yellow hyacinth flowers
represent jealousy . . .
*. : ｡✿ * ﾟ * .: ｡ ✿ * ﾟ * . : ｡ ✿ *
MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2018
The weekend provided a nice break for each of the housemates. With none of them having work, they were able to relax. Even (Y/N) took it easy. She ordinarily used days off to do chores around the house, but her roommates convinced her to take the opportunity to rest. On Saturday, they had a picnic in the park, and on Sunday, they had another movie night under a pillow fort.
But, of course, the next week had to start up eventually. Monday morning came, and (Y/N) was in the process of getting ready for work.
Today was a morning day: her shift started at 9, ended at 5. She'd gotten dressed in a dark red velvety tank top and nice black slacks, put on some cute jewelry and sprayed some (favorite scent) perfume. Now that she was mostly ready, she went downstairs to cook a simple meal of breakfast burritos.
Once downstairs, she saw Aziza standing at the counter, pouring herself a cup of coffee.
"I still can't believe you willingly drink coffee like that," (Y/N) remarked upon entry.
Aziza flinched. Having been facing away from the stairs, she hadn't realized anyone had come in. But as she turned back and saw her roommate, she visibly relaxed. (Y/N) noted the fading panic in her eyes, but didn't comment on it.
Aziza chuckled. "It tastes so much better black," she replied. "Better for you, too. All the sugar and cream Lori puts is gonna get her diabetes someday, I swear."
(Y/N) shook her head in amusement. "She's pretty active, I think she'll be okay."
"Yeah, you got that right," Aziza laughed. "Girl cannot sit still for the life of her."
"Sorry if this is a bit on the nose, but do you know if she has ADHD?"
"She was never diagnosed," she answered. "Psychiatrists are weird about that with girls. But as long as she has her daily dose of caffeine, she's pretty mellow."
With a hum, (Y/N) walked to the cabinets to get out the cooking supplies. "And what's your excuse?"
Aziza sighed. "I don't sleep well."
(Y/N) glanced at her for a moment. She hesitated, wondering if asking would be a violation of boundaries with how little time they'd known each other. But she ultimately decided it would be better to ask, as long as she was careful about it. "How come?" she asked. "If you don't mind me asking, that is."
"No, it's fine," Aziza quickly assured her. But she paused before giving an answer. "Um, I guess I just have a lot of nightmares is all."
"Nightmares?" (Y/N)'s brows were furrowed in concern.
"Yeah," Aziza sighed. "I don't really remember my childhood when I'm awake. Only when I'm dreaming."
(Y/N) hummed. "If there's ever anything you need to talk through, I'm here," she promised. "I'm sure the others are, too. You guys all seem to care about each other a lot."
'Not as much as we care about you...' Aziza thought, before shaking her head and offering a gentle smile. "Thanks, I appreciate that." She opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by the entry of Silas.
"Good morning," he said, grabbing the apple juice from the fridge and pouring it into a glass.
"Good morning!" (Y/N) greeted happily.
"Morning..." Aziza muttered, feeling a strangely intense feeling of irritation at the interruption of the pair's conversation.
(Y/N) didn't notice at first. "How'd you sleep?"
"Pretty well," Silas answered. "Stayed up a little later than I meant to, though."
"Coffee?"
He wrinkled his nose. "No, thank you."
(Y/N) giggled at the expression on his face, finding it cute. "Right, sorry, forgot about your feud with coffee."
"It's gross, I don't know how anybody stomachs that crap."
"Ah, well, to each their own," (Y/N) smiled. "At least you have your apple juice."
Silas found it rather difficult to maintain eye contact with the girl when she smiled so prettily. He gulped, and forced himself to meet her gaze, so as to not appear disinterested in the conversation. "Best drink known to man," he joked nervously.
"I don't know about that," (Y/N) teased. "I don't think anything beats (favorite drink)."
As the two continued their lighthearted bickering, and (Y/N) prepared breakfast, she couldn't help but notice Aziza's sharp gaze watching the two. She frowned to herself, before including Aziza in the conversation. 'Aziza likes Silas,' she thought. 'Okay, that's cool. He probably likes her, too. They'd make a cute couple.' She furrowed her brows, as another thought occurred to her. 'But if Elijah likes Aziza... he could get his heart broken.' She didn't know the extent of any of their feelings, but with the intensity of Aziza's gaze, she was fairly certain they were pretty serious. 'This won't be like last time,' she assured herself. 'Just proceed with caution, and nothing has to go wrong. Nobody has to leave.'
As the others made their way down, they had breakfast together. They shared some specifics of the day ahead. Aziza had a new project at the biochemistry lab she worked at. Elijah was expecting a slower day, with it being an earlier morning shift. Silas apparently had a new shipment of car parts coming that he'd need to sort through. Naoki was going to the library, both his place of employment and where he spent time working on applications to nursing school. And at the moment, Lori was chirping on about an audition for a TV show she was going to.
"This is way bigger than anything I've done before. It'll be a regular role." The smile on her face was bright and clearly excited. "I mean, I won't be a main character, but I'll be in almost every episode. It's so exciting!"
"That's awesome!" (Y/N) was beaming. She seemed just as excited as Lori. "Can I go ahead and get your autograph? Just so I can have it when you get all famous."
Lori giggled, enjoying the attention from (Y/N). It was only made better by the fact that she was sitting directly next to the girl. To her, this was all proof that her feelings were reciprocated. Maybe not to the same extent, but surely she liked her back!
(Y/N) glanced to the side, and noticed a strangely fond expression on Silas' face. It was hard to tell who it was directed at, but it seemed vaguely placed in the space between herself and Lori. She glanced back at Lori, and nodded to herself. 'I would have thought she would be too social to be his type, with how shy he is,' she mused. 'But y'know what they say, opposites attract.' She turned her head a little to face the rest of the table, and her gaze fell on Aziza. 'Oh, that's right... Poor Aziza. Why does everything have to be so complicated?'
Of course, it was actually pretty simple. Perhaps (Y/N) was just too close to see the big picture.
After breakfast, (Y/N) left for work. She lived in a pretty walkable area, and the shop she worked at was close enough that it was just easier to walk. Especially with the shortcut she'd figured out last week.
It was a little alleyway, that cut across between a few buildings and made her walk over 5 minutes shorter. It wasn't super well-lit, so she tended to avoid it at night, but the area was usually busy enough that during the day, it felt quite safe. She passed a couple people during her walk, and smiled at each of them when she made eye contact. Most of them smiled back, and that was the end of their interaction... except for one man.
He was leaning against the wall, and he seemed pretty roughed up. Bruises on his face, torn clothes, bloody knuckles. When they met eyes, he didn't return her smile. Only continued to stare at her with cold, blue eyes until she was gone from the area.
(Y/N) tried not to let herself get too unsettled. The guy definitely had a weird vibe, but she shouldn't let it freak her out and ruin her day. She'd just have to be careful. Make sure to bring her pepper spray along.
Work was pretty mild. Mondays tended to be more slow at the shop, as most preferred to head straight home after work rather than look around a shop they didn't have a particular necessity for. There were a few customers, though. Mostly college-age young adults and little old ladies. With it being slower, they had more time to just kinda goof around. Jasper and Matteo were definitely the most chill bosses she'd ever had. While others stressed that she should always keep herself busy and not waste company time, they were of the belief that there was no point creating extra tasks that weren't even necessary for the sake of looking busy.
At one point, when the store was entirely empty, (Y/N) got into a coat-hanger sword fight with Jasper.
The quiet sounds of plastic slapping plastic sounded in the air, as Jasper stepped back to avoid (Y/N)'s more aggressive attack strategy. She charged forward, hitting him with a surprising speed and force.
"How── How are you── so good at this?" Jasper panted, trying desperately to keep up.
"Maybe I'm just not an old man like you!" She teased back.
He gasped. "Oh, you're getting it now!" He declared, finding his groove in the mock-fighting a bit more than he had before.
But he was still no match for (Y/N)'s skills. She continued forcing him back, until he ended up stumbling and bumping into a rack of shirts. The rack stayed up fine, but the same couldn't be said of Jasper, who tripped and was knocked onto the floor.
"Oh my god!" (Y/N) laughed. "Wait, are you okay?" She knelt down to help him up, when she heard Matteo clear his throat behind them. She turned, a sheepish grin on her face.
Jasper smiled up at his husband. "Defend my honor, baby!"
(Y/N) raised her hands in surrender. "H─Hey now..." she chuckled. "Let's be mature about this. And, for the record, I just wanna point out that he totally started it!"
"I did not!"
(Y/N) turned to face Jasper. "You literally did! Don't lie!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"En garde!"
Both their heads snapped back, to see Matteo with two coat hangers of his own, one in each hand. He was in an exaggerated fighting stance, and had a lighthearted glint in his dark eyes, despite the faux-serious expression he wore.
"What...?"
That's when Matteo advanced against the employee. Coat hanger swords being wielded expertly, he forced (Y/N) back in a similar manner to how she forced Jasper back only minutes earlier. She fought back well, but now that both of them were against her, she didn't really stand a chance. She surrendered, dropping her coat hanger to the ground in defeat.
"I just wanna say, for the record, that two against one is so not fair," she said, walking back with them to the break room to grab her belongings.
"Yes, but── you have the advantage of youth," Matteo retorted.
"Hey, I'm young!" Jasper insisted.
"I don't know, babe," Matteo teased. "You're kinda pushing it at thir──"
Jasper smacked his husband's shoulder lightly. "Classified information!"
"Damn, and here I thought I'd finally know how old you are." (Y/N) grinned.
"A lady never──"
"Reveals her age, so why should I?" She finished, having heard him say it a thousand times. "Yes, yes, I know. But I'm gonna find out someday, Jas, and there's nothing you can do about it!"
Jasper sarcastically hummed, and the three erupted into laughter.
On her way back home, (Y/N) decided to avoid her usual route through the alleyway. She doubted the man she'd seen earlier would actually do anything. In all likelihood, he was probably just in a bad mood or something! There was no reason to think he was a threat, except... this gut feeling she had. She decided it was better safe than sorry.
By the time she arrived back at the house, everyone else was already there. Usually on morning shift days, (Y/N) was one of the first ones home, but cleaning up from the coat hanger sword fight took some extra time.
After setting down her bag, she walked into the kitchen, where she found all five of her housemates gathered.
(Y/N) offered a smile, before turning to the fridge to grab a drink. "Hey guys, how's it going?" She asked.
"Pretty good," Aziza answered.
"We brought home tacos!" Lori added. "Elijah knows this great Mexican food truck by his work, and he got some for all of us."
"Oh, that's so sweet," (Y/N) beamed. "How much do I owe you?"
"Are you kidding? Don't worry about it," Elijah smiled softly to assure her.
"You literally made us breakfast this morning," Naoki chimed in.
"Yeah, but──"
"But nothing," Elijah cut her off gently. "We'll start charging you for random takeout nights, when you start charging for all the meals you cook us."
"What? I would never charge you guys for that! You know I don't mind at all."
"Exactly," Silas replied.
Aziza ruffled her hair.
"Okay..." (Y/N) gave in. "Thank you. That's very sweet."
"No problem," Elijah smiled, watching her tenderly.
"Well, let's eat!"