration. "Bro, can you keep your penis in check? Yes, she has a boyfriend. Now shut up and stop hitting on my roommate. It's creepy."
"My apologies," Nathan said, not sounding very apologetic. He quickly glanced at the menu, clicked his tongue and said, "Well, I meant what I said. The burgers and onion rings are pretty good."
Twenty minutes later, all three of us are presented with plates of cheeseburgers and onion rings. Darian and Nathan were talking like normal brothers do. Occasionally I joined in the conversation, but I found myself backing off. Mainly because I didn't want to risk Nathan's flirty comments, but also because I didn't want to intrude. For the first time in weeks, Darian looked relaxed, despite being so stressed about having to see his brother tonight, but Nathan seemed to be on his best behaviour. I only had to tell him his hair needed work once.
But then Nathan stopped the conversation to say, "So, my smarty-pants brother and smarty-pants brother's roommate, I also invited you out tonight because I need a favour."
Halfway through the last bite of my cheeseburger, I swallowed it whole, nearly choking in the process. "Uh, okay-y?"
Darian gave me a nervous glance. "What's the favour?
"I need a place to live," Nathan stated bluntly.
"What happened to the place you live in now?" My friend asked, slowly reaching for his beer.
I studied Nathan, waiting for an answer.
"The person who I was renting from decided they wanted to move back in," Nathan also grabbed his beer, taking a large sip of it. "I have until next week to move out and I don't have enough to get a place of my own."
Leaning forward, I said, "Why can't you and your current roommate find a place together?"
Pointing at me, Darian nodded his head in agreement with my question.
Nathan sighed loudly, "Because he moved in with his girlfriend," crossing his arms and pouting like a child, he muttered under his breath, "That jerk."
Darian gave me a sideways glance. "Do you want to talk about this outside?"
Nodding my head, both Darian and I stand up, making our way out of the bar. When we get outside, the autumn breeze combs through my hair and my breath is seen when I exhale into the night sky.
Darian is the first one to speak. "It's okay if you don't want him to move in. He can be a jerk and hard to handle."
"Darian," I started and then paused. I wasn't quite sure what to say. Darian and I had just got our footing, we were getting along, and just started classes. What if Nathan moving in messes all that up? Would Darian hate me if Nathan and I had disagreements or would he hate me if I said I didn't want him to move in? Taking a deep breath and then licking my lips I said, "He's your brother. Where would he go if we say no?"
My roommate ran his hand through his blond locks. "I don't know... My parents sure as hell won't take him in. They'll say he's too old to be living with them and lecture him about it and then I have to hear about it."
I glanced at him, biting my lip. "How old is he anyway?"
Darian let out a chuckle, looking up at the night sky, "He's turning twenty-three in December. Crazy right? I'm the younger sibling and I have more of a head-on my shoulders than he does."
I nodded my head in understanding. Out of everyone who could relate to Darian, it would probably be me. My sister was older than I was, yet she still acted as if she were sixteen. My mind started to wonder about how this would all play out. How would Kieran react if he heard I was living with another guy, who was most definitely not gay? He would be livid. Which was absurd, but nonetheless would cause an even bigger strain on our already strained relationship.
I glanced at my friend, his eyes dripped with worry. I couldn't say no to Darian's family. Sure, I just met Nathan and it will probably cause more problems than solutions when it came to Kieran and me, but if it were my sister who needed a place to stay I know Darian would say yes in a heartbeat. Turning to Darian, I said, "Well, we do have an extra room in the apartment. I know we said we would wait until next semester before we got a new roommate, but he's your brother."
Darian's blue eyes widened and I could see the relief he had felt. "Are you sure?"
"Positive," I nodded my head in finality. When I got home, I would tell Kieran the news and hopefully, he wouldn't get too upset. "But please try to get him to stop flirting. I have Kieran and he's most likely not going to be too thrilled of the news that Nathan is moving in."
"Of course," Darian agreed and then enveloped me into a tight hug, "Thank you so much, Audrey."
"No problem," I smiled at my friend. Despite the troubles it may cause, I was happy to help my roommate and now friend.
Together, we went back inside the pub, and back to Nathan, who was still sitting in the booth. When he noticed our return, he eyed us anxiously. "So, what's the verdict, Doc?"
Darian looked at me, inviting me to tell his brother the news. I sat down in the booth, took a deep sip of my beer, and loosed a breath. "You can move in, we have an extra room, so it shouldn't be a problem."
Nathan gave me a wicked grin, showing off his pearly whites. "Thank you, sweeth-"
Darian slammed his hands on the table and both Nathan and I flinched at the abruptness of his action. "Shut up, and listen."
My friend, who was still standing, leaned over and pointed at his brother, "You will not flirt with Audrey, you will not party until the brink of dawn," wagging his finger, as a mother would to a misbehaving child. "You will not be a slob. You will contribute to paying rent and groceries. You may be my brother but you aren't getting any freebies."
Looking at my friend, I let out a small snort. Here was Darian, who was visibly smaller than Nathan and visibly younger, telling him off like a child. And here was Nathan, sitting there, arms crossed, taking it like he's used to Darian scolding him.
"Fine," Nathan grumbled. "I won't flirt with Audrey. But if she flirts first, there's no telling what I'll do next," Darian's brother finished with a wink.
I gagged internally. Like that was going to happen. There was no way in hell I would fall for my friend's brother.
Darian sat down beside me, finishing the rest of his beer in one sip, he muttered, "I'm going to need something a lot stronger than this."